S05.E10: Wrapped in Red

[jewel21]

Quote

The 118 are called to series of emergencies around Christmas Eve. Eddie struggles with an emotional Christopher.

Airdate: 12/06/2021

[preeya]

For the most part, a very depressing episode with a big twist.

[Irlandesa]

Either Ryan Guzman is really leaving or the show overestimates just how much they can leverage "Is Eddie dead/leaving?" as a cliffhanger.  I think this is the third time his future has been a cliffhanger. 

Even though I'd miss Christopher, I think it's time for him to go after all these cry wolf moments.  But I doubt he is because I think they'd show us more closure with him walking away.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Irlandesa

[stonehaven]

I think he should join the call center. That way he can help people without the physical risk..for the most part. Do that til Chris works through some issues and becomes old enough to understand and then if Eddie wants to go back to it, that would be cool.

I did love all the crazy rescues and the lonely lady calling 911. This felt like a vintage 911 episode.

[EllaWycliffe]

39 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Even though I'd miss Christopher, I think it's time for him to go after all these cry wolf moments.  But I doubt he is because I think they'd show us more closure with him walking away.

Is it wrong that I suspect the big twist is Christopher being killed off in some way?

[gesundheit]

48 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Either Ryan Guzman is really leaving or the show overestimates just how much they can leverage "Is Eddie dead/leaving?" as a cliffhanger.  I think this is the third time his future has been a cliffhanger. 

Even though I'd miss Christopher, I think it's time for him to go after all these cry wolf moments.  But I doubt he is because I think they'd show us more closure with him walking away.

 

21 minutes ago, stonehaven said:

I think he should join the call center.

My first thought was, "Did Guzman also not get vaccinated?" But no way would he be working with the child actor with CP if he didn't, so it's not that. I agree that they've cried wolf too many times, but I also agree that it's more likely that the big "reveal" is that he's doing something like training or call center, less in the field. Rather than leaving the show altogether.

[anna0852]

30 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

 

My first thought was, "Did Guzman also not get vaccinated?" 

I thought the same thing 

[Irlandesa]

I forgot he's a paramedic.  Maybe they're going to exclusively have him do that.

Spoiler

He's apparently still filming so I don't think the actor is leaving the show.

 

[Court]

Where is Chimney? 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

This didn't make me feel Christmas. As usual lately, I thought the short rescue stories were done better than the main cast stories. Except for the ceiling-cave-in family. That kid actor was way too old for me to believe he was happy that Santa found them. 

If Eddie and Christopher are really leaving, this episode did a good job making me not miss either of them. 

 

[Jillybean]

8 hours ago, Court said:

Where is Chimney? 

Aimlessly driving around the country for months on end with Jeon-Yi in the backseat, looking for Maddie...? I hope the actor had something better to do, because there was no reason to write him off the show because JLH is on maternity leave. This storyline is weak sauce. 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Jillybean

[marceline]

So is Claudette just...gone? I'm not complaining but I am confused. What was the point?

The office worker pulling a Rosalind Shays (kids, ask your parents) was insane. Ever since LA Law I always check to make sure the elevator is there.

I'm not all about Buck but his gift to Taylor reminded me of when Athena said that Bobby gave her the tool for smashing car windows. It's how these folks show they care.

This was clearly a choppy season behind the scenes even without Rockmund Dunbar's vaccine drama. (Dude, you share a set with a lot of children, including one who has cerebral palsy. Get the shot you clown.) There were obvious issues but I don't doubt everyone worked their butts off so I'm just going to close out this season with my appreciation for cast and crew.

Edited December 7, 2021 by marceline

[tennisgurl]

Isn't this about the fifth time that the show has teased Eddie leaving/dying? This is getting pretty old, either have him be gone or don't, just have him committ to something. I would say that he could just focus on medical things or, like other people said, working at the call center, as those seem less dangerous then fighting fires, but we've seen plenty of times that call center workers and medics are in life or death situations almost as much as firefighters and cops. Poor Buck, between this and Maddie and Chim still being gone, those abandonment issues are going to be in overdrive. 

