I am unwell. Let’s talk 9-1-1, shall we?
Okay, firstly. I know this is a week late but I’m pretending it’s intentional. I was 100% waiting for this weeks episode, and now that I’ve watched it I can write this weeks post. Okay? Intentional.
That aside, this week was a lot wasn’t it? So let’s dive in.
MAJOR SPOILERS
(but I think you knew that)
Where Am I?
I don’t really know where to start this week. Full transparency, I knew this post was coming up, of course, and I wasn’t really sure what I was going to write about because I’d been watching The Handmaid’s Tale in preparation for the sixth and final season dropping in the UK in May, and any of you who are familiar with THT may be aware that it is just agony, tragedy and often not fun. It’s subject matter is dark and difficult, and you really have to be in the right head space to dive into it and/or stomach it. Am I in that headspace? I’m not really sure, but I am excited for the new season after the Season 5 finale had me in just so many tears that I was watching it anyway.
That said, I had (or have) many thoughts about THT but it feels the sort of thing that is best commented on when completed so… I didn’t have anywhere to go this week, and I was putting it off.
Then there was 9-1-1. I saw all the spoilers, I always do, I simply cannot help myself, and those Madney edits have been top tier since last week. As Madney are my favourite I had elected to wait until I knew Chimney was going to be okay before I watched these episodes. I was pretty sure he was going to be fine, but also you want the comfort of knowing they’re going to be okay with some immediacy before you dive in. This may have been a mistake.
I had also seen those leaked behind the scenes pictures. You know the ones. Procession, cast, truck and name. I had two somewhat presumptuous thoughts. 1) The only way he dies is if Peter Krause wants to leave. 2) If Krause wants to leave the only way Bobby does is in a coffin.
Unrelated to that, over the past week of leaks and teasers and stills I had become pretty sure of one thing: Someone was going to die.
So, I think we’ve established where I am… All Caught Up.
In many ways, I wish I wasn’t.
Firstly, let’s address those presumptuous thoughts of mine, as I have not seen anything indicating any of the behind the scenes reasons to Krause’s/Bobby’s departure beyond a bold and interesting writing choice. At the time of writing this anyways. All we’ve had is tribute posts, and long and hard goodbyes. So… no comment there for now.
Irregardless, Bobby is leaving how I had predicted. Much like Derek Shepard, he simply has too many strong connections and commitments to simply walk out. He couldn’t. Not after everything he and Athena have been through at minimum. He’s not the kind of man to walk away… So, I’m choosing to believe – but we’ll get more into the kind of man Bobby is later.
Secondly, you always want to be wrong. I was so sure and I was so hoping I was wrong, but as the episodes dropping on Disney+ this Friday I opened my feeds to one thing, tributes, goodbyes, and a farewell letter. We’ll miss you, Bobby.
I was wrong before. I was so sure Maddie was going to miscarry after “Voices” and she didn’t. I wanted to be wrong again. I wanted them all to get out. Death is hard and it sucks, and it especially sucks when the method they choose is super-viruses, but that’s my personal opinion as a slight germaphobe. Any arc in this vein sits eery with me.
This ones going to be hard for them to deal with, but we know that.
Okay let’s talk about Survival, because if I’m being perfectly honest I’m not entirely sure the series is going to survive without him… never mind those characters that have to and have survived because of him.
I rewrote this a few times because I don’t know how to say this without sounding insanely pessimistic but let’s start with one thing. They killed off a lead character. A lead character that in an ensemble cast the narrative has been favouring. While I love them all there is a difference between if they had killed off Chimney to killing off Bobby.
There are very few episodes where Bobby is not featured at least once if any at all. He is the Male Lead, and the writing knows it and favours him accordingly. We’ve had a few episodes sans other characters at this point, but I can’t name one from memory where Bobby doesn’t make at least one appearance, if not being directly tied to the issue at hand because he is Bobby goddamn Nash. Bobby feels very integral to the shows dynamics and structure. Killing him feels like if you killed Seeley Booth or Richard Castle or Jethro Gibbs – but, Gibbs left in Season 19 and NCIS continues to get renewed, but’s that’s not death… and without too much comment I am far behind on NCIS because I stopped watching with Abby’s departure, I intend to catch up though and we’ll get to that – and we survived the death of Derek Shepard, didn’t we? Grey’s Anatomy lives on without him.
They could be fine, they very well may be. They are renewed for Season 9, and could go on for a few more seasons sans Bobby Nash just fine, assuming they replace his role correctly. NCIS has rotated out it’s entire cast at this point. GA is down to three remaining original characters out of sheer determination, and Ellen Pompeo is down to reoccurring at this point. Meredith Grey is on reoccurring. Criminal Minds was rebooted with just two of the original characters left, and continues on. They could survive… but while they are a damn good show, with a loyal following and decent ratings they are not Criminal Minds or Grey’s Anatomy or NCIS.
