Right now, on Chicago Fire, Carver (Jake Lockett) isn’t making the best decisions, especially when it comes to romance. Things got complicated last season when he and Violet (Hanako Greensmith) got together and the question of how serious the relationship was came up. But now, is his ex Tori good for him, even if she might be the one he needs right now?
“Sometimes it’s nice to have someone you can be comfortable with,” Lockett told Swooon. “I think Jake would look at that situation and think, ‘I don’t know if that’s the best situation, man.’ But I can also see that in life, things are hard and you feel like you’ve been through it. It’s good to find something that’s easy and not stressful. Now if it’s stressful, maybe it’ll change.”
Right now, it doesn’t seem like anything serious, but could that change? “There’s definitely potential,” Lockett says. “They get along. They have a good time together. And when you’ve been through a breakup, sometimes that’s the perfect cure.”
If you ask us, bringing Tori to Molly might not have been the best decision. “I agree,” Lockett admits, “but Carver, it’s amazing how the mind thinks it’s a good idea after you’ve played the game first, if you will.”
Since Carver returned from his trip to Texas during his time off, Violet has tried to talk to him, but he’s brushed her off. Lockett agrees that he pushed her away because he didn’t want to get hurt. “Right now, it’s just about protection,” he told Swooon. “I put myself out there in a way that I don’t think Carver has ever done before in his life. So to do that and then have someone just shut down and not really realize the truth of it… Obviously he didn’t really give her a chance to respond at the time, but at the same time as the season progressed, as they developed, he pushed, leaned into the idea of their relationship being a very real thing and she never realized that because of her own stuff, and that was fine. But I think right now, it’s just about protection. He’s like, ‘Look, I hurt you.’ I’m not going to have a second chance.'” In the Season 12 finale, Carver tells Violet that he’s fallen in love with her. Have his feelings changed after his time in Texas and now with what’s been going on so far in Season 13? Lockett notes that he hasn’t seen anything in the script that indicates exactly how his character feels.
“If I had to assume, I would say there’s definitely emotion there. You can’t just fall out of love with someone that quickly,” Lockett says. “There’s really no big thing that’s made him lose interest. It’s that he put himself out there and it wasn’t reciprocated. So I think there’s still emotion there, but it’s part of leaning on Tori and staying away from interactions with [Violet]. It just makes it easier to get through it at this point—you don’t get through difficult emotions just by staying in that difficult place.” Sometimes you have to get out of it.”
Looking ahead, don’t expect any conversations about their personal relationship in the near future. Instead, things will remain professional—and Lockett would love for that to remain the case.
“That part of their relationship hasn’t ended,” the star said. “Even though it’s always there, they’re incredibly professional. One thing I really respect about both characters is that when it comes to saving lives, they don’t let anything get in the way. I think that’s really the most important thing about their relationship. Even though there are obviously some personal issues that are not working out and are somewhat difficult, they’re definitely willing to do what they have to do to get the job done.”