I did actually like this episode, it felt like vintage 911. Crazy rescues, some cute bits with the people they save, like the couple in the office living in their own Hallmark Christmas movie, and everything generally felt way more low key and fun then it has this season. I guess I'm a sucker for a Christmas episode. 

I am legit concerned for poor baby Jeon-Yi, presumably stuck in her dads backseat for hours at a time for weeks now as her dad drives all over the country looking for her mom, spending her first Christmas staying in a Red Roof motel as her dad cries over his take out cheeseburgers. I hope she likes hotel beds and gas station baby food! 

[gonzosgirrl]

I wonder if there is still some backlash over his/his wife's social media comments earlier this year (late last year?)?  eta: it was summer 2020. I was sure he was a goner when he got shot on the last cliffhanger (and please, that absolutely should have been fatal by the amount of blood he lost and how long it took to get to him). Either way, I find myself not caring one way or the other if he is gone.

This was only the winter finale though, right?

Edited December 7, 2021 by gonzosgirrl

[preeya]

1 hour ago, gonzosgirrl said:

This was only the winter finale though, right?

Right. Episode 11 is March 21st 2022.

[EllaWycliffe]

1 hour ago, gonzosgirrl said:

Either way, I find myself not caring one way or the other if he is gone.

This is kind of where I am at with Eddie.  I like him, but I'm just kind of done with "Eddie is in danger and might die!" and if its not that, it's "Christopher the Adorable is sad over his mom/daddy's new girlfriend leaving/Buck being sad" and I have reached a point where I don't care what horrible thing happens to either of them because they are teflon coated.  They could fall into a giant time warping sinkhole in the La Brea tar pits and two episodes later Christopher would be cheerfully riding a sabertooth while Daddy and Buck angst over how falling thru the sinkhole is affecting him. Eddie could eat a bottle of poison, be shot ten times, and be operated on by Hen and Ravi in an abandoned garbage dumpster they are floating in after Noah reenacts the Great Flood and he'll be fine. In the real world, Eddie would have already taken a less dangerous position - and they do exist, he could be a fire marshall the way Buck was. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Am so disappointed because I was hoping to see Chimney and Jee Yun calling uncle Buck to wish him Merry Christmas. Kenneth Choi shouldn’t be written off just because JLH is on maternity leave. Another vaccine-related issue with KC?

So glad seeing Sue Blevins again, was expecting a scene between her and Miss Know-It-All, but then, where’s Claudette? 🤦🏻‍♀️

[bilgistic]

I don't care about Eddie because Ryan Guzman is a terrible actor.

I'll go sit in the corner alone.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, gonzosgirrl said:

. I was sure he was a goner when he got shot on the last cliffhanger (and please, that absolutely should have been fatal by the amount of blood he lost and how long it took to get to him)

Maybe the cliffhanger was because they were still negotiating his contract, and the result was just a one year extension?

I suppose the haphazard ingress and egress of characters (Claudette, Chimney & family, etc.) was in part due to the pandemic, with Rockmond Dunbar’s exit being just the more visible part of that iceberg.

Hrmm….  
Iceberg.  
Has the show had an iceberg rescue?  
Probably not because of the location, but maybe an artificial or shipped-in iceberg could get loose for a wintry-themed rescue.

Edited December 7, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Empress1]

3 hours ago, marceline said:

I'm not all about Buck but his gift to Taylor reminded me of when Athena said that Bobby gave her the tool for smashing car windows. It's how these folks show they care.

I would actually love a portable generator! When Buck said it was something useful that Taylor wouldn't buy herself, I was like "EXACTLY."

I totally cried when they had the Christmas party, and when Harry gave away his present I actually said "Awww!" out loud.

I assume the second wife's marriage isn't legal since he was already married? That'll be fun for lawyers to untangle. Also I thought that husband was so unattractive.

