911 has been grappling with the death of the 118’s captain, Bobby Nash. With the team and his family having just buried the beloved family man, how does the team go on in the wake of this tragedy? In season 8, episode 17, we saw how the team was doing in the aftermath.
With the team now in need of a new captain, it seemed obvious to everyone it should go to Hen. Bobby had been preparing her for this, but Hen seemed hesitant to take the job. As she told Athena, her friend and Bobby’s widow, she still felt like it was Bobby who was he captain. And she asked Athena if she ever wondered if turning down a promotion herself kept her from moving up.
It’s sad to think of Hen not being captain, but does this mean someone else will be in the running? During an emergency, it seemed like Gerrard was impressed with how quickly Chimney came up with an idea to fix the issue of the water hoses turning into fire during an issue with methane appearing in the water.
Is it possible someone else will step up, like Chimney, or even Buck who seemed to be doing really well taking charge? Or will Hen change her mind in the wake of the emergency that is happening in the season finale? Either way, it’s shaping up to be an exciting look into how the issue of the captaincy will be resolved.
We also saw there was still tension between Athena and Chimney. When Chimney came home from the movies with the kids, Athena couldn’t get out of the Wilson home fast enough. She later admitted to Karen that she didn’t blame him, but when she looked at Chimney, she could only see the person who wasn’t there. Bobby.
Karen told her that her grief was okay and reminded her that they aren’t just co-workers, but family. Athena got a little taste of seeing how backsliding could cause someone to continue to make the same mistakes.
The episode brought back some familiar faces from previous calls, including the Smurf lady from season 3, episode 10 and Graham from earlier in season 8, the one who was basically acting as a cart cop. He seemed to still be monitoring how people did things in the apartment building’s laundry room. He felt like he was stuck in a trap of not being able to move forward, much like Athena was.
911 had everyone stunned with some character choices in season 8, episode 17
As Athena left him to his own devices, this was when the building began to break apart, likely due to the earthquake that happened earlier in the episode. However, for such a small earthquake, it seemed to do a lot of damage.
This episode really showed how grief was different for everyone, including Buck who was trying to do what Bobby said and be okay. But in a bid to try to get his words out, Buck went to confession and admitted that he didn’t know how to be okay. He begged Bobby to come back and tell him what to do.
Buck had been checking in on everyone, even doing grief assessment on his friends, but it didn’t seem like anyone checked on how he was doing. In fact, in a scene with Eddie, we learned that while everyone else knew Eddie was heading back to Texas later on to possibly accept a job at the El Paso fire department, no one told Buck until Ravi mentioned it to him.
Eddie, in turn, lashed out, accusing Buck of making his grief about himself. He told Buck what it was like to get a call in the middle of the night and not be there. He felt he could have been there to stop something. When Buck expressed if Eddie thought he didn’t do enough, Eddie pushed him and got into his face.
It really did seem like Eddie was going to hurt Buck and honestly, this was extremely too far for the character. Buck has done nothing but be there for the people he loves, but no one has seemed to noticed or asked if he was okay. Eddie accused Buck of making things about himself, but there was no evidence that Buck did anything like this. He has said this before to Buck and it’s hard to believe that he cares about Buck’s feelings, especially right now.
Bobby was an important person to Buck and Eddie, as Buck’s supposed best friend, should know this. But Eddie was in the wrong and to top it off, he barely apologized. Instead, he left Buck a note that could be interpreted as him going back to Texas in a bid to surprise Buck with bringing Aunt Pepa and Chris to visit. It’s not the apology Buck deserved, and frankly, Eddie needs to do a better job of apologizing.
Buck seemed to be walking on egg shells, not really making mention of how he was feeling, likely in the aftermath of once again being told to minimize his feelings. But Pepa had a nice talk with him, and while it doesn’t fix the Eddie situation, it did give Buck a new perspective on how to move forward.
In all honesty, Buck was treated unfairly, and the writers were not fair to Eddie’s character, having him put his hands on Buck and blame him for things that were not his fault, or that he did not do. No one is in Buck’s corner, and he should have gotten better treatment from someone who claims to be his best friend.
Eddie as a character is someone who has had trouble dealing with his emotions in the past. He did go to therapy for a short time, but did it really hit the crux of his issues? Does he see that he could be in the wrong here? What are the writers doing with Eddie as a character, because so far, he has not shown to be a friend Buck can rely on. Grief is an ugly, understandable thing, but it should never get physical like it did in that kitchen.
There’s only one episode left in the season, and we’ve seen how the 118 has been torn apart due to the grief everyone is experiencing. But how do you repair the fracture that has been broken due to the loss of the one person who held them together?
9-1-1 airs Thursdays on ABC at 8/7c. You can catch up on previous episodes on Hulu.
Make sure to keep up with 9-1-1 coverage here on Precinct TV.