The heroes of Chicago Fire have faced all manner of crises over the nine seasons of the series so far, and the next episode will see all hands on deck from Firehouse 51 to battle what Herrmann dubs a "beast" of a blaze. In a clip from the episode that airs on February 3 (seen above), the firefighters pile into Truck 81, Squad 3, and Engine 51 to head downtown where a ten-story storage unit could be burning from inside the walls.
Well, it wouldn't be a Chicago Fire emergency if the stakes were low and the scenes were safe, so it's only natural that the fire is apparently all the way up on the tenth floor. I'm not sure many viewers would agree with Herrmann that a "fire before breakfast" bodes well for a lucky day, and Cruz definitely looks like he could use an uplifting fortune cookie or two. Based on the description for this episode, however, it'll take more than a fortune cookies to get everybody safely home.
The episode, called "My Lucky Day," will see Herrmann and Cruz trapped inside a freight elevator with all communications cut off. With the clip revealing that the full crews of Truck, Squad, and Engine are on the scene, losing track of two seasoned firefighters should definitely cause some trouble. Showrunner Derek Haas previously teased the scale of this episode, saying that they "had to build an entire stage for a freight elevator that is caught in a fire."
Viewers will have to wait until the episode on Wednesday, February 3 to see the full story of what happens for Herrmann, Cruz, and the rest of the Firehouse 51 firefighters to see exactly what goes down on the scene of this fire, but showrunner Derek Haas previewed that "My Lucky Day" is going to be a powerhouse episode for two longtime cast members, saying:
The goal in episode 905 of Chicago Fire, which you are about to watch, was to write it like a play and have the actors perform entire acts in one take, rather than having 10 or 12 scenes in one act the way we normally do. Joe Minoso and David Eigenberg truly delivered and, in fact, we had 30-minute takes where we ran two acts together all the way through. I’ve never heard our crew cheer as loudly at the end of a take the way they did for Joe and David when director Reza Tabriza finally yelled cut. I believe David gave his best performance of the series. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Considering David Eigenberg has been part of the Chicago Fire cast ever since the pilot back in 2012, the showrunner saying that "My Lucky Day" features his best performance of the series is high praise! It should be interesting to see Eigenberg and Joe Minoso teamed up in the episode, when they're not the most frequent scene partners compared to characters like Casey and Severide.
Joe Minoso's Cruz has also had an especially emotional ride over the past couple of seasons, starting with the devastating death of Otis to start Season 8 and hitting a high point with his wedding at the end of Season 8. He doesn't exactly look thrilled in the sneak peek at "My Lucky Day," and it sounds like the episode might not give him a whole lot of reasons to smile once he's trapped in the elevator in a burning ten-story building. For fans who aren't facing any fires of their own, "My Lucky Day" sounds like a thrilling hour of television.
See Herrmann and Cruz face their fates in an elevator with the "My Lucky Day" episode of Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET on NBC on February 3, between new episodes of Chicago Med at 8 p.m. ET and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET. A familiar face is returning to Med this week, while a P.D. character will have to deal with some trauma to close the night of One Chicago action.
