S06.E09: Red Flag

[jewel21]

Quote

The Santa Ana winds bring in a variety of weirder-than-usual emergencies as the 118 respond to a family dog retrieving a severed hand and a young woman sleep-driving into the station. Bobby worries about his AA sponsor. Denny questions Hen and Karen about his biological parents. Chimney thinks he's found the perfect house for him and Maddie.

Airdate: 11/28/2022

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, jewel21 said:

Chimney thinks he's found the perfect house for him and Maddie

I guess it’s too much to hope that Chimney’s house hunting will be comic relief.

[possibilities]

When they were hooking up the hose, what water source were they tapping into? It didn't look like there was a hydrant or a well or a lake or anything, and I didn't see a tanker truck, either.

[Irlandesa]

Do we think Athena and Bobby are going to have another mystery to solve? 

[anna0852]

6 minutes ago, possibilities said:

When they were hooking up the hose, what water source were they tapping into? It didn't look like there was a hydrant or a well or a lake or anything, and I didn't see a tanker truck, either.

The engine has large water tank in its body.

[possibilities]

Are we 100% certain that was Wendell? Just by the watch? 

[cameron]

Jennifer Love Hewitt really looks like she is pregnant again.

[Racj82]

1 hour ago, cameron said:

Jennifer Love Hewitt really looks like she is pregnant again.

I didn't want to say it but...yeah.

[iMonrey]

I knew as soon as they got inside the Murder House and Chim started looking around he and Maddie would end up buying the place. And actually a fixer-upper is a good idea for them if they can't afford anything else. It's interesting that Chim had to track down the origins of the murder story and debunk it before he'd be willing to buy it though. Even if there had been a triple homicide in the house that was back in the 60s. Would that really put you off buying the place if it's the only thing you could afford?

I'm not sure I get what's going on with the rehab founders and the fire. Does Bobby think they killed Wendell and set the fire?

Hen and Karen's kid - who was the bio mom? Wasn't it Hen's druggie ex? Did we ever know who the father was?

Didn't understand why the wind was keeping everyone awake. Just imagine if they lived in Chicago, they'd never sleep!

[Clanstarling]

54 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I'm not sure I get what's going on with the rehab founders and the fire. Does Bobby think they killed Wendell and set the fire?

Yeah, I thought that was a little odd. I guess Athena will be looking into it. We didn't learn anything about why Wendell was struggling so hard, and I'd guess they had something to do with it. I'm not looking forward to the story line though.

I never lived in Southern California, so I don't know much about the Santa Ana winds, but these days it's always cause for concern when it comes to fires. That alone could keep fire fighters awake.

I think the father of Hen's ex has been mentioned before, but I don't remember much about him. Good fake out though, with Denny promising he's not looking for another mother...and it turns out he's looking for a father.

[sempervivum]

Re. the 'murder house' subplot: so the heir or whatever has been paying taxes for 60 years on this place? Because the city would have long ago repossessed this place for unpaid taxes otherwise. Also, the surviving mother /wife 'disappeared' back then- who thinks this will be a plot twist, assuming Chim/Maddie actually go ahead with buying it?

I found it hard to believe that 'all 4 family members were killed in a car crash' turned into 'crazy father killed his kids and then himself'. Also that place would long ago have been trashed, squatted in, and then burned.

[anna0852]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Hen and Karen's kid - who was the bio mom? Wasn't it Hen's druggie ex? Did we ever know who the father was?

Yes, druggie bio-Mom (Eva) told the dad about Denny back in Season 2 as a way to be cruel to Hen. Since Dad never signed the adoption papers, there was legitimate concern he could take Denny from Hen and Karen. 

Fortunately Dad was a decent guy and recognized that suing for custody would do no good. I think he ended up signing the papers.

