Spoilers ahead for Episode 13 of Chicago Fire Season 13, called "Born of Fire" and available streaming next day with a Peacock subscription.
Chicago Fire had some fun stories to pick up on in "Born of Fire," including revisiting Stella and Severide's decision to adopt (not to mention learning about the "Stellaride" ship name), and Mouch and Herrmann looking to their futures after passing their CFD officer exams. A revisited storyline that isn't much fun for the characters concerns Carver's history of drinking too much, and I really love how Fire started to explore that problem in "Born of Fire." I'm just not as confident about how much the problem will be explored moving forward in the 2025 TV schedule.
Carver attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting early in Episode 13, and admitted that he had a problem out loud for the first time. It was an important step, but he had the bad luck of making his first connection with a guy who turned out to be very bad news, complete with breaking into Violet's apartment.
I'm not as concerned with Carver's AA friend turning out to be bad news, though, since he was caught in the act before the end of the hour. The aspect of the episode that really made me realize that this kind of story was a long time coming had to do with Molly's. Specifically, Carver was struggling with the fact that socializing with his friends from Firehouse 51 tends to require hanging out at a bar at all hours, and he wasn't ready to talk to them about why he was avoiding it.
Seeing Carver struggle with this really reminded me that a lot of the socializing in One Chicago – or at least Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. – tends to be over drinks or in a bar. The doctors of Chicago Med tend to deal in coffee more than alcohol, although Hannah recently dealt with an awkward situation when Ripley's friends were hounding her about drinking.
Fire went above and beyond with showing how Carver had to miss out on friend time for his own sobriety. As a nondrinker myself, the acknowledgment that socializing can tend to revolve around drinking struck me as one of the most true-to-life points of One Chicago this year.
Unfortunately, the episode sped through the storyline in "Born of Fire" to the point that I'm a little worried that the first responder drama is done with Carver's struggles to socialize in public for the time being. He was back in Molly's by the end of the hour, with the support of Violet and surely any other friends who find out what he's been struggling with.
That's not to say that Carver's alcoholism has been cured through the power of friendship, but I do hope that Fire follows through on this storyline, even if just in subtle moments. The promo for the next episode, which airs on February 26 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, looks like there will be a crisis that requires all hands on deck. Take a look:
For as much as I'd love to see more of Carver adjusting how he socializes as he works on his sobriety, I do hope that he catches a break at some point before the final credits roll on Season 13. For now, keep tuning in to see the action for Firehouse 51 on NBC Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET, between Chicago Med at 8 p.m. ET and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET.
You can also check out earlier episodes of all three shows streaming with a Peacock subscription, including the mega three-part Avengers-esque crossover.
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