Chicago Fire Fans Have A Clear Winner In Mind For Their Favorite Villain

In the world of contemporary TV dramas, it seems to be a generally accepted fiction-making doctrine that it takes an eminently despicable villain to generate a genuinely engaging story. And as far as serving up hate-magnet baddies for its loyal audience, NBC's long-running first responder series "Chicago Fire" is definitely on its game.

From the show's debut as the first entry in producer Dick Wolf's "One Chicago" universe in 2012, "Chicago Fire" has consistently given fans a rogue's gallery of memorably unpleasant cast members to root against. The show offers one-off fire-starters, serial arsonists, scheming in-house personnel, and sketchy city officials. Some fans may think of C.F.D. Fire Commissioner Carl Grissom (Gary Cole), who betrays his one-time pal firefighter Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and goes on to falsify records to slime his way into the commissioner gig. Then there's Jerry Gorsch (Steven Boyer), an obviously incompetent firefighter — incidentally hired and promoted by Grissom — whose list of nasty actions includes endangering his colleagues' lives and embezzlement. And yet, there's one other character on "Chicago Fire" who fans name as their all-time favorite villain on the show.

Many fans feel strongly about Caitlin Carver's thoroughly unpalatable character Emma Jacobs. So, where do we even start? Misbehaving throughout Season 10 before being unceremoniously fired, Emma Jacobs shows her true colors from the get-go, having lied to the crew about being trained at Johns Hopkins. Other unsavory acts include sabotaging the career of paramedic Violet Mikami (Hanako Greensmith), blackmailing, and abandoning her partner while on call. Fans were quick to pile on.

Soliciting viewer feedback on a "Chicago Fire" subreddit of favorite bad guys, original poster u/gato_go_meow kicked things off by saying Emma is their most recent favorite antihero, adding she seems to be either a psychopath or a sociopath, or maybe both. U/tilligetmyemailback chimed in that Emma is "... a great villain with lots of potential." Meanwhile, commenting on a YouTube clip of Emma getting fired, user Joanne Ulmer says: "She was too nasty and wicked in her mindset ... [you] could tell that she is evil enough to do something horrible." 

In an interview with Deadline, "Chicago Fire" executive producer Andrea Newman explains that by being both intriguing and surprisingly devious, Emma's persona is simply so bad she's good, adding, "We've had so much fun with the Emma character."