We all have our guilty pleasures: TV shows that we would never admit enjoying, binged in darkened rooms in the privacy of our homes. For over a decade, mine has been 9-1-1. The procedural drama by Ryan Murphy and the creators of American Horror Story centers around Los Angeles first responders including firemen, paramedics, and 9-1-1 operators.
The calls they respond to are always insane, ranging from rescuing a baby flushed down the toilet to a highway shark attack. As 9-1-1 actor Peter Krause recently told Esquire, “I’m racing up ladders, jumping on fire escapes, going by exploding balls of fire, and diving underwater.” It’s campy action at its finest. But 9-1-1 is also a tough show to stay up to date with—there are over 140 episodes across 10 seasons, not including the spin-offs.
Critics call it trashy but, really, it’s absurd excellence. Me and the 9 million average viewers of the most recent season can’t be wrong. 9-1-1 is epic, must watch television. So, after a brief time away, I returned to 9-1-1 because I heard that something crazy occurred, even by 9-1-1’s standards.
And no, I’m not talking about the volcano eruption. Midway through season 8, 9-1-1 killed off a major character. For seven years on TV, Peter Krause played the soul of the fire station, Captain Bobby Nash.
Then, in season 8, episode 15, he contracts a deadly fever during a chemical lab outbreak and decides to quarantine himself inside. Before he dies, he hands the sole antidote to his appointed successor, Howard “Chimney” Han (Kenneth Choi). Major character deaths are not new to TV.
Game of Thrones famously dispatched characters like the series was pulling petals off daisies while playing, “He loves me, he loves me not.” But after eight seasons spent with Krause’s character basically serving as the paternal guiding hand of the series, it was an emotional blow. Around the same time, I received news that my grandfather had terminal late-stage cancer. Due to distance—I live in New York City, while he lives in China—I realized that I would be unable to travel to say goodbye at his side.
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