I'm not really sure what vision or story the 9-1-1's showrunners and writers are trying to tell for the second half of the fifth season because aside from Edmundo "Eddie" Diaz's storyline the rest of the show feels like a jumbled mess of unnecessary drama to further crappy storylines. There were things I liked about Monday night's episode Fear-O-Phobia and of course things I didn't like.
Lets start with the things I enjoyed:
- Eddie's mental health continues to spiral downward and the more he tries to hold on to his trauma or ignore it, the more it's seeping out. It eventually boiled over after taking his therapist Frank's advice to talk to someone who shared his trauma. This triggered an explosive outcome. I like that when Christopher was so scared and worried about his father, he called Evan "Buck" Buckley. I've seen where some fans and viewers thought Chris should have called 9-1-1 but I'm glad he didn't because most of the time the police are not equipped or educated enough to handle situations with someone having mental health issues. And it most likely would have ended up either them arresting Eddie and take him to a mental facility or possibly killing Eddie if he was still in PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) meltdown and they felt "threatened". And then Chris would have been taken by child services. Which would have been an incentive for Eddie's parents who think that their son shouldn't be raising his son and they could try to take Christopher back to Texas. Thankfully, Chris called Buck who is also a firefighter and is used to handling all sorts of situations.
I love that when Buck got the call, he didn't hesitate to go over to the Diazes' house to help. And once he got there, he reassured Chris that he would check in on his father. Eddie had locked himself in his bedroom and was having a PTSD meltdown. Thankfully the meltdown didn't last long, because by the time Buck was at the house and in Eddie's room, Eddie was mainly crying and trying to process all the new and unfortunate information he had received which had triggered him. I really like that Buck was there for both Chris and Eddie. And being there made it possible for Eddie to start opening up by telling Buck what had triggered him. Which is something that Eddie didn't even do with Frank in his therapy session earlier in the episode. Besides being a firefighter (well Fire Liaison at the moment), Eddie is a military veteran and it seems like a lot of his trauma is related to that but not all of it.
- Another thing I enjoyed seeing was Howard "Chimney" Han and Henrietta "Hen" Wilson reuniting. I missed seeing these best friends being together on the show. I really can't wait for Chim to get his job back because although the new paramedic Jonah Greenway isn't as annoying as new firefighter Lucy Donato (I'll get to her later), I just want Chim back as Hen's paramedic partner. I also enjoyed seeing Buck reunite with his sister Maddie.
- The last few things I enjoyed were seeing Chim going to the 118 fire station and reconnecting with Ravi Panikkar and hanging with Captain Robert "Bobby" Nash and Hen in the fire station kitchen and dining area. I also like seeing Bobby quickly leave the emergency call after seeing all of those really big spiders. I don't blame him for leaving and captaining from outside, I don't like spiders either. I also liked seeing Police Sergeant Athena Grant having an interesting conversation at a gas station with Ruth (who is either the owner or manager of the gas station). And lastly, I enjoyed seeing Maddie overcome her fear of bathing her daughter. Because while she had been suffering with Postpartum Depression in the first half of the fifth season, Maddie had accidentally fell asleep (I think due to the medication she had been prescribed) while she was giving her daughter Jee-Yun a bath. The little girl accidentally slipped down into the water but thankfully Maddie immediately woke up and got Jee out of the bath and took her to the hospital to make sure the baby was okay. So seeing Maddie face her fear and give her daughter a bath was a good scene.
Now as for the things I didn't like:
- Maybe it was just me but the emergency calls seemed extra long in this episode. It would have been okay if they had decided to have cut one or trimmed down each of the rescues and focused more on Eddie’s storyline. I wanted to see more of the lead up to his breakdown and why he decided to go to therapy. Especially since he's not someone who is interested in going. I can't believe Eddie only had a few minutes of screen time and it felt like his downward spiral was incomplete especially since it was in the last few minutes of the episode. Not to mention the jarring cut to the end credits just when Eddie was starting to answer Buck's question. Hopefully, the remainder of the season (which are the last five episodes) will focus more attention on this very serious issue of PTSD and give Eddie more screen time.
