How ‘Chicago Fire’ Set Up Kara Killmer’s Exit & Brett’s New Job in Portland

Join the 51 Family

For exclusive news and updates, subscribe to our Chicago Fire Newsletter:

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 12 Episode 5 “On the Hook.”]

With Kara Killmer‘s time on Chicago Fire coming to an end in just one week—and featuring Brett and Casey’s (Jesse Spencer) wedding—the latest episode has to set up her exit.

It starts off fun, with Brett, Violet (Hanako Greensmith), and Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) at work the morning after her bachelorette party (consisting of pole dancing and whiskey shot blackjack). And while the other two might have spent their mornings dealing with hangovers, Brett was doing a Zoom interview with Portland FD for a job; with her and Matt planning to move into a bigger house for the kids, she needs a job, plus she can’t imagine life without this work. Furthermore, Tony (Anthony Ferraris) has come through with the hook-up for the wedding venue (an aquarium) and at a great cost.

But then on a call, after a basketball player, Jared, collapses, the defibrillator malfunctions (the machine is charging, but it won’t fire). Fortunately, the school has a portable AED (Automated External Defibrillator). However, even though maintenance on 61’s defibrillator is up to date and it passed the tests it needed to prior to the call, Jared remains unresponsive at the hospital and the doctors are concerned about permanent neurological damage because of the delay in restarting his heart. The new paramedic chief wants answers, and if it wasn’t an equipment problem, it’s the PIC (paramedic in charge)—meaning Brett—on the hook, Boden (Eamonn Walker) warns her.

Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC

When a tech comes to pick up the defibrillator—a replacement has already been delivered—to run a diagnostic on it, he remarks that he hasn’t seen a lot of problems with the model. Then, Paramedic Chief Robinson stops by to double check a few items from Brett’s report, and Violet gets defensive, standing up for her partner and insisting that there must be something wrong with the machine. Robinson also notes that Portland FD reached out for a recommendation; if this was user error, she can’t give Brett one for the new job and an immediate suspension will be initiated. Violet immediately tells her Brett’s the best paramedic in the CFD. (Brett worries she’s risking her job, but Violet just sees it as an opportunity to have more time to visit her in Portland.)

The tech doesn’t find any flaws in the defibrillator, though Violet pushes him to check again. The good news is that Jared is intubated but responding to commands, so it’s looking hopeful. Then Violet comes up with a possible theory, that Jared was using too much menthol sports cream that it interfered with the defibrillator. However, it’s while they’re checking that out that Brett realizes the real problem: the gel application on the pads—all of them—are baked, like rubber. Without that gel, there’s no active connection between the patient and machine. It was an equipment issue, not user error.

Robinson is glad it wasn’t user error and makes the call to make sure there aren’t any other pads out there like that. She also confirms she’ll be giving Brett a good recommendation for the Portland FD job, though Violet notes that she should include that she saved a lot of lives. As they’re leaving, Robinson stops Violet and reminds her that while she appreciates her loyalty to her partner, she needs to remember she’s her chief and doesn’t like being disrespected.

Related

'Chicago Fire': Why We're Not Worried About Severide Leaving Again for Arson Case

However, while it’s looking like Brett’s new job is going to be a sure thing, the location of her wedding is another story because Tony did not hook her up with the Shedd Aquarium like she thought (and put on the invites). Rather, he takes her to The Aquarium. “I’m getting married in a fish store,” she realizes in horror.

Elsewhere, Gibson (Rome Flynn) talks to the teen who knocked into Jared and tells him he knows the feeling of having the heavy load of another person’s life. He then reveals to Carver (Jake Lockett), “I killed a man.” He thought the Golden Gloves would be his ticket out, but then he got in the ring with “Mary the Machine,” he explains. He’d been trained to punch with everything he had, and that’s what he did, but when Marty went down in the third round, he never got up. Even as the paramedics worked on him, Gibson knew he was gone. That messed him up, and he ended up in a psych unit for a stretch. The staff there helped him, and seeing how they took care of people was how he decided to become a firefighter.

Plus, drunk Kidd after Brett’s bachelorette party, texted Severide (Taylor Kinney) and sent him dirty photos. She did get a response (more than she did on his last ATF trip), and he’s due home in two days. Later, while relaxing in a massage chair Herrmann (David Eigenberg), she admits that while she’s excited to see him, she gets flashes of, “what if he suddenly goes MIA like last time? I know that is crazy,” she admits, “so I should just let my head stop spinning in circles.”

Chicago Fire, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC