So… What Was the Point of Chicago Fire Bringing Back Carver?

The only thing more confusing about Chicago Fire getting rid of Carver is how they brought him back.

Seriously, there are many ways in which Chicago Fire feels like it’s throwing plots at a wall to see what sticks, and perhaps that’s why many people aren’t exactly moved by this season.

But then the series pulled one of those moves that made you side-eye it.

When we learned that we would be losing both Carver and Ritter, it was a frustrating blow. Not just because viewers loved both characters, but there was still so much story worth exploring for them.

It didn’t make sense that the series would get rid of two characters who had the most potential and the most storyline possibilities.

They also managed to cut their storylines off midstream. They sent Carver to Colorado for rehab to start over, leaving his storyline dangling and Violet in the lurch with an unfinished romance.

And they sent Ritter away — to start over with the man he loves — which was a happy enough ending given the circumstances, but still a loss for the series.

Frankly, the show has often felt like it has been spinning on its wheels since then.

But the Carver thing felt particularly egregious because they had Vasquez enter the picture as his replacement, and let’s just say there’s a reason why I call Vasquez “Great Value Carver.” Or “Temu Carver.”

Dealer’s choice.

It feels like they copied and pasted personality traits and similar archetypes, slapped them on another handsome face with a chiseled jawline, and expected us to just roll with it and forget that they just screwed over a character who had finally grown into becoming one of Chicago Fire’s most compelling ones.

Since then, Chicago Fire Season 14 has been bogged down by this never-ending plot point with Vasquez’s troubled background with his father.

But they didn’t stop there, no, they also had to make him the hottest new romantic interest at the fire station.

Fine. Chicago Fire loves its romances, and apparently, they feel we need the younger single characters to have merry-go-round, see-saw relationships, as if seeing Stellaride is somehow too boring because they’re married now or something.

They teased Vasquez and Novak (because of course), then pivoted to Vasquez and Violet, because for SOME reason this show refuses to let Violet exist without a love-life-centric storyline.

But we wouldn’t need Violet/Vasquez if they’d simply kept Carver in the first place.

But just when we got to the crescendo of their romance, they shook it up—erased it like a picture on an Etch’n-Sketch — and then decided to rebuild it with … another version of Carver.

On his best days, Vasquez just feels like Carver in a different font.

Chicago Fire clearly knows this, too. Because why else would they have him verbally say he’s not Carver? As if acknowledging it kills the comparison.

Spoiler: It does not. He will always be Great Value Carver. Sorry.

So, ultimately, they brought Carver back, and it just felt like something to get fans buzzing again because they recognize they may have shot themselves in the foot by getting rid of a fan-favorite and dousing cold water on a romance that could have evolved into one of One Chicago’s best.

Carver’s return didn’t brings us … anything. At best, we got confirmation that he still loves Violet when he walked away from her, his eyes teary, after a hug and an agreement that things had worked out for the best.

We don’t have closure. They didn’t have anything that resembled the type of conversation that they needed, and Carver didn’t even have a decent plot.

The hour presented him like that guy who graduated from high school, popping back up a year later, out of place and aimless.

It just felt like a waste of a return. They sprinkled in some angst and teased some tired love triangle bit with a dash of jealousy. And at best, it was, I guess, supposed to help launch the Violet/Vasquez romance.

But they didn’t need Carver physically reappearing to do that. So why did we need him?

The hour was called “Carry a torch,” and it may as well have been “Pass the torch,” for all the good it did.

It felt like a marketing maneuver. You know, something to grab viewers’ attention and drum up buzz in the last couple of weeks before the Olympic hiatus. And thus it felt cheap.

More than anything, it felt like Chicago Fire is still out of touch with viewers almost as much as it is with its own characters.

Carver came and went, and ultimately, nothing of substance came from it. If anything, it undermined his previous departure.

I disliked that one, too, but I would’ve rather it stuck, and when Carver made a grand return, it was done with intention, care, and purpose.

Carver’s return just felt like salt in the wound — a half-ass “here, damn” attempt to assuage. And that’s more offensive and infuriating than him not returning at all.

If you feel the same about Carver’s return, holler back.
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