- Buck's relationship issues with his girlfriend Taylor Kelly and his cheating with Lucy feels like unnecessary drama. I don't know why the showrunners and writers continue to draw out this terrible storyline. This episode would have been the perfect opportunity for the writers to end this boring and lackluster relationship that Buck and Taylor are clinging to because I believe neither one of them want to be alone. They have turned Buck into a coward and jerk who would rather wait until his girlfriend has given up her apartment and completely moved in with him to finally tell her he kissed someone else.
It makes no sense that Taylor would choose to not only stay in a relationship with Buck but also live with him. I can't believe Taylor "The Truth Means Everything" Kelly said she didn't even need to have known that he had kissed someone else. She thinks he drunkenly kissed some random woman at a bar instead of his co-worker Lucy because he only gave her the partial truth. This version of Taylor is a pale comparison to the character she was first introduced as. The writers continue to turn her into a milksop doormat who has absolutely no self-respect.
I've mentioned in another post that Taylor seems like a character who doesn't have any friends and this episode confirmed it. Because after she was mad (she should have been even more upset and angry in my opinion) at Buck after he told her he cheated, she was leaving the apartment and he said something like are you coming back and she said "I don't have anywhere else to go". This really proves that Taylor has no friends at all. Absolutely no friends that she could have called to stay with and who would have told her to dump Buck. The only person she seemed to have in all of Los Angeles is her boyfriend Buck. And that's really sad. It also makes me wonder if she also doesn't have any extra money to have stayed at a hotel or motel for the night instead of going back to Buck's place and forgiving him.
This episode really proves that Buck really doesn't love nor respect her and Taylor doesn't love herself either. Which is why as I said before they are both clinging to a dead relationship instead of both accepting that it's not working because they don't want to be alone. I really don't understand what the showrunners and writers are doing because this cheating storyline makes no sense and is dragging the show down with unnecessary drama.
- As for Lucy, she bring nothing to the show that wasn't already there. She was being annoying providing medical information when Hen and Jonah who are both very capable and knowledgeable were already handling the situation with the diver. There was a scene back at the fire station that really annoyed me, it was when Jonah asked her what she thought of Chim who was sitting at the dinner table with Hen and Bobby. She looked over at the three of them and made a snide remark about Chim's height. She's lucky, they didn't hear her. It really shows how jealous she is that she wasn't the center of attention. According to multiple interviews, Lucy and Buck will continue to flirt with each other throughout the remainder of the season. Yeah, a love triangle between Buck, Taylor and Lucy is not something I want to see in the last five episodes. I don't like Lucy, she's only on the show for bad soap opera drama and she's not a good fit for the team. I can't wait for Eddie to get his job back after dealing with his trauma.
- I think the second half of the season is really leaning into too much telling and not enough showing because why else would Maddie and Chim's break up have happened off screen. Along with Chim's apology to Buck about the punch and Eddie's apology to Bobby for yelling and saying mean things to him. As well as Buck comforting Chris who had been very scared and helping to calm down Eddie. I feel like these are all important moments yet they were left off screen but the show continues to focus on less important stuff and give it plenty of screen time. The co-showrunner Kristen Reidel really doesn't seem like she understands how to run this show, because why have so many important things continue to happen off screen. She also seems to think that a love triangle between Buck, Taylor and Lucy is more important than all the stuff that the show keeps glossing over or ignoring.
It's starting to feel like the showrunners and writers are running out of ideas and stretching out the terrible ones they have instead of writing something good. It's very noticeable that the quality in the writing has changed and not for the better. 9-1-1 used to be such a good show especially seasons 2 and 3. Those seasons had some of the best writing. So far, the fifth season has been the worst especially compared to the other four seasons. It feels like the new co-showrunner and some of the writers were poached from some failing soap opera and brought with them their poor writing skills which are quickly ruining the show. I really hope that the remainder of the season will improve because 9-1-1 is a good show but it's currently suffering from having a bad showrunner and bad writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment