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“Chicago Fire” recap (1.5): “Want to go peruse a novel?”

Last week on Chicago Fire, Lt. Casey got a couple unexpected visitors to work. Det. Voight brought slashed tires, a stolen gym bag, and a wad of dirty money. Hallie jogged herself over to the fire house for a quickie and told the hospital she was on a house call.

Dawson and Mills flirted, Severide ditched the office lady, and Shay had an awkward run-in with an ex-girlfriend whose lesbianism she may have overestimated.

This week we hop right in with Casey dropping by Voight’s office for a different kind of quickie. He yells and Voight yells and, frankly, I am a little bored of these guys doing this dance. Either make out or kick each other’s asses already. Casey and the gang are called to rescue a guy who has gotten his arm stuck in some machinery. It’s gross and they have to transport him to the hospital with part of the machine still attached like some sort of cartoon villain. Upon arriving at the hospital we get the biggest shock of the hour when Hallie is there. She works! I figured out that she and Wren have some sort of job share where he covers every specialty 97 percent of the time and she flounces in whenever she feels like wearing scrubs. Dawson stares at Casey while Shay stares at Dawson. Shay doesn’t say anything but she’s just as over watching Dawson moon over this guy as we are. Move on Gabby, there are other fish in the sea, female fish. Remember that time when Dawson saved the little girl by doing a pericardiocentesis? Sure you do because you’re taking notes. Anyway she gets a reprimand for her file and she’s all torqued about it because, hello the girl lived, nicked heart and all. It’s not like she cut off her wife’s leg or something. Jeez. Dawson’s big brother is at the station with a couple of other impressive looking cops who have come to see what the deal is with Casey and Voight. Casey makes allegations he can’t support and Dawson’s brother says he’ll look into Voight.

Shay sticks to her guns and refuses to give Severide more meds so he makes a mystery call to an ex-girlfriend who turns out to be a pharmaceutical rep. He’s looking for some painkillers for his shoulder and she’s looking for some sexy times for her firm yet supple– tight embrace. They both get what they want and he can go back to pretending that his shoulder didn’t almost give out and make him drop an injured guy off of a roof.

Casey is walking down the street minding his own business when he gets jumped by two guys wearing black hoodies. Next thing he knows he’s got glass in his hair, mystery texts, and a trip to the hospital. Hallie treats Casey because at the magical hospital where residents barely work you are also allowed to treat family members. Dawson’s brother is there asking questions about what Toby and Mona looked like so they can meet at the library and talk to Giles about the suspects.

In the middle of looking at mug shots Dawson comes in and puts on a sad face when she hears Casey telling Hallie how much he loves her. Fortunately she’s saved by the bell and is off to help some jackass who rode a shopping cart down a ramp and landed on his head. While Shawson are trying to help the injured kid his friend is hopping around like some sort of deranged cricket telling Dawson what to do and denying that he’s on something. When he tries to follow his fellow Rhodes scholar into the ambulance Dawson bars the door and, when the kid refuses to back off, kicks the kid in the chest, sending him flying onto his butt. Perhaps Dawson is spending a little time after hours getting tips from Kalinda Sharma on how not to manage your anger. The Sharma School of Boots and Badassery does have a nice ring to it. Of course kicking a snotty frat boy’s ass might feel good but it might not be the most prudent course of action when you have already been cited for failing to follow the rules. Dawson’s worried she’s going to get detention and have to write “I will not kick ass at work” until it shows up in blood on the back of her hand.

Shay tries to cheer Dawson up by offering to take her someplace loud, and then someplace quiet. The next logical step is to ask her to go someplace quiet and get loud. But no, Shay asks Dawson if she wants to go to the library to “peruse a novel” or “flip through some microfilm.” Hands up, how any of us have used the old “peruse a novel” line? It’s a classic, really. Shay’s suggestions make break Dawson’s funk and coax a smile in that magical way that only good friends can. I don’t know if they are going to put these to ladies together but Lauren German and Monica Raymund have great chemistry that makes the Shawson relationship a high point of the show. Lauren German, borrowing a page from the Naya Rivera playbook, got on the Twitters to keep fans guessing about where Shawson is going. Dawson decides to forgo the trip to the stacks with Shay because she wants to cook for Candidate Peter Mills.Because, you know, nothing makes you feel better or more like a natural woman than cooking for a man. Maybe Mitt Romney was on to something with his plan to get the ladies home early to cook dinner.

Mills and Dawson flirt a little over her lunch which is unexpectedly delicious because Dawson, like everyone else, puts nutmeg in her macaroni and cheese. They’re cute and awkward like a couple of high school kids who like each other but don’t want anyone to notice. Dawson gets a call partway through their lunch period and we learn that Mouch, the firefighter who claimed to be mister fix-it when it came to the charges against Dawson, is about as useful as he looks. Bummer but on the plus side the teaser for next week included Dawson in a suit so I’m okay with it since suited ladies are my weakness.

In the midst of all this flirting over Easy Mac and invitations to peruse the collected works of Virginia Woolf, Hallie gets pulled over by Voight and he tells her to get “her man” to reconsider. Well damn, Voight, if she’s not on her way to make dinner for “her man” because that’s what we do when we’re not flipping our hair and snapping our gum.

Casey learns about Voight threatening Hallie when he’s in the middle of a harebrained scheme that involves finding a shady dude who will wear a wire and try to implicate Voight. The only problem is that wire man is lying about having an in with Voight. Casey, who was already teetering on the brink, ends the episode glaring at Voight while clutching a menacing fire hook. Before he can step out of the car and commit a felony, Chief Boden shows up out of the shadows and takes the weapon from Casey. He tells Casey to leave, but Boden looks ready to use the weapon himself. We’re five episodes in and have the promise of Sarah Shahi bringing her fine self to the show for episode nine. What are you thinking of the show? Are you as bored of the “Casey does the right thing” storyline as I am? What are you hoping to see next week?

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