Chicago Fire’s villain of season 7: Looking back at Jerry Gorsch

Chicago Fire season 7 introduced fans to scheming deputy commissioner Jerry Gorsch, but how does this season’s villain rank compared to others?

Every One Chicago series had a recurring villain this season, and for Chicago Fire season 7 the bad guy was Jerry Gorsch (recurring guest star Steven Boyer), the deputy commissioner who arrived at Firehouse 51 with an agenda. Two of them, actually.

Gorsch was sent to the firehouse by newly installed commissioner Carl Grissom (played by Gary Cole), with his job essentially to keep watch on the team and make their lives difficult. Which he did early and often.

He set up his own office and started to tell everyone how he thought things should work, which did not go over well at all with anybody.

But he wasn’t just there as Grissom’s henchman—he revealed to Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) that he also had a personal grudge against Boden for a perceived slight much earlier in his career.

Gorsch never got his revenge, though, because off-screen Benny Severide convinced Grissom to take him out of the firehouse, in Benny’s last action before his death. So when One Chicago fans think about Gorsch, they’ll probably think about what his character enabled, rather than what he actually did.

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It was Gorsch existing that enabled there to be that great, noble moment for Benny (albeit while being killed off). It was Gorsch’s presence that got Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) to be finally promoted, too.

So in a weird way, Jerry Gorsch ended up doing some good in the Chicago Fire world.

That’s not bad for a character who was created as a stopgap measure. Showrunner Derek Haas told One Chicago Center that Gorsch existed because Gary Cole was unavailable to reprise his role as Grissom.

So the writers had to create a Grissom associate instead, and Steven Boyer came in and chewed the scenery fantastically as Gorsch. Of course he wasn’t as imposing as his predecessor, but that was never the point. He filled in as the villain we loved to hate, and did a fine job of it. Who knows if Gorsch will ever be back, but at least we won’t forget him.

For the latest Chicago Fire season 7 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago Fire category at One Chicago Center.