9-1-1 Fall Finale Shocker: Is [Spoiler] Really Leaving the 118?
9-1-1‘s festive fall finale gifted viewers with a dramatic cliffhanger — one we’d already like to return. (Can’t we just go back to the time that elf mistook Buck and Eddie for Christopher’s fathers? Best Christmas ever!)
A stark contrast to that magical bygone holiday, Monday’s episode found Eddie at a crossroads. When Christopher expressed his fear that this could be Eddie’s last Christmas — and given his father’s recent track record, not to mention what happened to poor Shannon, you can’t exactly blame the kid — Eddie was forced to confront the realities of his job, and whether it was worth putting his son through so much pain.
After weighing his options over the course of the hour, Eddie ultimately decided: “I think I have to make a change. I’m leaving the 118.”
First Michael, now Eddie — the characters on this show are dropping like flies! Never mind the fact that Chimney and Maddie are still M.I.A. And we can’t be the only ones who thought we’d see more of Albert this season.
But is Eddie really leaving? Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until the show’s fifth season resumes in March 2022.
Also worth discussing…
* On a slightly more encouraging note, although Buck spent most of the episode stressing out about what to get Taylor for Christmas, he ultimately landed on the perfect gift — a distress beacon, so he can always come to her rescue. Well, she thought it was the perfect gift, anyway. And that’s really all that matters.
* This week’s subplots included two women who discovered that they’re married (with children!) to the same man, a husband who accidentally destroyed his apartment building with a way-too-big Christmas tree, a lonely older woman who repeatedly called 9-1-1 just to have someone to talk to, and an office romance that took an unfortunate turn. (Anyone familiar with that iconic L.A. Law scene likely predicted the poor woman’s fall down the elevator shaft.)
Your thoughts on Eddie’s big decision? Grade the finale below, then drop a comment with your full review.
One can hope he’s finally gone. Leave Christopher take him
Ryan Guzman is under contract for three more seasons, assuming the show lasts that long. Guess you’ll just have to stop watching or get over yourself.
you win the comments section!
That doesn’t at all stop them from firing him. But I bet you thought you did something.
Whomp whomp. Worst season of the show by far.
I agree. I don’t think that he’s actually leaving (at least I hope he isn’t!!) but this is stupid and will be unpopular with fans. Aside from the Bobby and Athena scenes last week – which were amazing – it feels like this season has been giving the audience just about everything that they DON’T want.
AMEN!!!
I have really been disappointed with this season. The storylines feel hacky and uninspired. It feels like they have run out of ideas and are just throwing everything against the wall to see if anything sticks. It’s been a nit of a chore to get through this season so far. I hopw they can turn it around in the back half.
I agree with you. I love this show but this season has been a stretch. And then the important ones leaving instead of building the story isn’t helping. I’m hoping it will get better!!
Disney needs to stop being hard butss and let ppl live
Normally anything Disney touches ends in disaster. I.e. Star Wars with Kathleen Kennedy failing the way.
Hopefully he stays. I like Chris on the show too
Is it just me or it felt a bit depressing? I’m going to miss Eddie, but it seems like a sound decision. He is all that his son has left. Bobby and Athena may not have saved this Christmas, but they made it bearable. I was almost hoping Hen would show up with Chim and Maddie, if anyone knows where Chim is is Hen. I can’t wait for the new episodes!
I thought him moving to a paramedic role was to make Eddie safer and less likely to put his life in peril. (There are always risks, but that is less risky than firefighter.)
I don’t want him to go either.
He could always go to the call center….
Sooo Buck got his GF a med-alert bracelet for X-mas??
Live Eddie!! Don’t leave
yea dont leave
This season has been pretty bad in many ways so I wouldn’t be surprised if he left. At the same time it seems like this was done for shock value and he isn’t actually going. Plus the actor posted a photo showing that he’s currently filming. Regardless , the tone has been so dark… characters don’t seem like themselves (Buck is a prime example of this )…the found family aspect is gone. Bobby and Athena are great but that the only good pairing now (because we barely seen Karen ). I doubt I’ll tune in after the break
This is my least favorite comment always on long running shows. You’ll still tune in and if you don’t it won’t cancel the show. Eddie and Christopher are a huge emotional aspect of the show and fan favorites. If he does leave (which I doubt he does), he will get a nice emotional send off and not a last second “bye guys” ending.
