Chicago Fire season 14 premiere review: A bittersweet return to Firehouse 51

SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 14, Episode 1. It also contains reference to pregnancy loss.

Chicago Fire is known for big premieres and big finales. The NBC show adds to that reputation with the Season 14 premiere, which breaks the audience’s hearts more than once. Yet “Kicking Down Doors” also comes with an amount of controversy.

That controversy comes from an early scene in which Stella Kidd learns that she has lost the pregnancy she revealed in the Season 10 finale. The back and forth with Stellaride’s parenthood seems cruel at this point — first the failed adoption attempt, then the pregnancy announcement, and not only taking that back but then also dangling the idea of another adoption in front of them as well as the fans. It’s true that becoming parents is the last step for any TV couple, so it’s not a plotline to pursue lightly. But why end Season 10 with the news that so many people wanted to hear, on and off-screen, only to take it away?

Past that, the Chicago Fire Season 14 premiere is focused on drumming up mystery around the firehouse’s new arrival, Sal Vasquez. It’s fantastic to see actor Brandon Larracuente with a new gig after he was so fantastic in another Dick Wolf series, On Call. He slides perfectly from…