Spoilers ahead for Episode 15 of Chicago Fire Season 10, called “The Missing Piece.”
Chicago Fire officially moved Stella Kidd into the role of the officer on Truck 81 after the long back and forth over who would get the job, but Casey’s legacy still loomed large in “The Missing Piece.” A FaceTime call between Brett and Casey just upset Brett as she realized just how much she really, really misses him, and she decided that she needs to go spend time with him in Portland for more than just a few days here and there. Brett is taking a break from Chicago and Firehouse 51, but is Chicago Fire saying goodbye to Kara Killmer not too long after losing Jesse Spencer?
Brett finally opened up to Violet (who is in the middle of a complicated romance of her own) and Stella about how hard the separation from Casey has been, and they were completely supportive when she decided that she needs to go and be with him. In the ambulance with Violet, Brett said:
I can’t stop thinking about when Amelia and Scott were here last time. Scott said that ‘Every moment with the person you love is precious. Don’t just let the time slip by.’ I need to take some real time off. Not just a week or even a month. I have to go to Portland and be with Casey.
That speech seemed pretty final, and gives the impression that Brett is ready to pack up and move off-screen to Oregon with Casey to start a new life there. But that wasn’t the end of Brett’s journey in “The Missing Piece.” Toward the end of the episode, Brett was elaborating on her decision to Stella and Violet, which involved singing Casey’s praises to two people who could really understand what she missed about him. Her speech this time seemed to leave a little bit of wiggle room about the future of Brettsey:
I just need to spend some actual time with Matt. Reconnect. When I hung up that FaceTime the other day, I just got hit with this wave of all the things that I miss about him. That warmth, you know?
Even though Brett then told her friends that she was really going to miss them, I don’t get the impression that she’s 100% decided on relocating to Portland to be with Casey and the Darden boys. Needing to reconnect isn’t exactly the same thing as packing up all of her earthly possessions and picking out china patterns, after all, so fans don’t necessarily need to panic that Brett is going to be gone for good.
While Casey heading to Portland was the way for Chicago Fire to write Jesse Spencer out of the show without killing Casey off or doing anything that would prevent the character from potentially coming back someday, Kara Killmer hasn’t publicly said anything about leaving.
There’s also the point that Miranda Rae Mayo took some time away from the show earlier in Season 10, and Stella’s absence became a plot point for Severide before she came back in full force. There’s no reason why Fire couldn’t do the same thing with Brett and simply bring her back after letting her try to reconnect with Casey.
I do think that Chicago Fire has hit the point of no return when it comes to Brettsey, for better or worse. I’ve been expecting them to break up ever since the news broke that Jesse Spencer was leaving with no sign that Kara Killmer was as well. If the actress is planning on staying on Chicago Fire, then I think the story has hit the point where the relationship needs to end, for Brett’s own sake. After all, Casey isn’t coming back, and Brett deserves to live her life in Chicago! If Killmer is leaving... well, the Brettsey endgame could happen after all.
At this point, I hope that Brett will be back, because it would be a shame to lose Kara Killmer, especially in the same season that already said goodbye to Jesse Spencer. See what happens next with new episodes of Chicago Fire on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET, right in the middle of NBC’s One Chicago block with Chicago Med at 8 p.m. and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. in the 2022 TV schedule.
