S08.E15: Lab Rats

[Whodunnit]

I  know I've complained about Maddie's near death but I never wanted them to start killing off the cast, I just found the increasingly frequent and increasingly ridiculous near deaths annoying.

[Diana Berry]

Showing my age , but years ago Dallas was the most popular show on the air.  They actually had a ‘ do over’ season.  Where the previous season was all a dream.  I know it’s wishful thinking but it would be nice.  Reading the comments on IG ,etc the fans are livid.  I can’t imagine the show without Krause. Sigh.

[possibilities]

Soimetimes I think the writers of tv shows are just sadists.

[buttersister]

Tim Minear says it was a creative decision--to give him somewhere to go. Well, many fans are telling him exactly where to go.

Perhaps a better writer could have stretched their imagination instead.

[lorbeer]

1 hour ago, buttersister said:

Tim Minear says it was a creative decision--to give him somewhere to go. Well, many fans are telling him exactly where to go.

Perhaps a better writer could have stretched their imagination instead.

I feel like tv/movie producers and creators don’t respect their audiences, instead they push any agenda they feel like and expect us to cheer for it. Which is crazy because the shows and movies earn money when people want to watch those and are willing to pay for tickets/buy subscriptions etc. 911 changed a lot after it was moved to ABC and NOT for the better…. This ridiculousness and getting rid off beloved characters is what pushed me away from greys anatomy

[sadie]

Miners has said he wanted the show to represent the realism of how dangerous these jobs are, bullshit. This show has never been an uber accurate drama about the seriousness of first responders. It was (used to be) a campy fun show with ridiculous rescues that always had some heart to the story. He wants realism NOW? 99% of every rescue they did was ridiculous and would never be possible in the real world. That’s why we liked it, it was fun, crazy and unbelievable with a cast of charming do gooders. It’s become a dark drudge of main characters being tortured and put thru hell over and over. 
 

i don’t know if i can keep watching. Bobby was the heart of the show, the level headed every man that kept all the other cartoon characters in a good place. 

911 what’s your emergency?

They just killed my favorite show, send help.

[gonzosgirrl]

I was sad and disappointed reading that they killed Bobby (haven't watched the episode and won't now). After reading various statements by Minear, I'm fucking livid. Not only has he killed this show for me, he's insured I won't be watching the spin-off, either. 

[marceline]

The incandescent rage in reaction to this move is a real testament to Peter Krause and the way he was able to make us love and feel for Bobby.

I’ll be honest, I think Krause wanted out. He made some comments after the cruise ship arc wondering how much longer he could do the physical scenes and I think they’ve been working toward this for a while and Minear is just taking the heat.

[gonzosgirrl]

21 minutes ago, marceline said:

The incandescent rage in reaction to this move is a real testament to Peter Krause and the way he was able to make us love and feel for Bobby.

I’ll be honest, I think Krause wanted out. He made some comments after the cruise ship arc wondering how much longer he could do the physical scenes and I think they’ve been working toward this for a while and Minear is just taking the heat.

Nah, I don't think Peter Krause would hide behind Minear if he wanted out.

“Once [Minear]  had made that choice, suddenly the world of the show seems so much more real to me, just feeling the grief of the characters and feeling just how that nuclear bomb going off in the center of that universe affected everything,” Minear added. “Suddenly, everything just felt weirdly more alive to me.”

Funny, suddenly the show just feels weirdly dead to me.

[chlban]

9 hours ago, Whodunnit said:

I  know I've complained about Maddie's near death but I never wanted them to start killing off the cast, I just found the increasingly frequent and increasingly ridiculous near deaths annoying.

If they killed Maddie off I would still be watching regularly. I still record it but rarely watch. This seems like the final nail for a once really good show 

[gail56]

8 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

Showing my age , but years ago Dallas was the most popular show on the air.  They actually had a ‘ do over’ season.  Where the previous season was all a dream.  I know it’s wishful thinking but it would be nice.  Reading the comments on IG ,etc the fans are livid.  I can’t imagine the show without Krause. Sigh.

I was thinking of that myself! They had killed off Bobby Ewing and fans revolted. They decided to bring him back  due to the backlash but had to figure out how to do that. They announced they were bringing him back and fans  were excited and speculated how they would. There was much anticipation.

