Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 8 Review: A Man Possessed… Which Is Nothing New!
We’re back with Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 8, and the storytelling? Well, it’s still a chore.
Not one, but four of the stories from “A Man Possessed” irked me. And yes, I’ve earned the right to complain.
It’s shocking how far this show has fallen from its heyday. Why do I feel this way? Let’s take a look.
First of all, Kelly Severide and Tom Van Meter have the fire senses of bags of potatoes. (Annoyance #1)
I can smell a barbecue from blocks away, and we can even smell the smoke from Canadian fires all the way in the faraway land of Pittsburgh.
But Kelly and Tom? They can’t smell a fire that’s literally raging on two sides of them in an apartment building.
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I’ve always believed smoke detectors are for nighttime. You can smell smoke when you’re awake, and I’d like to think that you can really smell it if it’s your job.
But not Kelly and Tom. That fire had worked its way up several floors before they heard alarms that finally alerted them to the danger at their doorstep.
I’m sorry, but that story is ridiculously embarrassing. It’s even worse that this could be what takes out Van Meter.
I would rather have seen them cut him because of budget cuts (and, good golly, that is another storyline I want to punch in the face).
And I get that kids hate teachers. But when did it ever become acceptable to make threats against them?
Posting actual threats on social media goes beyond venting. It’s actionable, especially when someone makes good on the threat. It means every kid has to go into protection mode.
Sheesh. What a mess the kids in this fictional Chicago are. Other than Isiaha, every kid in Chicago seems like a basket case.
Storytelling devices are usually that foster kids are nightmares. But in this case, it’s every other kid in the city who has issues. Isaiah is a literal dream of a kid, while kids with families are a mess.
From smirking (but very pretty) Lily to the budding filmmaker Malcolm, they are all teetering on the edge of common sense and the common good.
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If one kid might have done the deed, more were complicit in either hiding the suspect or just sitting on what turned out to be explosive behavior.
Just because it was Wyatt’s father, not Wyatt himself or one of his friends, who set fire to Mr. Cole’s place doesn’t mean the kids couldn’t have done something to stop it.
Parents get just as wrapped up in the shenanigans as kids, and sometimes more. They feel things so deeply that they get caught up in bad behavior that hurts rather than helps kids.
What’s really weird about this whole story is how they’re painting Kelly as “A Man Possessed,” even going so far as to boot him off the arson investigation.
He’s the last arson fighter standing, from what we’ve seen. There are probably more people on Van Meter’s team, but if Severide has to be called in so often, they can’t be that good.
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In my opinion, you’d want someone super passionate about the investigation to be running it. Severide will always find an answer. That’s why we love him.
But they’re doing something weird with Severide this time out, which was obvious when Stella whined to Mouch that he’s “too wrapped up” in the case to even keep her in the loop. He’s always like that when investigating arson.
This is the same Stella who used some kind of magic carpet to get from Cleveland to Chicago when she got wind of the fire. (Annoyance #2) Kelly was still getting the news about Van Meter’s health, and Stella was already home.
Give the guy some time to wrap his head around it, why don’t you? He was almost burned to death, too.
Meanwhile, it’s a five-hour drive from Cleveland to Chicago, and the trip would be longer if they flew (security is a drag). How did she get there before Kelly had even had a chance to change?
Little things like that can really suck the life out of a story. I’d like at least a little reality to go with my drama.
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Speaking of drama, we also had the “Mouch and Engine 51 are getting cut” storyline. (Annoyance #3)
Thanks to a Redditor, I understand Engine is responsible for putting water on the fire. Water on the fire. What is the point of a firehouse that can’t, you know, put out fires?
And even worse, the person behind the request? The Mayor’s office. The mayor we have never seen, with a chief of staff who is romantically involved with 51’s captain.
Who thought this story was a good idea, especially on the wings of “winning the war” at the expense of Dom Pascal’s current team, hoping he can sidle with her to do more for the city?
