Season 9 of 9-1-1 marks the first season without Bobby Nash (Peter Krause), and the season premiere kicks off with a six-month time jump that sets the stage for how the show is planning to move forward from this loss. The 118 hosts a dedication ceremony where the firehouse is named after Bobby, and then they continue to respond to calls like normal, while Athena (Angela Bassett) fights to stay distracted. The show has not forgotten about Bobby, and all of the characters continue to grieve him in this episode, but the show has finally moved past the focus on the loss of Bobby. Now, 9-1-1 is back to silly calls and normal interactions among the characters, and it feels like it has found a solid tone that blends the old with the new.
In ‘9-1-1’ Season 9, Chimney Is Not Yet the Official Captain of the 118
In the Season 9 premiere of 9-1-1, Chimney leads the 118 through a series of calls, where they save a billionaire (Mark Consuelos) who’s been swallowed by a whale, and combat children’s antifreeze poisoning by giving them alcohol. Throughout each of these calls, it’s clear that Chimney has become comfortable as the leader of the 118. He was the one who stepped up last season, demanded that Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) commit to staying at the station, and made sure that the team was able to keep functioning in Bobby’s absence. This episode, he gives a speech at Bobby’s dedication even when he feels like it’s not actually what Bobby would have wanted, and he helps the team save everyone that they come across. Chimney is clearly still feeling conflicted about his new position, but he doesn’t let this affect him on the job.
In a fun and silly subplot, Chimney, Eddie, and Buck fight over who will get to be Hen’s (Aisha Hinds) plus one when she goes to space. At one point, Chimney expresses his frustration with Eddie for taking a risk on a call without running it by him first, and Eddie fires back that Chimney is only the temporary captain. They talk this out later, and Chimney admits that he’s been feeling guilty and doubtful about taking on the role of captain in Bobby’s absence, because he’s worried about disrespecting Bobby’s memory. Chimney’s survivor’s guilt is still eating at him, and part of him feels like he shouldn’t be the captain because Bobby died for him. As a result, Chimney has been putting off taking the captain’s exam, but Eddie compliments his leadership style and pushes him to finally take that leap.
‘9-1-1’ Needs to Keep Moving Forward From Bobby’s Death, Starting With the 118
Hopefully, after Chimney and Eddie’s conversation, 9-1-1 will quickly skip ahead to Chimney becoming the official captain after having passed the test. Chimney’s survivor’s guilt is realistic, and neither his guilt nor his grief should just be wiped away entirely, but both 9-1-1 and Chimney need to move forward from Bobby’s death. As Eddie pointed out, Chimney is the best possible captain to replace Bobby, both because he chose to step up and because he’s already a member of the team. Bringing in someone new would be too much of a change, and it would mess up the 118’s dynamic, even if it were someone more likable than Gerrard. As much of an adjustment as it is to see the 118 without Bobby, the current group works really well together. Chimney, Hen, Buck, Eddie, and Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody) bounce very well off each other, and they all have known each other long enough to make a really solid team.
9-1-1 was in a tough spot after Bobby’s death last season, because the show naturally had to dedicate the rest of the season to grieving him, but it took on a very different tone as a result. The time jump at the start of Season 9 has helped to fix this quite a bit already, but the show still has a ways to go with this transition. There is already a return to the old silliness and playful banter in the 118’s interactions with each other, and they see the irony of the situation when they deal with some particularly funny and strange calls in the Season 9 premiere. 9-1-1 will never be the same show that it was before Bobby’s death, and it should never erase him entirely, but it needs to continue to move forward. It is already doing a good job of this, but the next step here has to be to make Chimney the captain of the 118. 9-1-1 should not drag this storyline out by having Chimney consider whether to take the exam, then spend time studying. Instead, he should just become the captain already, and the 118 should move forward as a team with Chimney at the helm.
