Season 12 of Chicago Fire said a big goodbye with the departure of Kara Killmer as EMT Sylvie Brett in a quite literally fishy episode that delivered the Brettsey wedding. The three shows of One Chicago are now on a brief break in the 2024 TV schedule, so I took the time to revisit the Chicago Fire episode that Killmer named as her favorite in an interview with CinemaBlend. It was a real throwback to days gone by, and I totally get why the actress picked it.
Kara Killmer Shares Her Favorite Chicago Fire Episode
Ahead of her final episode of Chicago Fire, Kara Killmer spoke with CinemaBlend about everything from her status as a huge Dawsey fan back in the day to what it was like to film her very last scene. The actress was part of the cast for the better part of a decade, with Brett joining Firehouse 51 full time in Season 3 after the tragic death of Shay. With so many years of episodes under her belt, does Killmer have a favorite to rewatch? I asked her that very question, and she shared:
I would put Chicago Fire on in the background any day. I've always joked that I'm equal parts fan, equal parts actor on this show. But I will say my favorite episode to be in at least was Season 3 Episode 11, called 'Let Him Die.' It was with Charlie Burnett. He was playing Peter Mills, and Mills and Brett get into a situation with the mob and they get kidnapped. And we spent like three days in an abandoned soap factory, trying to save this mob guy and it was just the most fun. It was just an episode where I finally realized, like, 'I cannot believe this is my job. This is so fun.' So that was a pivotal episode for me to film, and that one was a delight. That one sticks out for me.
Kara Killmer's favorite episode was early in her time on Chicago Fire, with Season 3's "Let Him Die" airing on NBC in January 2015. That was just her eleventh episode out of the 200 she'd eventually be credited with, and she had some very valid reasons for choosing it as her favorite.
So, I decided to fire up my Peacock Premium subscription and rewatch the episode myself and experience again what makes "Let Him Die" such a standout for Kara Killmer.
I Rewatched Season 3, Episode 11: "Let Him Die"
I vaguely remembered the events of "Let Him Die" after Kara Killmer described them in our interview, but rewatching the episode really sent me on a blast to the past, in the very best way. While I missed characters like Miranda Rae Mayo's Stella Kidd and Hanako Greensmith's Violet Mikami, this felt like watching a prime example of what made Fire such a big hit early on.
Charlie Burnett was still part of the cast as Peter Mills, although he would exit Chicago Fire at the end of the third season. Dawsey – a.k.a. Dawson and Casey, whose relationship I was flashing back to recently – was the top source of juicy relationship drama. Boden and Donna just had their baby. Severide's salt-and-pepper hair had a lot more pepper than salt. The Chicago P.D. guest appearance was Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead, who has since left the police procedural. The iPhones were clunkier.
And it was a genuinely great episode. I'd forgotten that "Let Him Die" was actually the midseason premiere of Season 3 and picked up on a cliffhanger from back in late 2014.
Brett and Mills were a great team for their brief time together, and their kidnapping when they were on a call meant a semi-crossover with Halstead playing a part and Chicago Med – which wouldn't even get its backdoor pilot until April 2015 – got a shout out. While I did double check the dates for Med's backdoor pilot and premiere, it was a sure sign that One Chicago didn't yet have a medical drama that the doctor in this episode pronounced "ECMO" by spelling it out as "E-C-M-O." Sharon Goodwin would never!
Fire was also years away from the Brettsey relationship, as Casey and Dawson's love story was still the most important of the show and Brett was in her unlikely romance with Cruz at the time. I was also struck by how Chicago Fire is a rare show that can run for more than a decade and still hold on to much of its original cast. Of the main players in "Let Him Die," only Charlie Burnett (Mills), Yuri Sardarov (Otis), Monica Raymund (Dawson), Jesse Spencer (Casey), and Kara Killmer are gone by Season 12.
Plus, I got a laugh out of Brett facing down the barrel of a gun in Kara Killmer's favorite episode, since the very same thing happened to Brett in her last episode. Good old Chicago Fire! On the whole, I'm glad that Killmer gave me a reason to revisit this episode, and am going to be tempted to keep rewatching classic episodes during the wait for Season 12 to return on Wednesday, March 20 in the usual 9 p.m. ET time slot on NBC.