They decided on making the whole season Pam's dream and they were mocked for that solution. A whole season worth of stories just went *poof*. People felt they could have come up with a more creative solution especially because the spin off sister show Knots Landing had his death mentioned. They did have Bobby back though and that was the most important thing.

I thought of the Dallas show situation right away and wondered it they would be forced to bring our Bobby back due to do it being deeply unpopular. This time though I don't think fans would mind if they made all or most of this season Athena's dream!

Edited Saturday at 01:58 PM by gail56

[jah1986]

I knew how this episode would end and I was still sad. I've never been a huge Bobby fan, but I liked him and I also feel this is going to be a huge loss for the show. I guess he knew when he promised Chim that he would always take care of his family that he was infected. 

I hope this show is heading towards a series finale next season because it has lost all its heart and humor.

[mrsbagnet]

Well, color me stunned. I noticed Bobby looking at his hose, but I thought he was getting low on oxygen.

Angela Bassett was so good in their last scene. The look on her face was a mix of "this can't be happening," "I don't understand why you're doing this" and "I can't do anything about this."

Edited Saturday at 03:50 PM by mrsbagnet

[michelec]

10 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

Showing my age , but years ago Dallas was the most popular show on the air.  They actually had a ‘ do over’ season.  Where the previous season was all a dream.  I know it’s wishful thinking but it would be nice.  Reading the comments on IG ,etc the fans are livid.  I can’t imagine the show without Krause. Sigh.

LOL I remember that. I was so pissed off when I saw Bobby Ewing in the shower that I didn't come back. I finally watched that and the remaining seasons years later when Prime Video had the show. I will hold a grudge. 😆

[Diana Berry]

2 hours ago, gail56 said:

I was thinking of that myself! They had killed off Bobby Ewing and fans revolted. They decided to bring him back  due to the backlash but had to figure out how to do that. They announced they were bringing him back and fans  were excited and speculated how they would. There was much anticipation.

They decided on making the whole season Pam's dream and they were mocked for that solution. A whole season worth of stories just went *poof*. People felt they could have come up with a more creative solution especially because the spin off sister show Knots Landing had his death mentioned. They did have Bobby back though and that was the most important thing.

I thought of the Dallas show situation right away and wondered it they would be forced to bring our Bobby back due to do it being deeply unpopular. This time though I don't think fans would mind if they made all or most of this season Athena's dream!

I honestly would take the campiest solution to have Bobby come back.  But the camp is gone from this show.  I mean what was the point of the whole dream house? As commented, Bobby was the heart and soul  of the show.  The move in networks did this show no favors .  Here’s hoping Krause gets a fabulous new gig and it has the same airtime as 911. 

4 hours ago, gonzosgirrl said:

I was sad and disappointed reading that they killed Bobby (haven't watched the episode and won't now). After reading various statements by Minear, I'm fucking livid. Not only has he killed this show for me, he's insured I won't be watching the spin-off, either. 

Oh dear, what spin-off ?? I’m out of the loop.

[iMonrey]

23 hours ago, marceline said:

I know this feels awful but people were complaining in the last episode's thread about the lack of stakes. This is what stakes feel like.

See @Infie's post above. That's exactly how I feel. It's not that I wanted them to kill off a main character, it's that I was sick of putting the main characters in mortal danger every freaking week.

22 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I hadn't read any spoilers and I'm still stunned they killed off Bobby. If they wanted to get rid of someone, why not Maddie? 😉

Probably because they know on some level nobody would care.

[Joimiaroxeu]

34 minutes ago, Diana Berry said:

Oh dear, what spin-off ?? I’m out of the loop.

There's going to be a 9-1-1: Nashville series starting next season, starring Chris O'Donnell and Jessica Capshaw.

[Dani-Ellie]

You know, I liked the plot armor. I liked that I could watch this show and not stress about the characters living or dying. I liked being able to watch the rescues and think, “No way this show kills [whatever character - main or otherwise - is in danger].” 