[preeya]

25 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

I assume the second wife's marriage isn't legal since he was already married? That'll be fun for lawyers to untangle. Also I thought that husband was so unattractive.

As was the 2nd wife who thought she was the first.

[possibilities]

30 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

I would actually love a portable generator! When Buck said it was something useful that Taylor wouldn't buy herself, I was like "EXACTLY.

Especially after they had that arc about the grid failure! For a second I thought it was continuity!

[judyri]

2 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I don't care about Eddie because Ryan Guzman is a terrible actor.

I'll go sit in the corner alone

You are not alone, you just beat me saying it.  He's got a lot of 'drama' but to me his scenes just drag.

[juliet73]

I like Eddie when it's not about Eddie.  When he's in the "background" helping with rescues and having his bromance with Buck is when his character is at it's best.  I'm over all of his brinks of death and personal dramas.  

I thought the lonely older lady who kept calling was eventually going to have a real emergency and no one would show up like the boy who cried wolf.  But after Athena paid her a visit and she said she hadn't talked to her daughter in years because she told her she didn't like her husband, I was hoping one of the wives from the beginning scene was going to be standing on her porch when she opened the door.  

I did not miss Claudette. At. All.

I liked Buck's bracelet gift.  I actually want one.

[Moose135]

14 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Hrmm….  
Iceberg.  
Has the show had an iceberg rescue?  
Probably not because of the location, but maybe an artificial or shipped-in iceberg could get loose for a wintry-themed rescue.

SouthLand had an episode where it snowed in Los Angeles. Crazy thing was, the same day it aired, it actually did snow in LA. I'm watching the episode that night thinking "How did they do that???"

[Racj82]

They are not killing off Eddie simply because of Chris.

Even if he doesn't leave, just changes positions, it's high time for that. Its been a cloud hanging over him ever since the mother died.

I was shocked the wooden dude from some of the Step Up movies ended up on the show. But, I grew to not hate Guzman. He works great with Buck and Chris.

 

[MicheleinPhilly]

I miss when this show was just a fun, goofy procedural with some interesting character development. All of this serialized soap opera nonsense has become too large of a focus. 

[kirkola]

Honestly, when Bobby was condemning the building, I was expecting some sort of callback to Bobby's first family dying due to sub-standard building/fire.  So the Motel Christmas Party wasn't unexpected, but I was expecting a quick scene of grief with Bobby and Athena. 

I miss Chimney...but would be ecstatic to never see Maddie again.  I loved Jennifer Love Hewitt when I was a teen, but the older we both get (roughly the same age), the less I'm impressed with her acting ability.

Eddie hasn't bothered me, probably because I love his bromance with Buck and he's really good with Christopher.  Of course, Christopher probably has enough charm and charisma to make everyone he works with shine.  As others have said, there's plenty of jobs he can do without being at the fire station, but still being in the show.

[MaryHedwig]

19 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I am legit concerned for poor baby Jeon-Yi, presumably stuck in her dads backseat for hours at a time for weeks now as her dad drives all over the country looking for her mom, spending her first Christmas staying in a Red Roof motel as her dad cries over his take out cheeseburgers. I hope she likes hotel beds and gas station baby food! 

I am too, If this were real life, I wonder if Child Protective Services would be following that car.

Edited December 8, 2021 by MaryHedwig

[iMonrey]

I liked all the little rescue stories. This episode was definitely a throwback to the original concept. 

I can't really see Eddie being relegated to the call center, or even to the ambulance. He's sort of an alpha male character and his relationship with Buck has become a backbone of the show. I'm not sure how they are going to resolve this. 

I knew that Bobby and Athena were going to end up hosting a Christmas dinner for the displaced tenants of that apartment building. They made a big deal out of all the food they had bought and then everyone cancelled on them. And I'm fine with that, but I thought it was a bit much that the bigamist's wives were there too. WTH. They weren't homeless.

Quote

That kid actor was way too old for me to believe he was happy that Santa found them. 

Yes! That was some bad casting.

