S02.E16: Bobby Begins Again

[ESS]

BOBBY REFLECTS BACK ON HOW HE MOVED TO LOS ANGELES.

After his devastating family tragedy in Minnesota, Bobby Nash moves to Los Angeles to start over, where he becomes Captain of the 118, and meets Athena Grant for the first time.[/center]

[Chaos Theory]

While nothing new....the episode did a good job of digging into Bobby’s deep seeded guilt over the death of his family.   

[Irlandesa]

I was pretty bored throughout the episode but at least it was somewhat different than the Hen and Chimney episodes. 

I wonder if we'll get one of these for Buck.

[zillabreeze]

I FLOVE the backstory episodes, mostly because I dig all of these characters.  I really hope we get a good Athena backstory, especially touching on some of the stuff her mother threw at her when they argued.

[AgentRXS]

This was definitely a perfect example of a filler episode. It was basically a rehash of the previous episode of when we find out what happened to Bobby's family. I didn't like that they ended it without us knowing Bobby's fate (as if he is actually going to be fired anyway--yeah,right). Probably the worst and most pointless episode of the series thus far.

[rhys]

We probably should have had different "scenes from next week." 

[tennisgurl]

So everybody is getting one of these, huh? God, the guys in that department really used to be super prejudged dicks, even when they have to get weird about it. "I hate when women, black people, Asian people, and...people from the Midwest get here. Losers!" 

While I am getting a bit bored with the backstory episodes, mainly because I usually miss the rest of the cast and the on going story, especially as think one didnt really add much else that we didnt already know, I did like this episode, probably because we got to see a lot of the rest of the cast, it was nice to see more of how the station came to be the way it was in the pilot, and we got some of our classic weird 9-1-1 calls for the gang to have to deal with. And it did at least have a reason to be around, focusing on where Bobby came from and how far he has come from where he started when he got here, considering he is going to have to basically go through his whole life and career to get to keep his job. 

Everyone chasing the chicken around while Bobby just cracked up was everything. "Well, you name is Hen..." And of course thats where he first meets Athena!

[llewis823]

And we STILL don't know how Chimney got his nickname!

[Empress1]

4 minutes ago, llewis823 said:

And we STILL don't know how Chimney got his nickname!

I wonder if that's going to be like Wilson on Home Improvement where you never saw his face.

I had a wry chuckle at Chimney saying he planned on staying scar-free. Not in the cards for you, boo. Poor thing.

Bobby's wife in the hospital saying "I knew you'd come save us" was fucking brutal.

Did anyone NOT think the restaurant owner set the fire? The whole "WHAT BUSINESS?" was a pretty big clue.

[DearEvette]

Other than the ending I thought that was pretty good.

I was sure is was just going to be one long angst fest.  But of the three 'begins' episodes we've seen so far, I thought this one was by far the lightest in tone.  Which is weird considering Bobby's backstory is so harrowing.

Chim got a lot of good one liners and the chicken call-out was really amusing  with the one firefighter making kissy noises at chicken and the other one saying "what are you gonna do kiss it to death?" And Bobby just cracking up at the utter absurdity of it all.

While I like them going out on the various calls, I don't mind these little detour episodes.  9-1-1 is episodic enough that it can handle these type of shows, it isn't a show that carries on any long narrative from episode to episode.  And even when it does the storyline concludes pretty quickly.

Now about that ending.... that was pretty dumb.  It is a no-brainer to realize that Bobby isn't going anywhere.  I suppose they could suspend him?  Relieve him of his command for a period of time and bring on some other captain to create drama.  But I would hate that, this isn't that kind of show. 

I'm also still trying to figure out what he is guilty of from a work standpoint?  It can't just be about what happened to his family and the people in the building.  As his other chief laid out in a litany there was a perfect storm of fucked-upness that contributed to that building fire.  Bobby being drunk and leaving a space heater on is correlation, not necessarily causation. The same thing could have resulted with him not being drunk.  So was there was some level of dereliction of duty that wasn't made really clear?  I gather  from the 'those guys don't trust you' comment from his boss that maybe after the  events with his family his alcoholism went into high gear and it resulted in him being negligent on the job and they covered it up for him to keep him on the job and get him transferred?