Why not just ask him instead of taking his future into your hands? What a concept. Does Annette really dig Pascal romantically or not? Is she using him for her own purposes, as he said, and trying to blind him to it with a little romance?
Now, for the umpeenth time, Mouch is forced to fight for his job, scouring past performance reviews and talking to legal counsel. But this time, part of it is due to someone who has professional and personal hots for Pascal.
How demeaning.
It’s time for Mouch and Herrmann to get storylines that speak to their tenure and expertise, having lasted decades in the CFD. Anything else is unacceptable at this point.
Then we have the romantic interlude. Maybe. Probably. Oh no, not again.
Didn’t anyone read Jasmine’s article about letting Violet stay single for a while? OK, maybe Violet’s not into Vasquez, but the writing sure seems to be on the wall. (Annoyance #4)
He’s “unique”? WTF does that mean?
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Even if they’re not setting them up for a romantic entanglement, they’re doing the fancy footwork to make it seem like they are, which is just as bad.
Any time you see Violet with her hair curled, you know it’s for more than a night at Molly’s.
One good thing I can say about Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 8 is that it went quickly. The story generally went nowhere, but it got there fast.
The case isn’t solved. We don’t know if Van Meter will survive. We don’t know who is coming on board to float with Violet and Novak. And Isaiah didn’t get to talk to his mom’s physician team in Cleveland.
There sure is a lot more we don’t know than we do. But we do have another episode coming, so there’s that.
What did you think of “A Man Possessed”? Is this Chicago Fire at its best, its worst, or somewhere in between?
Vote in our poll below, and drop into the comments to let ’em rip.
5 tricks marketers and retailers use to get you to buy more
Marketing tricks to get you to buy more are everywhere. Here are 5 common ones to watch out for.
November 26, 2024
Tell Etsy: Stop using fake countdown timers on deals that don’t expire
Tell Etsy: Stop using fake countdown timers on deals that don’t expire
Take ActionR.J. CrossDirector, Our Online Life Program; and Don’t Sell My Data Campaign, PIRG
Emma Van Sterrtegem
Campaign Intern
It’s no secret that retailers and advertisers want you to buy more. More than you need, more than you intended, and maybe even more than you can feel good about later.
There’s a long tradition of retailer tricks. Putting milk in the back of the store so you walk by less essential snacks to get there. “Going out of business” sales that last 3 years. Stocking shelves so expensive products sit at your eye level, and the ones kids might want down at theirs.
As more of our shopping has moved online, retailers and advertisers have given some old maneuvers new twists. If you’re shopping this Black Friday or Cyber Monday – or any other time of the year – odds are you’ll see at least one of these. Being able to spot these tricks may make you more likely to chuckle when you see them, instead of falling for them.
Here’s 5 common psychological tricks to know.
#1 – Urgency appeals
Urgency appeals use artificial time limits to pressure you to act fast. Think Black Friday, Prime Day and every other sale ending soon. Hurry before it’s over – last chance! Don’t miss out!
Retailers have long used limited time offers to prompt a sense of urgency in shoppers, but online storefronts have a new trick: the countdown timer. Watching the seconds tick away until a deal is gone forever gives you a real visceral sense of time running out and, at least for this shopper, can prove a tiny bit anxiety-inducing. It makes it that much harder to think clearly. Etsy is using fake countdown timers to get you to buy stuff
Etsy is using fake countdown timers to get you to buy stuff
November 26, 2024
But it turns out sometimes these countdowns aren’t counting down to anything at all.
In our holiday shopping we accidentally bumped into a seller on Etsy using a fake countdown timer on a deal that didn’t actually expire. Curious to know if it was a one-off thing, we ended up tracking 20 bestselling or Etsy-curated products with countdown sales across 10 different product categories. Of the 20 we tracked, 16 (80%) simply reset when they hit 0, with no change in price. The other 4 actually got cheaper when time ran out.
So don’t let a countdown timer stress you out. Remember that it’s trying to nudge you towards instant, less-well-thought-out buying.