Edited November 29, 2022 by anna0852

[Izzy85]

2 hours ago, sempervivum said:

Re. the 'murder house' subplot: so the heir or whatever has been paying taxes for 60 years on this place? Because the city would have long ago repossessed this place for unpaid taxes otherwise. Also, the surviving mother /wife 'disappeared' back then- who thinks this will be a plot twist, assuming Chim/Maddie actually go ahead with buying it?

I found it hard to believe that 'all 4 family members were killed in a car crash' turned into 'crazy father killed his kids and then himself'. Also that place would long ago have been trashed, squatted in, and then burned.

I was only half paying attention while doing something else, but I think Chim said the mother moved out the night her family died because she couldn't handle the memories. She kept the house and I think she died a year or so prior? 🤷‍♀️

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I knew as soon as they got inside the Murder House and Chim started looking around he and Maddie would end up buying the place. And actually a fixer-upper is a good idea for them if they can't afford anything else. It's interesting that Chim had to track down the origins of the murder story and debunk it before he'd be willing to buy it though. Even if there had been a triple homicide in the house that was back in the 60s. Would that really put you off buying the place if it's the only thing you could afford?

The more important issue with a house from the 60s or older is an inspection. Asbestos, black mold, and termites, oh my!



 

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm not sure I get what's going on with the rehab founders and the fire. Does Bobby think they killed Wendell and set the fire?

4 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

Yeah, I thought that was a little odd. I guess Athena will be looking into it. We didn't learn anything about why Wendell was struggling so hard, and I'd guess they had something to do with it. I'm not looking forward to the story line though.

Oof. Yeah. I can handle the sleuthing so long as Bobby doesn't fall off the wagon in the process. 
As soon as I saw H!ITG! Alicia Coppola as one of the concerned neighbor onlookers at the fire, I knew something was up with that couple. 
I don't know if they killed Wendell, but they didn't seem to help him deal with his problem, and, yes, they may have set the fire, but, if they did, what were they covering up?
We did see that they lived in a very posh place that Bobby followed them to, right? Or was that the rehab place?

[Aliconehead]

1 hour ago, Izzy85 said:

I was only half paying attention while doing something else, but I think Chim said the mother moved out the night her family died because she couldn't handle the memories. She kept the house and I think she died a year or so prior? 🤷‍♀️

Yes that was what has said. Mom was home wrapping gifts when the car accident happened, she moved out the day after the funerals.  

i can see how their deaths could have been evolved into a murder suicide.  People gossip and one detail gets changed and then another 60 years later it’s a whole different story.  Add in the quick move of the wife/mom and her keeping the house as is adds to the lore 

also the taxes would probably be very low since California has prop 13 that does not raise property taxes.  Now 40 years of deferred maintenance is a bit frightening 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Aliconehead

[Andyourlittledog2]

Santa Ana winds are hot and heavy winds.  It's just really weird and different during them. You want it to stop just stop. I don't know how else to explain it.  There's a psychological effect like when there's a full moon and people just act out more perhaps. And fire. Always the threat of fire.

I think perhaps the show is doing a shady rehab facility a la Rehab Mogul guy *Christopher Bathum'. He was a man who created a rehab empire in So California that basically turned into an insurance scam and kind of a cult. Worse, he preyed on the girls for sex and made the clients dependent on him and his centers and was using drugs himself and supplying him to clients close to him and there were a lot of relapses and people would die etc. Anyway, he's out of business and he was arrested. I'm a little fuzzy on the details it's been awhile since I read about him.  Here's one article about his scam:

Rehab Mogul

https://thecinemaholic.com/where-is-rehab-mogul-christopher-bathum-now/

This is why I think the show is going somewhere like this with this plotline. It's the first thing I thought of when I saw the rich skeevy owners and their article about how great they were on the wall there.  Super fishy.

[CoderLady]

6 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I never lived in Southern California, so I don't know much about the Santa Ana winds, but these days it's always cause for concern when it comes to fires. That alone could keep fire fighters awake.

