S04.E06: This Is Not a Drill

[jewel21]

Quote

Owen reveals to the 126 he has been working with the FBI to help bring down a domestic terrorist group with his motorcycle gang. The 126 respond to a bomb threat at the State Capitol and put a stop to the terrorist deadly plans.

Airdate: 02/28/2023

[BooksRule]

Once again, Strand saves the day. If Rob Lowe ever leaves the show, I would be content with Jud being captain.  He can really take charge and get everyone focused (an example being that although he spotted Owen's truck at the bombed bar, he didn't immediately run in to see if Owen was okay.  He was worried, but got his crew to do what they were there to do). I think he's my favorite character.

Well, our good guy/bad guy yo-yo O'Brien turned out to be a good guy, even if his family's ending wasn't too happy.  I wonder if we'll see him on future episodes as a guest?

Finally, I was surprised that they killed off the female FBI agent (Rose).  I thought she would make it and she and Owen would get together (occasionally clashing over Fire Department/FBI business overlapping, of course).

[Artsda]

Owen really made the FBI look stupid like they couldn't solve anything or figure anything out the entire episode. 

Edited March 1, 2023 by Artsda

[Lady Calypso]

This may be the worst episode from the series yet. It was just so bad with Owen apparently now working six different jobs as firefighter, FBI agent, detective, bomb technician, negotiator, racecar driver and SWAT. Now, I know it's nothing new for this show to have Owen jump in and save the day, but it was REALLY bad this episode, especially when they got a guest star (love Neal McDonough but c'mon!) to also jump in on things he shouldn't be jumping in on.

The FBI was made to look completely inept at their jobs. Not one of them could solve the case like Owen and O'Brien did. They kept running into a wall and having a firefighter and a cop save the day.

I'm actually glad they followed through with killing off half the Honor Dogs (every time they say their name in the show, I think they're saying Otter Dogs) and the FBI. I was surprised they actually killed off Rose, as I thought they wouldn't be able to resist pairing her with Owen, but I'm really glad they did. 

Of course, O'Brien's nephew is a good guy just being used by random Red Shirt to kill a bunch of people. I mean, I'm glad he's actually going to jail for a long time but they couldn't resist, could they?

Otherwise, a VERY poor episode. Everyone else stood around and didn't do much (except for Judd, Grace and Carlos, who had minor parts in saving the day) and then we got...a stupid ass laugh sequence at the end, completely contradicting Owen's anger with the station laughing off the drill. Surprisingly, that was my other favourite moment of the episode, with Owen telling them off about not taking the drill seriously. 

But yeah, that's an hour I won't be getting back but the bright side is that it completely ends the FBI/Otter Dogs plot so at least there's no fear of that stupid storyline returning. 

This season stinks so far. Between this and the Iris plot, there has not been much that I've liked so far and we're almost halfway through.

[bilgistic]

Early in this goofy storyline, I couldn't remember what the Honor Dogs were called. I was calling them Raw Dogs, but I knew that wasn't right.

[MrPissyPuppy]

Every time they say Honor Dogs, I think: 

[iMonrey]

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

This may be the worst episode from the series yet.

Absolutely. The whole ongoing arc with the biker gang went on WAY too long, was never interesting, and excluded most of the cast. I'm just glad they're finally done with it, and hopefully they can get back to one-off rescues and other emergencies. 

[possibilities]

Why didn't the cop's nephew go to his uncle for help? I get that law enforcement is not an ally to a lot of people, but this guy supposedly had a good relationship with his cop/uncle/father-figure.

Also, why do they even have an ensemble at the fire station if all they're going to do is stand around in a clump and watch Rob Lowe do everything?

Lowe blaming them for the failure during the drill was hypocrisy. He's the one who gave the command to disobey the order of dispatch. What did he want them to do? Mutiny? Then he'd blame them for not following his lead.

Edited March 1, 2023 by possibilities

[madhacker]

What pissed me off the most was the ending, with Strand having "thoughts" about the wedding. He's gonna try to take over the whole thing. Hopefully it'll stop with Carlos losing his temper and telling him in no uncertain terms that this is his and Tyler's wedding and back off.

