Which One Chicago season had the worst villain?

Chicago Fire: Carl Grissom

BACKSTORY: Grissom (Gary Cole) was introduced as a friend and mentor figure to Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), who wanted to help Severide push his career with the fire department to the next level—but turned on him when Severide wasn’t interested.

MISDEEDS: While he might be liked in certain parts of the fire department and by Severide’s dad Benny Severide (Treat Williams), Grissom only helped others when it didn’t help himself. We saw him dangle a promotion opportunity in front of Severide, then Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) only to pull it back when he decided not to retire.

Then he tried to undermine Boden and Severide by making it look like the duo had taken a bribe, as part of his scheme to position himself as the new Fire Commissioner. (Because how dare Severide support someone other than Grissom?)

And last but certainly not least, it was revealed that Grissom had been falsifying his books for a long time to make himself look better. Unfortunately for everyone, his sneaking around was rewarded when he got the top job in the season finale, ensuring that he’ll run the department into the ground.

VERDICT: Carl Grissom is a self-centered, egotistical jerk. It’s clear he’s trying to hold onto his former glory of being a firefighter, whether it was getting back into the field to help Severide with a rescue or flip-flopping on his retirement, or fudging his numbers so that he seemed like a top pick for the commissioner’s job.

But if there’s a silver lining, it’s that he’s mostly worried about himself and didn’t do as much damage to other people compared to the other two contenders here. Having said that, he’s also in the position of the most power, as the only person who actually succeeded at his scheme this past season, so those two things might cancel each other out.