S04.E09: Blindsided

[Empress1]

13 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

It was a multitude of issues.   He got drunk in a empty apartment and left a space heater on.   The bad electrical caused a  fire and lack of proper fire safety stuff (like working fire detectors and extinguishers). which a sober Bobby would have noticed but drunk Bobby ignored failed to warn people of dangers before it was too late.     I think Bobby was censured  but never charged because the building had such faulty wiring.   He was responsible for the fire but if the apartment they lived in had been up to code it wouldn’t have burnt as fast and hot as it did.   Even left on a space heater shouldn’t have caused a five alarm fire unless something else was at play.

I think Bobby’s building fire was based on the .Grenfell Tower fire but I’m not 100% certain.

[ouinason]

I like that Karen tried to be the voice of reason, but that was undercut by the fact that SHE was the one saying that they should file to adopt Nia, and HEN was the one who knew that wasn't something that they could do.  The flipped roles just confuses me.

[mojoween]

A woman of Maddie’s age would not have been allowed to carry to 42 weeks and 3 days, I wouldn’t think.

[ribboninthesky1]

After barely showing Albert and Chim interacting most of the season, I thought Albert being part of the accident wasn't really necessary.  Felt like overkill with everything else in the episode.  

On 4/19/2021 at 10:21 PM, Lady Calypso said:

I have to point out that there's such an importance in giving Maddie and Chimney's daughter a Korean name.....

Jee-Yun is a truly unique name for television and I have to give this show props for going that direction, and that Maddie knew Chimney well enough to choose his mother's name as their daughter's while he was dealing with his brother's hospitalization.

That was such a nice, refreshing touch.  Great way to show inclusion and diversity in a meaningful yet subtle way. 

20 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

It was a multitude of issues.   He got drunk in a empty apartment and left a space heater on.   The bad electrical caused a  fire and lack of proper fire safety stuff (like working fire detectors and extinguishers). which a sober Bobby would have noticed but drunk Bobby ignored failed to warn people of dangers before it was too late.     I think Bobby was censured  but never charged because the building had such faulty wiring.   He was responsible for the fire but if the apartment they lived in had been up to code it wouldn’t have burnt as fast and hot as it did.   Even left on a space heater shouldn’t have caused a five alarm fire unless something else was at play.

Yeah, I like Bobby well enough.  But I never did understand why he would knowingly live with his family in a building that wasn't up to code. Even beyond his professional duty, that's pretty terrible for a spouse and parent that is a fire chief.  He has some accountability for not reporting the violations. 

He was an addict, if it wasn't the fire, it likely would have been something else that put his family in peril.  Bobby shaken up by the pile-up and Athena's harsh words made perfect sense - there were parallels.    

On 4/21/2021 at 3:53 PM, mostlylurking said:

All I can think when he starts waxing all wise is didn’t you kill a bunch of people?? Yes it was a tragedy and I’m glad he was able to pick up the pieces of his life as addiction is a disease. However, he shouldn’t be a fire chief. He just shouldn’t have that influential position in society. My humble opinion. 

I understand your perspective, although I do believe Bobby walks in humility, is a good listener, someone who doesn't judge, and shares from his life experience.  As someone else mentioned, he lost everything because of that fire.  In that season 2 episode, his own chief basically said his punishment was survival.      

[SuprSuprElevated]

21 hours ago, gik910 said:

Mostly enjoyed the episode. Glad Albert lived. And now I'm about to go off on the Hen story line- feel free to skip... because I hate it and it's making me furious.  For context - I'm currently a foster parent.

There is almost zero way they would have not known why Nia was in care.  There is almost zero way they would not know her birth mother. If she's actively working her program- they would have been doing virtual visits, there would be quarterly meetings with the entire team (foster parents, bio-parents, social workers, lawyers, Dept. Of Child Services, and a CASA rep most likely due to Nia's age). While it's legitimate that court may be behind due to COVID there is a whole bunch of other stuff that goes on. There is zero way this would have been sudden.  

The way they are portraying this is infuriating. It's a team effort band that team includes the bio-family. 

The whole point of foster care is to provide a child a safe, loving, functional home so they learn what good family relationships are supposed to look like.  

Every single child that has to be placed in care deserves a family who's hearts will break when they return home.  

This is not a whole hearted endorsement of the system. It is screwed up in a thousand different ways. It's an administrative nightmare. Its underfunded. It effects POC families disproportionately. It's underfunded. It's exhausting. And sometimes horrible decisions are made. 

But TV really needs to start representing the reality. Because there is also a huge lack of foster families and those kids need support. They are worth it. 

 

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

Thanks for doing what you do, and I can appreciate your frustrations, but let's face it, 9-1-1 isn't the vehicle for anything remotely approaching reality/believability.