Peter Krause is the reason I started watching this show. I’ve been a fan of his since Sports Night and really, really like him in this role. Bobby was the heart of that firehouse and while I know that’s why losing him hurts, I don’t think this show needed to go in this direction. It’s just such a vast departure from what this show started as and I had found it refreshing that the show hadn’t resorted to killing a character for the sake of killing a character.

[michelec]

2 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

Oh dear, what spin-off ?? I’m out of the loop.

9-1-1 Nashville debuts on ABC this fall.

[buttersister]

Quote

9-1-1 Nashville debuts on ABC this fall.

Nope. Not watching any 9-1-1 show next season. 

Nor anything Tim Minear does in the future. Hold a grudge? You bet.

[Diana Berry]

2 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

There's going to be a 9-1-1: Nashville series starting next season, starring Chris O'Donnell and Jessica Capshaw.

Thanks. Give the money they are going to pay those two and keep Bobby and Athena together .

[Kip Hackman]

Damn, this was the 2nd time I've had to watch Peter Krause die on my TV. It doesn't get any easier, apparently. 

[BooksRule]

I was totally unspoiled, so I was shocked at his death.  I kept waiting for a last-minute save via another dose of the vaccine being miraculously found.

This whole thing reminds me of when they killed off a main character on 'Major Crimes'.  When the cast and others were interviewed, they seemed really surprised that fans reacted to negatively to the story.  They were all like 'we wanted to shake things up', and such. The only thing that was kind of a silver lining was that it happened just a few episodes before the series finale. 

I'll keep watching the show, but it won't be the same (and I'll probably watch the re-runs in syndication more often now). 

[Court]

Yeah I might be done too unless the show goes back to all the fun outlandish rescues. 

I don't see how the rest of 118 even stays together after this. I figured Ravi was going to die not Bobby. 

[Irlandesa]

On 4/19/2025 at 8:09 AM, marceline said:

I’ll be honest, I think Krause wanted out. He made some comments after the cruise ship arc wondering how much longer he could do the physical scenes and I think they’ve been working toward this for a while and Minear is just taking the heat.

I think he would have walked in a few seasons if the show didn't get cancelled but I don't think Peter planned to leave this season.

But as much as the show runner says it was a recentish decision, I do wonder if he wanted to do it last season but chickened out.  The reason I wonder that is because the cruise ship three-parter focused on Bobby and Athena.  Bobby had some nice moments with the 118 in the leadup to his heart attack which happened after he managed to save his wife from a fire.  And that's something he hadn't been able to do in St. Paul which led him to LA. 

It's odd because I actually do feel like death is a fitting end to his character arc.  There's always been a sense of meloncholy with the character and I expected him to die knowing he found a purpose in life.

But I hated it for this season.  I don't feel like his stories were as strong this season.  And while they might make some interesting episodes until the end of the seasonm I don't trust that they'll be able to reimagine the show.  I was expecting it to be a last season kind of thing.

I also don't think that when you brand yourself as the show that doesn't kill off characters that it's a smart idea to suddenly rebrand yourself in Season 8.  The procedurals that have a lot of cast changes usually start earlier.  I had stupidly hoped that this would be one of the shows that mostly kept the same cast, got too expensive and then got cancelled. 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 10:24 PM by Irlandesa

[MediaZone4K]

All this talk last week about character in peril situations being low stakes because they always survive, and not enough deaths, now this!

The Bobby actor's quote from his GMA interview: "After eight years, it just felt like, if we have any hope of creating stories going forward that have actual stakes, then someone’s got to die..."

Shows don't have to kill characters off to be thrilling. Grey's Anatomy did this at nauseam.

Some posters speculated this could be a cost cutting decision. interesting to note that 911 got canceled from Fox because it was too expensive to produce. With broadcast continuing to decline, we could still be in that same boat.

Edited Sunday at 04:55 AM by MediaZone4K

[buttersister]

Ha, the Bobby actor parroting Minear's rationale (aka weak sauce show runner). Krause is a professional who works steadily as the lead or co-lead. He's playing the long game.

No one is saying whether he'll stay on as an EP.

