I Hate to Say It but the New Chicago Fire Chief Was Right About Nepotism

Whenever there’s a new chief or person in charge on Chicago Fire, there’s trouble.

The new person has a chance to run things their way, and that often means disrupting everything at Firehouse 51.

Chief Andre Hopkins was no different, immediately coming in to threaten the natural flow at 51, but it’s not because he wants to do things his way, and he actually has a good point.

Nepotism Is a Problem — We Have to Admit That

In the real world, it’s a familiar problem across workplaces.

The boss’s kid gets a job without the necessary skills, causing problems for everyone else — a classic case of nepotism.

It’s especially dangerous in firefighting, where capability and adherence to rules keep people alive.

Chicago Fire has shown how incapable firefighters can make deadly mistakes. They’re not all nepo babies, but favoritism has created the same problem.

Jerry Gorsh’s rise under Chief Grissom is a perfect example. He needed his own job explained to him during a hazmat call.

Even outside Chicago Fire, characters like Bode on Fire Country show how unchecked behavior puts lives at risk.

Hopkins is right about one thing: the wrong people sometimes end up in positions they’re not ready for.

Sometimes, all it takes is the right surname to jump ahead of someone more experienced.

As Hopkins points out, nepo babies often break rules and face fewer consequences.

There’s nothing wrong with challenging nepotism, and if Severide weren’t the target, it’d be easier to support Hopkins.

However, Severide having to bear the brunt of it raises the issue Hopkins really has.

Hopkins Wants Revenge on Chicago Fire

As Hopkins made his intentions clear to Severide, it became clear to me that he didn’t want to bring change for the good of the CFD.

His mission is revenge, as he made clear on Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 16.

Since Hopkins can’t get revenge against Benny, the man who disciplined him in the first place, he needs to go after Benny’s son.

Hopkins can’t even imagine that Severide, with that surname, wasn’t helping him in his career at all.

It pushed Severide to be a better firefighter and lieutenant. He had to prove that he was good enough for Squad and that was his rightful place.

How many times have people tried to push him into an arson investigation?

While he does work with OFI regularly, it has never been the career path he’s wanted to pursue, proving he is not his father’s son.

Hopkins was right in that Severide has broken the rules and gotten away with it at times, but that has nothing to do with being a nepo baby.

That comes from Chief Boden, who could see the kind of firefighter Severide was, and he fought to keep Severide around when things got out of hand.

Anyone who proved themselves at Firehouse 51 got that sort of loyalty and treatment.

At the same time, Boden was strict, and he would make it clear when Severide — and others at Firehouse 51 — had done something that he could no longer protect them from.

If Hopkins just paid attention to Severide slightly, he would see all of that.

Instead, he is looking at the entire situation with the green-eyed monster on his back, and it weakens the argument.

With his current attitude on Chicago Fire Season 14, he risks missing the fact that Severide is genuinely good at his job.

I do think there was an attempt to see that while at the cemetery, when Hopkins asked to understand Severide’s decision-making when he jumped into the grave to save the gravedigger.

However, I have to question whether Hopkins will be able to see past the surname and give Severide a fair chance, because it doesn’t seem like it.

Hopkins can’t stop nepotism from happening, and the truth is, someone shouldn’t be stopped from pursuing a career in firefighting just because of who their parents are.

At the same time, they shouldn’t be guaranteed one, either. There is a fine balance, but the issue won’t be solved by someone with a chip on their shoulder.

Hopkins needs to step back if he wants to be viewed as having a legitimate issue with the CFD. By doing that, he’d probably have more support from those at Firehouse 51 and the fans of the show!

This is where we turn to you!
We love hearing your thoughts on events happening in our favorite TV shows. So, what did you think of Chief Hopkins on Chicago Fire? Drop your comments below, and let’s keep the conversation going.