4 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

Santa Ana winds are hot and heavy winds.  It's just really weird and different during them. You want it to stop just stop. I don't know how else to explain it.  There's a psychological effect like when there's a full moon and people just act out more perhaps. And fire. Always the threat of fire.

YMMV. I lived there for over 20 years. The air becomes crystal clear and dry, the daytime sky a brilliant blue and the almost constant wind smells wonderfully desert-y. I can't explain it either, but to me it feels really good to be outdoors enjoying it before the winds die down again for another year, so I get how all the squad ended up sitting out on the roof. 

[Andyourlittledog2]

6 minutes ago, CoderLady said:

YMMV. I lived there for over 20 years. The air becomes crystal clear and dry, the daytime sky a brilliant blue and the almost constant wind smells wonderfully desert-y. I can't explain it either, but to me it feels really good to be outdoors enjoying it before the winds die down again for another year, so I get how all the squad ended up sitting out on the roof. 

I lived there pretty much my entire life and I don't get upset by them myself although I hate desert-y weather so I didn't enjoy them at all.  It does clear the air though. LA can be really pretty when the air is clear, the mountains and foothills and ocean vistas are all gorgeous. When you can see them. But I lived near the beach so it was never so bad we had the ocean to cool us down.  Inland more I think I'd have gone out of my mind frankly.

[eel21788]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

The more important issue with a house from the 60s or older is an inspection. Asbestos, black mold, and termites, oh my!

lead paint

[MaryHedwig]

Raymond Chandler wrote best about the Santa Ana winds in his short story Red Wind.

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen.”

Edited November 30, 2022 by MaryHedwig

[Snazzy Daisy]

Buck already bought a firefighter onesie for his baby.

Ohh boy…someone should tell him! 😢

[MicheleinPhilly]

10 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Buck already bought a firefighter onesie for his baby.

Ohh boy…someone should tell him! 😢

Yeah, as soon as he told everyone "I'm going to be a father" I thought, "Oh Buckley."

This is all going to turn out very poorly and I am not looking forward to the soap opera element. 

I lived in LA for 5 years so I always handwave the geography stuff but I legit laughed out loud when Bobby, on a rooftop in downtown LA, said, "I smell fire" and it was a rinky dink little controlled burn in like Calabasas. 🤣

[Empress1]

1 hour ago, MicheleinPhilly said:

Yeah, as soon as he told everyone "I'm going to be a father" I thought, "Oh Buckley."

Me too. Don’t you terminate parental rights as the donor? Buying the onesie is cute, but he is not going to be a father. That’s not what’s happening here. They should have gotten all this straight, preferably in a lawyer’s office, before they went down this road.

16 hours ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

I think perhaps the show is doing a shady rehab facility a la Rehab Mogul guy *Christopher Bathum'. He was a man who created a rehab empire in So California that basically turned into an insurance scam and kind of a cult. Worse, he preyed on the girls for sex and made the clients dependent on him and his centers and was using drugs himself and supplying him to clients close to him and there were a lot of relapses and people would die etc. Anyway, he's out of business and he was arrested.

I’m not familiar with this case but I agree that it’s going to be something like this - a rehab as a cash grab that doesn’t actually help people. I felt so bad for Bobby when he said he wished Wendell would have trusted him to pull him out if a bad place.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Empress1

[iMonrey]

I forgot to mention, how out of character was if for Maddie and her co-worker to gaslight Josh just because he never works during the full moon? Not only does that sound like grounds for immediately dismissal, it also sounds like it's against the law to make fake 9-1-1 calls. I was fairly gobsmacked by this dumb subplot. They must have been desperate to give the call center something to do this episode.

[ajsnaves]

40 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I forgot to mention, how out of character was if for Maddie and her co-worker to gaslight Josh just because he never works during the full moon? Not only does that sound like grounds for immediately dismissal, it also sounds like it's against the law to make fake 9-1-1 calls. I was fairly gobsmacked by this dumb subplot. They must have been desperate to give the call center something to do this episode.

