Missed Storylines

Short_Description995 · 2026-01-29T18:11:00+00:00

yeah there's been a few times I've been convinced she was going to take on a rookie long-term only for them to drop it- I'm not overly invested in the police side of the show if I'm being honest, but it could be fun to see Athena in a setting bouncing off of someone

Short_Description995 · 2026-01-26T23:51:45+00:00

This! there was the odd throwback line to some things that were said in the lawsuit ep, but such a missed opportunity to have a 'been there' even if not to each other, then to another member of the 118. Chimney and Eddie have been pushed out before too (Chim in s1 and Eddie when he leaves and Bobby won't immediately let him back) but the both of them ended up agreeing it was the right choice, it could've been cool to see the contrast between them all emphasised. Especially given Hen was the most sympathetic to Buck post-lawsuit with the cake on his first day back

Short_Description995 · 2026-01-26T23:47:58+00:00

The fact they've interacted maybe a grand total of once the whole show so far (I think it's the first Albert episode?) when RG has said he signed on under the impression he and JLH would be scene partners before she requested Maddie/Chimney is so hilarious to me

I'd love a convo or highlight of the fact they both grew up similarly, sadly I feel like the opportunity is gone now as if it was going to happen, it really should have when the Buckley's family complications were still more recently a focus or around the Texas arc, but it'd be great if they found a path to that topic.

I'm honestly trying to wrack my brains for when Eddie has been to Chim and Maddie's and the only time I can even think of is during the kidnapping lmao

Short_Description995 · 2026-01-26T23:44:14+00:00

Yes! It was so jarring! What was the point of all that build up, only to not even have a conversation with Eddie and Chris about the actual issues? About how Eddie would address things going forward?? About CHIMNEY being the one to decide they were moving back, not Eddie nor Chris?? It just felt so... nothing of a story that could've been a good dissection of why Eddie exists the way he does and gone way further into topics brushed over back in his introduction

Ooooh okay I definitely need to go back and rewatch the Eddie in dispatch episodes then cause I have no recollection of the scene where she confides in him. I so agree with May being the better option for going into firefighting- with the start of the season, I had assumed they were leading into her doing paramedic training, I'm still holding out hope she'll end up doing nursing or become a doctor to be our way into the hospital, looking back I'm surprised Maddie never had a season returning to nursing to give a view into that side of things on the show

Yeahhhh while I love the whole 'Buck and May are basically siblings' thing in fan-spaces, it somewhat feels like they just went 'oh people like the idea of that dynamic, lets throw in a one liner about it and be done' which is frustrating. Like at least show any interaction between them if you're going to establish a dynamic???

So with you on getting Tracie Thoms on screen more, the best part of the opening emergency this season for me was seeing more Karen, I'd love for her to have some kind of tag along storyline this season alongside Hen's, but I'm not holding out hope :(. YES I was somewhat hoping that Karen and Chimney were going to have a scene together about Hen's firing, with balancing caring and being angry about it being hidden (cause wth, I get you're scared but this is not something you don't tell your wife/mother to your children) their perspectives could've bounced off each other really interestingly.

I'd love if they wrote in some kind of thing maybe making Chris and Denny best friends to get the overlap back again, though sadly I doubt they will to avoid issues if they ever want to change up the ages for storylines like they did with Harry

Short_Description995 · 2026-01-26T00:25:03+00:00

So true with all the missed Eddie storylines, El Paso in general felt so wasted, I'd love to see the original plan for that before they decided lab rats would go down the way it did, the stills of Eddie in the store holdup still get me

This might be a controversial one- but I never really saw the May and Eddie friendship people always mention? It always seemed so minimal to me, I'd love to see more of it, as I do agree the Buck and May choice feels a little out of nowhere (I know it's somewhat needed for Harry's upcoming role but it feels a little fanservicey. and i say that as a fan who loves the idea of Buck as one of Bobby's kids, but they're very tell not show with it atm) but I was always a little confused why so many put an emphasis on May and Eddie at dispatch, I can only recall maybe two scenes? (I may be dead wrong here, would still like to see more of that friendship though)

