While this was a really good, really fun episode with a great balance of excitement and poignant moments, once again, the pacing issues that have plagued the show since Kristen took over kept things from flowing as smoothly as they might otherwise have with a better build-up across the season. Lucky for us, this cast is phenomenal!
Getting the "meh" out of the way first, Eddie's storyline feels very much like a rehash of what the show has already done with regards to Eddie getting back into dating after Shannon's death with him already talking to Bobby about not being sure if he was ready. We heard "follow your heart not Christopher's" back in season 4 and followed that advice up with the eddieana breakup, so having Eddie AGAIN being forced into dating by other's expectations isn't anything new or exciting. I suppose the argument *could* be made that now Eddie has to figure out what HE wants besides just "not Ana", however if this was the case, why have we not had little scenes here and there all throughout this season showing that Eddie is struggling with being alone/lonely with Chris growing up more? (Spoiler alert, it's because Eddie is not alone OR lonely, we have seen him this season relaxing over family meals and beers and dressing up and going out, he's just doing all that stuff with Buck.) Eddie has had basically no arc all season, this could have been a through-line for him but it seems like yet ANOTHER in the ever-growing list of things Kristen wants to insist has happened off screen, without ever mentioning it in the show before or giving the audience a single clue about it. So again, here we are with another storyline out of nowhere when Eddie has been wasting away in the background all season.
At least this episode focused on Eddie, and his relationship with his Tia, and talking to the firefam instead of pushing a random side character into the focus all episode. Ryan also continues to make some...Choices with his face and body that are very loudly saying something, I'm just not sure the show is willing to step up and follow things to their natural conclusion. Given what we know of this season pushing the idea that every child needs to quietly reconcile with their toxic bio parents without making a fuss and without the parents taking any accountability, then that the lesbian mom's HAVE to allow their son to have a relationship with his bio dad after months of him demonstrating incredibly poor judgment and putting the onus on a literal child to tell his mom's about it, I'm not thrilled that this week we're getting told Eddie isn't whole and doesn't have a rich and fulfilling life because he's not currently dating a woman. And knowing that next week is supposed to Buck and the "hot death doula" woman, it seems that Eddie starting dating is immediately followed by Buck doing the same. Which is just a repeat of season 4 which was itself a repeat of season 2. Has Kristen ever had an original idea? At least Eddie was adorable all episode and the talk with his Tia and their clear love for each other, even when she was pushing his buttons a bit, was very sweet.
The emergences were fun and interesting with the woman stuck in the mixer definitely making me cringe but it was also a classic 911 "karma will get you" moment which I always love to see! The body builder call was classic wild, wacky 911, and Maddie with that kid was just perfect! It was so good to see Maddie back at work for what feels like the first time in ages, and her and Chim singing to Jee was such a good callback to their pre-dating karaoke days. Overall it felt far more centered as a 911 episode in that regard. We also got a brief Hen/Athena friendship moment which is always such a delight.
Of course, the BIG WIN this week was a Chim centered storyline on his own personal life outside of Maddie and Jee that wasn't half a scene tacked onto the end of an episode, and Ravi our beloved probie back where he belongs. Plus, a bonus of Captain Dad Bobby Nash bribing people with cake, and the team trying to avoid their performance reviews of HIM as a captain. The performance reviews for each main character were so much fun and it was nice after all the Buck/Bobby relationship stuff got dropped immediately after 6x11 to see them talking again, and having it be about Bobby being too lenient on Buck and Buck asking for an honest eval instead of spiraling about not being perfect. Hen of course is Practically Perfect In Every Way (except for a couple missing CEUs), Eddie thinks he's slick trying to sneak out the door without reviewing Bobby back, and Chim may have been shocked at first, but it turns out Bobby was killing two birds with one stone in getting Chim some confidence he needed in his leadership skills, and in bringing their lost sheep Ravi back into the fold.
Every scene with Ravi and Chim was amazing! Chim is hilarious as always, and the baby montage was so fun! Seeing him step up with the kid on the ropes and talk him down was engrossing to watch, and I love that he saw the talent the kid had and helped direct him to dispatch because it wasn't about washing out, it was about finding the best use for his skills. And of course, Kenny can always bring the heart when it's needed (he's not called the heart of the 118 for nothing!) and his chat with Ravi about Kevin, what happened with Ravi's accident, and convincing him to come home were all just magical moments to watch. More of this kind of stuff please! The only issue with this whole setup is, of course, the pacing again having it crammed into this episode instead of having some crumbs to lead up to this feast. Ravi's quite frankly RIVITING sounding rescue and fallout is yet another thing that happened not just off screen, but was entirely kept from the audience until now without Ravi's name coming up a single time this whole season until this episode. I mean, we all know there's no way the 118 gossip train didn't hear about Ravi's big save but even if they wanted to keep it under wraps from the team and the audience what exactly happened until Anirudh was back filming and we could see HIM tell the tale, they could have given the audience SOMETHING. They easily could have just had Bobby in the know and telling the team back in 6x01 that Ravi got injured and was going to be helping out at the academy during his recovery. It wouldn't have taken any more time than that ridiculous scene about why Lucy, a replacement hire that was never needed in the first place as Ravi took Eddie's place and Jonah took Chim's, wasn't coming back when Eddie returning should have made her doubly superfluous. At least we got to see Ravi coming back to the station, and everyone being so happy to see him and scooping him up in hugs was a perfect picture of what the audience would like to be doing. It's good to have all our family home!
It's a shame the pacing was so off in the first half of the season that it's affecting how these episode play out, but the cast is giving us solid performances every week, and this episode really felt so much like home with everyone back where they belong and seeing Maddie at dispatch again. We'll see what direction the show goes with the same old "Buck and Eddie having more random women thrown at them because the show doesn't know what else to do with them if they're not having scenes together" thing in the next few weeks (though if it's not leading to Buddie someone should tell Oliver and Ryan's faces about those heart eyes, and maybe their bodies about leaning into each other in background shots), but I'm taking this episode as a major win overall for firefam feels.
Final note, Kenny should get to do interviews more often! And as much as he is asking for more scenes with Peter and Ryan we are all doubly asking! More Chim, all the time!
Getting the "meh" out of the way first, Eddie's storyline feels very much like a rehash of what the show has already done with regards to Eddie getting back into dating after Shannon's death with him already talking to Bobby about not being sure if he was ready. We heard "follow your heart not Christopher's" back in season 4 and followed that advice up with the eddieana breakup, so having Eddie AGAIN being forced into dating by other's expectations isn't anything new or exciting. I suppose the argument *could* be made that now Eddie has to figure out what HE wants besides just "not Ana", however if this was the case, why have we not had little scenes here and there all throughout this season showing that Eddie is struggling with being alone/lonely with Chris growing up more? (Spoiler alert, it's because Eddie is not alone OR lonely, we have seen him this season relaxing over family meals and beers and dressing up and going out, he's just doing all that stuff with Buck.) Eddie has had basically no arc all season, this could have been a through-line for him but it seems like yet ANOTHER in the ever-growing list of things Kristen wants to insist has happened off screen, without ever mentioning it in the show before or giving the audience a single clue about it. So again, here we are with another storyline out of nowhere when Eddie has been wasting away in the background all season.
At least this episode focused on Eddie, and his relationship with his Tia, and talking to the firefam instead of pushing a random side character into the focus all episode. Ryan also continues to make some...Choices with his face and body that are very loudly saying something, I'm just not sure the show is willing to step up and follow things to their natural conclusion. Given what we know of this season pushing the idea that every child needs to quietly reconcile with their toxic bio parents without making a fuss and without the parents taking any accountability, then that the lesbian mom's HAVE to allow their son to have a relationship with his bio dad after months of him demonstrating incredibly poor judgment and putting the onus on a literal child to tell his mom's about it, I'm not thrilled that this week we're getting told Eddie isn't whole and doesn't have a rich and fulfilling life because he's not currently dating a woman. And knowing that next week is supposed to Buck and the "hot death doula" woman, it seems that Eddie starting dating is immediately followed by Buck doing the same. Which is just a repeat of season 4 which was itself a repeat of season 2. Has Kristen ever had an original idea? At least Eddie was adorable all episode and the talk with his Tia and their clear love for each other, even when she was pushing his buttons a bit, was very sweet.