[Empress1]

Yeah, that kid was too old for Santa. My best friend just told me that her youngest is the only one of the cousins on her side of the family who still believes in Santa and he’s six.

[Tdoc72]

On 12/7/2021 at 6:32 PM, shapeshifter said:

Maybe the cliffhanger was because they were still negotiating his contract, and the result was just a one year extension?

I suppose the haphazard ingress and egress of characters (Claudette, Chimney & family, etc.) was in part due to the pandemic, with Rockmond Dunbar’s exit being just the more visible part of that iceberg.

Hrmm….  
Iceberg.  
Has the show had an iceberg rescue?  
Probably not because of the location, but maybe an artificial or shipped-in iceberg could get loose for a wintry-themed rescue.

This happened last summer in Tennessee. They could “rip from the headlines.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2021/08/04/iceberg-wall-collapse-titanic-museum-attraction-tennessee/5480205001/

Edited December 9, 2021 by Tdoc72

[judyri]

I'm losing my mind. Who is/was Claudette?

 

[Gramto6]

She came and went (hopefully) after 2-3  episodes. Supposedly a well liked former employee who doesn't wear the uniform and is "The gift" that keeps giving. I'll be glad if this is the last of her we see...

[Nialla]

23 hours ago, juliet73 said:

I thought the lonely older lady who kept calling was eventually going to have a real emergency and no one would show up like the boy who cried wolf.  But after Athena paid her a visit and she said she hadn't talked to her daughter in years because she told her she didn't like her husband, I was hoping one of the wives from the beginning scene was going to be standing on her porch when she opened the door.

I had the exact same thoughts. I figured no one would believe the old lady until she was injured and landed in the hospital. At which point, her daughter would show up and all would be forgiven.

I also thought one of the wives might be the daughter because they'd talked about how long they'd  been married to the bigamist. Made sense for her to show up and tell mom she was right about the hubby all along.

[judyri]

1 hour ago, Gramto6 said:

She came and went (hopefully) after 2-3  episodes. Supposedly a well liked former employee who doesn't wear the uniform and is "The gift" that keeps giving. I'll be glad if this is the last of her we see...

Wow, thanks, left totally no impression on me!

[Snazzy Daisy]

1 hour ago, judyri said:

I'm losing my mind. Who is/was Claudette?

Miss Know-It-All at the call centre who bullies May.

[judyri]

Oh, if that's Claudette I didn't mind her, but her attitude seemed odd for a 911 operator.

[shapeshifter]

33 minutes ago, judyri said:

Oh, if that's Claudette I didn't mind her, but her attitude seemed odd for a 911 operator.

There's also a Claudette main character on the new reboot of [The] 4400.
 

[rove4]

On 12/7/2021 at 4:33 PM, EllaWycliffe said:

This is kind of where I am at with Eddie.  I like him, but I'm just kind of done with "Eddie is in danger and might die!" and if its not that, it's "Christopher the Adorable is sad over his mom/daddy's new girlfriend leaving/Buck being sad" and I have reached a point where I don't care what horrible thing happens to either of them because they are teflon coated.  They could fall into a giant time warping sinkhole in the La Brea tar pits and two episodes later Christopher would be cheerfully riding a sabertooth while Daddy and Buck angst over how falling thru the sinkhole is affecting him. Eddie could eat a bottle of poison, be shot ten times, and be operated on by Hen and Ravi in an abandoned garbage dumpster they are floating in after Noah reenacts the Great Flood and he'll be fine. In the real world, Eddie would have already taken a less dangerous position - and they do exist, he could be a fire marshall the way Buck was. 

I'd say this is true for all the main cast, not just Eddie and Christopher.  They might kill off second tier characters, like anyone at the call center not named May or Maddie.  But Athena, Hen, Chimney, Buck, or Bobby? Highly doubt it, unless one of the actors ever decides to leave the show.  This isn't TWD or GoT where main characters dying is the norm rather than the exception.  On this show, the main characters are all encased in plot armor. 