[tomorrowgirl]

On 4/20/2021 at 3:10 PM, peace355 said:

 

What was the song playing during birth/Albert scene? I feel it's been other shows for dramatic death scene before, which made me think Albert was a goner!

 

I don't think this has been answered yet.  The song is To Build A Home, by The Cinematic Orchestra.  It has also been featured on Grey's Anatomy, during a dramatic scene.

[gik910]

22 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

Thanks for doing what you do, and I can appreciate your frustrations, but let's face it, 9-1-1 isn't the vehicle for anything remotely approaching reality/believability.

That's completely true. And fair.  

But similar to how it's important that Maddie/Chimney' daughter has a traditional Korean name - I guess it's just the representation matters button for me.

There is so much stigma around Foster Care - so when you do see it portrayed - you just hope for the best. They could have done an amazing story about how Karen/Hen actually supporting bio-mom through this and still having hard feelings about Nia returning home that would have been beautiful and bitter-sweet.  The actors have the chops for that. But alas. 

I'm not going to stop watching or anything - I'll just rail about it until it's over. :)

 

[SuprSuprElevated]

24 minutes ago, gik910 said:

That's completely true. And fair.  

But similar to how it's important that Maddie/Chimney' daughter has a traditional Korean name - I guess it's just the representation matters button for me.

There is so much stigma around Foster Care - so when you do see it portrayed - you just hope for the best. They could have done an amazing story about how Karen/Hen actually supporting bio-mom through this and still having hard feelings about Nia returning home that would have been beautiful and bitter-sweet.  The actors have the chops for that. But alas. 

I'm not going to stop watching or anything - I'll just rail about it until it's over. :)

 

Rail away.  It's what we do here. 😘

[Clanstarling]

13 hours ago, gik910 said:

There is so much stigma around Foster Care - so when you do see it portrayed - you just hope for the best. They could have done an amazing story about how Karen/Hen actually supporting bio-mom through this and still having hard feelings about Nia returning home that would have been beautiful and bitter-sweet.  The actors have the chops for that. But alas.

That would have been an amazing story line.

[peace355]

On 4/23/2021 at 7:26 PM, tomorrowgirl said:

I don't think this has been answered yet.  The song is To Build A Home, by The Cinematic Orchestra.  It has also been featured on Grey's Anatomy, during a dramatic scene.

Thanks very much tomorrowgirl, I was sure that I associated with some other dramatic show.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I didn't expect the drunk driver to simply be extremely drunk. She was totally ignoring her child and Maddie on the phone. She didn't speak a word and just kept driving. I thought there would be some medical reason.

I thought she was having a stroke. That would have actually made more sense the way they played it but I guess they wanted to make a point about drunk driving. I really don't see any point in playing it vaguely like this so the audience doesn't know until Athena finds the bottle. 

Also, the laundry list of treatments to induce labor (spicy foods, exercise, sex) came right out of the Friends playbook when Rachel was overdue.

[Snazzy Daisy]

“Bye mamas, see you later”, aaah little Nia is so adorable, I hope she stays with the Wilsons. Hen doesn’t deserve Karen, Hen is selfish & a cheater!

Damn it Chim, you made me cry twice during Alberta/Albertina & Jee-Yun’s name reveal scenes. I can’t wait to see uncle Buck & uncle Albert babysit baby Jee-Yun, it’ll be fun!

This is one of my fav episode this season.

[Sarahsmile416]

On 4/22/2021 at 4:59 PM, mojoween said:

A woman of Maddie’s age would not have been allowed to carry to 42 weeks and 3 days, I wouldn’t think.

I said the same thing to Mr. Sarahsmile416...I was very proud when he told me that that baby was way too clean and pristine post birth.  For a show like this, I expect better (though admittedly the bar is set very very low lol)

Of course, the 7-8 year old kid was not in a car seat so that kind of brought me out of the episode.  I strongly doubt that an OB would sit back and let a woman of AMA go that long...and presumably let her have gone longer if the stress of that pile-up call hadn’t have done it. 
 

[kwnyc]

I still think that if they had to do it over again, the show creators wouldn't have made Bobby so directly culpable for the deaths of over 100 people. Clearly, it's something most viewers haven't forgotten. Bobby could have lost his family in a fire where he wasn't able to save them...but not one that he was responsible for starting.

But here we are, well into the show, so it's just there. 

I have also been wondering why/how Albert gets to stay (granted, it is pandemic time). I mean, is he a citizen? He might be. Chim is a citizen because he was born in the US. If Albert's mother has American citizenship, or his father has dual citizenship, he would be able to live here, work here, etc. Otherwise, that's another issue the show glosses over.