Chicago Fire's Matt Casey had a rough go of things at the beginning of last season. After his wife, Gabriela Dawson, left in the previous season to help with natural disaster victims in Puerto Rico, she came back to Chicago, but only to pack up more of her things and tell him that she was staying away. It wasn't long before she had him served with divorce papers and Casey was a single man. But, before Season 7 was over, Casey and his ex-wife's former best friend / ambo partner, Sylvie Brett, had developed romantic feelings for one another.
Now, there are definitely some fans who are on board with the idea of a Casey / Brett relationship, but many are still mourning Dawsey and wondering why the show has had the two show obvious romantic leanings toward each other so soon after Casey was abandoned by the love of his life. When I attended One Chicago Day recently, I posed the question to Chicago Fire's executive producer Derek Haas, and he had solid reasoning for the, seemingly sudden, move.
Has it been so soon? If you really look at what happened, they both talked about possibilities that never actually arose. I do think when you’re at a firehouse, you’re in a pressure cooker in a way that you’re not if you’re the manager at a Starbucks [for instance]. And, so, you see that life is short and things can go wrong at any moment and people that you were with you’re not with any more. Could that [make feelings grow] quicker? Possibly, but nothing has happened! So, you’re going to see. I’m cooking up some interesting things for the winter finale that I’m very excited about, and it’s going to get crazy.
Alright, Mr. Haas, point taken! While Casey has (somewhat surprisingly) started to move on from the feelings he had for the love of his life for several years just within a few months of her leaving last season, it's also true that he and Brett haven't actually acted on the stirrings that either of them are feeling. In fact, Casey had a very brief sorta-fling with a non-Brett woman last season, while Brett...well, dated Chaplain Kyle, got broken up with, proposed to and then moved away with him.
Some spoilers ahead for last week's Chicago Fire! Of course, what Brett had with Kyle was not meant to be. He proposed right after getting offered a job in Indiana, and when Brett said yes to him, it meant leaving 51 and moving back to her tiny hometown. After a few months of trying to re-adjust to life in a town where the average day at the local firehouse meant taking no calls and helping no victims, Brett told Kyle over dinner that she couldn't stay and immediately packed her bags and left.
Now, obviously, this means that there's another chance for these feelings between Brett and Casey to continue growing. And, Derek Haas makes a good point when he notes how working together under such strenuous circumstances can cause people to get closer than they, possibly, would otherwise. Plus, both were extremely close to Dawson and missing her, and the understanding of that loss could also explain why they've begun to see each other in a new, heart-fluttering light.
And, while Haas didn't specifically say what "interesting things" he and his team are "cooking up" for the winter finale, it does sound like Casett fans (and detractors) will have something to discuss over the show's hiatus.
We can all tune in to find out what happens with Brett and Casey when Chicago Fire continues on NBC, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST. For more on what you can catch on the small screen this season, be sure to check out our 2019 fall TV premiere guide!