#2 – Scarcity appeals
Like urgency appeals, the goal of scarcity appeals is to pressure you to act fast. But instead of a time constraint, it’s how much stock is left – something is running low or it’s in high demand, so you better hurry up before it’s too late. This tactic aims to excite you into making an impulse purchase, discouraging you from taking the time to comparison shop, do more research, or ask yourself “do I really need this?”
In a brick and mortar store it’s easier for you to see for yourself how much stock there is. But when shopping online, digital storefronts can choose how to communicate scarcity. Maybe they’ll inform you that there’s only 5 of an item left, that a lot of other people have it in their carts, or that an item is selling really fast.
We found it on Etsy, Amazon, Temu and Uncommon Goods.Photo by TPIN Staff | TPIN
The problem is that as an online shopper, there’s no way for you to guarantee that that scarcity is real. Numbers can be presented out of context making things seem much more urgent than they are. Maybe 20 people have that coffee maker in their carts, but only an average of one person a week is actually buying it and the store has 100 in stock.
When you see this tactic, don’t let yourself get freaked out. Odds are fair that you’re not really missing out.Buy Now!: How to help break the shopping waste cycle
Buy Now!: How to help break the shopping waste cycle
November 20, 2024
#3 – Tricks with pricing
There’s a whole field called psychological pricing dedicated to figuring out how to tell you how much something costs as painlessly as possible.
Retailers have a lot of tactics. You’re probably familiar with the most common ones, like rounding down – something seems cheaper if it’s $4.99 instead of $5. Others include removing commas from large amounts ($1200 instead of $1,200) and giving discounts on items we’re likely to feel guilty about buying. I don’t need a cookie, but if it’s half off when I buy my coffee, the discount gives me at least some justification.
Amongst the skeeziest tactics out there are fake markdowns on MSRPs retailers never intend to charge. It turns out that trick is pretty common. Last year, Consumer Checkbook surveyed sales run by 24 major retailers and found that “most stores’ sale prices—even those that advertise big savings—are bogus discounts, with retailers offering the same ‘sale price’ more than half the time.”
But perhaps the most common price trick you’ll see this shopping season is showing you the price broken out into monthly installments. And it is, in fact, a bit of a trick.
Monthly payments can lead you to spending more
There’s no doubt that monthly payments can be useful for spreading out costs that would be financially challenging to undertake all at once, like buying a car. But it’s also true that monthly installments play with our perception of cost. If you can walk away with an item today for 25% of the price, it feels like you’ve gotten a deal when in the end you really haven’t. You’re still going to have to pay the full cost – and sometimes even more in late fees, if you’re not careful.
With Buy Now Pay Later options embedded in checkouts across the internet, you can pay for almost anything in 4 easy payments. These days online stores often do the mental math for you, displaying the monthly price as a more friendly alternative right alongside the total.
The result can be more spending. One survey of BNPL users found that two-thirds reported buying more than they otherwise would have if they had to pay the total upfront. The result can also be more impulsive spending too, something the BNPL companies are well aware of. A 2017 report co-authored by the BNPL firm Klarna noted that spontaneous purchases, “often resulting from lapses of self-control, inner strength or resolve” can be “lucrative for retailers.” The report – called “Emotional eCommerce” – offers ways online shops can help shoppers overcome hesitations on their impulse purchases. Naturally, integrating BNPL is one of the report’s suggested solutions.
It’s estimated that Americans will finance a record-high $18.5 billion of their holiday shopping with BNPL. Nearly half of parents this year intend to use BNPL to minimize the guilt of larger splurge purchases.
But it isn’t just BNPL pushing monthly payments. Wayfair, for example, displays its own credit card offers with suggested monthly payments next to the price. Apple displays the cost if you finance through its new Apple Card Monthly Installments plan. You can break up your purchase be it $1,000 for the new iPhone 16 Pro ($41.62/month for 2 years) or $50 for a case ($4.08/month for 1 year).
