Seismic Shifts

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!

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.

Between arcs going nowhere, having important scenes happening off screen or being rushed to give time to boring emergencies and side characters, this finale had me once again asking myself a question I've asked one too many times this season: what was the point?

If a viewer chose to skip season 8 for whatever reason, they could go right away into season 9 without feeling too lost because none of the characters had any major development and there are maybe four or five things that have actually changed, and none of them are worth sitting through 18 episodes for.

With season 7 being shorter and mostly a way to fix certain things and considering that this was the first 18 episode season on the new network and with the original showrunner coming back, viewers most likely expected the show to go back to what it was like in the earlier seasons just to be left disappointed.

There have always been inaccuracies and questionable choices have been made in the past too, but season 8 in particular clearly suffered from a lack of direction and consistency. Too often characters either said one thing just to do the opposite the following episode or had scenes that seemed to set up some sort of arc that was poorly flashed out, if it even happened at all.

Maddie and Hen were given some spotlight only when scenes involved their families or they had something bad happened to them, Chim had a few moments throughout the season but still felt sidelined, Buck's storyline in 8b lead nowhere and 8 seasons in, he's still stuck on a hamster wheel, Eddie's arc had too many moments happening off screen and the core issues that had to be dealt with were completely ignored. And well, so much could be said about Athena and Bobby but none of it would be positive.

Out of all the things I had hoped or expected to see this season, Gerrard being the only character with some sort of development was not on my list at all.

Season finales used to give viewers some sort of closure and most of them ended in a way that felt hopeful. This season finale, however, was a perfect example of what has been wrong throughout the whole season and doesn't leave anyone hopeful for the next.

At this point, it's becoming harder and harder to believe things may get better as clearly, the fans' opinions are totally ignored and nothing can stop the derailed train this show has seemingly become.

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.

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!!