[tennisgurl]

Strand really can do it all cant he? He's the worlds best crisis negotiator, investigator, firefighter, team leader, and now, inevitably, wedding planner. The amount of Strand worship at this point is just embarrassing, if they don't want this show to be about a team of firefighters they should just call it Strand. He's such an awesome detective that he runs circles around the FBI, who are constantly upstaged by a local fire captain. I was actually surprised that they killed off the FBI lady, the only real surprise in the episode for me. 

I'm glad that O'Brien isn't actually a bad guy, but I guessed pretty quickly that they would pull back on making his nephew an actual murderer/domestic terrorist. He isn't the brightest guy though, it cant be that surprising that a guy you know who wants to committ a terror attack might just be the kind of guy who would threaten someone's family, and it never seemed to occur to him to get in touch, discreetly, with his cop surrogate father. 

The best part of this episode is that it looks like we are finally done with this stupid FBI/Honor Dog story, and can maybe get back to doing some rescues or letting some other characters shine, but I find that unlikely. 

[possibilities]

I was also annoyed that thy had the female FBI agent who got shot act all scared and shmoopy. There's no way they'd have done that if they killed off one of thee mala agents.

[DearEvette]

6 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

This may be the worst episode from the series yet.

Yell it to the cheap seats in the back. Gah.

I haven't watched the first five episodes of this season. I have been following along, but just as the episode titles from the first two episodes it all sounded like a hot mess.  And the minute I heard that Owen was going to be working undercover with the FBI i figured I wait it out.

I actually liked the cold open with them doing the drill.  It had a bit of gallows humor and even Mateo was funny being impressed with the child actor.

And then came the stupid.  I know tv explosions are rarely reality.  But come on!  If an explosion was powerful enough to lift and throw back two men who were what looks liked at least 20 yards away and was powerful enough to knock over motorcycles that have to have at least weighed about 700 lbs.. You can't tell me that the female FBI agent was was inside the building where the explosion occurred came out of it looking as if she had some artful smears of blood and a single gash on her face?  She didn't even have any soot or debris or any burns on any of her exposed skin.

But the worst part was how self absorbed Owen is.  His speech with the stirring music was all about him.  I had the opportunity to foil a terrorist attack.  I failed.  If only I had known the planes were coming I could have saved my team.   I get this was supposed to be some sort of, what, atonement and do over to go with the survivor's remorse we had to live through with him last season when that building collapsed?  But I am so over him.  I honestly just hate his character now.  And the vanity of Rob Lowe that made this possible.

Judd texting Grace 'Love you, Wife' and her hot screensaver of him was the highlight of the episode. Which is so pitiful.

[marceline]

This episode bored me senseless when it wasn't pissing me off.

The only characters on this show I care about are Tommy, Gracie, and Judd. Everybody else is just "blah-blah-blah"

 

[eel21788]

16 hours ago, Artsda said:

Owen really made the FBI look stupid like they couldn't solve anything or figure anything out the entire episode. 

It reminded me of just about every episode of Numbers where Charlie had to teach the FBI negotiation techniques or where to look for the bad guys because somehow the mathematical equations he came up with were so far superior to what agents learn at Quantico.

[shapeshifter]

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

The whole ongoing arc with the biker gang went on WAY too long, was never interesting, and excluded most of the cast.

Yes, having three f'in episodes of the season to create backstory for this episode is way, way too many. Should've been a 2-parter, not a 4. Sometimes you have to cut your favorite bits to make it work. 

But I actually enjoyed this episode in a campy way——oh, wait, it wasn't supposed to be campy? 
Yeah, I guess Owen's t-shirt didn't have Captain America on it. 

But, hey, we got:
     "For the love of god, Owen, call me Rose [flatline]."

[ninjakid]

Judd looked awesome knocking the ambulance into the river with the firetruck though. And I liked the team sending the "Dead Sexy" selfie to Marjan.

[mojoween]

Gah hopefully this show, 9-1-1, can FINALLY get back to cases where people call, you know, 9-1-1.

Ryan Murphy has never met a show where he can go back in time and show things out of order that he didn’t like.

[cmfran]

On 3/1/2023 at 8:47 AM, Lady Calypso said:

This may be the worst episode from the series yet. It was just so bad with Owen apparently now working six different jobs as firefighter, FBI agent, detective, bomb technician, negotiator, racecar driver and SWAT. Now, I know it's nothing new for this show to have Owen jump in and save the day, but it was REALLY bad this episode, especially when they got a guest star (love Neal McDonough but c'mon!) to also jump in on things he shouldn't be jumping in on.

