'Chicago Fire' season 8 episode 3: Boden may finally warm up to Gallo as he learns more about the young firefighter's past
To be fair to Chief Boden on 'Chicago Fire', it's easy to understand why he is wary of Blake Gallo and his heroics. He just recently lost Otis in a major factory fire and the firehouse is still dealing with the loss and predictably will be for a long time to come. Boden must also be thinking of Jimmy Borelli whose disagreements with Boden led the latter to disobey him and led to Borelli being caught in an explosion, leaving him with serious burns and the loss of his left eye, meaning he could never work as a firefighter again.
Of course, Gallo's nearly reckless actions out on the field worry him. In the previous episode, Gallo leaped up the balconies of a building to rescue a man dangling by ropes and that too without any backup. In this episode, he tells Casey he can get to the girl by extending the truck's ladder through the use of the roof ladder, to which Casey agrees. The rescue goes well but Boden is worried and speaks to Casey about not letting the kid's heroics get to his head.
When Cruz and the others ask Gallo what his story is, Gallo tells them what inspired him to become a firefighter. At 12 years of age, Gallo's house caught on fire and he hid in a closet. Later, the doors flew open and big firefighter stood there, making young Gallo think it was the incredible Hulk. After the fire, Gallo would go over to Firehouse 131 after school every day and became a junior firefighter. But Gallo's words about him being lucky is what worries Boden after all, his luck could run out any time.
But later, Boden meets with the chief of 131 who tells him that he is protective of Gallo. He also tells Boden that he's glad that Gallo's story has a happy ending. When Boden asks him what he means, the chief explains that Gallo lost everything in that fire when he was 12 years old - his mother, his father, and his sister and that Gallo has perhaps found a family again with Firehouse 51. And this seems to thaw Boden's heart out a bit. With a small smile breaking out on his face, he looks over at Gallo with the rest of 51.
It's a heartbreaking story but this makes us worry that Gallo might have a bad end on 'Chicago Fire'. After all, Derek Haas loves these kinds of moments. It may not happen so soon since we just lost Otis, but we might have to prepare ourselves for it. Gallo is certainly a sweetheart and it is clear that he will be as dear to the viewers as he is to 51. Let's hope that Haas lets 'Chicago Fire' keep him.
'Chicago Fire' airs on NBC on Wednesday nights.
