Seismic Shifts

It's a little sad to see a beloved show go downhill so fast in the span of a couple episodes. How do you completely misunderstand your own audience?

First off, Eddie deserved better in terms of writing.

His storyline was sidelined for a good chunk of the season. So much so that by the end it didn't feel resolved nor did it feel satisfying. Which is sad to say the least because there's so much that could be done with Eddie's character and yet the writers and the showrunner don't know how to properly utilize him.

What was the point of having Christopher go to Texas and have Eddie go after him only for them to not even have a conversation about what happened last season? Ohh that's right, it probably did happen but off screen.

Seriously, what was the point of creating a rift between the two of them? It would've made sense if it led to more development for Eddie's character, which at some point it did feel like it was moving in the right direction only for it to go nowhere.

And don't even get me started on the alleged "genius" creative decision of killing off Bobby. All for the sake of realism? The same show that had a ghost dial 9-1-1 cares about realism? Sure. And only for Bobby to not even get a good send off.

If this shows wants to keep people around even after making the horrible decision of killing off one of their main characters, there needs to be GOOD fleshed out character arcs that are PROPERLY resolved. Along with follow ups because why bring something up and then never talk about it again?

It feels as though Tim has forgotten exactly why people love and cared about this show in the first place. The emergency calls may be part of it but it's mainly the character driven stories that keep people around.

People care about these characters and their personal lives and the problems they deal with on a day to day basis. Big emergency calls may be fun but it's gotten to the point where having multiple in one season puts certain storylines in the back burner.

All people want are well written storylines instead of whatever the hell has been going on in these past few seasons. I don't think that's too much to ask for but who knows maybe it is.

I'm not sure how many people will stay tuned in after this season but at this rate there won't be much of an audience left if the writers and Tim Minear continue to go in this direction.

There's more I want to say about all of this but I'll stop here.

Tim Really said let's take everything everyone has said NOT to do and throw it in a dumpster fire and while we are at it let's make sure that every person is dissatisfied no matter what corner of the fandom your in. It's as if HE ACTIVELY SOUGHT out what NOT to do, and did it anyways, not too interested in seeing where this goes. They genuinely could have had it so good, gained alot of money, followers, and made some type of history, or at least left us with something to think about. However it is over.

So as a fan who gave her heart to this show i am sorry to say I will no longer be in to with my whole heart peace out!

It's upsetting how clear this season was basically only outlined by the head writers and showrunners, given a greenlight and possibly a far to soon to manage deadline, and then churned out as last minute as possible.

Nearly every major arc from the beginning of the season involving a main character was not properly given time or resolve. The only exception possibly being Chimney, whom Kenneth Choi did another stellar job injecting emotion into. Every other character and their relationships were handwaved yet again.

Much of this season has felt wholly impersonal and a bit mean to both the cast and the fans. I'm leaving a season finale disheartened. For an episode titled seismic shifts, we are circled back yet again to status quo. Even the unexplained, seemingly unjust firing of a mainstay actor whom was adored on and behind the camera feels to be an afterthought. There has been and will never be closure on his death due to the circumstances that surround it. And that would be fine if the show was not pounding the pavement to move on as quickly as possible from any meaningful plot point it has had.

Overall I'm shocked at the variation in quality of season 8. How the showrunners have created a story so human and uplifting yet their goals seem to be aligned with how to remake your favorite movie of the week. And then churn out a script and cobble together footage then put it to screen, not caring how that comes across because the money was already made and spent, and the show is already renewed so we can just fix it later.

Well later won't come now, and if we as viewers do not see the work, then the issues don't feel fixed, they feel ignored and thrown away. Very bitter taste left in my mouth.

The emergency was fine, nothing crazy but ok ig. Chimneys speech at the end was powerful and his reconciliation with Athena was nice. THAT being said, what a waste. ABC please fire your show runners and writers or at least scare them into writing better. You had the PERFECT set up for a great finale with 8x17, you did an insane press tour, and truly had the perfect setup for a great last episode. Instead you gave us nothing, that was so lame I can't even put it into words. You are taking these characters a certain way and then completely 180ing them. Does no one communicate about where each of the character arcs are going?? I mean you really messed up buck and eddies start for season 9 after such a perfect set up in the previous episode, what about the empty casket from 8x16, and most importantly BRING BACK PETER KRAUSE. I love this show but I cannot stress this enough, get your stuff together and write the way the show should be written!!

The entirety of season 8 was so inconsistent in quality, from beginning to end. The show running has to be the most inept man in terms of how to write a show and his writers are doing him no favors. The entire episode struggled to pick a single tone after throwing a ton of stuff. At first it had a feeling of the earlier seasons of 9-1-1 but as the episode progressed it felt more and more like they were trying to think of a satisfying way to wrap it up. This has been one of the most sorry excuses for an episode I've seen in a WHILE. My 3 stars are generous here because it could not possibly have been worse than the slop thrown at the screen and called an episode that was Lab Rats. It feels like the show does not want or feel like it has to have a continued direction because it only sees it's viewers as money. I'm so underwhelmed they couldn't even be bothered to center one of their character's actual big moments either. How are you going to side line every character and call this an exploration of grief. The only smart decision they made was not getting rid of any more of their cast.