Seismic Shifts

The two stars are me being generous, and to give credit to where it's due - Kenneth Choi.

Season 8 in general was very shaky and inconsistent with its writing and balancing out storylines, and this episode was no different. Unfortunately, a lot of the personal storylines got overlooked or overshadowed by the 2- and 3-parters, and most characters seemed to be in a same position they were two episodes ago.

The emergency itself was depicted alright, but drew too much attention away from the progression of personal storylines. You'd think that after killing off one of your main characters, you'd give the other characters around him have their open arcs at least somewhat resolved by the end of the season.

Killing off a beloved main character in a show that already had one of the most lovable casts was one of the worst decisions ever made in television history.

It was nice while it lasted, 9-1-1.

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.

Spending the majority of the episode on a big emergency and then cramming in a less than 5 minute montage of development in the characters' personal lives at the end perfectly illustrates how out of touch the writers/showrunner are with what their viewers want. We as viewers of the show don't care about having bigger and grander emergencies every week. The heart of this show was the bond between the characters and the found family aspect which has decidedly been lost since the disastrous decision to kill Bobby off. This didn't feel like a season finale and it certainly didn't leave anything to be talked about during the hiatus. Definitely doesn't make me want to come back for season 9!

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.