Spoilers ahead for Episode 11 of Chicago Fire Season 11, called “A Guy I Used To Know.”
Season 11 of Chicago Fire has been rough for Violet from almost the very beginning, and she was just healing from losing Hawkins when Emma reentered her life. After learning that Violet tried to get her fired from Internal Affairs but was shot down for a lack of hard proof, the ousted EMT started a whole new vendetta against her. In “A Guy I Used To Know,” that vendetta seemed on the verge of costing Brett her paramedicine program as just one issue, but a character managed to save the day from beyond the grave: Hawkins himself.
No, not because he returned as a ghost! Although Fire isn’t the kind of show to bring characters back from the dead and I ranked Hawkins’ as one of the most shocking TV deaths of 2022, he has managed to save Violet and presumably get rid of Emma in one fell swoop. Early on in the episode, his cousin visited Firehouse 51 to ask Violet if she wanted to come to his apartment and choose some mementoes to keep before the family cleared everything out.
While Violet initially only seemed like she wanted to take some photos and other items to remember him by when she dropped by the apartment, she got a gleam in her eye when she spotted Hawkins’ laptop. His cousin gave her the go-ahead to take it, and she found what she was looking for: a voice note that Hawkins had reported prior to his death about Emma’s attempt to blackmail him. In the recording, he said:
I’m recording this after a run-in with Emma Jacobs outside the CFD offices. She was waiting for me. She threatened to expose my relationship with Violet, said I had two choices: I could either transfer Violet to another house and give her the spot at 51, or she’d file false reports saying Violet’s negligence almost got someone killed.
Hawkins' voice confirming what Violet had reported was exactly what she needed to prove that Emma didn’t belong anywhere near IA. In fact, the recording of his voice was about as irrefutable as Violet could have hoped for, compared to any texts or emails that she might have recovered on the laptop. Hawkins has been dead for months, but he just saved Violet and Firehouse 51 a lot of trouble thanks to his habit of recording notes.
Violet got to triumphantly tell Emma that she’ll never forget Hawkins now, because “he is the man who just ended your career.” It certainly seems like the end of the storyline of Emma posing a threat to 51 from within the CFD, and possibly the end of the storyline altogether unless she decides to try and seek revenge as a civilian. Was this the end of actress Caitlin Carver’s time on Chicago Fire after her surprise return, and will Emma Jacobs be gone for the rest of the season?
Find out with new episodes of Chicago Fire on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, between Chicago Med at 8 p.m. and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. in the 2023 TV schedule. You can also revisit Fire days gone by with previous seasons streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.