This season has been pretty disjointed. I know Maddie was pregnant in real life, but I feel like they could’ve written in a plot just having chimney talk about her home life and not had him have to vanish too. Biggest problem is the dynamic of the ensemble shifted
Oh, I’m under no belief the show will get cancelled without me 😂 But I really doubt I’ll watch unless we get some type of good news over hiatus, such as confirmed Eddie staying or Maddie and Chim return or that they get rid of the crime reporting stuff which really sucked. One thing we agree, there was no reason to write off Chim and it left a bad taste in my mouth . These things make me think they don’t have it together behind the scenes, and that’s not a promising sign
Well Jennifer Love Hewitt took time off after having a baby, so don’t expect her back this season I don’t understand why the have written Chimney off at l,east temperately,the whole story line for Maddie not being on the show could of been done without having to evolve Chimney from being gone
The only reason I could think they would have Chimney leave is that since they wrote Maddie taking off, what other options did they have? Have him sitting around moping all the time about where she is and how is she? It made sense that he would look for her. It seems more like they weren’t sure what to do with him after she went on maternity leave.
And, I don’t care how human they try to make Taylor, she is horrible with Buck. He needs a new and better love interest. I just don’t get any feelings for the two of them.
Please don’t let Eddie leave. His friendship with Buck and his relationship with Christopher are my favorite parts of the show!!
The Christmas elf scene…those were the days. Le sigh. It was a CRIME that we didn’t get any Buck/Christopher scenes. He is his legal guardian! They love each other so much! It’s really kind of sick that the showrunners are eliminating that dynamic because Buck is with Taylor (who clearly isn’t right for him but I have zero desire to fight shippers – because it’s not about preferring another ship – so I’ll leave it at that). Like many others, I’ve accepted that this show has changed, and not for the better, at least for me. At least I can free up my DVR…
One final thing I’ll say about the show: unless Kenneth specifically requested leave (and maybe he did), it was a really poor creative decision to write Chimney off with Maddie. His absence has left a giant hole in the series and the team’s dynamic. Worse, they filled that time with random guest stars who didn’t bring much to the table as opposed to substantive stories for Bobby or Eddie or Hen.
I don’t like how Athena dealt with the lonely old woman. Yes, sure suggest the lady reach out to the daughter she hasn’t spoken to in 12 years, but Where I live every town has a Counsel on Aging and a Senior Center and I know an effort would have been made to connect a lonely elder with people and activities. And there are other local organizations as well that would help. Doesn’t LA have anything? And wouldn’t Athena usually be more proactive and caring. I give this part of the show a FAIL.
Sounds like she gave her good advice. The lady wasn’t ailing she was just lonely and missed her family due to hurtful words that she said about her daughter’s husband. All it took was some good advice and encouragement from Athena and now the lady is reunited with her daughter and family. An apology can go a long way.
In most cities those people are so overwhelmed they probably couldn’t get to her until months later. I love that Athena dealt with it and she dealt with it great. She was honest and caring. Pure Athena.
Also, she didn’t know the full context. What if the daughter cut the mother off because the mother was abusive? What if the reason she hated her son-in-law was because he was a race other than white? I agree Athena should have pushed the other resources instead of just “call your daughter”.
If she called the daughter first and it didn’t go well I think Athena would have explored other sources.
The woman made several fake 911 calls over several years. They could’ve arrested her. She’s lucky she got Athena and the advice she gave her.
I don’t know where you live but most places do not have adequate resources for this type of thing. A friendly visit was the best option here. As I was watching this, from the response of the 911 operators to Athena ‘s visit, I kept thinking this is what many people are pushing for right now. They are searching for a response team to go out and handle situations like this. It needs to be a group of people with the same Authority as other First Responders but with specialized Social Service maybe medical training
I think Athena handled the situation correctly. A police officer never knows what they are really walking into! So her sternness at first was warranted.
As for senior centers, some elderly people don’t like to “get out” to meet other people. Until you’re a senior you won’t really understand what motivates or turns someone off. And yes, I am a senior.
There are a lot of very good services for seniors in LA. But this is a TV show whose cast of characters need something to do each episode.
Okay… I’m clinging to the fact that “leaving the 118” doesn’t have to mean leaving LA… I mean, he’s more than qualified to be a dispatcher, right?? I’d be so bummed to see him (and Chris!) go. On a totally different note, totally agree about Albert haha—where the heck is he?!
The actor who plays Albert has been recurring on Nancy Drew this season, which films in Canada.
Ahhhh that explains it. I was so confused, because I thought I’d read that he’d been bumped up to series regular, then promptly disappeared haha.
I was expecting to see Maddie and/or Chimney with the baby at the end as the Christmas miracle. This episode was okay, but that would have made it awesome.
I was too.
