Original subtitles

Your mom wasn't getting the best care possible.

Stella found a better place.

It is in Cleveland.

You mean drop everything here?

You're family now.

I don't want it to ruin the night.

We ask the CFD for a list of rigs

that could be permanently decommissioned.

Which one?

Engine 51.

There was a fire at Patterson High School.

I mean, I can't give you any names,

but I have been getting these threats.

Wyatt was outside the school at the time of the fire.

He knows something.

I ran into Wyatt last night at the boys basketball game.

Based on the tip-off time, there's no way that Wyatt

could have been at the school.

Your son didn't start the fire.

Then what are you doing here, Lieutenant?

Whoever did it, I bet you'll find them there.

We believe the attack was deliberately timed

for when you'd normally be arriving at the school

and you'd be alone.

My--my students made this?

They did.

And how many are in the group?

83 members.

Of course, I knew of my reputation,

but this level of hostility...

We're hoping you can take a look through the posts

and see if there's any that sound like

the threatening texts that you've gotten.

There are hundreds of comments here.

Take as much time as you need.

This is unacceptable.

I'm sorry to drop the news on you like this,

but I didn't want to hide it.

This just isn't how you treat a firefighter

who's been loyal to the department

for more than 30 years.

The city didn't make that call.

The CFD did.

They're the ones who chose McHolland and his rig.

I gotta make some calls.

Wait, Dom, I told you this

because I didn't want you to be blindsided.

It's already in motion.

If I thought a phone call would have stopped it,

I would have already made it.

I worshipped my dad growing up.

Yeah, had a--

I brought his badge for show and tell.

Aw.

I had a cop radio in my room.

Yeah, from the jump, I always wanted to be a cop.

How long were you at the academy for?

It was a month before I graduated

that he got arrested.

There was no keeping that a secret.

Yeah.

I mean, the media loved that case.

Mm-hmm.

Suddenly, just overnight,

I'm the--I'm the son of a dirty cop,

one who gave the whole department a bad name.

Damn.

I'm sorry, Vasquez.

Got me to the CFD, right?

Hmm.

The right place to be.

Oh, heck.

It does not look as gross as I thought it would.

You're gonna love it, I'm telling you.

Mm.

So are you ready

for your meeting with Dr. Shreves tomorrow?

Mm-hmm.

I've been researching everything.

Wrote a bunch of questions down in my notebook.

You're gonna be an MD

by the time your mom leaves the clinic.

You know that, right?

Oh, Kelly said that he wanted an update.

Let me give him a call.

I don't think this is going to help.

There's nothing in there that stands out to you?

Some of it's pretty disturbing.

It's very difficult to tell what's noise

and what's a--a real threat.

Smoke alarm.

Think it's coming from the stairs.

It's moving!

The back stairs are this way.

Oh!

Oh, my God.

It's no good.

We're trapped!

This way.

What do we do?

How--how are we going to get out?

We rappel down.

Grab a towel, soak it in water, cover your face.

Go.

Use the bedsheets.

You make the harness.

I'll make the rope.

This is gonna be the harness.

Put this around you. Here.

We're gonna lower you down.

We go one at a time.

Throw your legs over the sill, face us.

We're not gonna let you fall.

Let's go.

Don't think. Just go.

We got you. Let go of the sill.

We got you. Go!

Van Meter!

Get to the window.

I got you.

Grab the sheet!

Sir, do you have a car?

Yeah.

Could you get him to the hospital?

Sure.

- Thank you. - Come on.

I had the neighbor take Cole to the hospital.

Van Meter, you're burned.

It's not bad.

Yeah, it is.

I just need to catch--

Tom!

Hey.

Medic! Medics!

Tom? Tom!

Tom.

Medic, over here!

- Copy. - Hey!

Backboard.

Here, get him on. Get him on.

You got him? - Yeah.

On three. One, two, three.

He's gonna need to be treated for smoke inhalation,

third degree burns. - You need treatment too.

I'm fine. Just focus on him.

Okay.

Hey, it's me.

Listen, there's been an incident.

Yeah.

Hey.

Uh, Kelly was in a fire.

He is okay.

He's at the hospital.

What happened?

I'm not sure yet,

but Captain Van Meter was hurt too.

They're both at Med.

Um...

Okay, I'll--I'll pack my bags.

Okay.

Lungs sound tight to me.

Taken in more smoke than this before.

Maybe, but that doesn't mean this isn't serious.

I want to get a chest X-ray.

If you've got signs of pulmonary edema

or airway burns, we need to catch it now.

That kind of damage doesn't always show up right away.

It's gonna have to wait.

Lieutenant, I've seen guys walk out of this room

and come back coding an hour later.

I'll be right down the hall.

Lieutenant Severide.

Dr. Archer.

Glad you're the one looking after Van Meter.

What do we know?

Well, he's suffering from acute respiratory distress.

The smoke and the heat have caused significant lung damage.

He's been sedated.

He's on a ventilator to try to improve

his oxygen saturation.

The next few hours are gonna be critical.

If his oxygen levels don't stabilize soon, he--

he may not make it through the night.

What's the update?

Severide's okay.

He suffered second degree burns to his arm

and minor smoke inhalation.

And Van Meter?

He took the brunt of it.

Hey.

Thanks for calling.

Have the doctors come out with an update yet?

No. Any minute.

Hey, captain's gonna pull through.

That guy's tough as old boots.

Kelly.

Oh, my God.

Does it hurt?

Nah, it's fine.

How's Van Meter?

He made it through the first few hours, so that's something.

But he's touch and go.

His daughter is driving up from St. Louis now.

PD already sent someone?

All right, we'll give you a second to talk to him.

All right, let's go find a vending machine.

Yeah?

Lieutenant.

Detective Gerard.

It's been a minute.

Don't worry.

PD's not here to take over.

We're just here to help.

I know how personal this just got for you.

How much have you read in on this?

Well, I know the fire at the school was premeditated

and that there was some kind of sophisticated

timing device involved.

Sounds like tonight's fire is different.

Same target though.

Principal Cole?

My guess is whoever set the fire at the school

wanted to finish what they started.

I was told there was some kind of online

hate group about him?

Yeah, it's a--

it's a private Facebook group,

about 80 members, current, former students.

Van Meter thinks we'll find our suspect there.

Any way to narrow down that list?

That's what I was hoping to talk to Cole about.

He's still with the doctors.

Got a couple more hours.

All right.

Well, I'll see what I can do to dig into that Facebook group

in the meantime.

Do you know who created it?

No, that information isn't visible on the page.

That's what I wanted to ask Cole about first.

All right, I'm on it.

Let me know when he's up.

If Vasquez hadn't been with you at Molly's,

I doubt he would have heard about Severide.

I'm glad he was there. - Yeah.

We showed up right after you left.

I think his father coming to 51 really messed with his head.

Hey, what is Ray Vasquez like?

I heard his name so many times back in the day.

Yeah.

The man is intimidating.

That's for sure.

Yeah, the whole scene was very tense.

I mean, Vasquez has no idea how he got paroled.

It's all kind of mysterious.

Wow.

But the actual joint duty shift went well though,

right? - Mm-hmm.

These are all applications from firefighters

at other houses who want to sign up.

- Seriously? - Mm-hmm.

That's awesome.

It's a lot to narrow down, though.

Did they attach personnel photos?

Because cuties at the top, obviously.

Obviously.

Morning, Chief.

Come on in, Mouch.

Take a seat.

Everything okay?

Unfortunately, no.

We need to keep this between us for now,

but I've learned that as part of its ongoing cuts,

CFD wants to decommission Engine 51.

Is this--are you-- are you kidding me?

Leave the firehouse without an engine?

It's an incredibly irresponsible decision.

I'm gonna do everything I can to fight it.

I'll do the same, of course.

I'll go right to the union, use that angle.

I mean, I gotta assume if Engine goes...

So do you.

With all these staff cuts and calls for early retirement,

Mouch, I wish I could say it different,

but I don't think they're gonna find

a place for you at another house.

Now, I have a contact at CFD.