[Moose135]

8 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I'm also still trying to figure out what he is guilty of from a work standpoint? 

He wasn't truthful about the circumstances under which he left his old job and moved to the LAFD, so they are investigating whether he lied on his job application. 

I think there is a bar where all these writers hang out and trade story lines.  Early in the season, both 9-1-1 and The Rookie had a story about a worker being trapped in an ATM - apparently that was a "ripped from the headlines" type of thing, but a few weeks back on The Rookie, one of the regulars, a veteran officer, comes under investigation because of information she omitted on her application to the force, now we have something similar here on 9-1-1...

[juliet73]

2 hours ago, Empress1 said:

Bobby's wife in the hospital saying "I knew you'd come save us" was fucking brutal.

I thought she said "Why didn't you save us?" Either way, that scene was devastating. I still don't understand how Bobby was cleared. Yes, there were many factors that lined up that caused the end result. However, Bobby was drunk AND high. I would think having drugs in his system would be an automatic termination whether he started the fire or not. Plus, I would think as a fire chief, he would know not to leave a space heater unattended and notice the fire alarms and sprinkler systems, etc were faulty. For those reasons alone, I would think he was incompetent to be a fire chief. 

I didn't miss Maddie or Buck. I actually would prefer Tommy and Sal to replace them.

I did laugh when Bobby commented why there was so much traffic at 2pm. And Chimney being scar free. Ha! 

Edited April 30, 2019 by juliet73

[SimoneS]

I enjoyed it although it didn't feel fresh. It was nice seeing how Bobby, Hen, and Chimney met each other. I shook my head at Chimney's comment about remaining scar-free. If he only knew.

I couldn't stop laughing at the chicken rescue. And it was fun seeing how Bobby handed off the chicken to Athena the first time they met.

The actor who played the priest was Ben on one of my favorite shows, American Gothic so I enjoyed seeing him. He is a talented actor.

Edited April 30, 2019 by SimoneS

[DearEvette]

12 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

He wasn't truthful about the circumstances under which he left his old job and moved to the LAFD, so they are investigating whether he lied on his job application. 

Yeah, that is what I mean.  I think I need to watch those scenes again because it didn't seem like the apartment fire was the reason he was forced to leave his old job.  That scene with the chief seemed like he didn't consider it a reason to remove Bobby and was trying to get Bobby to not take complete blame for it.  The results of the fire looms large in Bobby's head because he feels very guilt about it.  But from the chief's standpoint it did not seem like he considered it a fire able offense.  So it seems like Bobby's downward spiral after the fire and some workplace negligence was what led to his being transferred,not the fire itself. 

And really who is  going to put on an application under reason for leaving old job: "alcoholism and guilt?"

[Reality police]

12 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I was pretty bored throughout the episode but at least it was somewhat different than the Hen and Chimney episodes. 

I wonder if we'll get one of these for Buck.

That one would just be a series of random hookups, wouldn't it?😀😀

[Ohwell]

This episode didn't leave me feeling sorry for Bobby.  I still can't stand him.  Also, the crew still doesn't know exactly what he did, and I'm assuming Athena doesn't know the whole story either.  

[bilgistic]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

Now about that ending.... that was pretty dumb.  It is a no-brainer to realize that Bobby isn't going anywhere.  I suppose they could suspend him?  Relieve him of his command for a period of time and bring on some other captain to create drama.  But I would hate that, this isn't that kind of show.

He's currently suspended while he's under investigation.

[SuprSuprElevated]

1 hour ago, juliet73 said:

I still don't understand how Bobby was cleared.

Cleared of...?  If you mean taking recreational drugs, perhaps that is prohibited in his work contract, but drinking while off-duty would not be banned, and the fire wasn't intentionally set.  I'm not sure what there would be to clear him of?  

