Spoiler alert! The following story contains major details about the April 17 episode of ABC’s “9-1-1.”
He’s evaded pirates, snipers and killer bees.
But the clock finally ran out for Los Angeles fire captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause), who succumbed to a lethal virus in the April 17 episode of ABC’s “9-1-1” (Thursdays, 8 ET/PT). Station 118 was called to a research facility, which had been set on fire by a mad scientist named Moira (Bridget Regan). Moira created a hemorrhagic fever and stole the antidote in attempt to extort millions of dollars from biotech executives by threatening another global pandemic.
Bobby manages to save his fellow firefighter, Chimney (Kenneth Choi), who falls ill and starts coughing up blood while responding to the lab blaze. But after waiting for the rest of the team to safely evacuate and unmask, Bobby realizes that there was a hole in his breathing apparatus. Knowing he has been infected and will soon die, he has one last conversation with his wife, Athena (Angela Bassett), who weeps as they touch hands with a glass partition between them.
Before meeting Athena, Bobby killed dozens of people – including his wife and children – in an apartment fire that he inadvertently caused. The tragedy has been referred to repeatedly throughout the series, now in its eighth season. And by sacrificing himself for the 118, Bobby feels that he’s achieved “true redemption,” says executive producer Tim Minear. “It made sense for his arc.”
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Minear unpacks the episode and what’s in store for the rest of Season 8:
Question: What was the impetus for killing Bobby? Did Peter ask to leave? Was this an edict from the network?
Tim Minear: It was entirely my creative decision. On a show where we’re playing with such life-and-death stakes, if the result was always life and never death, then were they really stakes? I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and as we were breaking this particular story, I saw an opportunity to do it in epic fashion.
The emotional center of this episode is Bobby and Chimney. Why did you wish to hone in on their relationship?
In a lot of ways, Chimney’s the original 118er; he’s been there longer than anyone. I was thinking back to the episode where Bobby was sharing his origin story with Chimney: how he had come to L.A. with a death wish, that he was going to achieve his atonement and then join his kids in the afterlife. Chimney had been keyed into Bobby’s lore earlier and more personally than any other character, so it just made sense.
There are dozens of incidents that could’ve killed Bobby. Why a pre-pandemic-level virus?
When you look at how many episodes we’ve done, you’re talking about three or four cases per episode, on top of these event episodes where it’s a natural disaster or a hacker or a blackout. But this is an area we hadn’t really visited before, and I was thinking a lot about Spock’s death in “The Wrath of Khan,” with the glass separating these two characters.
Athena has already endured so much, between loss and divorce. Where does she go from here?
It opens up story opportunities for every character, but certainly for Athena. At first, it leaves her shattered and unmoored, and she’s going to have to dig down and find the strength to go on. But also, her life’s not over and she’ll have to figure out what road to take.
What was it like for Peter and Angela shooting Bobby’s death scene?
It was not the last thing he got to film, and it’s not even his last appearance in this season. (Krause returns in flashbacks for three remaining episodes.) It’s been incredibly emotional for the last couple of months. Peter and I have known about it for a while – maybe for about a month before I even told the rest of the cast. I’ve been on shows for a long time and I’ve killed off a lot of characters, but I’ve never killed off a main character on this series.
We were all startled by how much it was affecting us; it really felt like losing a friend. It was very painful to make this decision because we all love Peter. I called every cast member individually, and it took me 15 or 20 minutes to persuade some of them that I wasn’t joking.
Chimney, in a way, feels responsible for Bobby’s death or that it should’ve been him instead. What can you tease about the rest of the season?
Chimney will be front and center (these next few weeks). I didn’t want to do this as a season finale, because I felt that would be incredibly cruel to our audience if they missed the fallout for these characters. It was very important for me that I had at least three episodes after this event in order to process the loss and start to put the pieces back together.
