Elsbeth has been a delight since Season 2 hit the schedule, and I have a feeling that is going to continue as the TV schedule rolls into 2025. Especially now that I know the series plans to revisit my favorite plotline of the season: the fireman conundrum.
If you’ve been watching Elsbeth – and if not caught up, some minor spoilers abound in this paragraph!-- you should already know that earlier in Season 2, some enterprising writer came up with a really funny plotline about how firemen are attracted to Ms.Tascioni. So when there was a fire accident during a space training simulation, Fire Marshall Jake Turling was on hand to flirt with Elsbeth and help her with whatever tasks she needed. It was very amusing. As it turns out, we may continue to get more from this trope down the line, as showrunner Jonathan Tolins noted:
We decided that firemen are all attracted to Elsbeth. So I don’t know if fireman Jake will be back, but it, certainly, is something that’s going to continue.
The only thing I don’t love about the note above that Tolins shared with TV Line is that the fireman that kicked off this joke was played by an actor named John Behlmann, and he was particularly great as Fire Marshall Jake Turling. The show already moved on with it’s big holiday-themed December 4th episode, bringing in another fireman with Fire Marshall Lee Sparks, so it seems like this is a joke they want to keep running over time. (That name though.)
Listen, I totally agree with the showrunner that all firefighters being into Elsbeth is an extremely funny gag. It’s way better than if “The Wrong Stuff” had been the start of her dating the hot firefighters, as she has plenty of work to do. However, I’d just like to take the opportunity to say I’ll be a little sad if Fire Marshall Jake doesn’t make an appearance at some point. He was great.
Elsbeth’s love life has so far taken second stage to all of the important HowCatchEm chases she’s been involved in, not to mention her burgeoning friendship with her partner Kaya (Carra Patterson) and the actual stuff she is investigating within the police force. Oh yeah, and the fact her real-life husband Michael Emerson is expected to show up. As I said though, this fireman thing is a really funny gag, and I’m super happy the writers latched onto it.
I hope the show adds on a few more recurring side plots like this to keep us invested, as this one will have a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Still, I’m gonna keep beating that #bringbackFireMarshallJake drum.
We’ll see. Elsbeth has a few more episodes before the New Year, with Episode 8 airing on December 19th. You can catch new episodes on CBS on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. ET. Or check out recent episodes with a Paramount+ subscription.
