Tonight on NBC Chicago Fire returns with an all-new Wednesday, May 6, 2026, season 14 episode 20 called, “Speak of the Devil” and we have your Chicago Fire recap below.
In tonight’s Chicago Fire season 14 episode 20 as per the NBC synopsis, “Severide is forced to crack open a cold case buried for decades. A routine call hits too close to home for Novak.”
Tonight’s Chicago Fire season 14 episode 20 looks like it is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it. While you’re waiting for our recap, check out all our Chicago Fire recaps, news, spoilers & more, right here!
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On tonight’s Chicago Fire episode, someone left Chief Hopkins’s disciplinary file at Severide’s door. Kidd found it. She passed it on to Severide. She then had to leave town at the last minute because of their former foster son. Isaiah witnessed a setback with his mother. It freaked him out so he called Kidd.
Kidd still remains a person he trusts and he feels safe with her. The last one mattered more than whatever was going on at the station. Severide understood. He read through the first page. He found out why Chief Hopkins hated his father so much.
Chief Hopkins once served under Benny Severide. The elder Severide suspended him. He thought Hopkins and another firefighter stole a high-end watch from the scene of a fire.
There was an investigation. Both firefighters were cleared. It just didn’t stop Benny from suspending them. He made sure they got bounced from his station and it took them forever to rebuild trust within the CFD. Severide had Cruz helped him look through the file. It was lot more gray than Hopkins would claim.
With the missing watch, insurance claim was immediately dismissed. There was security footage showing the watch sitting on the desk all the way up until the firefighters cut the power.
Hopkins and the now Chief Williams were described as the only firefighters to go into that building. Severide read that and he figured it had to have been one of them. He went to go talk to Chief Williams. She told him what she knew. She knew that Hopkins was at her side the whole time. Its how she knows he didn’t do it and how he knows she didn’t do it.
The one thing missing from the report was that the Incident Commander was also in there. Benny Severide left his name out of it. He was in that building and he wasn’t at their side so they believe all along that Benny stole the watch. He then tried to blame them for it. He went as far to jeopardize their careers.
It’s why they’re so angry. If true, what Benny did to them should’ve cost him his career. It was their retaliation against Benny’s son that was a step too far. Severide didn’t do anything. He didn’t steal anything. He remains above board. Its why he began investigating his father when he heard Williams’s accusation.
Severide has to see it through. Even if it meant tarnishing his own father’s legacy. It’s why Hopkins never told him that theory and he was a little frustrated that Williams did.
He said that it felt personal. She told him that as long as he wasn’t pursuing retaliatory behavior against them that it will be fine. Cruz also told Severide to focus on the Hopkins’s angle. Only Severide couldn’t do it. He had to know the truth one way or another. He kept investigating. Him confronting Williams like he did had unforeseen consequences.
Hopkins wanted to know how he got their file. He checked with personnel. He found out it was himself that pulled it. He knew it wasn’t true so he fired Lucy. He knew that she claimed it came from him when it didn’t.
He couldn’t trust her anymore. He kinda had to fire him because his grudge against Severide went that deep. This came right after Lucy began feeling at home there. Herrmann had even invited her to Molly’s. Herrmann’s mouth was also catching heat tonight because he saved Mouch from committing a mistake in the field.
Mouch was left feeling embarrassed. Not that he could come out or say it. Mouch instead claimed he was nervous because he sent his book out to publishers. The publisher called and Herrmann told him about it, but Mouch was still upset. He shouted at Herrmann. Herrmann told him whatever was eating him up gave him no cause to shout at him.
Mouch went home after his shift and he continued to work on his novel now that he wasn’t sure about. He later explained to Herrmann that it couldn’t be a memoir anymore. Not when Herrmann was there pulling him out of fires for over twenty years.
He dedicated his book to Herrmann.
Also, Novak’s sister overdosed again. She nearly died that time and so their brother finally figured out what’s going on. Novak hadn’t told him before about Heidi’s drug use.
She thought she was protecting him by not telling him. The same way she thought she was protecting him by not telling him how their mother died.
He had to find out at school from a bully the truth. He just wanted to know the truth for once. He was tired of all the lies. Novak and Heidi admitted this wasn’t the first time that she overdosed. They talked. They wished to finally be a family. And once Novak was done at the hospital, she found her two friends waiting for her.
Violet and Vasquez weren’t even acting weird anymore with each other. Their focus remained on Novak. Which she appreciated. The same way that Severide appreciated Hopkins for removing his complaint. Severide found out who stole the watch. It wasn’t his dad. It was Williams. She stole it.
She derailed Hopkins’s career and she was going to blame a dead man rather than admit the truth. She finally copped to it after thirty years so Hopkins no longer felt the need to stay at 51. As for Severide, he received a job offer from OFI because that’s where he belongs.
THE END!
