Kelly Severide and Violet Mikami Are ‘Under Pressure’ From Chief Robinson on Tonight’s ‘Chicago Fire’
Just when you thought—or hoped—that Chicago Fire would end its 12th season without another appearance from Chief Jude Robinson (Laura Allen) to shake things up, she’s back, and Violet Mikami (Hanako Greensmith) and Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) are her targets. And of course, it’s Jared Lennox (Wesam Keesh), whose dangerous decision on a call that’s the cause of it all.
When Violet convinced Novak (Jocelyn Hudson) to commit to her permanent position as her paramedic partner at Firehouse 51, it seemed like that was the last we’d see of Lennox, but according to Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman, Lennox’s story was only told briefly, so he’s back.
“When the Chief Robinson story culminates, Lennox is going to be a part of it,” Newman tells Parade in this exclusive interview. “He wasn’t kicked out of CFD, he was just kicked out of House 51, so they’re going to cross paths. Knowing the bad blood between them, that’s going to stir things up, so Violet’s going to meet him.”
Violet has settled into her new partner, who’s helping her with the social side of the job while Violet is a great mentor to Novak, but Newman says there will still be some bumps in the road.
“The fact that Novak is a wild child, and Violet is more calm and less so, they’re going to have to work through that,” she says. “But I think they end up being a magical team together because of their differences, so it’s going to be fun to watch.”
Related: Eamonn Walker Leaves Chicago Fire as a Lead Actor, Marking the End of an Era for the Show
Tonight’s episode of “Under Pressure” also delves deeper into the marital issues facing Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) and his wife Chloe (Kristen Gutoskie). Last week, we learned that Chloe wanted him to go to marriage counseling. He was reluctant, but Christopher Hermann (David Eigenberg) convinced him to go. After all, happy wife, happy life.
“The great thing about that story is that it was seeded a long time ago and the relationship troubles were fueled by an incident that we’ll all remember when they talk about it,” Newman explained. “It’s all very reasonable that they’ve gone a little bit off track. And yes, the challenge is going to be trying to get back on track, both of them, because obviously they love each other very much and they have these two wonderful kids. But for Chloe in particular, there’s just one big issue that’s going to come up that she’s really struggling with.”
To bring some humor to two very emotional storylines, Newman and her writing team have Capp (Randy Flagler) and Tony (Anthony Ferraris) trying to break the World Record.
“I always say this and this has been a theme from the beginning of the show, but I think this season in particular, it’s been very difficult,” Newman said. “It’s very dark, there’s a lot of trauma that they face as first responders, and the only way to get through it is to be able to keep the light stuff and let that light stuff be a part of their lives. We made that clear, even in the dialogue with Hermann getting glitter-bombed at the end of a tough episode.
“They need that, and we see that in every fire station that we go into. The heights that firefighters will go to break each other are pretty amazing and complicated. I remember asking the guys to write out their jokes and how they would do them, and some of them were six pages long with steps to someone getting sprayed in the face while they were sitting down.
“Yeah, I think the lighter part, and we’ve really made that a theme this season, but the lighter part is so important. Even when we hit an emotional peak at the end of the season like the penultimate episode, we still have to lean into the fact that this is how you survive in such a difficult and potentially traumatic job.”