For the record they currently have higher viewership than Grey’s Anatomy, by the way. But at the time of Derek’s death, and the evidently more impactful Yang’s departure, GA was clocking in at nearly double what 9-1-1 rakes in now, but those numbers must be adjusted for streaming and catch up viewership, I think, as well.
They survived Abby leaving just fine, but they replaced her with Maddie Han – and also Eddie’s arrival – two characters that far as I can tell have a loyal and loving following. Let’s be hopeful, they’ll be fiiiine.
They’ve survived this long. Getting past Season 5 is enough of a hurdle. Getting to 10 seasons will be recognised as enough of an accomplishment irregardless of the cast involved. That takes handwork, commitment and dedication. It’s really not that common. Plenty of shows get cancelled before Season 5 and many get cancelled after it. Surviving to Season 10 is not easy irregardless of any situations. So… ya know, let’s be hopeful irregardless.
They will be fine. They’re 9-1-1. They’ve survived so much already. Shit, they’ve jumped networks by this point. Not all shows survive that. They’ve got this. Right? They’ll be fine.
So… did you see the promo? Show survival aside, the cast are not okay. Pretty sure we’ve got some survivors guilt going on. Everyone’s grieving, and some of us are widow’s. We knew this funeral was coming but damn, so soon?
There’s no episode next week so we can have a week to breathe, because holy shit this next episode is going to hurt, isn’t it? There’s some stuff to process and it is not going to be easy. Good lords… we’ll be fine, right? We’ll be fine?
Okay, on to my immediate frustration, because isn’t this some Suicidal Self-Sacrificial Bullshit.
I love Bobby, I do, despite my complaints about his increasingly annoying repetitive arcs I do love his character, and he was one of my favourites when I started watching the show last year – towards the end of Season 6’s run, I think – but holy crap, this was more frustrating than it was sad.
Bobby’s been on this shit since Season 1, and he’s never really gotten over it. When he said it wasn’t because he wanted to leave I actually yelled “bullshit” at my screen. He’s been trying to leave for the last eight years. We all know it, Athena knew it, we all saw it. This is what he does. Every goddamn year. Every goddamn day. If any of them were going to die, it was going to be Bobby, because he asks for this shit every week like he’s hoping for it. We all know, deep down, he sort of was. He isn’t the type of man to just walk away, his character couldn’t leave the show any other way, but he is the type of man to have seriously considered this, to have intended it, he’s told us so.
So, you know what trigger warnings and apologies and all the appropriate disclaimers because this is going to get kind of weird.
I swear we were just discussing Bobby’s near suicidal tendencies just last season. Now here he is with his sacrificial play. A death that may have been more impactful if it happened four seasons ago but at this point it felt asked for. Of course, I was in tears nonetheless and, boy, did I have to take a breather before sitting down to write this.
And can I be mad when he did it to save Chimney? When it was a virus and not a burning building he walked into or jumped off of? What can he do against a death sentence anyways? He saved them all by lying. He saved them all by killing himself. There was nothing they could truly do, but he made that choice himself. He backed them all into a corner to save Chimney. He saved the second half of my favourite ship, but I liked Bobby too! A lot! His BS aside I don’t want him to be dead. Many tears were shed, so come back, Bobby! Goddamn it, Bobby.
He made it so there was no option, though. No time, no choice. He decided. Alone. Ya know what? Grief is complicated, though, because you feel like you can’t be mad at the dead, but I guarantee some people are going to be mad at the dead because of that. I am mad at the dead. Some Coulson bullshit. You don’t make that choice alone, not when you have a family depending on you, that loves you, that you know damn well would do anything to save you. That last point is why he did it though, isn’t it? Shit, it’s all because he feels the exact same way about them. So, self-sacrifice. Don’t be mad, he did it for you.
The thing is… first responders are real life heroes, yes. They risk their lives every day saving people who need them when they need it the most. It’s a job, though, right? There’s a reasonable amount of risk that they sign up for, yes. They should do everything they can to save the people in need, and sometimes they may endanger themselves, and sometimes they may not come home – but there has to be a line. There must be a line. This is a job. The show has shown us during tsunamis and earthquakes and whatever that there are times when the risks to the first responders themselves outweighs the need to clear a building. If a building may collapse, they’re ordered out of it. That’s happened more than once.