I'm ready to be enlightened.

[zillabreeze]

2 hours ago, Moose135 said:

I think there is a bar where all these writers hang out and trade story lines

The medical dramas will also have the same types of cases/dilemmas within a few weeks of each other.

Perhaps if I didn't watch so much TeeVee, I wouldn't notice the repetition...

[sempervivum]

1 hour ago, SimoneS said:

The actor played the priest was Ben on one of my favorite shows, American Gothic so I enjoyed seeing him. He is a talented actor.

Nick Searcy; yes, he's great.

I actually appreciated the way this background episode made Bobby's saintly behavior somewhat believable. The scenes showing his rehab as an endless grind of AA meetings, emergencies calls of all kinds, and firehouse life showed how hard he's worked to redeem himself.

[Ohwell]

Just like that guy who confessed to the police when he burned his restaurant down, Bobby could redeem himself if he told the whole truth to the police.  Sure, there were other things that contributed to the fire spreading, but he started the fire. 

But no, Bobby is very careful in that he only "confesses" to the priest, who he knows cannot and will not divulge anything to anyone else.   So Bobby sits there in the pew looking repentant, while the priest soothes Bobby's conscience.   Fuck you, Bobby.

[Aliconehead]

He did confess to everything.  His chief even said he was drunk/stoned and left a space heater unattended which started the fire. However it should have flipped a breaker before that, there were wiring issues, the sprinklers did not work, the alarms were dead and not hard wired.  There was a whole list of things that all contributed and if they were working correctly 140 would not have lost their lives.  As it was the building was an accident waiting to happen. 

While i agree Bobby shares some blame, he does not hold it all.  I wish they would have not had the space heater cause it.  The back story would have worked just fine guilt wise if Bobby had simply been high/drunk and unable to save his family and others if an electrical fire had started it. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

47 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

Just like that guy who confessed to the police when he burned his restaurant down, Bobby could redeem himself if he told the whole truth to the police.  Sure, there were other things that contributed to the fire spreading, but he started the fire. 

But no, Bobby is very careful in that he only "confesses" to the priest, who he knows cannot and will not divulge anything to anyone else.   So Bobby sits there in the pew looking repentant, while the priest soothes Bobby's conscience.   Fuck you, Bobby.

Accidently starting a fire by leaving a space heater on isn't a criminal act as far as I'm aware.  Civil liability maybe.

[Empress1]

56 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

Accidently starting a fire by leaving a space heater on isn't a criminal act as far as I'm aware.  Civil liability maybe.

Right. Bobby's fire was a genuine accident. The restaurant owner's was not. Arson is defined as the willful and malicious burning of property. Bobby didn't burn the building willfully or maliciously. I can see how he'd be cleared of wrongdoing - I actually think the building's builders and management company would be in way more trouble than Bobby, given what his captain said about all the shit wrong with the building.

My former coworker told me that she started a fire in her kitchen because she was trying to make popcorn on the stove.* She was able to put it out by smothering it with flour. I get the sense that if that had happened in Bobby's building and she hadn't been able to put it out, the building would have gone up in exactly the same way. Like, ANY fire in that place would have caused it to go up the way it did because the builders and management were lazy, cheap, sloppy, and negligent.

*She told me this after she burned popcorn in the office microwave - no fire, but lots of smoke. Others around were like " ... Maybe no popcorn for you?"

[iMonrey]

Quote

 God, the guys in that department really used to be super prejudged dicks, even when they have to get weird about it. "I hate when women, black people, Asian people, and...people from the Midwest get here. Losers!" 

Yeah, the problem with doing these flashback episodes is that they are starting to all feel very redundant. Apparently nobody was ever welcomed into this station when they first started there except for Buck. I also feel like they should limit themselves to doing maybe one per season since we only get a limited number of episodes per season. 

That said, I think Peter Krause acted his ass off in this episode. It's too bad a Fox drama won't get any notice or respect from Emmy voters because I think he deserves to be right up there with the best of them. 

