Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 16.The one thing sustaining my excitement about 9-1-1 over the last two weeks has been the wild belief that Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) might still be alive. Sure, we all saw him die, but TV rules dictate that it’s not over until you actually see the body. 9-1-1 rules are something else altogether, as we have seen a number of our favorite characters (including Bobby) come back from the dead and survive outlandish injuries without long-term effects. The fact that this burst of realistic consequences is unusual for 9-1-1’s world, coupled with Oliver Stark’s now-deleted Instagram story that showed a script where Bobby was buried alive, had me feeling silly for bursting into sobs after “Lab Rats” concluded. Of course, Bobby Nash was still alive, and this was all some elaborate, Jon Snow-level prank. It seemed so obvious to me.
Well, it’s time for me to put on my clown makeup again, because the credits for “The Last Alarm” have rolled, and Bobby Nash is still dead. I went into this episode expecting a heartbreaking installment that would shock us at the end with the twist that Bobby was actually alive. Instead, what I got was an episode that was surprisingly excruciating to get through, all the way through its final scene. 9-1-1 has certainly had some drops in quality over the years, but even at its worst, the show has always made me feel something, albeit frustration or anger. This whole episode, though, I didn’t really feel anything, even with truly career-best performances from 9-1-1’s cast members (Angela Bassett’s monologue was especially incredible). This episode just doesn’t feel like 9-1-1 at all to me, and I honestly just don’t know where the show even goes from here.
In ‘9-1-1’ Season 8, Episode 16, Athena Is in Denial About Bobby’s Death – Just Like Me

Image via ABC

My favorite parts of this episode were Peter Krause’s appearances, both in the flashbacks to the call that affects this episode, as well as in his scenes as either a ghost or an imagined version of himself with Athena. I’m going with an imagined version, because he was way too harsh to be any version of the real Bobby. Although, unsurprisingly, even Bobby’s “ghost” has excellent chemistry with Athena, leaving me once again disappointed that Krause and Bassett won’t be playing them together anymore. The episode starts with a flashback to eight years ago, where the 118, led by Bobby, rush to help a mother and her 11-month-old baby who have been caught in a fire. They don’t make it in time to save the baby, and the mother, Leah (Julianna Guill), is overwhelmed with grief. In a later flashback in the episode, Bobby visits Leah in the hospital and expresses his sorrow for her loss, opening up about the loss of his own kids.
In the present day, Bobby’s body is still being examined and investigated because of the CCHF, even after two weeks (which would have been the perfect opportunity to bring him back from the dead, but alas). Athena isn’t pushing to get the body and hold a funeral, because she’s not ready to say goodbye, but Chimney (Kenneth Choi) fights to get Bobby’s body back without talking to her. While the funeral is being planned by the department, Athena throws herself into Leah’s case after Leah reveals that she believes that her baby, Micah, was actually kidnapped. She has a lot of evidence, like that Micah’s body was never found, the new boy has his same birthmark, and she was in prenatal yoga with his mother.
Athena helps to investigate, but it turns out that Leah was wrong, and she has to move on (even though Micah’s casket was empty – which, again, would have been excellent foreshadowing). Athena realizes that she has to as well, so she has Bobby buried back in Minnesota with Marcy (Laura Allen), Brook (Noelle Parker), and Robert (London Cheshire). It’s certainly a lovely choice on Athena’s part, but 9-1-1 continues to stress the message that Bobby is back with his family, so much so that it seems to be downplaying how much Athena, May (Corinne Massiah), and Harry (Elijah M. Cooper) meant to him.
In ‘9-1-1’ Season 8, Episode 16, Chimney Takes Bobby’s Death Especially Hard