They sent in six lives to save two at an unnecessarily high risk, honestly. They should have taken proper precautions, and Bobby’s decision to lead them in anyways was next to stupid. Objectively speaking, of this fictional situation. Now the factors at play didn’t make it easier, it was over complicated. They should have gone in. They should have saved those people, but this risk felt higher and more complicated than it had to be. I’m just saying.
Besides, they’re just people.
This is a drama, a somewhat more dangerous but real life based drama. They’re not literally heroes. Ya know? If this was set in the Marvel universe every risk they took would be completely acceptable because that sort of ridiculous levels of risk is what we’ve come to expect of people like that… but it isn’t. They are heroes, sure, but they’re not Tony Stark or Phil Coulson or Peter Parker or Daisy Johnson.
Part of the comfort of the show is that at the end of the day, the risks are passable. Sure, they nearly die every week, and this show has me on the edge of my seat, goosebumps, verge of tears quite a bit… but they always make it home. The 118, anyways. The risks have always been human, and human risks can be mediated and planned for and dealt with. This episode felt like a compounding of unnecessary risks that the factor was so high it felt insane that they went in there at all. They needed to go in, there was people who needed their help somewhat immediately, so yeah, the episode justified it, but really who is expecting that of anybody in this sort of setting?
This is nit-picky, I realise… but I saw the clip of Bobby’s declaration that they should go in irregardless and just pray weeks ago and all I thought was “That’s insane. This is a job.”
He is not Steve Rogers.
Whatever, let’s talk about Bobby because Episode 814: “Sick Day” starts with a Bobby death fake out, which is especially cruel but it did occur to me that this is what he does. What he’s always done. Ironically, what he has yelled at Buck for doing, but what he continues to do irregardless. Risk is his game, and the higher the cards the better his chances, right? Athena called him on it. Maybe someone would have done something if he had any other career. I thought of this watching that. Bobby has disguised his near suicidal ideation as acceptable self-sacrifice due to his career for years. If he was in any other profession he’d have been called on it years ago. He may even have gotten the appropriate help that a catholic confessional cannot provide.
I love Bobby, but this has been partially the core of his character for years. Athena and the 118 may have dragged him along, kept him out of the ground, gave him just enough to live for but it was always just a barely tangible thin line. This was always in the back of him, and when he assures Athena that’s not what this is, you’re aware he’s made the decision already. Not just now but years ago. He would sacrifice himself before his team and that is noble, and true and good, but when he decided that all those years ago it wasn’t because he loved them or because he was Captain it was because of Minnesota. It was always because of Minnesota.
“Bobby Nash was written in sacrifice and he was built for this.”
Peter Krause. Source: Deadline.
He was always going to sacrifice himself like the hero he wanted to be and was.
“It was never because I wanted to go. I don’t want to go. If I could choose I would stay with you. Always.”
Bobby Nash – 9-1-1 – Episode 815: “Lab Rats”
I’m not saying he wanted to die now. He had started to grow, but ever so recently. I recognise what he said to Athena, I do. I don’t believe all of it, but I do see that he had chosen Athena before then, and would again if he could. Of course, they gave him a death he couldn’t avoid and I see that too. This episode was written so one of them had to die and he chose himself, because that’s just who he is, and was way back in Season 1. His reasons may have started to change, but started is the point- We were addressing this just last season, and that didn’t just go away because Athena called him on it. He decided he would do this years ago, and that decision never wavered.
It may have been out of heroism now, as he claims, but when he decided so, it was out of guilt. Guilt he let fuel him for years, and still does. Understandably so, but it shouldn’t be forgotten. Bobby needed help he never got, and no one noticed because he could say it was expected of him. That that was the risk he signed up for, that it’s the job. Bobby may never have walked away, but that doesn’t mean he hadn’t considered his exit. The job does carry risks, but Bobby always pushed the limits.
Take a minute. Okay.
Chimney Han, what are you talking about?
Look, Chimney was so ready to go or at least over the course of the episode he was settling with the fact that he was probably going to die and that is extremely disheartening. I love Chimney, don’t take him away.
He gives a lovely and heartfelt speech to Bobby when he thinks he’ll never see Maddie again, his kids again, he is proud of them. The Best thing he ever did. Oh, Chim… don’t make me cry. He asks Bobby to keep his family safe, he asks Bobby to check on Maddie for him, to not leave her alone because:
“Maddie’s gonna want to shoulder it all. She’s gonna tell everybody she’s fine. Everyone’s gonna believe her because she’s Maddie.”
Howard ‘Chimney’ Han – 9-1-1 – Episode 815: “Lab Rats”
Chimney, my dude, just a few months ago – barely a few weeks ago for us – you were all huddled around your kitchen table debating whether calling the cops was worth it because while your wife was abducted you all thought she’d just run off on a mental breakdown. In what world have any of you ever assumed she was fine because “she’s Maddie”. You’ve all treated her like she’s got one mentally ill foot out the door since Season 5.
