'Chicago Fire' Season 8 midseason finale cliffhanger has fans groaning about the wait to find out what happened to Kelly Severide
This article contains spoilers for season 8 episode 9.
Tonight saw the mid-season finales for the 'Chicago' franchise on NBC, and if you consider the ever so teasing cliffhanger Chicago Fire's season 8, episode 9 ended on, chances are your brain is still trying to wrap around the idea of the devastation that's to come Kelly Severide's way.
As teased by the official synopsis, "Severide sets out to exonerate a wrongly convicted arsonist" in tonight's episode and despite the lack of wholehearted approval from his captain, Severide seeks out Matt's expert opinion on the blueprints of the malls that burnt down and thus the whole case came to be. Comparing the two, Matt is able to figure out that both the malls were renovated by the same company, and that makes them consider the prospect of renovation fraud for insurance scam purposes.
Further investigation at the field reveals flashlights and typical arson-related stuff in the malls' basements, and soon the team is able to figure out that Jimmy Conrad - the contractor behind the renovations - was turning the walls into the flash paper. Conrad seems to have been tipped off as the team can't really find him, but something even bigger happens when Severide has to go over to Conrad's place to take a look at the evidence tech. As he walks into the basement, there's a man waiting for him with a lit flare and immediately charges at Severide. The episode ends there but in the promo or the mid-season premiere coming after winter break, we see the whole building ablaze with the fire raging maniacally.
So what happens to Severide? Does he survive the fire? Does he make it out in time? Fans have already started speculating on the cliffhanger and most of them took to Twitter to express their takes. Voicing everybody's opinions unanimously, a fan tweeted: "Why oh why do they leave us on such cliffhangers!?!?!? #ChicagoFire." Another fan pointed out the obvious torture of having to wait all the way till next year to find out the consequences, as they tweeted: "I have to wait until January to see what happens #ChicagoFire."
'Chicago Fire' returns from its midseason break on January 8, 2020, only on NBC.