[Lethallyfab]

It’s very telling that my main thought of Eddie and/or Christopher leaving isn’t “oh no, they’re leaving!” but it being detrimental towards Buck’s character.  I like Buck, but they’ve basically removed all the characters that he defines himself with and/or against - his bromance with Eddie, him taking care of Christopher, his relationship with his sister Maddie, his relationship with Chimney….

I dunno, I just always found the Eddie and Buck relationship more compelling together than either of them on their own.  That said, I could probably do without Eddie more than I could do without Buck.

 

[gesundheit]

The actress who plays Claudette is pretty virulently anti-Covid vaccinations on social media, so I'd be unsurprised if she really is gone.

[ribboninthesky1]

1 hour ago, gesundheit said:

The actress who plays Claudette is pretty virulently anti-Covid vaccinations on social media, so I'd be unsurprised if she really is gone.

Yikes! 

On 12/7/2021 at 12:10 AM, Mediocre Gatsby said:

If Eddie and Christopher are really leaving, this episode did a good job making me not miss either of them. 

I mean...agreed. I try to give child actors leeway, but I actually think the Christopher actor was better when he was younger.  Guzman is fine when opposite stronger actors, but when he isn't...meh.    

As long as they bring back Chim, I'm not remotely invested in Eddie's fate.  Chim's absence is more glaring with each episode.  

I liked the scenes between Hen and Buck.  I liked that Buck was still just "okay" at the impromptu gathering.  Sometimes the holidays are blah no matter the reason, and that's okay.  Doesn't always have to be magical. 

On 12/8/2021 at 11:41 AM, iMonrey said:

And I'm fine with that, but I thought it was a bit much that the bigamist's wives were there too. WTH. They weren't homeless.

I don't think the wives were there.  It seemed to me like they were at one or the other's house? 

As for Buck's gift, I too would have preferred the portable generator. 

[Clanstarling]

On 12/6/2021 at 7:37 PM, stonehaven said:

I did love all the crazy rescues and the lonely lady calling 911. This felt like a vintage 911 episode.

I loved it too. It did feel like the old days.

 

On 12/7/2021 at 7:24 PM, juliet73 said:

I thought the lonely older lady who kept calling was eventually going to have a real emergency and no one would show up like the boy who cried wolf.  But after Athena paid her a visit and she said she hadn't talked to her daughter in years because she told her she didn't like her husband, I was hoping one of the wives from the beginning scene was going to be standing on her porch when she opened the door. 

I didn't even connect her with the two wives - but I did think that she'd be a cry wolf situation. I liked the way it resolved itself, she owned her mistake and had a family again.

On 12/8/2021 at 7:11 AM, kirkola said:

Honestly, when Bobby was condemning the building, I was expecting some sort of callback to Bobby's first family dying due to sub-standard building/fire.  So the Motel Christmas Party wasn't unexpected, but I was expecting a quick scene of grief with Bobby and Athena.

And I wondered if this had killed any of the other residents (like the condo collapse in Florida) would people hate the guy who hit the post the way they hate Bobby's past. Not exactly equivalent, but very close. The guy was a very negligent parker.

On 12/8/2021 at 8:55 AM, Empress1 said:

Yeah, that kid was too old for Santa. My best friend just told me that her youngest is the only one of the cousins on her side of the family who still believes in Santa and he’s six.

I tried to find out the actor's age, but no dice. I suppose they do that so he won't be locked into playing a specific age.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Clanstarling

[mojoween]

On 12/12/2021 at 10:37 AM, Clanstarling said:

The guy was a very negligent parker.

And how exactly was he intending on getting the tree off the roof from inside the garage?

All this massive decorating on Christmas Eve was giving me major agita.  That is a lot of decorating for one day’s worth of enjoyment.

My hubby and kid are convinced someone carved “ass” in the pumpkin pie at the call center.  I was not wearing my glasses and didn’t save the ep to check, does anyone still have it recorded who can look?  There was definitely something written in it.

Was Ryan Guzman singing “The River” at the end?