When did they make any fake 911 calls?  The only questionable calls I remember were from the Murder House, and that was from a short in the phone lines.  I did love the detail that this was an old hardwired phone.  Which means it probably technically belongs to the phone company. (Which ever one took over for Ma Bell in the intervening 60 years.)  Those things were built to last.

[shapeshifter]

49 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I forgot to mention, how out of character was if for Maddie and her co-worker to gaslight Josh just because he never works during the full moon? 

Ugh. My daughter works as a 9-1-1 call-taker/dispatcher in a major city with a high crime rate. There are a lot of workplace issues, without anyone manufacturing any.

[izabella]

1 hour ago, ajsnaves said:

When did they make any fake 911 calls?  The only questionable calls I remember were from the Murder House, and that was from a short in the phone lines.  I did love the detail that this was an old hardwired phone.  Which means it probably technically belongs to the phone company. (Which ever one took over for Ma Bell in the intervening 60 years.)  Those things were built to last.

Yep, they were built to last.  But phone companies don't provide service to a house that's been empty - with no utility bills paid - for 50 years.  That was a silly story.

[tennisgurl]

Oh Buck, we all knew this was coming. He is already attached to the idea of being a dad even though I am pretty sure that when your a sperm donor you give up parental rights and we know that this baby will go to his friends and not him, this is going to be an absolute mess. 

Sad that Bobby's sponsor died, not sure how I feel about it being part of some evil rehab scam. It seems to be adding extra drama to a story that already seems quite dramatic, like they cant just have Bobby and Athena dealing with grief over losing a friend and maybe Bobby feeling disheartened that someone so seemingly on it could fall off the wagon, they need to have a bad guy to defeat and a mystery to solve instead of just having this be a tragic thing. 

Whenever I hear about the Santa Ana Winds all I can think about is the song about them from Crazy E x Girlfriend. 

Pretty wild that a story of a father and three daughters dying in a car wreck turned into "father butchers family" in a relatively short span of time. Enjoy dealing with that black mold and asbestos Chim! 

Edited November 30, 2022 by tennisgurl

[Lukeysboat]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I forgot to mention, how out of character was if for Maddie and her co-worker to gaslight Josh just because he never works during the full moon? Not only does that sound like grounds for immediately dismissal, it also sounds like it's against the law to make fake 9-1-1 calls. I was fairly gobsmacked by this dumb subplot. They must have been desperate to give the call center something to do this episode.

There weren’t any fake 911 calls. Coworkers were asking Josh to take their shifts so he’d have to experience the craziness that comes with working during the Santa Ana winds (and presumably full moons).  That’s why George pretended to ask off for appendicitis. I imagine Josh could have tried finding someone else to work those shifts. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

Oh Buck, we all knew this was coming. He is already attached to the idea of being a dad even though I am pretty sure that when your a sperm donor you give up parental rights and we know that this baby will go to his friends and not him, this is going to be an absolute mess.

This is really stupid. How dumb is Buck supposed to be? This is something they all should have sat down with a lawyer to discuss. This is at the very least something the prospective parents should have ironed out with Buck before any of this took place. Or are we to assume they told him he could be as much of the baby's life as he wanted? That's going to be awfully confusing for the child and awfully awkward for the parents.

Quote

There weren’t any fake 911 calls. Coworkers were asking Josh to take their shifts so he’d have to experience the craziness that comes with working during the Santa Ana winds (and presumably full moons).  That’s why George pretended to ask off for appendicitis. I imagine Josh could have tried finding someone else to work those shifts.

Maddie and (I want to say Linda?) said they were pulling some sort of prank on him. I don't have it on the DVR anymore to go back and check but what I got from the dialogue was the calls were all pranks.

Quote

Whenever I hear about the Santa Ana Winds all I can think about is the song about them from Crazy E x Girlfriend. 

