Violet and Hawkins’ relationship is brought to the higher ups, Stella takes the charge to investigate a mysterious car crash, and Cruz began to adjust to a new atmosphere in tonight’s latest episode.

This week’s central case related to a car crash, where the car was split in half, injuring several in the car. The driver was okay, but he suspiciously ran away after Violet and her new partner Emma Jacobs went to look on other victims. Stella saved a woman, Adriana from the other half of the car, and left Stella a message. She dropped a receipt of a high value ATM withdrawal into Stella’s pocket.

Stella visited Adriana at the hospital, and her alibi changed from what she told police, and what she said to Stella. Stella suspected that Adriana is part of a very abusive relationship, since she noticed bruises on her neck that came from being strangled, not from the car crash. She hinted to Severide that she was also in a relationship like that, definitely triggering a horrible time from her past.

The police investigated the withdrawal, and it came from the account of the deceased car owner of the maximum amount from several different branches of the bank. The driver was a car-jacker, going to different banks with their victims and getting money.

After Stella gave an incredible speech to Adriana about standing up to her abuser, Adriana told her everything, and gave the name of the driver, Tiller Martel, who was arrested shortly thereafter.

After being spotted making out against an ambulance, an official complaint was filed about the two, which the Deputy Chief Paramedic has to bring to a council of higher ups in the department. Violet spent the episode hiding from Hawkins, and avoiding Gallo, who tried his darndest through most of the episode to approach her about the situation. The pair got off with a verbal warning, and Hawkins ended the relationship, so that they could both get their grounding back in the department. Despite this, the two reconciled and got back together at the end of the episode, because no one can stop true love.

Violet suspected Gallo of being the one who filed the complaint against her. Gallo denied the allegation, and told her it was the paramedic who spied them who filed the complaint, and Gallo was trying to warn her. He’s now questioning their friendship, as he would never do something like that to her.

In the last episode, Cruz took in an immigrant boy Javi, and is taking care of him while his case worker looked for any family members of the boy. Javi adjusted to the family day-to-days, and improved his English to communicate with both Cruz and Chloe. Cruz was called into Javi’s school in the middle of shift, giving him a near heart attack, being the big old softie that he is. However, Javi’s teacher informed him of Javi’s brightened mood, and more interaction with other kids. We got special bonding moments with this newly formed family, and it was so adorable to see Cruz being a family man and helping Javi with his homework.

The case worker told Cruz and Chloe that they can not find any relatives in the United States for Javi, and Cruz and Chloe began the process of being Javi’s full time caretakers.

This episode had a lot of heart, and a great central case. For once, no one was inspecting anything about arson! It gave us a great side of Stella connecting and sticking her neck out for victims.

Whether she’s a new permanent character or not, the introduction of Emma Jacobs was a great addition to this episode, as she serves as a great foil to Violet, and is also great in the field, which she demonstrated with ease helping out several injured hockey players.

Cruz has always been a strong core to this show, and it has been so exciting to see him become a father, and he’s so GOOD at it, but that shouldn’t surprise us at all.

What did you think of tonight’s episode? Leave a comment below!