As it turns out, "Under the Knife" had as much to do with the rest of Station 51 as it did with Kelly.

But with the added pressures of being under the knife, Cruz, Mills, Severide and Casey might be making some poor choices.

Cruz is still dealing with Flacko’s death and it seems each time we see him he’s trying something new to ease his guilt. In this case, he was resorting to cutting himself, but at least Leon’s life is beginning to turn around as he’s taken the first step in rehabilitation by registering for classes.

However, it’s still difficult to become emotionally involved with this story. It boils down to two reasons for me:

1. Cruz is mostly silent.
2. Leon is still ringing mostly false.

While it’s understandable that Cruz is under almost direct orders to keep his mouth shut with Flacko’s death, Cruz has no outlet for his feelings aside from Leon.

The only reprieve Cruz found was hurting himself – whether by cutting, drinking or aimlessly wandering by train tracks and bridges – but all of it has been done without a word. It’s difficult to connect with Cruz when we’re mostly clawing for answers on our own.

Hopefully, Cruz will eventually make his way to Mouch and talk about all of this. Mouch has been in everyone’s corner and I very much doubt he’d turn in Cruz.

Mills, after one night of passion with Dawson, made a very poor decision when he talked back to Boden and it was gratifying to watch Boden take him down a peg. Even though Mills agreed with Dawson to keep their fun night and whatever aftermath they chose just between them, anyone with an ounce of observational skills could tell they were into each other and had fun. 

While the potential relationship is not a bad thing on its own, as we’ve seen before in “One Minute,” Boden doesn’t like his orders being questioned and that’s what set him off more than anything else.

It looked like Boden was willing to turn his head from whatever Mills and Dawson had as long as Mills could learn the skills needed for his job and keep his head down. Instead, Mills didn’t want to play that game and would rather tell Boden to basically mind his own business... even though it’s completely within his firehouse.

Mills’ complete shellacking by Boden might be the nail in the one-night stand of Dawson and Mills.

Casey’s meetings with his mother are beginning to be put up red flags for me. While I originally thought she might have acted in self-defense or with good reason, it looks more and more like she deserves to stay in prison and I feel like she’s just using Casey for whatever kind of edge she can get in her parole hearing.

Finally, there’s Severide. I can’t blame him for wanting to go to Madrid with Renee. With the news of his more than likely “administrative position” after the surgery, he would rather head to Madrid, go to a rehab center there and maybe start his life over somewhere new with Renee.

Not a bad cliffhanger. Chicago Fire will be back in three weeks. As always, let us know what you thought of “Under the Knife” in the comments!