Spoilers for this week's episode of Chicago Fire "Down is Better" are all over this article. If you haven't watched, yet, do yourself a favor and watch it before reading.
Ever since Sylvie Brett joined Firehouse 51 during Season 3, we've seen her play a character on the NBC drama who is kind, who is good to her friends but who often seems to be surrounded by people who are taking advantage of her in some way. This most recently has come in the form of her hometown friend Hope and the doctor she goes on a date with who is actually married. Tonight's episode was a big fall finale event episode, and we caught up with Kara Kilmer, who plays Brett, at One Chicago Day, to ask her what it is about her character that causes her to be surrounded by the Hopes of the world. Here's what she said:
This last episode, I feel like articulated it the best in that when she goes out with this doctor and it doesn't even occur to her to be suspicious in any way. Because she just wants to believe the best about [people], take people at face value. And I think you know, we've all had experience with lifelong friends or people that we've been friends with forever, and you still want to "hope" the best, no pun intended.
Over the past few episodes, it's become fairly clear that Hope is a bad egg. She's messed around with people's lives in the firehouse, and while Chicago Fire did a good job of towing the line and making Hope's story from her former job seem like it really could have two sides, this week she "lost" Kidd's paycheck last week, and then really showed her true colors when she was eventually caught forging a signature to get Stella Kidd transferred out of the firehouse. Even the social media team has had fun showing the villainous side of Hope.
Kara Kilmer says we may see a little bit more from Hope in the future, but that the real thing that Sylvie Brett is going through right now is trying to figure out what matters to her and what's actually important. That's what the next portion of Chicago Fire Season 6 will explore. According to Sylvie,
I think even on another level, something that I think people will see this season for Brett, she's really holding on to the things that matter to her, but she is really departing from her hometown expectations. So this season is really about her coming into her own. She's having to be confronted with, 'What do I really value, what do I want to keep in my life? What do I want to go ahead and shed off?' And I think Hope is the device that's really articulating that.
Still, despite the fact that Hope caused a lot of chaos, getting Stella Kidd transferred and bringing in a really annoying new firefighter for a brief period, both Kara Kilmer and Miranda Ray Mayo, who plays Kidd, will miss working with Eloise Mumford, who has played Hope on the show. Per Kilmer,
What's great is that we loved working with Eloise Mumford. She's got her freckled, strawberry shortcake, angel face. You want to pinch her cheeks, then you want to slap her.
You can catch new episodes of Chicago Fire, presumably sans Hope, on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET, only on NBC. And stay tuned for more One Chicago Day coverage here on CinemaBlend.