He owes me a favor.

I'm gonna go there today, but...

we're not gonna throw in that towel yet.

Not a chance.

Thank you, Chief.

Hey, I brought you a coffee.

Figured you could use it.

Thanks.

Also got a name,

the creator of that Facebook group.

Those Cole's students?

Yeah.

Wyatt.

What's going on?

Uh, the assistant principal

put together a group for Mr. Cole

to show support, and...

And I wanted to be a part of it.

I'm sure he'd appreciate that.

Do you guys know who did this yet?

We can't comment on that right now.

Lily Metzger?

Are you sure?

She was the first user assigned administrative rights

to the "I Hate Mr. Cole" group.

Which means she created it.

Oh.

You seem surprised by that.

I'd like to think that I know my students well,

and Lily's had some-- some disciplinary issues,

but nothing that would lead me to believe

that she could do this.

She ever have any run-ins with you?

No, not directly.

Some of her teachers said that she could be difficult,

but it was talking back or--or tardiness,

you know, things like that.

A disrespect for authority.

The parents give a lot of money to the school,

so they've cleaned up a few of her messes.

We stopped by Wyatt's house after the school fire.

Lily was there.

I wasn't aware they were friends.

Maybe you don't know your students as well as you think.

We'll be in touch.

Thank you, sir.

Help me understand something.

What's the MO here?

Van Meter believes this arson is personal.

It's about revenge.

Well, if that's true,

then how does this girl make any sense?

I mean, you heard Cole.

They've never had any run-ins.

We know she created the group.

Maybe she's got some sort of axe to grind.

Lieutenant, can I speak to you?

We had to place Captain Van Meter

in a medically induced coma.

I don't understand.

I thought his oxygen levels had stabilized.

No.

The inflammation in his lungs wasn't improving,

and he went into hypoxic respiratory failure.

This can happen in severe cases of smoke inhalation like his.

I've seen this before.

You put them in a coma, and they don't come out.

It's the best option we have

of giving his body any chance to recover.

I'll give you a minute.

I'm gonna find who did this,

and I'm gonna make them pay.

No firefighter employed under the jurisdiction of this union

shall be terminated, suspended, or demoted

except for just cause.

Mm-hmm.

There is nothing you can point to in my file

that even comes close to just cause.

How is this not a slam dunk for me?

Mouch, the city is now counting budget cuts

as just cause.

Well, it doesn't say that in here.

Our legal team is fighting it,

but the city's found a way to reinterpret the language

to make this legal.

I know.

It's a loophole you could drive a damn Mack truck through.

Well, I'm not just gonna take my ball and go home.

I hear you. I do.

But right now, the union's hands are tied.

There's gotta be another way here.

There is something, but it's not through the union.

What do you know about the Civil Service Commission?

Why did you create the Facebook page?

Facebook is so retro.

I mean, I thought it would be fun.

Also, Mr. Cole is hated by pretty much everyone, so...

Hmm. Including you?

Honestly, I barely knew the guy.

But it was so entertaining to see everyone

get so worked up about him.

Lily.

I'm sorry.

And I am sorry that Mr. Cole's house

got set on fire by some psycho.

That's crazy.

All the threats of violence,

you didn't think to tell an adult about those?

People need to vent.

I'm not gonna stop them.

It's the First Amendment, right?

Some of the threats on this site,

they were by anonymous posters.

Yeah.

One or two of the kids went incognito.

I don't know why.

Where were you at 7:36 p.m. on Friday night, Lily?

Lily, don't answer any more questions.

I don't want to be rude, but I need to get a lawyer.

No, I was at home.

I was in my room reading, watching videos.

Mom was there. She can tell you.

Yes, Lily was home Friday.

I do remember that.

You sure, Mrs. Metzger?

Of course.

Look, if you guys want to take my computer

and search for these anonymous posters, here.

Lily, can we at least talk to your father first?

Just trying to help.

If she shuts down that Facebook page right now,

can we just put all of this behind us?

No.

The last thing we want.

Just keep it active.

Thanks for your help, Lily.

No problem.