[fastiller]

5 hours ago, BooksRule said:

.This whole thing reminds me of when they killed off a main character on 'Major Crimes'.  When the cast and others were interviewed, they seemed really surprised that fans reacted to negatively to the story.  They were all like 'we wanted to shake things up', and such. The only thing that was kind of a silver lining was that it happened just a few episodes before the series finale. 

Raydor's death ticked me right off. Hated that for her & for McDonnell.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, MediaZone4K said:

Some posters speculated this could be a cost cutting decision. interesting to note that 911 got canceled from Fox because it was too expensive to produce. With broadcast continuing to decline, we could still be in that same boat.

ABC/Disney owns the show now once they bought 20th Century from FOX but eventually, it probably will be too expensive.  He was the second highest paid in the cast. 

Edited Sunday at 06:20 AM by Irlandesa

[BluBarbi98]

What if he's not really dead and the Army stole him for research? Yes, it's a cheap cop-out but I want Bobby Nash back. 

[Quark]

I was spoiled about this episode via social media accidentally. I'm glad I was.

This is a very bizarre decision. Bobby was easily the heart of this show. He had also just reconnected with his Mum and brother - there was still a lot they could have done with him.

[iMonrey]

10 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

The Bobby actor's quote from his GMA interview: "After eight years, it just felt like, if we have any hope of creating stories going forward that have actual stakes, then someone’s got to die..."

If you have to kill off a main character in order to come up with new stories, then it's time to end the show because you've officially run out of ideas.

[Clanstarling]

On 4/17/2025 at 9:17 PM, possibilities said:

I was not prepared for that.

I'd been semi-spoiled. I saw a headline and quickly glanced away - so I knew someone was going to die, but I thought it was either Chim or Hen. I actually appreciate it when a show does something drastic like that - but I also agree that it's been kind of a slog these days with no quirky rescues, or fun.

On 4/18/2025 at 1:07 PM, Crashcourse said:

It's an unpopular opinion, but I'm not sorry that Bobby is gone.  Yes, it's sad for Athena, but I can't get all worked up about it.  I'll watch next season because I'll be curious to see how they deal with the loss, and if we'll see a new character.

Me too. I generally don't tap out right away. So I will see what comes next. I've no particular love for Peter Krause (no hate either) or his character  Bobby, so he wasn't what brought me to the show in the first place. 

Come to think of it - Connie Britton was what brought me to the show originally. So I'm guess I'm cool with departing characters. ;) 

Edited Sunday at 05:40 PM by Clanstarling

[agathapenny]

23 hours ago, Dani-Ellie said:

You know, I liked the plot armor. I liked that I could watch this show and not stress about the characters living or dying. I liked being able to watch the rescues and think, “No way this show kills [whatever character - main or otherwise - is in danger].” 

Bobby was the heart of that firehouse and while I know that’s why losing him hurts, I don’t think this show needed to go in this direction. It’s just such a vast departure from what this show started as and I had found it refreshing that the show hadn’t resorted to killing a character for the sake of killing a character.

And it's not even that they've never killed anyone, but they were smart enough to compartmentalize so that not all of the characters were miserable all at once. Bobby's family died in a flashback, well after the fact, and none of the others even met them. Same with Chimney's brother. Ditto Athena's fiance.

Shannon was killed, but only Eddie really knew her, so while the other characters felt bad for him, they weren't grieving. Claudette was killed, but she was pretty unlikeable, and was introduced and gone in a season.

People on their calls died through the run of the show off and on, but these weren't personal losses for the main characters, so the impact didn't linger past an episode or two.

And that's how I liked it. Now the entire show can't help but be bogged down with  misery. What an awful direction for them to choose to go, because they got bored, I guess? Idiots.

 

11 hours ago, fastiller said:

Raydor's death ticked me right off. Hated that for her & for McDonnell.

I was angry at that stupid, stupid decision too. Especially as it was right as the show was ending. They couldn't have gone with a happy ending? Raydor was that show. No way was she expendable. It's a good thing the show ended because the decision to kill her off killed the show anyway.

4 hours ago, BluBarbi98 said:

What if he's not really dead and the Army stole him for research? Yes, it's a cheap cop-out but I want Bobby Nash back. 

In would 100 per cent take this cheap cop out. Anything to erase this decision. I'd take Bobby coming out of a coma and this was all in his head!

12 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I also don't think that when you brand yourself as the show that doesn't kill off characters that it's a smart idea to suddenly rebrand yourself in Season 8.  The procedurals that have a lot of cast changes usually start earlier.  I had stupidly hoped that this would be one of the shows that mostly kept the same cast, got too expensive and then got cancelled. 

It breaks the unspoken contract with the audience.

I don't mind cast changes per se. I think it can work to refresh an older show, and of course it's necessary if an actor wants to leave (I enjoy the current iteration of NCIS, for example, though I did bail for a while there in the middle).

But if Krause had wanted to leave (which is doesn't sound like was the case) they should have had Bobby accept a promotion that basically took him off the show, so that he was still around in theory, even if we didn't see him. Had Hen left to be a doctor, that would have been fine (I'd miss her, but....). I would have hated Eddie moving away because the plot to get him there was so unbelievably stupid, but I'd prefer it to killing him. This just isn't that show — or it didn't used to be. And that was the show I enjoyed up until the end of season 6.

I think we can safely say now that the network change has been bad for the show (though Lone Star stayed on Fox, and look what happened to that). 

[MarylandGirl]

18 hours ago, BooksRule said:

I was totally unspoiled, so I was shocked at his death.  I kept waiting for a last-minute save via another dose of the vaccine being miraculously found.

This whole thing reminds me of when they killed off a main character on 'Major Crimes'.  When the cast and others were interviewed, they seemed really surprised that fans reacted to negatively to the story.  They were all like 'we wanted to shake things up', and such. The only thing that was kind of a silver lining was that it happened just a few episodes before the series finale. 

I'll keep watching the show, but it won't be the same (and I'll probably watch the re-runs in syndication more often now). 

Yes, that was rough for me, too, the Major Crimes one. And it was right near the end of the series. Why not just let her retire?

[baldryanr]

6 hours ago, agathapenny said:

But if Krause had wanted to leave (which is doesn't sound like was the case) they should have had Bobby accept a promotion that basically took him off the show, so that he was still around in theory, even if we didn't see him. Had Hen left to be a doctor, that would have been fine (I'd miss her, but....). I would have hated Eddie moving away because the plot to get him there was so unbelievably stupid, but I'd prefer it to killing him. This just isn't that show — or it didn't used to be. And that was the show I enjoyed up until the end of season 6.

If they really wanted more "realism" then he could have been seriously wounded and relegated to some desk job. 

That being said, I think Minear (or the network) is trying to see if this show can be like original recipe L&O or NCIS where all of the favorites can leave without killing the show.  There are plenty of fans who have said no Briscoe/McCoy/Gibbs/etc. means they're out, but enough viewers have stuck around to keep them going. 

[anna0852]

13 minutes ago, baldryanr said:

If they really wanted more "realism" then he could have been seriously wounded and relegated to some desk job. 

That being said, I think Minear (or the network) is trying to see if this show can be like original recipe L&O or NCIS where all of the favorites can leave without killing the show.  There are plenty of fans who have said no Briscoe/McCoy/Gibbs/etc. means they're out, but enough viewers have stuck around to keep them going. 

Yeah, but the trick is with those shows they started rotating cast members out long before the end of the eighth season. This shows done a remarkable job of holding onto their cast with only two major turnovers since it started. That makes it harder to start swapping them out now and not lose their audience.

[buttersister]

I don’t have a crystal ball. Nor am I certain this forum represents viewership overall. I think they miscalculated by killing off Bobby and I’ll be mighty surprised if 9-1-1 goes beyond next season.  But maybe that’s just me? $5 says it’s not. In part because there will be a Bobby-shaped hole in the show and because the charm that sold 9-1-1 has been waning already.

[Kip Hackman]

[Kel Varnsen]

I got to kind of hand it to the show, I definitely thought Ravi was the one who was done for. Also a bit impressed that after all the emotion ther wasn't some bullshit last minute save like by a blood transfusion from the rat.

Although I do wonder how the show goes on. Who is a Peter Krause level actor they could get to be the new captain? I don't really care that much as long as Rob Lowe stays far away from the 118.

