CHICAGO FIRE: Hanako Greensmith Previews Violet’s Romantic Drama—and the Reveal of a Secret Skill

March 16, 2022 by Marisa Roffman

CHICAGO FIRE — “The Missing Place” Episode 1015 — Pictured: Hanako Greensmith as Violet — (Photo by: Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC)

On the Wednesday, March 16 episode of CHICAGO FIRE, Chief Hawkins (Jimmy Nicholas) comes to help out at Firehouse 51—leaving Violet (Hanako Greensmith) in the awkward position of trying to separate their newly established romantic relationship from her professional life.

Of course, things are easier said than done for the paramedic…especially since Violet’s ex, Gallo (Alberto Rosende), also works at the firehouse and isn’t exactly subtle about his jealousy.

So what’s in store? Greensmith offers a few teases about what’s ahead for Violet (including the reveal of “unique talent”), plus shares a few thoughts about Violet’s professional future…

Violet’s professional and personal life are colliding this week as Hawkins returns to Firehouse 51. How will they be handling working together again?
With Sylvie’s sad departure for a few episodes, it definitely leaves space for Hawkins to have to fill in, in more than one way. So you’re gonna see them address [things] in a professional manner, but also with this new knowledge, and with this new experience of being together, both romantically and intimately. So that changes their dynamics a certain degree. And you’re going to see them struggle with that dynamic now that that’s a part of their relationship both in the firehouse and out.

Violet has tried to separate her worlds, a bit. How much will she be struggling as she can’t really escape Hawkins, and they might not be able to hide the chemistry they have?
[Laughs.] Well, you hit the nail on the head there—it’s gonna be as easy as it sounds.

In your mind, what do you think she thinks of this relationship right now? Is she looking at this as just a fun distraction or is he someone she thinks she could actually get serious with?
Oh, man, it’s such a bittersweet thing for her, I think. Because I think she’s actually found something genuine and wonderful and special with Chief Hawkins. But I think at the same time, she is incredibly ambitious with high hopes for herself. And I also think Hawkins is as well. So I think she realizes that there’s a lot at risk here, not just herself, but for him as well. And because she cares about him, she doesn’t want him getting into hot water because of this as well.

So I think she’s having difficulty, because she’s someone who follows her intuition and her gut. But at the same time, this is kind of going against everything in the rule book that she knows she should be going with. So there’s a lot at play for her and there’s a lot of difficulty that comes with these decisions that she’s trying to make. She’s trying to make the right decisions, but it’s hard to know what’s the right one when your heart’s telling you one thing, but your mind’s telling you another thing.

There is the added complication of Gallo, who is an ever-present, but always complicated, part of Violet’s life. What are her feelings and thoughts about him right now?
Man, their relationship has come a long way. [Laughs.] They have changed so much and so little these past few years. I think what’s difficult is that Violet has made some changes in her life. Hawkins has shown her what she wants to prioritize in her life, and the way that she communicated with Gallo doesn’t necessarily serve their relationship anymore. And I think Gallo doesn’t necessarily know that yet; Gallo’s learning that. But, unfortunately, he seems to be one or two steps behind her. So I’m kind of hoping for him that he’s able to grow into a maturity to see what it means to communicate honestly and openly about someone he cares about. That is something you will see moving forward this season.

There was a moment recently where Violet insisted she doesn’t get jealous—but her friends pointed out she did get jealous over Gallo’s flirtation with another woman. Is she now a bit more cognizant of the differences in the reactions she had to the different relationships?
I think Violet, as smart as she is, is in denial about a lot of things. So I’m sure that her finding out that she was jealous about Gallo in that moment that you saw was the first time she paid any thought to that. [Laughs.] To her absolute terror, and mortifying degree she realizes, “Oh, dangit, you’re absolutely right. I didn’t even think about the fact I probably acted a little bit crazy when Gallo was with Kara.” So, she lives in a series of realizations.

It seems like Hawkins becomes a bit more aware of Gallo and Violet’s history. Is Violet able to talk to Hawkins honestly about that, or is she in denial herself?
I think for Violet, the moment that Gallo and her were over, at least for now, was when he turned her down. She felt humiliated enough to make herself vulnerable to him and he didn’t feel the same way—that was the moment she turned it platonic. That was the moment she said, “I’m not letting that happen to me again. That was humiliating and I’m not that person. We’re going to be friends from here on out. And I’m going to pretty much call the shots on what that means.”

Moving forward from that point, he has shown some jealousy, and I don’t think that’s something that she’s necessarily picked up on, because she’s been so removed from what their relationship could be. At this point, she’s completely blindsided by Gallo’s new take on whatever is going on between her and Hawkins. However, obviously with time, I think you’ll see her catch up with that and see her grapple with how it means to direct a friendship amidst jealousy.

One of the fun things has been how much the writers have given to you, Daniel Kyri and Alberto Rosende as a trio—and it seems like you’ve also bonded off-set, too. How has it been to have that core group of people on your team as you’ve been navigating joining an established show?
Oh, man, it’s been so dreamy. [Laughs.] I adore those people. I adore every single person I work with, but at the beginning of the season, I was working a lot with Daniel and Alberto and I just find them to be some of the funniest, sweetest people on this earth. So working with them is such a dream also because bringing prepared comedic material to life is so easy, and it’s so fluid—we’re just throwing things at each other and seeing what sticks. And more often than not, it sticks.

The group is frequently given some of the more comedic elements of the storytelling. How much of that has been the writers learning and leaning into your chemistry and dynamic versus it being what you’ve gotten to play?
Oh, man, I don’t know. I’d love to ask the writers and see what they’d say in response to that. I think it was a little bit of both? I think they saw an opportunity for some younger characters on the show to have things go wrong, because that happens a lot in young people’s lifetimes, in anyone’s lifetime. But I also think that they probably saw us interacting both on- and off-screen and maybe took it as a good opportunity to kind of capitalize off of whatever comedic bits we could create for the sake of the story.

Looking ahead, what do you think Violet’s ideal career path would be?
I don’t know if she necessarily knows yet. I think at this point for her what feels so great is to be at such a busy firehouse, like Firehouse 51. And to be able to be challenged because of so many challenges day to day on her shifts. And I think that’s something that she’s prioritizing as a use of knowledge and education for herself.

But I think something, probably not necessarily leadership…maybe something a little bit more senior is something that she’s probably aiming for somewhere down the line. But at this point in time, I think she’s gaining so much knowledge in what she’s doing that no matter what she feels that this is worth it just to be at Firehouse 51

Given Stella’s recent promotion within the firehouse, is she someone Violet might seek out as she tries figure out her next steps?
Well, it hasn’t been talked about at work, but I know that personally, I think that both the Stella character and Miranda [Rae Mayo] as a person are incredible, incredible people. And I would love to see Violet and her—even if they’re not talking about leadership—spend time together, because I think we’ve had some more female-centric scenes these past couple episodes, and it’s been so much fun to work with them. It is so fulfilling.

And it also was really special to see. It’s a male-dominated firehouse and industry overall. So it’s really nice to see the three of them come together. I think there’s so much they can learn from each other, and if leadership is one of those things, that would be fantastic.

Is there anything else coming up you’re excited for fans to see?
Well, in this upcoming episode you’ll see a little bit of Violet’s unique talent shine through in a way that was really fun to shoot and exciting to see; just to get to know a little bit more about her. So I think that’s something that I’m looking forward to for this upcoming episode.

To clarify, is this a talent that just Violet has or is this a talent that you share?
Oh man, it is just a talent that Violet has; certainly not something that Hanako has, at all. [Laughs.]

CHICAGO FIRE, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC

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