One Chicago’s 12 Crossover Events, Ranked by Credibility
It’s been nearly four years since we’ve seen a One Chicago crossover, and more than five years since we’ve had one that spanned all three shows: Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med.
Even NBC has tacitly acknowledged that’s too long, and now, we’re just weeks away from a new One Chicago crossover, a January 29 three-hour event involving a gas explosion at a high-rise.
With excitement building for that three-parter — and with all three shows returning with new episodes on Wednesday, January 8 — we’re ranking the franchise’s prior crossovers, even those including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, by the plausibility of their premises. Check them out below, sorted from most contrived to most credible.
One Chicago Crossover, Wednesday, January 29, 8/7c, NBC
2014: ‘Fire’ (“Nobody Touches Anything”), ‘SVU’ (“Chicago Crossover”) & ‘P.D.’ (“They’ll Have to Go Through Me”)
The franchise’s first three-part crossover starts with Fire’s Firehouse 51 rescuing a fire victim who clutches a box of child pornography. P.D.’s Intelligence Unit works with SVU’s team as the case heads to New York and then back to Chicago. Clunky? You betcha. At least the crossovers have gotten more seamless in the last 10 years.
2020: ‘Fire’ (“Off the Grid”) & ‘P.D.’ (“Burden of Truth”)
Ex-cop Sean Roman (Brian Geraghty) returns to Chicago to look for his sister and teams up with firefighter Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) to investigate a drug dealer with whom his sister might have been involved. Then the drug dealer turns up dead, and Roman all but confesses, while we wonder why he was ever given so much leeway on this case in the first place.
2016: ‘Fire’ (“The Beating Heart”), ‘Med’ (“Malignant”) & ‘P.D.’ (“Now I’m God”)
After firefighter Christopher Hermann (David Eigenberg) is stabbed at his bar, he’s treated at Chicago Med. Meanwhile, a woman rescued from a fire turns out to be one of several patients given unnecessary chemo by a doc, the same doc who killed the wife of P.D.’s Hank Voight (Jason Beghe). The former storyline feels like a natural crossover; the second feels like a total contrivance.
2018: ‘P.D.’ (“Profiles”) & ‘Fire’ (“Hiding Not Seeking”)
When bombers target members of the media, Intelligence enlists Firehouse 51 for help — and Voight even gets Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund) and Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) to go undercover. Firefighters on clandestine operations? Only in Hollywood, baby!
2019: ‘Fire’ (“What I Saw”) & ‘P.D.’ (“Good Men”)
When fire department lockbox keys end up in the hands of house robbers, Voight gets firefighter Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) on a secret mission to find answers at another firehouse. Cruz IDs the firefighter responsible, but then that man turns up dead. At least this undercover operation doesn’t involve firefighters going into a suspect’s house.
2017: ‘Fire’ (“Some Make It, Some Don’t”) & ‘P.D.’ (“Don’t Bury This Case”)
Intelligence has some questions for Severide after his car turns up in a fatal hit-and-run. But it turns out the firefighter was a victim of a car-stealing crime ring. Not a bad set-up for a crossover, but we all knew Severide couldn’t be guilty, so there wasn’t much dramatic tension.
2015: ‘Fire’ (“We Called Her Jellybean”), ‘P.D.’ (“The Number of Rats”) & ‘SVU’ (“Daydream Believer”)
When an apartment fire linked to a case of rape and attempted murder seems like déjà vu for the SVU team, Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her colleagues travel to Chicago to help Voight and his team with the investigation. Ah, the old “I had a case just like that” trope…
2015: ‘Fire’ (“Three Bells”) & ‘P.D.’ (“A Little Devil Complex”)
After paramedic Leslie Shay (Lauren German) dies in a fire, Severide gets a tip-off about the arsonist who may be responsible. And Fire’s Gabriela Dawson enlists the help of her brother, P.D.’s Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda). We love a sibling superteam, but why didn’t the Fire Department wanna take on that arson case?
2014: ‘Fire’ (“A Dark Day”) & ‘P.D.’ (“8:30 PM”)
Before Chicago Med was a thing, a hospital dubbed Chicago Med was the setting of a car bomb that injures Firehouse 51 members at the scene for a charity run. Intelligence is one of the agencies that investigate the crime. No notes — but we do wonder if the writers kicked themselves for not saving this idea for the Chicago Med era.
2019: ‘Fire’ (“Infection: Part I”), ‘Med’ (“Infection: Part II”) & ‘P.D.’ (“Infection: Part III”)
Amid an outbreak of flesh-eating bacteria in Chicago, our heroes realize one microbiologist purposely infected others and then torched his lab to hide the evidence. As the shared episode titles indicate, this is one of the more cohesive crossovers from the franchise so far.
2017: ‘Fire’ (“Deathtrap”), ‘P.D.’ (“Emotional Proximity”) & ‘Justice’ (“Fake”)
After a warehouse fire leaves dozens dead — including the daughter of P.D.’s Olinsky (Elias Koteas) — the Intelligence Unit tracks down those responsible, and Assistant State’s Attorney Peter Stone (Philip Winchester) tries to deliver some Chicago Justice. And yes, everyone has a substantive role in the storyline — including the cast of the short-lived Justice!
2018: ‘Fire’ (“Going to War”), ‘Med’ (“When to Let Go”) & ‘P.D.’ (“Endings”)
A high-rise fire endangers the life of firefighter Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) and claims the life of Pat Halstead (Louis Herthum), father of Med’s Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) and P.D.’s Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer). The stakes are high, the emotions run higher, and everyone is affected — this is how a One Chicago crossover is done.
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