The emergences were fun and interesting with the woman stuck in the mixer definitely making me cringe but it was also a classic 911 "karma will get you" moment which I always love to see! The body builder call was classic wild, wacky 911, and Maddie with that kid was just perfect! It was so good to see Maddie back at work for what feels like the first time in ages, and her and Chim singing to Jee was such a good callback to their pre-dating karaoke days. Overall it felt far more centered as a 911 episode in that regard. We also got a brief Hen/Athena friendship moment which is always such a delight.
Of course, the BIG WIN this week was a Chim centered storyline on his own personal life outside of Maddie and Jee that wasn't half a scene tacked onto the end of an episode, and Ravi our beloved probie back where he belongs. Plus, a bonus of Captain Dad Bobby Nash bribing people with cake, and the team trying to avoid their performance reviews of HIM as a captain. The performance reviews for each main character were so much fun and it was nice after all the Buck/Bobby relationship stuff got dropped immediately after 6x11 to see them talking again, and having it be about Bobby being too lenient on Buck and Buck asking for an honest eval instead of spiraling about not being perfect. Hen of course is Practically Perfect In Every Way (except for a couple missing CEUs), Eddie thinks he's slick trying to sneak out the door without reviewing Bobby back, and Chim may have been shocked at first, but it turns out Bobby was killing two birds with one stone in getting Chim some confidence he needed in his leadership skills, and in bringing their lost sheep Ravi back into the fold.
Every scene with Ravi and Chim was amazing! Chim is hilarious as always, and the baby montage was so fun! Seeing him step up with the kid on the ropes and talk him down was engrossing to watch, and I love that he saw the talent the kid had and helped direct him to dispatch because it wasn't about washing out, it was about finding the best use for his skills. And of course, Kenny can always bring the heart when it's needed (he's not called the heart of the 118 for nothing!) and his chat with Ravi about Kevin, what happened with Ravi's accident, and convincing him to come home were all just magical moments to watch. More of this kind of stuff please! The only issue with this whole setup is, of course, the pacing again having it crammed into this episode instead of having some crumbs to lead up to this feast. Ravi's quite frankly RIVITING sounding rescue and fallout is yet another thing that happened not just off screen, but was entirely kept from the audience until now without Ravi's name coming up a single time this whole season until this episode. I mean, we all know there's no way the 118 gossip train didn't hear about Ravi's big save but even if they wanted to keep it under wraps from the team and the audience what exactly happened until Anirudh was back filming and we could see HIM tell the tale, they could have given the audience SOMETHING. They easily could have just had Bobby in the know and telling the team back in 6x01 that Ravi got injured and was going to be helping out at the academy during his recovery. It wouldn't have taken any more time than that ridiculous scene about why Lucy, a replacement hire that was never needed in the first place as Ravi took Eddie's place and Jonah took Chim's, wasn't coming back when Eddie returning should have made her doubly superfluous. At least we got to see Ravi coming back to the station, and everyone being so happy to see him and scooping him up in hugs was a perfect picture of what the audience would like to be doing. It's good to have all our family home!
It's a shame the pacing was so off in the first half of the season that it's affecting how these episode play out, but the cast is giving us solid performances every week, and this episode really felt so much like home with everyone back where they belong and seeing Maddie at dispatch again. We'll see what direction the show goes with the same old "Buck and Eddie having more random women thrown at them because the show doesn't know what else to do with them if they're not having scenes together" thing in the next few weeks (though if it's not leading to Buddie someone should tell Oliver and Ryan's faces about those heart eyes, and maybe their bodies about leaning into each other in background shots), but I'm taking this episode as a major win overall for firefam feels.
Final note, Kenny should get to do interviews more often! And as much as he is asking for more scenes with Peter and Ryan we are all doubly asking! More Chim, all the time!