Lab Rats

I gave this a three and I really only did so because the main cast, particularly Peter Krause, Angela Bassett and Kenneth Choi were fantastic and deserve their flowers for their amazing performances.

9-1-1 used to be my comfort show. I could tune in every week and watch my favourite characters go THROUGH it and still know that everybody would be okay in the end. That's what set it apart from other shows. You knew the main cast were safe.

Killing Bobby Nash of ALL characters, is just such a baffling and ridiculous move. He is the soul of this show. The one all other characters turn to for support and guidance. If this had been done because Peter had wanted to leave, that would be one thing. But knowing that isn't the case now from reading post episode interviews, and that it was a creative decision? Well. Big mistake.

And to do it in this way? With Bobby isolated from everyone and dying alone in a horrific way, with nobody there to hold his hand? Particularly cruel.

And on that, I must address the Eddie of it all, or lack there of. He deserved to be in this episode. Bobby and Eddie had their own relationship. Eddie saw him as a friend and mentor. The fact that he was completely kept out of this episode, and the last? Completely insane and stupid. And dare I say it, cruel. He is a MAIN character. Could they not have spared 10-15 seconds in that ending montage to show him reacting via phone call? Instead we saw Tommy, a side character that much of the audience cares very little for? Insane. I and I'm sure many others would have much preferred to see Eddie take Tommy's place in that sequence. We deserved to see that. Instead we're told that, like much of Eddie's story this season, takes place off screen. Infuriating.

Peter and Angela bring in a LOT of viewership and therefore, ratings. I hope the creative team and writers take note of the criticism they are receiving in spades after this arc, and make some serious changes. I'm giving them until the end of this season to make a decision about whether I'll return for season 9 or if I let this show go completely. I'm positive I'm not alone in that thinking.

Farewell Bobby Nash and Peter Krause. You deserved better than this, thank you for 8 years.

I think the real issue that we're experiencing right now is that Tim Minear doesn't understand his audience. Most people watch 911 as a comfort show. We watch for the silly emergencies and the found family feel. There are a thousand other shows we could watch if we wanted our main characters to be at deaths door. The fact that they always got out of the most impossible situations alive is why people watch. There's comfort in knowing everything is going to be okay. Tim wrote the show he wanted to write but forgot the audience he was writing for. When people talk about this show in the future this is the episode that people will point to and say 911 jumped the shark.

He's got zero clue about who his audience is, what they like, why they're watching the show. He doesn't understand his characters, either. And he especially seems to hate his actors. He needs to leave this show and go straight to superhell. This episode was extremely poorly written and makes no narrative sense. Shock value death is so lazy, and completely out of tune with the show. There's been nothing realistic about this show (and especially not this episode) since day one and that's what's kept everyone watching. It's low stakes! That's why we like it. No matter how absurd the story gets, everyone makes it home! It's a comfort show, you don't kill off main characters in a comfort show! You barely even kill side characters. Once again, Tim Minear has no idea what's he's doing.

People do not watch this show for its realism; rather, we are drawn to it for the comfort and entertainment it provides. In today's world, there is an undeniable need for an escape from reality. This series has been a source of entertainment for millions, and this particular episode marks the beginning of its decline. Despite this, the actors delivered stellar performances, deserving of the highest praise.

There are more sophisticated methods to captivate an audience. This approach resembles a juvenile attempt at seeking attention with a "look at me" flair.

The writers can go ingest a satchel of Richards

I do not intend to watch season 9 or the spin-off, 9-1-1 Nashville.

Fans watch it for the idealistic values and the fact the "main characters always find a way". They find comfort in the personal storylines of the characters and not the emergency's. No one was becoming uninterested or bored of the same emergency's or repetitiveness of the show, we watch it to see the development of the characters and how they grow and learn from things. How their relationships grow and how they work together as a team. It was never about the emergency's or violence it was about the personalities and how they change throughout time. We want to see new relationships, more kids, even possibly add a new main character not ruin the foundation built to support the story's. Thank you for destroying the purpose of this series to many viewers.