[Ohwell]

But the restaurant guy still could have tried to deny it, but he didn't.  He confessed up front.  Clearly, what Bobby did was an accident, but I was also assuming that there was a police investigation as well as a fire investigation, especially with so many people who died.  So while the fire chief knew, he didn't confess to the police.

And yes, anyone or anything could have started the fire at any time, but the point is that he did.  And he should have paid a much heavier price than sitting with a priest and looking glum. 

Edited April 30, 2019 by Ohwell

[Reality police]

3 hours ago, sempervivum said:

Nick Searcy; yes, he's great.

I actually appreciated the way this background episode made Bobby's saintly behavior somewhat believable. The scenes showing his rehab as an endless grind of AA meetings, emergencies calls of all kinds, and firehouse life showed how hard he's worked to redeem himself.

Love, love, love Nick Searcy. My favorite on Justified. 

[lilabennet]

When he was discussing the fire report with the chief Bobby specifically said that he had confessed, so he didn't understand why he was cleared of wrongdoing.

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, Empress1 said:

Bobby's fire was a genuine accident.

Well, it wasn't deliberate, but I don't know that I would call it an accident, maybe negligence.  As a fire fighter, he should know not to leave a space heater running unattended like that, I could see a charge of criminally negligent homicide.  Being drunk/drugged wouldn't absolve him either - being too drunk to know not to drive a car isn't a defense against drunk driving related charges.

[Clanstarling]

I thought Krause did a great job.

My biggest quarrel was with Bobby and Athena going back to the restaurant as an afterthought. I think there would already be an investigation in progress - even if it was  just an insurance investigator - because they don't just dole out the money without checking it out.

I'm a sucker for flashbacks, myself. So I enjoyed it. And seeing Nick Searcy again.

[oceanview]

11 hours ago, Empress1 said:

I wonder if that's going to be like Wilson on Home Improvement where you never saw his face.

I had a wry chuckle at Chimney saying he planned on staying scar-free. Not in the cards for you, boo. Poor thing.

Bobby's wife in the hospital saying "I knew you'd come save us" was fucking brutal.

Did anyone NOT think the restaurant owner set the fire? The whole "WHAT BUSINESS?" was a pretty big clue.

I actually thought it was the last customer, who did not buy any lunch/dinner, was the guilty party, but I guess that was too obvious.    I  liked the episode overall

[oceanview]

6 hours ago, Aliconehead said:

He did confess to everything.  His chief even said he was drunk/stoned and left a space heater unattended which started the fire. However it should have flipped a breaker before that, there were wiring issues, the sprinklers did not work, the alarms were dead and not hard wired.  There was a whole list of things that all contributed and if they were working correctly 140 would not have lost their lives.  As it was the building was an accident waiting to happen. 

While i agree Bobby shares some blame, he does not hold it all.  I wish they would have not had the space heater cause it.  The back story would have worked just fine guilt wise if Bobby had simply been high/drunk and unable to save his family and others if an electrical fire had started it. 

Excellent idea.  I totally agree.  Guilt of not saving his family is enough 

[oceanview]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Yeah, the problem with doing these flashback episodes is that they are starting to all feel very redundant. Apparently nobody was ever welcomed into this station when they first started there except for Buck. I also feel like they should limit themselves to doing maybe one per season since we only get a limited number of episodes per season. 

That said, I think Peter Krause acted his ass off in this episode. It's too bad a Fox drama won't get any notice or respect from Emmy voters because I think he deserves to be right up there with the best of them. 

I have always thought  Peter  K.  was a great actor.    I have watched him for years.  This seems, to me, anyway, a good role for him

[starri]

Bobby is by a wide margin the least interesting character among the ensemble, so I really wasn't feeling this one.

Apart from the homicidal rooster.  That was great.

[tennisgurl]

13 hours ago, Empress1 said:

I wonder if that's going to be like Wilson on Home Improvement where you never saw his face.