Also why wasn't Hen exposed to the virus? Her mask didn't break but she had an open hole in her chest.

Edited Monday at 02:50 AM by Kel Varnsen

[Crashcourse]

I'm glad it wasn't Ravi.

[anna0852]

Saw this going around on Threads: Someone was pondering that if the show decides to reverse course and realizes that this was a terrible decision, how would they get out of it? They settled on Bobby having to fake his death to go into WitSec due to the prior issues with the drug cartel. And he didn’t tell anybody about it because he didn’t want them to be in danger. Not quite to the level of “It was all a dream“ but still rather crazy.

[possibilities]

18 hours ago, BluBarbi98 said:

What if he's not really dead and the Army stole him for research? Yes, it's a cheap cop-out but I want Bobby Nash back. 

For him to put Athena through that would be so cruel, though. If she was in on it, maybe. But not if he faked her out like it looks like he did.

I think the show wanted to change its entire tone, and this was the last brick in building that plan.

15 hours ago, iMonrey said:

If you have to kill off a main character in order to come up with new stories, then it's time to end the show because you've officially run out of ideas.

Seriously! Writers should be ashamed of themselves to admit they are so devoid of ideas that doing something like this was all they could think of. They chose this because they thought it was interesting. I disagree, but nothing will convince me that any decent writer would be unable to think of any other story.

[michelec]

14 hours ago, anna0852 said:

Yeah, but the trick is with those shows they started rotating cast members out long before the end of the eighth season. This shows done a remarkable job of holding onto their cast with only two major turnovers since it started. That makes it harder to start swapping them out now and not lose their audience.

Law & Order started the revolving door in the Season 2 premiere when they killed off Greevey, Ceretta transferred out in S3, Cragen and Robinette didn't come back for S4, etc., so it just became a given that every character had an expiration date at some point.

[iMonrey]

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

They chose this because they thought it was interesting.

I still suspect cutting the budget was the real motivation for this. I mean, maybe they looked at the current cast and who was getting paid the most, and thought killing Bobby would be the most interesting choice out of, say, Athena, Maddie, Chim, Buck and Hen, story-wise. But it's one of those things where they're cutting off their nose to spite their face. It's a daring move that will get people talking but it's not like it's going to boost the ratings. 

[possibilities]

I think a decent writer could write a character off without killing them. It would be hard to do it with Bobby, but they could have done it. Shows do it all the time. 

 

[anna0852]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I think a decent writer could write a character off without killing them. It would be hard to do it with Bobby, but they could have done it. Shows do it all the time. 

 

It’s a first responder show. Write off is easy: line of duty injury.

Have Bobby lose hearing in an ear or nerve damage to a hand/foot or any number of things that force him into medical retirement. Killing the character was a cheap shot. An injury would have at least left the door open for future guest shots.

[Irlandesa]

The problem with writing off Bobby and not killing him would mean that he's not around for major life events when you'd expect him to be around. 

If Athena's ever in trouble or her life is hanging in the balance, we'd wonder where Bobby is.  If something were to happen to May or Harry, where's Bobby?

Buck, Chim, Hen or Eddie?  Where's Bobby. 

Even if you could get Peter Krause to show up in a recurring capacity, there's a very good likelihood he wouldn't be available.  He has been steadily working for decades and there's no small chance that he'll get booked on another project that'd make scheduling difficult.

[LaylaGirl]

On 4/19/2025 at 11:22 AM, Dani-Ellie said:

You know, I liked the plot armor. I liked that I could watch this show and not stress about the characters living or dying. I liked being able to watch the rescues and think, “No way this show kills [whatever character - main or otherwise - is in danger].” 

This! There are some shows where you know they are going to kill of people, this was not one of those shows and that is why I liked it. I'm out for at least the rest of the season. I'll follow here to figure out the major plot lines, but I'm not into "trauma porn" and that is all the next 3 episodes are going to be.

 

 

[auntread]

Well s..t. Sister Read and I have been slowly and sadly finding ourselves disappointed and frustrated with this show since the switch to ABC. We miss the funny and wacky rescues of old. These last few weeks have been just too dreary and bleak. This was the final straw. We are out.