Irregardless, what an absolutely brilliant speech, conversation and moment. Chimney Han, you will not leave us, not soon. I hope he leans on Maddie in the episodes to come, because that survivors guilt is going to take some help to process.
“Chim, I promise you. I am not gonna let anything bad happen to your family.”
Bobby Nash – 9-1-1 – Episode 815: “Lab Rats”
We will miss you, Bobby Nash.
It’s hard to be relieved Chimney is fine when Bobby is dead, ya know? I am relieved, but it feels like icky relief.
The others will survive because they have to. The show will go on without him, and we will hope it survives his loss because I care about the others far too much to see them go from my weekly’s.
Bobby will be missed because he mattered. They all matter. He was Cap. Captain Nash, leader of the 118. What will we do without him? Who will take his spot? Who will lead us now? He meant so much to the whole 118. He’s the pin that hurts the most to remove. What glue can hold us together now? How will we be okay?
They’ll find a way. They don’t have a choice.
It’s gonna hurt for the rest of the season. It’s gonna hurt for quite a bit, I feel. He’s fictional, their world is, but we sit ourselves in that world every week and join them in it. We feel it, that’s good writing. It’s going to hurt. One Thursday (or Friday) after another, okay? We’ll be fine. He’ll be missed.
One thing: Thank you, Bobby, and the vast team behind him. For what he gave to so many people, as a character and a person. He stood for a lot. He was everyone’s Cap, inside and out of the 118. Thank you to Peter Krause for portraying him, and thank you to 9-1-1 for creating him and his wonderful story. The show won’t be the same without him.
Very quickly, let’s cover The Other Weekly’s.
Firstly, High Potential. Wow, what a finale? How am I supposed to sit with this until the next season? Why would you leave me like this? What the hell???
I love this show so much now, and now I’ve got to wait? You give us that emotional cliffhanger and now that’s it???
Unacceptable.
The next season is going to be something with that reveal about Roman and that guy still on the loose and playing direct games with Morgan now. She has kids! We all recall this, right? Really they have been endangered, how dare you. I must know what happens next.
Morgan is such a fun character that I have become very attached to, and I care about her kids just as equally. Not to mention the nice partnership that has developed with Karadec, they have become quite entertaining to watch.
13 Episode seasons are the bane of my existence, I swear to the gods. It’s not enough. Not for this genre, not in the case per episode basis. We earned more when the core of your structure is genuinely filler. Please tell me, we’ll get more. 13 episodes gives us so much agonising time to wait.
Season 2, though! It’s been renewed! Thank gods.
Also, real quickly, NCIS because those Tony and Ziva pics and teasers is exciting. I haven’t been in this shows shit since Abby’s departure but I clearly very much need to catch up, both Ziva and Tony have made appearances since they left and I must catch up on the show and those appearances before I watch this spin-off, which I very much intend on doing because Ziva is still one of my favourite characters from this show.
I don’t think I’ve watched anymore since last we spoke about it, which was months ago now. Right after the last time we caught up on Critical Role and 9-1-1, I think? So… I’ve only got like… half the series to go. It’ll be fine. Enough commitment and I can do that. The difficult part will be when all of my favourite characters are gone, but… I’ll make it through. For Tony’s appearance if nothing else.
I will be finishing The Handmaid’s Tale first, though, probably. I’m on the end of Season 2, and I am aware that if I watch it too fast I will have time to fill before the new season drops, so we shall see… May just depend on the mood from day to day because sometimes you just don’t have the bandwidth for THT’s subject matter and have to watch something (or anything) else. Play it by ear. We’ll talk about this more when I do finish it, though.
To Conclude
Okay, wow. Lot going on this week. Didn’t think I’d have anything to say and then Bobby died. Then I had a lot to say.
Let me be clear that this was a technically good episode, irregardless of Bobby’s death. It was very well written and executed, no comments about it. Was it a little convoluted? Maybe, but it was good. Beautiful good. No notes.
Hope you enjoyed… whatever this catch-up was. Bit of a heavy/hefty one but catch-up is still appropriate because the seasons not over. Upon the conclusion of which, we’ll probably have stuff to say, so I doubt this is the end of this train.
Nevertheless, thank you for reading this far if you did, and I hope to see you in the next one!
Hope you enjoyed it. As always:
Feel free to leave a comment or send me a DM on socials.
You can follow me on Instagram at: @thebomff or on Threads at: @thebomff
On to the next!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images, narratives or characters present or referenced in this post. All rights belong to 20th Century Fox, ABC, Critical Role, Marvel, CBS and all other relevant parties.