Me too! I even went back and watched that number on YouTube.

[BooksRule]

I've already deleted the episode from my DVR so I can't check, but they found the guy with hand blown off, and then the guy with the finger missing.  But the digit that was found was a thumb, right?  So they said that there was another victim somewhere.  Did they find the third person?  My mind has totally gone blank on that plotline.

[Dani-Ellie]

There were no fake phone 911 calls, just a lot of fake employee call-outs so Josh would have to cover a lot of shifts during the prime nuttiness of the Santa Ana winds since he always bragged about not having to work during full moons, another time for prime nuttiness.

[possibilities]

The thing with Buck is that yes, they definitely should have made the boundaries clear before proceeding with the sperm donation. I But I have known people who do things informally, without lawyers, because they think all that is unnecessary. I think that's a mistake, but it does happen, so the plotline doesn't strike me as implausible.

The issue doesn't have to be confusing for the child, but people who are confused themselves are definitely more likely to confuse a child and it sure looks like Buck is very confused.

1 hour ago, Lukeysboat said:

There weren’t any fake 911 calls. Coworkers were asking Josh to take their shifts so he’d have to experience the craziness that comes with working during the Santa Ana winds (and presumably full moons).  That’s why George pretended to ask off for appendicitis. I imagine Josh could have tried finding someone else to work those shifts. 

This. The prank was getting Josh to work a lot of shifts, which I thought was stupid and obnoxious. But it wasn't fake 911 calls, which would have been a thousand times worse.

[anna0852]

32 minutes ago, possibilities said:

The thing with Buck is that yes, they definitely should have made the boundaries clear before proceeding with the sperm donation. I But I have known people who do things informally, without lawyers, because they think all that is unnecessary. I think that's a mistake, but it does happen, so the plotline doesn't strike me as implausible.

The donation was cleary done via clinic, so the legal side of things have probably already been addressed. 

I'm not convinced that Buck is going to go off the rails and keep referring to the baby as his child. I think initial excitement got to him and then he calmed down. He referred to his friends having a baby not 30 seconds later.

I do think this show thrives on soap (which I am down for!) and my working theory is that the mom dies in childbirth and the intended father can't handle it. He passes the baby back to Buck, saying it's not his kid and he doesn't want the baby that killed his wife.

Edited December 1, 2022 by anna0852

[ajsnaves]

6 hours ago, izabella said:

Yep, they were built to last.  But phone companies don't provide service to a house that's been empty - with no utility bills paid - for 50 years.  That was a silly story.

I assumed if Chim picked up the phone there would have been no dial tone. But if it’s still connected to the lines, maybe the short did something. Or maybe 911 calls can still go out. I just hand waved it. What I didn’t get was why Chim fixed and not just didn’t cut the wire. 

[izabella]

5 minutes ago, ajsnaves said:

What I didn’t get was why Chim fixed and not just didn’t cut the wire. 

That phone line is probably the only thing in that house that works, and Chim was planning to buy it!  🤣

[bilgistic]

6 hours ago, possibilities said:

The prank was getting Josh to work a lot of shifts, which I thought was stupid and obnoxious.

I literally yelled, "Who the fuck does that?!" I've worked for some crazy people, but people colluding to lie about being sick so their supervisor(?) would work several consecutive long/double shifts, risking others' lives because he wouldn't be alert, is just beyond.

[MaryHedwig]

18 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I literally yelled, "Who the fuck does that?!" I've worked for some crazy people, but people colluding to lie about being sick so their supervisor(?) would work several consecutive long/double shifts, risking others' lives because he wouldn't be alert, is just beyond.

I have been a supervisor for years. If I heard of anyone pranking someone like that, they would be fired instantly and not be able to work in the field again. It made me think a lot less of Maddie.

