Dear Chicago Fire please? please Free us from the hell of Carver and Tori’s toxic relationship?
It’s been going on long enough.
We’re about to enter the sixth episode of the season, and that’s six too many episodes of Carver and his unstable, jealous, trouble-making girlfriend.
It would be awesome if we could fast forward to the part where the two of them break up and get into song and dance, and they’re like Carver and Violet are obviously supposed to be helpful with that.
They don’t even have to show us the breakup on screen.
Here’s the thing: I can’t even chalk it up to being a die-hard Carver and Violet shipper who desperately needs the two of them to get their shit together and move with things.
To be honest, while I love the idea of the two of them together, I don’t need it to happen.
At this point I could easily turn my attention to Violet and Lizzie.
If anything, this suggests that neither Carver nor Violet may be ready for a relationship right now, but that’s another conversation.
But plot-wise, it’s clear that this is the direction their story should go.
If I as a viewer don’t root for anything else, it’s something that is logical or serves the storyline and characters.
This is one of the many reasons why the Chicago Fire needs to terminate Carver and Tori quickly.
Who is this for?
Are there viewers rooting for the couple, investing in Tori remotely, or appreciating this hurdle in the inevitable Carver/Violet relationship?
I’m having a hard time finding one.
In fact, if you found this story even remotely enjoyable or amusing, please, I implore you, hit the comments.
I’d like to understand your perspective.
Even for those who may not see or care about Carver and Violet as a romantic couple, whatever the hell is going on between Carver and Tori is insufferable and infuriating.
It’s such a waste of time for one of the most interesting characters they’ve introduced on Chicago Fire in recent years, because they choose to waste our time exploring his character through these means.
Carver is such a fascinating character because of how the series introduces him.
With his moodiness, complicated background, and story of being a trauma survivor, it took him a while to get up to speed and find a real family at age 51.
Carver’s relationship with Tori is the culmination of his internal struggle with his past.
Maybe he feels like he doesn’t deserve nice and healthy things.
Maybe he is in self-destructive mode after experiencing what he perceives as rejection, or he is reflecting the type of toxicity he witnessed growing up or falling into old habits that we don’t know about.
I’m open to the idea that we have to endure the toxic Tori in order for this line to have a satisfying, emotionally rich ending.
But even if that were the case, why would they subject us to this unhealthy dynamic that, frankly, is a poor execution of one of the most hated tropes out there right now: the toxic, jealous, “crazy” girlfriend to further the card Fo’s storyline and delving deeper into his issues?
Does it bother anyone else that the Chicago Fire is leaning so heavily into this?
Tori feels like a “contrived” villain from a ’90s thriller, except she’s not as interesting.
If this arc leads Tori into trouble, possibly harming herself, Carver, or Violet due to underlying mental health issues or other issues, then I’ll be very disappointed in Chicago Fire.
It’s better than this; Carver as a character is better than this, and so is the path to the relationship between Carver and Violet.
If Chicago Fire took the chance to explore Carver in more depth, I would resent them for taking the least interesting, least creative, and frankly problematic route.
They don’t have to resort to this.
Carver is a goldmine of potential plot points, and there are endless possibilities to delve deeper into his background or explore more about his character.
Why do they put us through this test?
If the series was trying to take a serious approach to actually examining toxic and abusive relationships (because that’s exactly what happened with Tori and Carver), then that would be fine.
But they essentially made it look like it was a 2000s teen love triangle with the main goal of getting Carver and Violet back with each other.
These need to be two separate storylines for this to work properly.
Tie the toxicity of this Carver/Tori relationship to the Carver/Violet pairing, thus reducing it to a one-sided ship war whose goal is to keep Carver and Violet together , ultimately feeling cheap, irresponsible and reductive.
The characters and the audience deserved better than this.
Regardless of their intentions, I can confidently say that this didn’t have the effect they wanted and it’s time for the Chicago Fire to eliminate this duo and allow Carver to rise from the ashes.
Over to you, Chicago Fire fanatics.
How do you feel about Carver and Tori’s toxic romance?
Let’s take a listen and see!
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