Image via ABC

While everybody is grieving Bobby, the main focus during “The Last Alarm” is split between Athena and Chimney. Athena is obviously in mourning after her husband’s death while dealing with her anger over him leaving her. Meanwhile, Chimney is struggling with survivor’s guilt, now permanently cursed with the knowledge that Bobby gave his life to save him, and didn’t even tell him about it. Chimney is isolating from everyone, including Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who is uncharacteristically hard on him because of it. This feels like a lazy way for 9-1-1 to yet again throw more problems at their otherwise excellent relationship, and I’m not looking forward to seeing it played up in future episodes.
Chimney’s grief doesn’t just cause problems at home, and he ends up lashing out at work, both at someone they’re supposed to treat during a call and at the well-deserving Gerrard (Brian Thompson). I strongly disliked the redemption arc that 9-1-1 attempted with Gerrard earlier this season, where it tried to retcon all of his bigotry by making it seem like he is just harsh and bad at his job. It’s even worse in this episode, as Gerrard is presented as thoughtful in how he treats the 118, careful in giving them room to grieve Bobby until a replacement is found, and even understanding when Chimney lashes out at him. It’s just a mind-boggling choice to have him be portrayed as the reasonable one here, after the detailed portrayal of him that we got in Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Chimney’s “Begins” episodes.
While on the rooftop with Buck before Bobby’s funeral, Chimney says what we’re all thinking, and he points out how preventable Bobby’s death felt. “When you’re out in the field, and you only have two bad options to choose from, you do not accept that. You do not let those be the two crappy options available. You always find a third way.” This is ultimately what I think makes it so hard to accept Bobby’s death. Like Chimney says, the 118 always makes it out of the worst scenarios by finding the unlikely third option that Bobby taught them to look for. Now, it just feels very different for the show to change its course by taking away that possible option, and instead have Bobby die so easily and definitively.
I Really Don’t See How ‘9-1-1’ Comes Back from This, But I Hope It Does

Even after watching his death scene and reading all the exit interviews, I just couldn’t imagine what 9-1-1 would look like without Bobby. We finally got the answer, and here is 9-1-1 without Bobby: all of the grieving scenes feel like they’re from a different show, 9-1-1’s tone just feels off, and the episode is surprisingly boring. Everyone is keeping it together much more than I had expected, with Buck (Oliver Stark) in particular holding back his own grief to help Chimney (Bobby would be so proud of him). Eddie (Ryan Guzman) returns for the funeral, but oddly without Christopher (Gavin McHugh), who also loved Bobby. We get a short but cute Buddie moment, but even that feels out of place in the episode. The sweet and fun 9-1-1 is struggling to coexist with the version of the show where Bobby is dead. The funeral happens just like we saw in the leaks, and it is definitely real, but it’s more a tribute to firefighters in general than Bobby specifically.
Sure, Bobby’s death offered a heartbreaking death scene, moments for the extremely talented cast to do some impressive acting, and a shocking twist. But then what? The stakes have been raised in the world of 9-1-1, but the show has been irrevocably changed. What was once a comforting procedural to return to every Thursday night will now have us sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting for the show to decide whom it wants to kill off next. If this week’s episode is what we should expect from 9-1-1 from now on, then the show had better course correct quickly, because it’s just not sustainable.
New episodes of 9-1-1 air Thursday nights on ABC and are available to stream the next day on Hulu.

9-1-1

Release Date

January 3, 2018

Network

ABC, FOX

Showrunner

Tim Minear

Directors

Bradley Buecker, David Grossman, Brenna Malloy, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Jann Turner, Jennifer Lynch, Marita Grabiak, Sarah Boyd, John J. Gray, Barbara Brown, Robert M. Williams Jr., Kristen Reidel, Marcus Stokes, Tasha Smith, Millicent Shelton, Juan Carlos Coto, John Gray, Greg Sirota, Alonso Alvarez, James Wong, Kevin Hooks, Varda Bar-Kar, Shauna Duggins, Sharat Raju

Writers

Tim Minear, Andrew Meyers, Brad Falchuk, David Fury, Ryan Murphy, Christopher Monfette, Nadia Abass-Madden, Nicole Barraza Keim, Erica L. Anderson, Matthew Hodgson, Stacey R. Rose, Taylor Wong, Tonya Kong, Adam Penn

Pros & Cons

This cast can really act, and act they do in this episode.

‘9-1-1’s perfectly-crafted tone is gone along with Bobby, and its new tone feels off.
The episode veers too much into the melodramatic, and is surprisingly unemotional for a major character’s funeral.
There is a lack of continuity for a number of characters in this episode.