[toodywoody]

So Hen's son, just goes off on his bike and peddles over to his Dad's house which is 2 blocks over? LA is huge, there is no way he would live just so close that the kid could bicycle without anyone knowing he's been going somewhere. Not to mention, he's going somewhere without telling anyone and how things could happen.

I agree that the mom is going to die in childbirth then Buck will have the kid or some crap.

I just hope Bobby doesn't fall off the wagon with wherever this is going.

When Chim took Maddie to the house, all I could think is asbestos since I bought an older house and yeah asbestos. Then the storyline made me think of some 'murder house' in LA that's sat empty for years but is currently being remodeled or for sale. I just read the article maybe a month ago.

[possibilities]

Kids take off without permission all the time. I'm not saying it's smart, but I do think it's realistic. 

The biodad living close by is probably more of a stretch.

[Rapunzel]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:13 PM, Aliconehead said:

also the taxes would probably be very low since California has prop 13 that does not raise property taxes.  Now 40 years of deferred maintenance is a bit frightening 

As a CA resident for over 15 years, our property tax is initially capped at 1% of the purchase price of the home. However, it can certainly increase whenever they re-assess your property’s value for a variety of reasons. It also allows increases for things like schools, lighting maintenance, emergency services, etc. That being said, property tax is the most reasonable tax in CA, especially as most major cities pay nearly 10% sales tax. 

I now split my time between southern CA and the Bay Area but lived in southern CA longer, and the Santa Ana winds are a huge fire issue, but I’ve never really heard any mention of them being known for making people crazy. I moved to the state when fire season was particularly bad and I got a call from the automated emergency services system telling me I needed to evacuate at 2am. I had been living here less than a month and it was my first experience with Santa Ana fire conditions. I loaded up what I thought was critical into my car and the smoke was so thick you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face and ash was falling everywhere. This tiny fire they put out on the show under what they claimed were prime Santa Ana conditions went out way too easy. In conditions like that, the fires grow and spread extremely quickly yet just a small group was able to put this one out completely and rapidly. It just isn’t very realistic and if they’re doing a whole show about Santa Ana winds, they really should try to be a bit more accurate.

On 11/30/2022 at 4:33 PM, anna0852 said:

The donation was cleary done via clinic, so the legal side of things have probably already been addressed. 

Not necessarily. It isn’t the clinic’s responsibility to sort out the legal details in a directed donation. It also may have been an OB/GYN office that Buck went to. They never specified, but that is more likely with a direct, specified donation and the OB/GYN’s office isn’t responsible for making sure any paperwork related to parental rights and responsibility is completed. For all they know, some kind of co-parenting agreement may have been made by the parties involved. As Buck is buying onesies for his bio-kid, I have a feeling the couple he is donating to didn’t take him to a lawyer’s office to clarify parental rights. 

[kwnyc]

On 11/30/2022 at 6:15 PM, iMonrey said:

How dumb is Buck supposed to be?

This is a question for the ages, and the driver for most of Buck's narrative arcs.

[Nialla]

6 hours ago, kwnyc said:

This is a question for the ages, and the driver for most of Buck's narrative arcs.

He's fair of face, strong of heart, dumb of ass.

[limecoke]

On 11/29/2022 at 9:27 AM, iMonrey said:

Didn't understand why the wind was keeping everyone awake. Just imagine if they lived in Chicago, they'd never sleep!

It’s not that kind of wind, not even close. Hard to explain if you haven’t lived with it. I lived with Santa Ana’s for 40 years & hated them. Again, hard to explain.

Edited December 17, 2022 by limecoke

[limecoke]

On 11/29/2022 at 4:41 PM, Andyourlittledog2 said:

The air becomes crystal clear and dry, the daytime sky a brilliant blue and the almost constant wind smells wonderfully desert-y

Doesn’t happen when you actually live in the desert. The winds just stir up dirt, dust and everything else not nailed down. The only place that was tolerable for me in the the Santa Ana’s was being near the ocean.

Edited December 17, 2022 by limecoke