A Dark Day is the twentieth episode of the second season and the 44th overall episode of Chicago Fire. It is the first part of a two-part crossover event with Chicago PD. The event starts with A Dark Day concludes with 8:30 PM.
Summary[]
Casey and Dawson volunteer to help at a charity run at Chicago Med when a massive explosion sends Chicago into chaos.
Plot[]
An on-duty Dawson and Casey help other volunteers at a "Chicago P.D. and Chicago F.D. Race Against Cancer" event held outside Chicago Medical. Kim Burgess, with her nine-year-old niece, Zoe, in tow, joins them to help set up a tent, along with Dr. Holly Whelan and her nine-year-old sister Imogene. With everything in order, Dawson decides to register for the race and heads into the building... moments later a bomb detonates! The blast tears a hole into the hospital, sprays concrete into the streets and injures dozens, including Zoe and Imogene. Once the initial shock wears off, Casey scrambles to help the two girls while realizing Dawson's likely trapped inside the rubble.
Source: NBC.com
Boden and the squad arrive and hit the ground running, coming to the aid of the wounded while rescuing stranded individuals from the race and from within the hospital. Judging from the blast, Mills reckons a car bomb did the damage, which can only mean one thing: there are other explosives out there. He and Cruz find exactly that in the adjacent parking structure, where Mills puts his rescue squad training to the test, boldly tugs at a live wire - and defuses the bomb.
Source: NBC.com
Source: NBC.com
Another close call occurs as Shay avoids falling debris only to puncture her side on a piece of rebar. Her old partner, Rafferty, filling in for Dawson, doesn't notice, so Shay keeps the wound a secret and patches it up in private in order to continue helping the others. But the longer she goes, the more it appears that the wound could be worse than she imagined...
Meanwhile, Dr. Arrata discovers that Zoe suffered a crushed liver and needs an operation. In the unaffected hospital wing, he operates on the young girl as Burgess waits outside the door, wrecked with nerves. But the operation proves unsuccessful; Zoe requires a full transplant. Dr. Arrata scours the hospital for a replacement and manages to find one - except it turns up damaged and unusable. He delivers the tough news to Burgess, who crumples the floor, devastated that her niece may not survive. Not even Burgess' partner Kevin Atwater can console her.
To make matters worse, Imogene goes from visibly fine to a full-on seizure. A quick prognosis determines her brain swelled from a concussion she sustained in the blast and she enters the operating room in an unconscious state. Doctors operate to relieve the pressure, desperate not to lose two young lives on the same day...
Source: NBC.com
All this unfolds as Casey and Severide dive into the dark trenches of the rubble in search of Dawson. Despite their constant calls, they hear no response. Is she dead, like so many others? On the other side of the rubble, Dawson stirs - weak and in pain. Unable to muster a scream to alert them to her whereabouts, she knocks two metal poles together. The rhythmic noise leads Casey and Severide to her location and, with Herrmann's help removing the slabs of concrete from above, they lift Dawson out. The whole team celebrates.
On the tail of this momentary relief comes the rest of Chicago P.D. - and members of the FBI. Hank Voight targets a suspicious group of diplomats from Syria, ostensibly in town for their ambassador's off-the-books liver transplant. Is this their first lead?
With things finally calming down from the blast, Shay's adrenaline ebbs and, in front of Kim Burgess and Kevin Atwater, she collapses to the floor, unconscious and bleeding from her wound sustained from earlier.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Jesse Spencer as Lieutenant Matthew Casey
- Taylor Kinney as Lieutenant Kelly Severide
- Monica Raymund as Paramedic Gabriela Dawson
- Lauren German as Paramedic Leslie Shay
- Charlie Barnett as Firefighter Candidate Peter Mills
- David Eigenberg as Firefighter Christopher Herrmann
- Joe Minoso as Firefighter Joe Cruz
- Yuri Sardarov as Firefighter Brian "Otis" Zvonecek
- Christian Stolte as Firefighter Randy "Mouch" McHolland
- Eamonn Walker as Battalion Chief Wallace Boden
Crossover Cast[]
- Jason Beghe as Sergeant Hank Voight
- Jon Seda as Detective Antonio Dawson
- Sophia Bush as Detective Erin Lindsay
- Jesse Lee Soffer as Detective Jay Halstead
- Marina Squerciati as Officer Kim Burgess
- LaRoyce Hawkins as Officer Kevin Atwater
- Erik Hellman as Doctor Alec Willhite
Recurring Cast[]
- Randy Flagler as Firefighter Harold Capp
- Anthony Ferraris as Firefighter Tony Ferraris
- Christine Evangelista as Paramedic Allison Rafferty
- Steve "Chik" Chikerotis as Deputy District Chief Steve Walker
- Karen Aldridge as Dr. Kendra Perrington
- Clarence Norwood as Firefighter Norwood
- Brett Snow as Firefighter Snow
Guest Cast[]
- Avi Lake as Imogene Thelan
- Aimee Laurence as Zoey Silver
- Amanda Righetti as Doctor Holly Whelan
- Dylan Baker as Doctor David Arata
- Brett Schneider as Patrick Vaughn
- Sammy Sheik as Nizar
- Summer Smart as Greta
- Francis Guinan as Commissioner
- Gregory Anderson as FBI Agent
- Darren Stephens as Homeland Security Agent
- Stephen Anderson as State Police
- Emily Bennett as Nurse #1
- Cheridah Best as Nurse #2
- Leena Kurishingal as Nurse #3
Notes and Trivia[]
- While this is the 20th episode to air in Season 2, it was actually the 18th to be filmed. An unusually long post-production period made this necessary.
- Holden Rent-A-Car is a parody of Hertz Rent-A-Car.
- The title of the show comes from Boden speaking to the fire commissioner about the events of the day, calling it 'a dark day, sir'.