[gonzosgirrl]

On 12/7/2021 at 5:51 PM, SnazzyDaisy said:

Am so disappointed because I was hoping to see Chimney and Jee Yun calling uncle Buck to wish him Merry Christmas. Kenneth Choi shouldn’t be written off just because JLH is on maternity leave. Another vaccine-related issue with KC?

I "Asked Matt" on TV Insider, and pretty much got a non-answer, but I imagine if it were vax-related, it would be news. It really doesn't make sense to me. Chim was a major character before Maddie came along - writing him out just so we would have to watch him be 'sad' is pretty lame. He has his surrogate-mom to help with the baby, and the entire station for emotional support . What a terrible choice on the show's part.

Quote

Question: Is Kenneth Choi‘s absence from this season of 9-1-1 solely because of Jennifer Love Hewitt‘s maternity leave, or has he got something else going on? I hope it’s the latter or for some other reason that is his choice. Chim is my favorite character and I miss him! — Gonzo

Matt Roush: As long as he and Jennifer Love Hewitt remain prominently in the credits, which they still are, I’m going to assume that they’ll be back when her maternity leave is over — and in fictional terms, whenever Maddie (Hewitt) recovers from her post-partum depression. I get that having Chimney suffer in her absence for weeks on end wasn’t going to be fun to watch, so maybe sending him off to find her was fair play. I was hoping they’d pop up in the Christmas-themed midseason finale to give her brother Buck (Oliver Stark) some holiday cheer, but I guess we’ll have to wait until the show comes back this spring. (Rule of thumb: If a well-liked actor on an ensemble drama doesn’t give an exit interview anywhere, we probably haven’t witnessed their actual departure.)

 

[kwnyc]

On 12/8/2021 at 11:55 AM, Empress1 said:

Yeah, that kid was too old for Santa

Might have been a small 12-year-old who was already vaxxed (because the show was shot before vaxxing for little kids?)

I liked they kept up their Christmas episode tradition of not killing anyone. :-)

The last couple of episodes seemed to be getting back to the successful template of a few wacky rescues, weird surprises, etc. And I think that's why people want to watch the show. It's not about solving mysteries, chasing bad guys or remotely real medical procedures. It's about giving us the "Aww" moments with chosen family between adventures.

The sad/depressed Christmas was kind of a subtext for where we've been in this country: can't be with loved ones, it doesn't SEEM like the holidays, but they (almost) all ended up together, GIVING others who needed it a happy time (like when they brought the group home kids in.)

As for Eddie leaving...pick one, buddy. I don't mind his acting. As a friend of mine once observed: actors in action movies don't really need to act, they need to look realistic taking things apart and putting them together. Guzman does that fine. 

And I fanwanked that Chimney is taking his time driving back from the East Coast (or even spending time with Wise Eli) and will turn up back at work after the break (with or without JLH).

[Irlandesa]

8 hours ago, gonzosgirrl said:

I "Asked Matt" on TV Insider, and pretty much got a non-answer, but I imagine if it were vax-related, it would be news. It really doesn't make sense to me. Chim was a major character before Maddie came along - writing him out just so we would have to watch him be 'sad' is pretty lame. He has his surrogate-mom to help with the baby, and the entire station for emotional support . What a terrible choice on the show's part.

Good try.  I agree his answer wasn't great.  Any number of us could have given a similar response as he did. 

[mojito]

On 12/14/2021 at 5:28 PM, mojoween said:

My hubby and kid are convinced someone carved “ass” in the pumpkin pie at the call center.  I was not wearing my glasses and didn’t save the ep to check, does anyone still have it recorded who can look?  There was definitely something written in it.

There ya go, @mojoween.

I initially thought the same thing, too, about the kid referring to Santa. But just because he said that "Santa found us", doesn't mean he believed in Santa. I refer to Santa, too, to other adults.

[mrsbagnet]

Oh my goodness, that office couple was stressing me out! Glad one of them finally made a move and that she survived her fall.