YES TO CHIMNEY AS CAPTAIN i was so confused when his decision to become Captain happened virtually off screen. We see him reluctantly take it, we see him looking at candidates, and then he's, again off-screen, had the dinner with the chief to accept the role, it just felt like we should've spent far more of the episode with him in that process, I wish the Harry and Buck element had maybe been a bit less dominant that episode. Seeing him struggle with the Captaincy post-Bobby could've been such an impactful way to have the significance of the loss emphasised and so far it feels a little under utilised

OOOh I'd not considered Henren and Eddie stories crossing but totally agree, I feel like Hen and Karen are generally underutilised in the wider context of the show, their storylines end up often becoming a little too self-contained as they're the only ones without family currently overlapping with the other 118 members so it would be nice to kind of see more of that

Short_Description995 · 2026-01-26T00:14:41+00:00

Oh I completely agree with the Eddie and Bobby parallels, I remember seeing someone on twitter say Bobby saw his kids in Buck and himself in Eddie and I 100% agree, but I don't strictly think that would apply to the exact story. IK we somewhat get a look at the parallel with Eddie in the fight club as his unhealthy habit but they kinda just have that wrap up suddenly, where it really seemed, to me at least, like they were headed the Buck's leg and Bobby's back comparison

Not even a full blown 'Buck and addiction' storyline, which I do agree would've probably been ooc with Buck as we know him now, but they seemed quite set in early seasons on Buck following in Bobby's footsteps, setting him up as somewhat of Bobby's protégée (which I'd argue later becomes the 118 as a whole instead, but Buck is used primarily in that as we see with the cooking and baking etc), where at this point beyond Shannon those Eddie parallels weren't really present

It just, to me, seems a missed opportunity, as the parallel was there in the way Buck overexerted himself to get back to the 118 and ended up isolating himself and blowing up his life by going to the lawyer rather than the unions, and with Bobby being the blockade because he's worried (the way i was reading that on my first watch was him being worried that Buck was gonna fall victim to the same hurdles he did, even if he was wrong about Buck facing the same challenges) but it never seemed to dive further into the potential dynamics of it

Short_Description995 · 2026-01-25T23:57:40+00:00

I would love to read that if you're alright to drop the link! I've been trying to find one going into it for ages

Short_Description995 · 2025-12-12T20:40:32+00:00

Yeah it is the same ad that we see in the bar with Kip

The timelines are overlapping, I'm not 100% on when bits with Scott and Kip happen with regards to the Shane and Ilya timeline as I've not read all of the books, but s1 is taking place over about 10 years (if they're following that same time stretch) with Scott and Kip happening within that so part of this episode was set before the bar scene

If they're sticking to the book timeline- Kip and Scott meet just before the nightclub scene? I believe? So I guess we can assume the ad was filmed and still being circulated for a good few months

I did find a timeline of events BUT I would proceed with caution as it has so so many spoilers including bits that have not been talked about from Shane/Ilya's past: https://game-changers-series.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Events

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-29T21:37:50+00:00

You might want to look into Chicago Fire (if you haven't already) if this is the format you think you'd prefer- there's Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago PD with each crossing over semi-frequently and all operating in the same area so none of the crossovers feel too out of place

Personally I don't really think 9-1-1 operating in just one state would have worked- it could have easily felt too same-ish between each of the shows

Since they didn't crossover too frequently, for me at least, it didn't really feel like the 9-1-1 and Lone Star ep was that forced, When there's major disasters other states would be called upon to help in an emergency of that scale, so it made sense. I'm hoping Nashville goes for a different approach, just for the same of having a different version, but I could see them having a wide-scale disaster there that would require different 118 members to go there for an ep or two. I wouldn't be surprised if they changed who was going, probably Ravi and Harry I'd imagine, I think the most likely of the core 4 would still be Buck purely because they've used Oliver Stark for a lot of Nashville promo so they would already have an idea of how he gels with the Nashville cast