Mama's got her hands full with that one.

You're gonna keep monitoring that Facebook post?

Yeah, students keep posting about it, so who knows.

The things those kids write on those pages,

that level of ugly makes you wonder

if you ever think they would actually say it in person.

I doubt it.

Face to face, you see the hurt you're causing,

not online.

Got a couple of high schoolers at home.

Can't stay away from that social media, man.

It scares the heck out of me.

I don't blame you.

Let's keep an eye on Lily.

Mm. I'll keep you posted.

You do the same.

I'll remind you.

I did what you said.

Took in Vasquez, no questions asked.

Yeah, well, that was the deal.

His lieutenant wanted to cut him loose,

and she had every right.

But I protected Vasquez as a favor to you.

Now I'm asking for a favor in return.

Well, it wasn't a favor for me.

That order came from way above our pay grade.

And as I understand it,

Vasquez has become a real asset to 51.

Whatever's happening between Vasquez

and the CFD brass is not my business.

But I can make it my business

if they don't reconsider the decision to cut Engine 51.

Well, you've got a pair. I'll give you that.

But you got your facts wrong.

The CFD didn't pick the rigs to be decommissioned.

That was a request from the mayor's office.

What about this guy?

Uh, big no.

That's Muncell.

And he's a lantern.

A lantern?

Uh, yeah.

Not too bright, needs to be carried.

You know this guy, LaRosa?

Yeah, he's over at 40.

They call him Blister.

Only shows up after all the hard work is done.

Hand to God, I've learned more at this table

than my entire time at the academy.

Stick around.

You've been at that for a while now.

Any luck narrowing down the list?

Not as much as I'd like.

Keep hoping whoever did it might post it.

But I don't know.

Well, Cruz just called, checking on you.

He said he wanted to leave his anniversary weekend

to come back.

Ah, tell him not to.

I did.

So when's the last time you slept?

I'm fine.

Well, listen, uh,

I didn't get a chance to tell you earlier,

but Isaiah has a Zoom with the doctor

who's in charge of Shauna's care,

and it sounds like good news.

What?

I got it handled.

I know you're buried in all this.

I want to be there.

Kelly.

That a video just posted?

That's Cole's place.

Whoa.

You knew.

You knew they were gonna want to post it.

They were right there.

So let me know if there's anything I can do to help,

and if you gotta skip the Zoom,

I can fill you in on the details after.

I--I still want to be there.

Just send me the info.

- Okay. - I gotta run.

I gotta call Gerard,

let him know I got a bead on this kid who shot the video.

Yeah, of course. Go.

- Hey. - Hey.

Novak, how are those firefighter interviews going?

Oh, Violet is being so picky,

we haven't even started interviews yet.

Well, I'm glad I skipped to the front of the line.

Heard you did good.

- Oh, yeah? - Yeah.

But just so you know,

if you ever get a shot to ride with me,

I'm not gonna go as easy on you as Violet did.

Can't wait.

Hey. Sorry.

I know I'm in here during Herrmann time.

Nah, I was just gonna nap.

Don't mind me.

Hey, why are you going over old performance reviews?

I'm on the ropes.

The CFD wants to decommission Engine 51 and let me go.

No. No.

No way.

Pascal will not let that happen.

He's trying some new angle to stop it,

but with the city in crisis, all bets are off,

which is why I'm reading these old performance reviews

going back 30-plus years and trying to prepare

an appeal to the Civil Service Commission next week.

I will not go quiet, that's for sure.

No, sir, you will not, and neither will I, all right?

This appeal is gonna sing like Pavarotti

by the time we're done with it.

All right.

Fire department! Open up.

Now!

Coming.

Easy, Severide.

What's going on?

We're looking for Malcolm Taylor.

Is he your son? - What's this about?

Are you aware what happened to his principal?

What does that have to do with Malcolm?

He posted a video online that puts him

at the scene at the time of the fire.

Ma'am, we have a warrant to search and seize

any electronic devices belonging to your son.

I heard a noise.

Is he in there? - I'm not sure.

Malcolm.

Malcolm!

Fire escape.