I really miss them. It would’ve been awesome for them to return before the hiatus. I hope they come back when the show returns
Ryan Guzman recently posted a selfie of himself in uniform, with a new haircut, and captioned it “Stage 4 Eddie Diaz, coming soon,” so he’s definitely staying, and it looks like the show might actually deal with all the trauma Eddie has never really processed. It really feels like Eddie is drowning right now.
It’s gotta be rough for Buck, though. His abandonment issues have been bad enough this season with Maddie and Chimney leaving, and now Eddie? His and Eddie’s traumas are so inextricably linked together, I really hope that he gets to be there for the resolution of Eddie’s storyline and get some resolution of his own. (Culminating in them admitting that they’re in love with each other, obviously. Come on, 911, they’re clearly perfect for each other, just leeeeeeeeet them.)
I didn’t get the impression that Taylor thought it was the perfect gift, considering she immediately assumed it was a 24/7 tracker. I think it was a perfect gift from Buck to himself, since he’s terrified of not being able to save the people he loves. But the whole little subplot about them trying to find a gift for each other just highlighted how much they just don’t know each other. I hope all the weirdness between them this season has been intentional and not just the writers thinking it’s cute.
My take is that Eddie will not leave but reconsider his options, and both he and Christopher will go into therapy to learn how to overcome their loses and learn life has many twists and turns. This will keep Eddie at the 118 while Christopher learns to deal with life on a more realistic level rather than be coddled. Just IMHO.
As for Buck and Taylor – this chic has GOT to go! She’s got way too many issues of her own.
Also surprised the 911 call center didn’t feature “Ms. Stuck-Up” taking one of those calls from the lonely senior citizen.
I am confident it’s 100% intentional. Buck and Taylor have not had any unmistakeably happy & in love scenes this season, there’s always some kind of awkwardness involved.
Seriously, what did happen to Albert? Is he still on the show?
He’s a newbie at a different firehouse, but yeah – it would be nice to see him and Chimney too! At least a phone call update on his search for Maddie.
The actor who plays Albert has been recurring on Nancy Drew this season, which films in Canada.
What do you mean we have to wait until next year to find out if Eddie is leaving!?!? This is the kind of news I have you for TVLine! You’re supposed to tell me!
I think Christopher is overdue for some counseling. The kid was having a nervous breakdown. Maybe try that first before quitting your job. The kid must have some mad healthcare bills, so good city benefits are a plus. On the other hand, Eddie seems to think the show is called, Final Destination, or he has a death wish.
If Eddie and Buck are going to make a go of it one of them has to quit being a firefighter
Not likely happening! Also one would have to leave the 118, not necessarily quit firefighting.
andy your articles never fail to be the best part of new eps. i feel very meh about this season as a whole; do you (or other readers) believe that the weird, offputting, and OOC writing could be put down to tim focussing on lone star for this half of the season? if rumours are to be believed he hasn’t been involved in 5A but will be back for season 5B
I thought it was a solid enough episode. and yes, the whole season has felt a bit off. but my #1 issue applies to 9-1-1 and several other shows I follow. WTH is up with the 3 month “hiatus”?!? WHY? I think it’s a crappy thing to do to the fans!
I DO miss Chimney! but Maddie…not so much!
but seriously, why the 3 month break?
I don’t think Eddie’s really leaving, so I’m not worried about that. What soured the episode for me was the lack of our traditional X-mas Buckley-Diaz family scene.
Also, with so many of the mains gone, the least they could have done was have Karen make an appearance in this episode (she’s a main in my heart).
As the hour went on, I had a feeling that was what Eddie was going to do. I’ll be sad to see him go if it turns out to be true.
I had a bit of hope that Chimney and Maddie would show up at the end.
why do idiots all want buck gay-?enough gay cast in tv shows-just leave it be
Shut up you ignoramus
I’m fine with them bringing on gay characters but not with them putting characters together who were already in heterosexual relationships. In this day and age, no one should be in the closet and that goes for bisexuals too.
People move from male/female to male/male or female/female (not to mention everything in between) all the time. It’s how reality works when someone isn’t Kinsey 1 or 6. It’s not about being in the closet. It’s about how SOMEtimes people don’t recognize their own sexualities until later in life or until they meet just the right someone. Previous relationships have no bearing on future ones. That applies to everyone.
Rather homophobic of you
Eddie did not say he was leaving the fire department only the 118. Sounds like a desk job, which gives opportunities for them to meet and/or socialize still.
Good point. I assumed he was leaving altogether because from Abby to Michael that’s what happened to every character on 911 that said she/he was leaving. That doesn’t mean Eddie is leaving for good. I just can’t seem to place Eddie here without a firefighter position. He couldn’t afford to take care of Christopher on another job’s salary, which is why his parents offered to take him home.
I will Miss him. Wonder why so many are leaving this show?