Chicago Fire has a history of shocking character exits. The show makes sure to remind the viewer on a regular basis that life as a firefighter/medic is stressful, and oftentimes deadly. The last season ended with the life of one of the characters, Mouch (Christian Stolte), hanging in the balance.
That being said, few Chicago Fire exits have been as shocking as that of Rebecca Jones (Daisy Betts). Jones was a firefighter candidate who was introduced halfway through season 2, and she proved to be an interesting foil for the rest of the Firehouse 51 team. She doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the candidates, and she ignores the orders of a superior officer, Casey (Jesse Spencer), during a crucial call, leading to her gaining a reputation for being difficult.
Jones’ personal life goes a long way in explaining her desire to stand her ground. She grew up in a household of CFD officers, including her highly-ranked father and her three lieutenant brothers. Jones’ father constantly discouraged her from working as a medic, and this familial conflict reaches a head in the episode “A Rocket Blasting Off”, when the senior officer asks Casey and Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) to disqualify his daughter so that she can be put behind a desk. It’s a cruel thing to request, but Jones’ father feared that she would get hurt if she continued to work in the field. Casey and Boden decide to keep Jones around.
Jones improves to the point that the 51 asks her to become a full-time firefighter. Sadly, she turns it down. She meets up with veteran Herrmann (David Eigenberg) and explains that she chose to take her father’s offer for a desk job instead, because she feared what would happen to their relationship if she didn’t. She then reveals that her mother died in a car accident when she was young, which informs a lot of her father’s overprotectiveness.
Did Rebecca Jones die on Chicago Fire?
It’s a sad way to write the character out of the show, but fans could not have guessed what was going to happen next. After her conversation with Herrmann, and her decision to turn down the firefighter gig, Jones went home and took her own life. Gabby (Monica Raymund), a firefighter who warmed up to Jones during her time at the 51, received a call informing her that Jones’ body was found alongside a suicide letter that was addressed to her. All this is depicted in the episode ‘Until Your Feet Leave the Ground.”
Matt Olmstead, the executive producer for Chicago Fire at the time, discussed the character’s mindset during an interview with TV Guide. “In her mind, her dad is only reminded of [her mother’s death] whenever he sees her,” he reasoned. “So this weird sense of disapproval and disconnect with her dad trying to perhaps overcompensate, get his affections, or to rebel against what he wants for her to do.”
Like we said at the onset: tragic. Numerous deaths have occurred during Chicago Fire’s 12 seasons, but there’s something especially sad about a character with so much promise deciding to end her own life. Not one of the easiest arcs on the show to watch, but definitely one of its most powerful.