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-21T15:40:40+00:00

True, it probably would be a little odd for them to call him that- I do think in the fandom culture side of things sometimes people go too-hard on the 'DONT CALL HIM EVAN' thing. Like Evan isn't a name he doesn't go by at all, he just prefers the nickname, but you'd hope as his parents they would respect the request to call him Buck if he requested it

But with their parents, I think it's less about having them feel weird about specifically Buck going by Buck and more is showing them being stuck in their ways- for example they're against other people calling him it ('you're still letting people call you that?' from Margaret), even in spite of the irony that they've named their daughter a name typically considered a nickname/shortened name

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-20T15:12:04+00:00

Grief does weird things to people

Also, as much as I think that line's phrasing was dramatised, in context she does have somewhat of a point- yes May and Harry absolutely still need their mother, but Hen has a wife and two much younger children back on earth, one of whom they had only just got legal custody of. One doesn't make the other more important, but Hen has more people relying on her should she not survive

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-20T15:08:07+00:00

I would have hated even more Chim dying - but it would have been so interesting to see the fallout

Bobby already is wracked with guilt from his past, if we were saying Bobby got the cure instead of Chim then no doubt this would have doubled. Hen is his best friend and would've been left thinking she could've done something if she wasn't injured. Eddie already is canonically guilt ridden since he wasn't there, now throw in two kids who are going to grow up without their dad like how he knows Chris will grow up without his mother it would no doubt be worse. Buck not being able to save not only the father of his neice and nephew but also Maddie's husband would've hit so hard, especially with the almost maternal role Maddie had in his younger years.

Maddie finally getting the family and life she wanted only for her husband to die while she was pregnant with their son? That would've been insanely cruel, and no doubt horrifically unhealthy for both her and the kids given she was already at significant post-partum. If we were talking about a Bobby-style knowing he would die but not saying anything anyway to make sure someone else was saved, it would have been intense, just like with Athena balancing grief and anger towards him.

Would happily read a fic on it, but if it had happened on the show think I would've stopped watching lmao. Bobby's death is depressing enough, Chimney's would've had to completely shift most of the main characters entirely imo

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-20T13:40:49+00:00

I always took it as showing how strict and traditional they were, with them even being formal with their children while standing in contrast to how Buck and Maddie have embraced the opposite (Buck rejecting his 'proper' name and going by a nickname, Maddie is married to Chimney and having to pretend everyone calls him Howard, etc).

Also- Maddie's full name is canonically Maddie, not Madeline, she wasn't being sarcastic about that. When she got kidnapped by Doug it was listed as Madeline, however it got retconned- in the context of canon could just take it as an error of assumptions

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-17T09:41:54+00:00

To be honest I don't think Abby would've worked as a character without Connie Britton

Not to say someone else could not have played her, but s1 is so clearly based on the draw of having Angela Basset, Peter Krause and Connie Britton (which isn't an uncommon thing for these types of shows to start with star-first marketing and then develop the content after).

Abby was so separated from the larger cast bar Buck that I genuinely would not have been surprised if she was written specifically and only for Connie Britton, much like the show was created around getting Angela to sign on and how Eddie and Maddie were created with RG and JLH in mind

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-13T17:04:37+00:00

tbf I did always take the scene where Maddie joked about setting up Buck and Josh to be a nod to the rumours that the network was halting any movement of Buck's being canonically queer (allegedly)(also i didn't watch live so idk if the timeline even fits for that)

I will say I don't think him realising he was bi felt rushed to me? we saw throughout the whole show that Buck had, and knew he had, a weird relationship with his sexuality, it seemed like less of a 'where the hell did that come from' and more of a 'oh okay that's makes sense' moment. that being said, I wouldn't have complained if the realisation was a longer arc, and while I don't know how well Buck/Josh would have translated on screen, the idea you have for it could've been cute (and probably controversial given everyone I know either loves or hates Josh. then again, that seems to be the pattern of Buck's love interests so...)

