Is ‘9-1-1’ Killing Off Bobby? How It Just Set up Season 7 Finale

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 9 “Ashes, Ashes.”]

Firefighter down! Captain down!

9-1-1 is heading into the Season 7 finale (fortunately, it’s already been renewed) with its firefighters in precarious positions, both personally and in terms of life or death! Bobby (Peter Krause) continues to deal with Amir (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), one of the people who was injured (his face still bears the burns) in the fire he accidentally caused that killed his family (and Amir’s wife), showing up, and that takes a fiery turn. Eddie (Ryan Guzman) finally ‘fesses up to Kim (Devin Kelley) that she looks exactly like his dead wife, only for the aftermath of that to leave him floundering to explain to multiple people. And Hen (Aisha Hinds) has a call from earlier this season come back to haunt her in the worst way possible when it comes to her and Karen’s (Tracie Thoms) attempt to adopt Mara. (Unrelated to any of this: Gerrard, the previous captain of the 118, is still a terrible person.)

Read on as we break down the three major storylines that need to be addressed in the finale after this episode.

Will Bobby Live or Die?!

Hen, Chimney (Kenneth Choi), Buck (Oliver Stark), Eddie, and Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) receive medals for the cruise ship disaster. And Bobby receives the Medal of Valor, for his record of outstanding service and leadership in and out of the uniform. Taking the podium, Bobby says he’s not sure he deserves it. After, Athena (Angela Bassett) is concerned as she watches him argue with Chief Simpson (Richard Brooks). It’s not until they get home that he reveals that he’s resigning.

Bobby’s tired of trying, he explains. The medal ceremony was exhausting, performing for cameras, and everyone thinking he’s a hero when the universe just dropped a living reminder of his greatest failure on his doorstep. He’s holding off on telling anyone, but Athena’s attempt to talk him out of it is for naught. “I don’t have anything more to give,” he says. Poor Bobby!

And so Athena goes to see Amir in hopes that he can help. For years, Bobby has walked a tightrope, trying to embrace the life he has now while honoring the one he left behind, and Amir’s arrival has upset that equilibrium.

Disney / Chris Willard

Bobby, meanwhile, definitely goes about his shift as if it’s one of his last, offering advice, reminding Hen that she welcomed him into the 118 family, having Buck handle the cooking, giving Eddie his Catholic Book of Prayers, just watching all of them. “My work here is done,” he says after trying Buck’s cooking, with no one the wiser of what he really means. Bobby even goes to Buck at the end of the shift and comments on how far he’s come from being the impulsive hothead who first walked in seven years ago. (He also knows that Tommy’s good for him because they haven’t had to talk about him.) “It’s been my pleasure, kid,” Bobby says before walking away. It feels so much like a goodbye to Bobby and Peter Krause that it’s hard to imagine what else could be done once that time does come … because it’s not now, is it?!

Athena has Amir come over to their house, but that turns out to be a mistake because once he sees the happy family photos, he has to leave—just as Bobby walks in. Amir tells him if he wants to make amends, he and his wife need to stay away from him.

After, Athena admits that it seems like Bobby’s getting his affairs in order and reminds him that he once stood on a ledge of a building, ready to step off to join his dead family. He argues that was a long time ago, and he was dosed with LSD (Season 2’s “Dosed,” a moment we weren’t sure would ever come up again and we’re glad has). Every time he goes to a dark place, she still remembers his look, and to her, he’s standing on the ledge again. Bobby thinks he should’ve died in that fire, and he made a plan to fix that (the book with the 148 lines, one life saved to repair one lost). And after that, she asks. He says he’s not supposed to be here. He threw the book out the night of their first date, and he never told her because he didn’t want any of this to touch her. “Too late,” she says and walks out.

Later, Bobby wakes to noise in the kitchen and walks in to … his dead father (John Brotherton) pouring a drink and offering him one. He calls his son a hero; Bobby insists he’s not and struggles to breathe with the medal around his neck. There’s even a scrapbook, to match the one young Bobby made his dad, only it’s filled with all the people he didn’t save, with Tim on the first page. But now, he has to wake up and save himself because the house is on fire! There are gas canisters at the door, meaning it’s deliberate. (But was it Amir? We wouldn’t be surprised if it was someone else.) Bobby finds Athena unconscious in the bedroom and gets her outside, where he does CPR. But soon after she wakes and firefighters arrive on scene, Bobby collapses, his heart’s stopped, an EMT gets out the defibrillator … and that’s how the episode ends!

How Will Eddie Explain Kim to Christopher?

Eddie continues to make terrible decisions when it comes to Kim, like taking her out for a boat ride. She thinks he’s staring at her because he recognizes her from a failed acting career, and he suggests he just likes looking at her. She wonders why he hasn’t tried to kiss her, and he says he didn’t know she wanted him to. She thinks it’s because he’s careful about letting people into his life because he has more to give than he think anyone can take.

Disney / Chris Willard

Then Kim shows up at the station with brownies for Eddie (he’s not there), and Buck is shocked when he sees her. He immediately goes to Eddie’s to talk to his best friend about this woman who made it seems like she’s his girlfriend. She’s just a friend, Eddie insists, and Marisol is his girlfriend. Eddie tells Buck about meeting her and says nothing’s happened. He doesn’t want to have sex with her, but he doesn’t know what he wants, and no, the fact that she’s a carbon copy of his dead wife hasn’t come up. Buck’s worried about him, and Eddie admits he’s worried about himself, too.

The good news: Eddie does tell Kim the truth, showing her photos of Shannon. She should’ve known it was too good to be true, she says. She really liked him. He liked her, too, he says, but she wonders if he’s been spending time with her or Shannon. Eddie now thinks that Shannon was the love of his life, though he’s not sure he knew it at the time, given their history. He never got to say all the things he wanted to say or hear what he needed to say. Kim’s sorry she’s not her and leaves, and really, that’s where it should have ended. But it doesn’t.

Here’s the bad news: Kim styles her hair like Shannon’s and shows up at Eddie’s to give him the chance to say and hear what he needed. He resists, at first, then he shares his anger at not getting a letter and being unable to imagine life without her. He’s broken, he says, and he can’t fix it. Just as they’re hugging, Marisol walks in with Christopher, who understandably is confused and asks, “Mom?” (We can see why Guzman told us Eddie will be feeling “isolated” at the end of the season.)

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Will Ortiz Keep Going After Hen?

At the medal ceremony, Councilwoman Ortiz congratulates Hen, who tells her she’s sorry for her loss. Ortiz then comments on Hen’s heroics not extending to her son. (He was the one who died after refusing care when Hen was filling in as captain with Bobby on his honeymoon in Episode 2 “Rock the Boat.”) She also notices Hen and Karen’s children and learns about their plans to adopt Mara and ominously says to enjoy the moment.

Then Hen and Karen find out that their adoption hearing has been canceled; the judge has concerns about their petition. Someone had to talk to the judge, and Hen realizes who it was. When she confronts the councilwoman, Ortiz brings up other “mistakes” Hen has made over the years, including, yes, that tragic crash. And then Karen calls Hen: Their foster license has been revoked. They can’t do anything but watch as Mara’s taken away. But will this be the end of Ortiz’s revenge against Hen, or is there something else to come?

How do you think these will be resolved in the finale? Let us know in the comments section, below.

9-1-1, Season 7 Finale, Thursday, May 30, 8/7c, ABC