Chicago Fire Season 12’s Casey Proposal Resolution Utterly Fails Brett

Chicago Fire season 12 finally solves Matt Casey’s cliffhanger proposal in season 11, but it is at the expense of Sylvie Brett and her story.
Chicago Fire season 12 fails Sylvie Brett with the way it resolves Matt Casey’s proposal cliffhanger. The Chicago Fire season 11 finale left several lingering plot lines that the new season of One Chicago now needs to address. While the Chicago Fire season 12 premiere, “Barely Gone,” does just that, the aftermath of Brett and Casey’s engagement disrespects everything that she has gone through in the show, especially in the last couple of years after Jesse Spencer’s departure.

Casey’s move to Portland, Oregon was part of One Chicago’s ploy to write Spencer out of the series. At that point, he and Brett were in a fairly new relationship, and neither wanted to break up just because they were on opposite ends of the country. Unfortunately, the long-distance set-up proved to be far too difficult so Brett decided to split up. She tried moving on with her life, and while things didn’t pan out well with her relationship with Dylan, she still had a home in Chicago, doing a fulfilling job and surrounded by people who love her.

Brett’s Chicago Fire Season 12 Fate Is A Major Disservice To The Character

Casey had been back in Chicago a couple of times since he left Firehouse 51, but on his last return, he unexpectedly proposed to Brett. As revealed in the Chicago Fire season 12 premiere, she did accept it and is now slated to get married in a few weeks. While this is a great development, what comes after that is disappointing, especially about Brett’s future. They have decided that she will move to Portland with him after the wedding, essentially uprooting her in a place where she has more diverse support and compelling her to leave a job that he loves.
After everything Brett has been through, trying to stand on her own, adopting baby Julia, and launching her paramedicine project, it’s unjust to see her give up the life that she has built in Chicago just to make her relationship with Casey work. While there’s no doubt that they love each other, it feels like all the compromise comes from her side, while he gets to maintain his status quo with the additional bonus of being with her. Ultimately, it’s an unfair set-up for Brett, since Casey doesn’t have to give up anything.

Is There A Better Way For Chicago Fire Season 12 To Write Brett Out?

Understandably, Chicago Fire needs to find a way to write Brett out because of Kara Killmer’s impending departure from One Chicago. Giving her and Casey a happy future is a great idea, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of her character. The show needs to properly establish that Brett isn’t dropping everything in Chicago just because she wants to marry Casey. More importantly, it must show that Casey, too, is making big sacrifices to ensure that his fiancée isn’t getting the shorter end of the stick with this set-up.