I'll get him from the outside.

Hey!

Malcolm!

Malcolm!

Malcolm, stop.

You got nowhere to go. Stop!

- I didn't do it. - Hey, Malcolm!

I didn't start that fire.

We know!

But you saw who did.

Leave a message. I'll get back to you.

Kelly gonna make it?

He didn't answer, so I don't think so.

But maybe he'll join late.

Yeah.

I'm sorry.

He's gonna get the guy who hurt Captain Van Meter.

He can't take breaks.

Yeah.

That's right.

All right, let's do this.

- Hello. - Hi, Isaiah.

I'm Dr. Shreves, the lead neurologist

at the Clements-Wagner Clinic.

So that's what interests you about the program,

the extra money?

Well, my--my shifts have been cut back,

and I figure this is a good way to use the extra skills I have.

Is there anything that you love about emergency medicine?

Sure.

Shocking someone out of v-tach,

stabilizing a trauma patient

and getting them to the emergency room in time.

Mm-hmm--you do realize, though,

that most of our calls aren't that exciting, though?

But some of them are.

So good answer.

Mm-hmm. Thanks for coming in.

We appreciate it. We'll be in touch.

Thanks, Ryan. - Okay.

Yeah, thanks.

We'll talk to you soon.

Sure.

Yeah.

Okay. He seemed good.

No, he did not.

All right.

What was wrong with him?

Well, he had zero passion for the work.

That much was obvious.

Really?

I didn't get that.

And no sense of humor.

Is that because you didn't laugh at your firefighter joke?

Yes, it was funny.

Okay, next up is Jones Hammond.

Jones as a first name?

I don't know about that.

Okay, can I just say you're being a little overly picky?

We have seen a bunch

of perfectly acceptable candidates,

and you haven't liked any of them.

Well, perfectly acceptable won't cut it.

I mean, we're gonna sit inches away

from these firefighters in our tiny box of a rig

for 24 hours straight.

Well, you did it with Vasquez, no problem.

Well, Vasquez is unique.

Oh, here comes our guy with two last names.

Okay, maybe don't tell the joke this time.

It's a little dense.

I'm telling the joke.

Jones, come on in.

The arsonist is right there.

See what happens when you bring the phone down?

Right there. See that?

Yeah.

Yeah, I see him.

All right, so show us where you took the video.

I was coming home from a pickup game

at Ogden Park when I saw the smoke.

So I pulled out my phone and posted up right here.

Look, I didn't even know it was Principal Cole's place

till the next day.

I don't hate the guy or anything, I just--

I posted it for clout.

All right, so if you took the video from right here,

that means the arsonist would be heading east down Hubbard

towards Aberdeen.

Yeah, I guess.

Damn.

What? What's that mean to you?

You know the kid we saw at the hospital, Wyatt?

Yeah. Your first suspect.

He lives on Aberdeen.

Here it is.

The Helix Home Smart Plug used to start the fire

at the school was connected to the Wi-Fi at 7:36 p.m.

You can look at the client log yourself.

The kid who we think did this

couldn't have been at the school then.

This client log's gotta be wrong.

I called the school's IT administrator and confirmed.

He looked at packet captures

along with the router syslog from that night.

They all corroborate the same time, 7:36.

I'm sorry, but the data doesn't lie.

Thank you for your help.

Can't ignore the evidence just because it's inconvenient.

What are the odds of an arsonist running

right back towards Wyatt's?

How do you ignore that?

What is it?

Van Meter's notes.

He was building a profile.

Maybe we don't need to ignore it.

Lily went to Wyatt's after the school fire.

What if she went right back there

after she set fire to Cole's?

So Wyatt's in on it with her?

Maybe, or he's just keeping her secret.

You saw how he was at the hospital.

Yeah, only problem is,

is that she has an alibi.

Yeah, her mother, who looked like

she'd believe anything Lily told her.

Can you check their alibis? - Yeah.

I'll be in touch.

Dom.

I was just on my way to another meeting,

but I've got a few minutes.

What's up?

You said CFD chose

which rigs to decommission,

but that's not true.

It was you.

Who told you that?

Someone who's got no incentive to lie to me.

And you think I do?

I could see you picking 51, thinking I wouldn't push back.

I'd just roll over, given our personal relationship.

There are a number of rigs on the chopping block.

Yeah, and if I let this go,

it'd be one less headache for you.

You're a natural leader, Dom.

I see how hard you fight for your team.

What if you could fight for the whole CFD?

I like being on the ground.

I see a future for you beyond battalion chief,

and I can help you get there.

Consider what we could do for this city together.

I'm sure we could do a lot,

but not at the expense of my people.

This isn't about winning every battle.

This is about winning the war.

Think about what I said.

What are we looking at?

These were taken from the North Bridge Mall.

That's Lily and a friend at 7:36 p.m. on Friday.

So Lily lied about being at home.

She likes upsetting her mother,

but she's not the arsonist.

What the hell are we missing?

This is usually when I ask him.

What's that?

This is a list of usernames and IPs

taken from the Facebook group.

Scraped those off of Lily's computer.

Figured we'd start crossing suspects off one by one.

You got any info on the anonymous posters?

So the first one traces back to a kid.

He doesn't live in Chicago anymore.

And the other one traces back to the Wyatt Moore house.

He probably logged on from another device.

No, he didn't.

Wait, where you going?

These arsons, they're personal.

They're about revenge.

We know how hard Cole went after Wyatt,

putting his college future in jeopardy.

Yeah.

Wyatt has an airtight alibi.

Yeah, he does,

but his father doesn't.

So the outlook on Isaiah's mom is good.

She actually started responding to stimulus.

It's signs she could be emerging.

Oh, that's fantastic.

Yeah, Isaiah, he must be thrilled.

He--yeah, he is.

He wants to stick around for Kelly a few days

because he's worried about him.

- Wow. - You believe that?

- He's a good kid. - He really is.

Yeah.

And Kelly, um,

he's just so consumed with the case,

I am barely getting updates.

I--I've been meaning to ask you.

I saw Ellis from the union in your office the other day.

Are you running for a spot again?

Nah.

Just--just catching up.

I do like her.

I think she fits our needs, but it depends.

You know, you don't really know until you're in the field.

Of course. Yeah. It's a whole different story.

Yeah. We'll see. Hey.

What took you so long?

I was just telling Vasquez about the--

the firefighters we picked for the program.

Mm.

I don't know about Lieutenant Tarin, though.

Something tells me she might give you guys some attitude.

Well, even if she does,

Violet won't let that stand for long.

True that.

Okay.

It'll be good.

I dropped Wyatt off at the game,

and I went straight to Sheila's house.

You can ask her.

Sheila.

Sheila Moore, the ex-wife?

Not yet.

We're still working through the divorce.

It's not going well.

This isn't helping.

She your only alibi?

That's not enough?

Not for me.

I've been more than cooperative,

first with my son and now this.

So what's his problem?

You put my partner in the ICU.

That's my problem.

Mr. Moore, there was a second IP address

that logged into the "I Hate Mr. Cole"

Facebook group coming from your house.

And you think that was me?

My son already admitted to being in the group.

He was probably just using our desktop.

We also caught you on camera running back to your house

after setting fire to Cole's place.

And why would I do that?

Because Cole went after your kid, so you went after Cole.

And after you failed at the school,

you tried again, except that time,

you put my friend in the hospital.

You know, maybe if you'd spend less time

harassing my family, more time doing your job,

your partner wouldn't be there.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Get this psycho off me.

Take a walk.

I know what you did!

So what did they say?

We got enough to--to take Moore's phone?

The district commander, he wants to shift the focus

back to the school fire.

Why?

Because everything we have on Moore is circumstantial,

and they're not convinced that he's our guy.

That's not their decision to make.

It is now.

They want to bench me?

The captain has already spoken to the fire

commissioner's office, okay, and they both agreed

that it's best for the investigation

that you take a step back.

I think you know why. - No.

No, I'm not doing that, not when we're so close.

This is not a request, Severide.

Okay? You're off the case.