What did Bill Murray whisper to Scarlet Johansen at the end of Lost in Translation? What was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? How did Chimney get his nickname? The world may never know. 

[Empress1]

1 hour ago, oceanview said:

I have always thought  Peter  K.  was a great actor.    I have watched him for years.  This seems, to me, anyway, a good role for him

I agree. I first became aware of him on Six Feet Under and I thought he was fantastic in that (actually, that is a very well-acted show overall). IIRC he was nominated several times for Emmys for his work on that show but did not win.

Edited May 1, 2019 by Empress1

[zillabreeze]

1 hour ago, Empress1 said:

. I first became aware of him on Six Feet Under and I thought he was fantastic in that (actually, that is a very well-acted show overall).

He was terrific in a very talented cast!  Then, he was a blast in "Dirty Sexy Money" which was much too under appreciated and short lived, IMO!   

[Mystery]

4 hours ago, oceanview said:

I actually thought it was the last customer, who did not buy any lunch/dinner, was the guilty party, but I guess that was too obvious.    I  liked the episode overall

Me too. 

[Rap541]

11 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

Accidently starting a fire by leaving a space heater on isn't a criminal act as far as I'm aware.  Civil liability maybe.

He's a fire fighter, he was drunk and high. If he hadn't been drunk and high , 149 people would likely not have died. I could see criminally negligent homicide charges. They might not stick... but it sure seems like Bobby being drunk and high was covered up so that Bobby wouldn't get into trouble.  That said, at this point, the person who seems most likely to get into trouble is Bobby's old boss who covered things up and instead of dealing with the problem, dumped an alcoholic addict from his fire precinct into a different city's without mentioning all the problems Bobby had. 

Mind you, I'm pretty sure Bobby's going to be cleared and resume his role as Captain Manpain at the firehouse and I don't even mind if they somehow decide that the fire that killed 149 people was really caused by someone else but really, his transfer to Los Angeles with no one knowing about a serious drug and alcohol problem should be getting a few people fired. 

[Ohwell]

"Captain Manpain."  Love it!

[Chaos Theory]

I think all the backstories do have a purpose.  Showing and not telling how all these people really do belong in a fire department of misfits like they landed in.  

[Raja]

Third Watch had a similar second season instead of the weird shift it started following mostly one character per episode

Then 9/11 happened just as the next season was starting 

[Whimsy]

This show gets so little right in regards to how things actually work in fire stations regarding personnel.

First, FF positions are civil servant positions.  This means potential firefighter's have to take a  civil servant tests.  This places them on a list.  Usually the top three are interviewed/hired and then (at least here) they go to the fire academy.  They do not just transfer from state-to-state.  Bobby would have had to take the tests for CA.  He could not just transfer from MN to CA.  Also, they are union.  Bobby absolutely could not just have fired that FF on the spot.  There are union reps (two of the Captains in our local firestation, including my husband, are the President and co-president of the union).  They would have met with the union rep.  It's actually pretty hard to fire a unionized civil servant. 

On 4/30/2019 at 9:55 AM, juliet73 said:

I thought she said "Why didn't you save us?" Either way, that scene was devastating. I still don't understand how Bobby was cleared. Yes, there were many factors that lined up that caused the end result. However, Bobby was drunk AND high. I would think having drugs in his system would be an automatic termination whether he started the fire or not. Plus, I would think as a fire chief, he would know not to leave a space heater unattended and notice the fire alarms and sprinkler systems, etc were faulty. For those reasons alone, I would think he was incompetent to be a fire chief. 

I didn't miss Maddie or Buck. I actually would prefer Tommy and Sal to replace them.

I did laugh when Bobby commented why there was so much traffic at 2pm. And Chimney being scar free. Ha! 

Bobby is a Captain, not a Chief.  Drinking is just as prominent for firefighters as cops. They see a lot of horrible things that are hard to deal with.  The higher-ups encourage the FF's to get help and send them to rehab.  As long as they take the treatment seriously and get healthy, they get to keep their job.  Until they do something that affects their job, nothing is done unless the FF's specifically ask for help.  

