I admit, when 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 15 ‘Lab Rats’ started, I was enjoying it. We lived in a different world back then. Not much of it was making sense, mind you. There was a non-airborne virus that Chimney had somehow caught via air. The only antidote had been smuggled out of the lab in a sparkly Stanley Cup that didn’t even seem to be holding ice. But I was willing to throw common sense out the window and just have fun. You know, 9-1-1 style. Exactly like I did for the beenado. And the plane.
And then, they went and killed Bobby Nash. Like, actually, really and truly killed Bobby Nash. No takebacks killed him. He said goodbye to Buck and Athena, and then there was a body bag. They carried him out. There were interviews afterwards, mostly from Angela Bassett and Tim Minear, who said the word dead many, many times.
There were other words, too. Realism. Stakes. Words I didn’t care about. That I didn’t want to hear. Words I’d never had to consider in the context of 9-1-1, because that’s very much not the show I was watching, much less why I was watching it. And sure, a part of me would love to live in denial (not just a river in Egypt) and believe in the very well-substantiated conspiracy theories about Bobby’s possible return. But, for the sake of this argument, let’s take EP Tim Minear at his word.
For the sake of this argument, let’s believe him when he says Peter Krause’s Bobby Nash is dead because “it was time for there to be some real tragic fallout from a story.” For the sake of the argument, let’s accept that Bobby Nash isn’t coming back and that “it makes sense for his character to have a tragic sacrifice as a conclusion of his entire journey in the show.”
And then, let’s deconstruct the fact that “if there’s a character whose death is going to affect the most characters, who would that be? So, go big or go home.” Because the thing is, Tim Minear is right about all of those things. The one thing he’s wrong about is the part where this is the show we signed up for.
Watching TV involves a social contract of sorts. There are some unsaid rules to the investment, and they change with the show. We don’t place the same expectations on a show like Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, or even Grey’s Anatomy than on a show like 9-1-1. But 9-1-1 has always made the rules of the game absurdly clear. This is not a show to be taken altogether seriously. That means we can suspend disbelief and clap when Athena Grant lands that plane. And we can enjoy the beenado without trying too hard to make sense of it. It’s 9-1-1 rules, after all.
Introducing realism into the equation breaks those rules and shatters that social contract.
Because you, see, I did not sign up for reality on 9-1-1. I neither wanted nor expected it. In fact, I very much thought I did not have to deal with it. I counted on it, considering the aforementioned beenado, or the fact that just a few episodes later, Maddie walked around a house after her throat was slashed! Buck’s entire leg was crushed by a rig, but he’s walking around like nothing happened. Eddie got shot by a sniper in the middle of Los Angeles. And did we mention Chimney’s rebar through the head that he doesn’t even have a scar to show for? This is distinctly not the reality show.
Except, apparently, now it is. The rules have changed, out of nowhere, without warning.
Is it any wonder fans are upset? That they’re trying to make “deals with God” to bring back Bobby Nash. This is, after all, the way the show has always worked. Not just that, it’s the way we’ve always enjoyed it. Perhaps we could have enjoyed another show. I am a big fan of other types of shows. I willingly subject myself to things like The Last of Us and Andor, which have left me in tears more than once. But when I watch those shows, I know what I’m in for. The social contract there is different.
The problem isn’t with the content, it’s with the expectations that have been set.
9-1-1 Season 8 still has three episodes left, and as Tim Minear tells it, those three episodes will deal with the ramifications of what happened. And that, in many ways, sounds just like the way to honor the loss of a character like Bobby Nash. It’s just such a fundamental change of the fabric of the show that it’s hard to process. To quote Sharpay Evans in the classic that is High School Musical, “This is not what I want. This is not what I planned. And I just gotta say. I do not understand.”
Because the only way to go on from here is to mourn Bobby, to truly mourn him. For that to be done in a truly respectful way, we’d have to turn 9-1-1 into Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist for a bit, another show I loved, but again, very different social contract there. And if there’s one thing I don’t want to be watching as I tune into my silly firefighter show, it’s a study on grief. Even if it’s well done, and that’s already a big if.
So, no, what the terribly unrealistic firefighter show that was always borderline parody didn’t actually need was to kill its Captain for “realism.” And if it chooses to bring him back, in whatever unrealistic way it can think of, absolutely no one will blink an eye. We will just cheer, nod at the 9-1-1 logic, and continue on with our day, because that, well, that will actually make sense.
The rest, the part where we have to actually process how to live without Bobby Nash? That’s the part that wouldn’t make sense at all.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 15 ‘Lab Rats’? Share with us in the comments below! Check out our Tales From the 118 podcast if you also want to listen to our reviews. On Apple Podcasts and Spotify! Plus, if you want to leave your own rating/comment about the show, you can do so in our 9-1-1 hub!
9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.
“This is not the show I signed up for”
Well good thing you can watch something else then 🤷🏻♂️
Well said Lissete
You, myself and many other people are on the same page here.
Still believe it was an unnecessary and uncharacteristic twist.
And not to mention the amount of people who watched the show because of Bobby and Athena alone.
Let’s wait and see what’s coming. But the whole idea of ‘realism’ on a show like 911 after 8 seasons is just preposterous.
EXACTLY! 👏👏👏💯
Well said!
Hard agree
I watched this show for the action and the cast which you grew to know and love – the plots were absolutely nuts, but that was ok with me, because after having a long day dealing with grief and aggravation, 9-1-1 was the silliness I wanted to come home to. If the writers are reading any of this, please bring Bobby back in any silly way you can and make the show fun again. Thanks for listening.