Violet Mikami (Hanako Greensmith) initially looked at her promotion as a good thing. She was bumped up to PIC (paramedic in charge) for Firehouse 51, in the wake of Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer), but instead of getting a chance to prove herself, she found herself at the center of a new conflict.
“Red Flag” may have been advertised as a Severide (Taylor Kinney) focused episode, and it does feature plenty of the arson investigator in action, but the real consequential events revolved around Violet and her coming to grips with the fact that she’s going to have to watch her back.
Brett’s replacement sabotaged Violet
The most obvious monkey-wrench for Violet is her new paramedic, Lennox (Wesam Keesh). On their first ever call together, Lennox questions Violet’s authority (twice!) and by the end of the episode, its revealed that the character filed a formal complaint against her for being aggressive on the job.
Lennox has made a very bad impression on Violet, but he is merely a pawn for who looks to be the next big, bad villain on Chicago Fire: Paramedic Chief Robinson (Laura Allen). Robinson debuted in the season 11 episode “On the Hook”, in which she threatened to ruin the careers of both Violet and Brett, and has continued to make it clear that she does not endorse Violet’s promotion.
At the beginning of the episode, Chief Robinson refuses to discuss Brett’s replacement with either Violet OR Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker), and instead springs Lennox on them at the last minute. She clearly has something against the members of Firehouse 51, and has done everything short of say it out loud.
Chief Robinson wants to ruin Firehouse 51
Violet and Chief Boden are both confused by Robinson’s actions, but by the end of the episode, with a horrid start to Violet’s PIC career, and a complaint lodged against her, the pieces seem to be falling into place for Robinson.
It’s been a bit since Chicago Fire has had a villain with this much power, but the thing that makes Chief Robinson fascinating thus far is that we don’t understand her motive. There’s no clear reason as to why she wants to ruin Violet’s career, or undermine Chief Boden’s control of the firehouse.
“Red Flag” makes it seem as though the second half of season 12 will be dedicated to “defeating” Chief Robinson, and we’re pretty intrigued to see how the team does it.