Monthly payments can be helpful, but be careful not to let them become your justification for overspending. There are ways to make the holidays bright without taking on debt you can avoid.
Different ways of displaying monthly payments. Clockwise from left: Apple, Uncommon Goods, Wayfair, Adidas and Temu.Photo by TPIN Staff | TPINWhat’s the deal with TikTok Shop?
What’s the deal with TikTok Shop?
December 14, 2023
#4 – Social proof
Social proof is a phenomenon where people like to make decisions based on what others are doing. If your neighbor is loving his electric leaf blower and tells you all about it, maybe you’re more likely to buy one yourself. He’s not getting paid to tell you he loves it.
Customer testimonials and influencers
Marketers try to manufacture this magic using social proof tactics. Customer testimonials – from actual customers paid for their time, or fake ones with hired actors – try to tap into this. So do ads that point out the number of happy customers a company has. Today we also have influencers, paid to push products as if they’re normal, enthusiastic consumers and not someone getting paid to make a pitch. Pharma ads on social media are less regulated than you think
Pharma ads on social media are less regulated than you think
November 4, 2024
Fake customer reviews
Customer reviews are also a big one. Star ratings and comment sections on a product’s listing can be immensely helpful. But they can also be easily rigged. In fact an estimated 30-40% of online reviews are fake.
Paid-review farms – armies of remote workers who log fake reviews – are responsible for millions of fake reviews every year that retailers can purchase in bulk to help boost their product online. Now with ChatGPT, it’s easier than ever to crank out lots of text for mass fake reviews. How to recognize fake online reviews of products and services
How to recognize fake online reviews of products and services
Tips & Guides ● March 10, 2022
When you look at reviews on a product, don’t necessarily take the star ratings for granted. Better to look through the comments and find those that seem real – that either include a picture of the product, or that make a point specific to the product instead of a generic note like “great product!”
#5 – Fear appeals
Let’s turn to advertisers specifically. There are all kinds of appeals marketers use, but fear-based appeals are a classic. The formula: instill, highlight or otherwise remind your customer of a problem/worry/fear, then conveniently offer to sell them the solution. Think about a home security company sending out a promotional email with the subject line “Home invasions up in your area” before telling you they’re running a special on their bestselling alarm system.
Fear appeals try to get you to take action to avoid a bad outcome. At their most benevolent they give PSAs their punch, cautioning you away from harmful behaviors. For example, warning that if you don’t cut it out with the tobacco, you too could spend the rest of your life talking out of “a big hole in your neck”.
When the action you’re supposed to take is buying something, however, fear appeals have the capacity to become a bit predatory. Health and beauty advertising, for example, is particularly fond of the fear appeal by tapping into one deeply personal anxiety or another. You can trace it back to the 1920s when Listerine introduced the term “halitosis” to its marketing, making the natural phenomenon of bad breath sound like a medical condition in need of treatment. Its ads featured morose young women failing to find love because, as Listerine made sure you knew, “halitosis makes you unpopular”. But fear not! There is a cure. And it is “systematically rinsing the mouth with Listerine. Every morning. Every night.” The implicit message: if you don’t buy this, you will remain a broken person and greatly increase your odds of dying alone.
Today things are a little subtler – but in many cases only just. Consider hair growth commercials that ask if you really want to be one of those guys who shaves his head, OR if you’d rather pay for a hair treatment – then proceed to show you a lot of men with full heads of hair smiling their way through life, usually with a beautiful woman nearby. The implicit message is much the same.
The rise of data-driven targeted advertising has made all of this worse. When everything you go online – every search about losing weight or purchase of a teeth whitener- is collected by advertisers via tracking tech like web cookies, the messages about how to fix our perceived flaws only become more capable of finding us at all hours of the day whenever we go online.
Other tips for celebrating the holidays
There are plenty of options for gift giving that don’t involve buying new stuff, including experiences and baked goods.