The FBI was made to look completely inept at their jobs. Not one of them could solve the case like Owen and O'Brien did. They kept running into a wall and having a firefighter and a cop save the day.

I'm actually glad they followed through with killing off half the Honor Dogs (every time they say their name in the show, I think they're saying Otter Dogs) and the FBI. I was surprised they actually killed off Rose, as I thought they wouldn't be able to resist pairing her with Owen, but I'm really glad they did. 

Of course, O'Brien's nephew is a good guy just being used by random Red Shirt to kill a bunch of people. I mean, I'm glad he's actually going to jail for a long time but they couldn't resist, could they?

Otherwise, a VERY poor episode. Everyone else stood around and didn't do much (except for Judd, Grace and Carlos, who had minor parts in saving the day) and then we got...a stupid ass laugh sequence at the end, completely contradicting Owen's anger with the station laughing off the drill. Surprisingly, that was my other favourite moment of the episode, with Owen telling them off about not taking the drill seriously. 

But yeah, that's an hour I won't be getting back but the bright side is that it completely ends the FBI/Otter Dogs plot so at least there's no fear of that stupid storyline returning. 

This season stinks so far. Between this and the Iris plot, there has not been much that I've liked so far and we're almost halfway through.

Otter Dogs sounds adorable and I would join that gang in a second.

[iMonrey]

18 hours ago, LtKelley said:

Why did the Honor Dogs bar get blown up again? 

I think it was meant to be a decoy to throw the FBI off of the real target, the state capitol. Which would have worked if Owen hadn't saved the day because the FBI was all ready to close the case after the bar blew up.

[Bruinsfan]

Quote

Of course, O'Brien's nephew is a good guy just being used by random Red Shirt to kill a bunch of people. I mean, I'm glad he's actually going to jail for a long time but they couldn't resist, could they?

Well, a good guy who was willing to blow up a kajillion innocent people at the state capitol rather than, say, send his beloved wife and child to go stay in a motel a couple of states over while he turned the improbable bomber mastermind in to the feds.

Edited March 5, 2023 by Bruinsfan

[eel21788]

On 3/2/2023 at 8:44 PM, LtKelley said:

I was willing to play along because its stupid but fun but then Strand went into the building with the bomb against orders. Thats a lose your job action. Frankly a lot of this has been a lose your job kind of thing but I am forgiving.

What happened to his arrest for obstruction of justice? Are we supposed to assume that the charges were dropped because when he continued to obstruct justice, he somehow ended up saving the entire city of Austin singlehandedly?

Come to think of it, shouldn't he have been handcuffed in the parking lot when the bomb went off inside? Who let him loose so he could go back into the building without any personal protective equipment to try to rescue Rose and only Rose? Also, did he compound her internal injuries when he decided to pick her up and carry her out of the building? How many times have TV shows told us that you never move the victim under any circumstances? Shouldn't he have waited for EMS to extricate her properly? Maybe he contributed to her death and has something new to feel guilt about.

[Ceindreadh]

7 hours ago, eel21788 said:

What happened to his arrest for obstruction of justice? Are we supposed to assume that the charges were dropped because when he continued to obstruct justice, he somehow ended up saving the entire city of Austin singlehandedly?

Come to think of it, shouldn't he have been handcuffed in the parking lot when the bomb went off inside? Who let him loose so he could go back into the building without any personal protective equipment to try to rescue Rose and only Rose? Also, did he compound her internal injuries when he decided to pick her up and carry her out of the building? How many times have TV shows told us that you never move the victim under any circumstances? Shouldn't he have waited for EMS to extricate her properly? Maybe he contributed to her death and has something new to feel guilt about.

I'm pretty sure that the 'no moving a victim' rule doesn't apply when they'd be in more danger if left where they were. 

[Bruinsfan]

Yeah, I think they take their chances moving an injured person when they're currently in a just-bombed roadhouse that's in the process of burning to the ground.

[christie]

On 3/4/2023 at 12:40 AM, iMonrey said:

I think it was meant to be a decoy to throw the FBI off of the real target, the state capitol. 

I don't think so; the bombers called 911 to say that there was a bomb in the state capitol so that the building would be evacuated, all the people would go outside and be blown up by the bomb that was in the ambulance. I don't know why the bar was blown up.