About the only thing this show gets right is all the joking around and shit they give each other.  

Buck is just such a goofy dofus.  I hated him when the show started but now I just love him.

[SuprSuprElevated]

@Whimsy, I love your insights, and hope to see more, but to be honest, there isn't much about 9-1-1 that is realistic.  I mean, rebar through the middle of your forehead?  lol

[Whimsy]

8 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

@Whimsy, I love your insights, and hope to see more, but to be honest, there isn't much about 9-1-1 that is realistic.  I mean, rebar through the middle of your forehead?  lol

I can’t argue with that 😂

[Raja]

13 hours ago, Whimsy said:

This show gets so little right in regards to how things actually work in fire stations regarding personnel.

First, FF positions are civil servant positions.  This means potential firefighter's have to take a  civil servant tests.  This places them on a list.  Usually the top three are interviewed/hired and then (at least here) they go to the fire academy.  They do not just transfer from state-to-state.  Bobby would have had to take the tests for CA.  He could not just transfer from MN to CA.  Also, they are union.  Bobby absolutely could not just have fired that FF on the spot.  There are union reps (two of the Captains in our local firestation, including my husband, are the President and co-president of the union).  They would have met with the union rep.  It's actually pretty hard to fire a unionized civil servant. 

Bobby is a Captain, not a Chief.  Drinking is just as prominent for firefighters as cops. They see a lot of horrible things that are hard to deal with.  The higher-ups encourage the FF's to get help and send them to rehab.  As long as they take the treatment seriously and get healthy, they get to keep their job.  Until they do something that affects their job, nothing is done unless the FF's specifically ask for help.  

About the only thing this show gets right is all the joking around and shit they give each other.  

Buck is just such a goofy dofus.  I hated him when the show started but now I just love him.

If this were a Jack Webb production I would agree. But this show literally began with a probationary firefighter stealing a truck for a sexual liason on a city street in broad daylight.

Cop shows all have done the same with foreign citizens being US Federal Agents and the outsider transferring in as a detective. About the only show that was different was The Closer and the entire premise was that Brenda Lee  Johnson couldn't transfer into LAPD as a Lieutenant to lead a task force. She would have had to go to the academy and survive the boot year, like on The Rookie just to be on the force. So she was hired as a Chief, and in the first years the entire department except her immediate boss/patron was against her.

[Chaos Theory]

I would expect more realism but it is Ryan Murphy.  Then again when was the last cop show that was realistic?   Or medical drama?   I tend to me more favorable if they paint the people in a positive light.   Real tends to be boring.  

[Moose135]

19 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

I would expect more realism but it is Ryan Murphy.  Then again when was the last cop show that was realistic?   Or medical drama?   I tend to me more favorable if they paint the people in a positive light.   Real tends to be boring.  

Years ago, a good friend who was a retired NYPD officer complained to me about how unrealistic NYPD Blue was.  I said "Nick, an hour of writing reports and eating donuts doesn't make for compelling TV..." I'm not sure he's ever forgiven me for that. 😉

[Chaos Theory]

1 hour ago, Moose135 said:

Years ago, a good friend who was a retired NYPD officer complained to me about how unrealistic NYPD Blue was.  I said "Nick, an hour of writing reports and eating donuts doesn't make for compelling TV..." I'm not sure he's ever forgiven me for that. 😉

Didn’t CSI have an uptick of the number of people who wanted to be criminalists only to find out they got stuck in small rooms not telling seasoned cops what do do or wearing cool sunglasses.  

[ramble]

I imagine most jobs every day minutia  would make for uninteresting tv. I think too much realism could bog a show like this down. While I like the characters I love the crazy calls. And if they treated the crazier calls with realism there would be far too much death, dismemberment and permanent damage. I don’t mind some sad stories but I’d tune out if it continuous. 

I was nice to see Eddie McClintock on the show. He played the restaurant owner who set the fire. He was Pete on Warehouse 13. Endless wonder!