Spoilers ahead for the fall finale of Chicago Fire Season 13, called "Quickstand."
Fall finale night in One Chicago usually means some dramatic twists, and Chicago Fire took Joe Cruz on a blast to the past throughout "Quickstand" until a cliffhanger to end the 2024 TV schedule. In fact, it was a blast all the way back to the first half of Chicago Fire's first season and the very first major arc for Joe Minoso as the then-Truck firefighter. His decision to leave Flaco to die all those years ago has come back to haunt him more than a decade later, and it means danger for him in the 2025 TV schedule... and possibly a refresher for me over hiatus via a Peacock subscription.
In case it wasn't clear that Cruz was in trouble when he was being left bullets filled wish ashes, his brother Leon turned up for the first time since Season 8, and it wasn't for a friendly visit. Leon dropped some very bad news on his brother:
A Cook County parole agent reached out to me about Junior. It's Flaco's cousin, the guy I helped put away like 12 years ago. The only person besides you who was in that building when Flaco died... He got early release. He got out last week.
Leon helpfully dropped a bit of exposition for fans who haven't watched Chicago Fire going back to Season 1 by mentioning the death of Flaco, and news of Junior getting out after having twelve years to stew clearly unnerved Cruz. He still didn't seem entirely prepared for the end of the episode, when he was confronted in a church by Junior himself, who said:
You remember me, right, Joe? It's been a while. Let me refresh your memory. I'm the one who saw you close the door on my cousin. And left him to die. We need to talk, my friend.
Well, "we need to talk" is a better cliffhanger for Cruz than what one character got over on Chicago Med just an hour before "Quickstand" aired on Wednesday night, but not being immediately attacked doesn't mean that Cruz isn't in for a lot of trouble from Junior and possibly more gang members in the new year.
It's been a long time since I first watched Season 1 of Chicago Fire, but I certainly remember how tortured Cruz was by guilt and how that decision to let Flaco die had major consequences. Those seemed entirely in the past, and Cruz went on to join Squad and fall in love and start a family, complete with adopting Javi and having baby Otis with Chloe. He's older and wiser now, but also has a lot more to lose.
And dang it, now I know how I want to scratch the One Chicago itch over winter hiatus! I remember being invested in Cruz's Flaco arc, but will need to rewatch the relevant episodes of Season 1 to fully appreciate how it started before it presumably continues in 2025. The promo for the winter premiere doesn't even give much of anything away. Take a look:
Whether or not you revisit earlier episodes of Chicago Fire, Season 13 will return with the winter premiere on Wednesday, January 8 at 9 p.m. ET, between Chicago Med at 8 p.m. ET and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET. If you do want a refresher on Joe Cruz, Leon, and the Flaco mess, you can find every episode of Fire so far streaming on Peacock.
The arc starts with Episode 7 of Season 1, called "Two Families," which aired back on November 21, 2012 – a.k.a., almost exactly twelve years before "Quickstand" on November 20, 2024.
