'Chicago Fire' Season 8 Episode 8: Hermann pays fitting tribute to much-missed Otis
The first episode of the eighth season of 'Chicago Fire' saw us losing one of our beloved characters on the show. Brian "Otis" Zvonecek died in the line of duty while saving his fellow firefighters during a massive mattress factory fire.
Otis's death has been weighing hugely on all the characters -- after all, he has been part of the show since the first season and in this week's episode, the show goes a further step in paying tribute to the character.
This week, after a house fire that spread too quickly, Hermann does a little digging. He finds out that the source of the fire was a lit candle near furniture -- but this candle was not unsupervised for more than a minute. When he digs further, he realizes the furniture was made by the same company that owned the mattress factory from the first episode -- Arnow Furniture Company.
However, Hermann knows that simply talking to them will not affect any change, though he still does so with Casey at his side. At the furniture company's HQ, they are even refused the chance to speak with the CEO, though a security guard lets Hermann know when the CEO, Lucas Carrington will be back to the office.
Hermann decides that a sit-in will not be enough, that he needs to do something big to grab the CEO's attention. When Cruz says "seeing is believing" to say why his Slammigan is getting more orders, Hermann gets his idea.
With the help of the firefighters and the paramedics from Firehouse 51, and with Chief Boden's permission, Hermann buys one of Arnow's couches and sets it up in front of the office. When Carrington comes in, Hermann sets a lit match on the couch to demonstrate how quickly the company's furniture catches on fire because of their use of unsafe materials.
While doing so, he gives a moving speech to request the company and speaks about his friend Brian, who saved seven firefighters in a single heartbeat at the company's mattress factory, but died doing so. Hermann tells Carrington to "give them more than just a nice piece of furniture, give them a fighting chance, because every single second count".
A few days later, when Hermann is at the firehouse, he sees a man and two children standing next to Otis's memorial. When Hermann goes out to talk to them, he realizes that it is the CEO, Lucas Carrington.
Hermann succeeded in making a difference with Carrington who got the board to agree that the company transition to different, safer materials to meet the company's "newer, much higher standards".
In doing so, Hermann not only got justice for Otis, but also made a marked difference in the lives of Arnow's customers and he did so by appealing to the human side of the people behind the business. The episode served as yet another respectful homage to a character that is still missed dearly by viewers.
'Chicago Fire' airs on NBC on Wednesday nights. The midseason finale of Season 8 of 'Chicago Fire' will air next Wednesday, on November 20th.