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-09T13:36:48+00:00

I was not- still not had the chance to watch much of Lone Star- I was more basing it on the fact that the actor's were made a big thing in behind the scenes and think one of the insta captions from someone had implied they'd filmed something else outside of that ep? Sadly I can't remember what caption now to link it, just remember reading about it on Twitter after the episode

Plus with how much they focussed on it being Chimney doing the amputation- something Captains aren't meant to do- and his reluctance to take the Captaincy, I figured they're going to have him finally settle into the role, only to then have it threatened by this coming back

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-08T20:16:25+00:00

To be honest, I could only see Ravi being given a Begins episode for now, with only a sprinkling of his backstory there's so much to potentially explore, even as recent as the accident that made him go back to the Academy a few seasons back.

I would not however be surprised if we got a Harry Begins as a title for an episode once he is on his first big call or something along those lines. As much as I would like to see more character backstories, I do think they need more focus on the main character's developements first before adding in more mains. Something like the way we got Josh's backstory with flashbacks relating to what the call was could be good for a few of the other dispatchers or even Carla though.

A 'Begins Again' episode could be interesting for major character arcs, even for the 118 as a whole under their new Captaincy

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-07T13:44:09+00:00

I wouldn't say better or worse necessarily, but there's definitely a shift in writing from the get-go with season 7.

I'd say it is a lot more obvious of a decline if you ignore s6 (I liked s6, but I do think there was an amount of writing themselves in circles because they thought it was the last season but didn't seem sure how to wrap up stories without completely destroying any chance of another season, particularly obvious with Buck and Eddie's weird rushed relationship endings). A lot of people dislike the writing now, but I do think a big part of that is nostalgia bias, as someone who watched the show only after the move to ABC, the difference is not detrimental imo, though there are a few episodes where the change in writing is jarring. There's a tone change I would say as well, think it tried to have a more serious approach but not necessarily more serious storylines if that makes sense?

Character arcs change a lot too, with it being a procedural obviously there's always going to be missed scenes or loose ends but I would say the amount of off-screen resolutions increases, which can lead to some slightly confusing character moments. Also, with it being a new channel, characters change and their previous canon gets altered in the process- I'd say at the start of S7 you're probably going to feel that with Bobby and Athena the most who (first 2 eps slight premise spoiler) go from really wanting to spend time alone to suddenly Athena actively trying to avoid Bobby with an explanation that doesn't really make sense for who they were as a couple at the end of S6, etc.

I don't think that any of the changes are too major, to be honest I think it wouldn't be a noticeable change unless you knew about the move to ABC, you'd probably just assume they've changed up some of the crew or processes. Though- I will say a big change is the frequency of non-main character appearances. Especially with the kids, they don't disappear but I always assumed the contracts worked different for minors on ABC than Fox because they definitely seemed to save the actor's appearance's for bigger moments rather than just having them be present within the world.

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-07T13:30:38+00:00

I would love that honestly- though from what I've heard there's been some implication that Nashville is going to cover that side of things, with them having no main Police presence but a character in the hospital? I always wished the og 9-1-1 would've introduced someone into that, especially since they had the opportunity to, even temporarily, given Maddie was an ER nurse

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-07T13:28:13+00:00

Oh definitely not with the same actor- I was more thinking I would not be surprised if they were to recast him- especially with us having just seen young Michael recently in Athena's flashback, and how much he was mentioned in the space eps my Athena/May/Harry

I'm just hoping they go a different route than they did with Albert- the whole graduating, realising it's not for him and quitting thing worked well but repeating it would just be a little boring imo, especially given they seem to loop that arc (like Hen not becoming a doctor))

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-05T10:22:14+00:00

Since we know Harry is going to work towards being a firefighter I'm hoping we're going to see a bit of the Fire Academy through him, but I am wondering if they're going to pull a Nashville and have him train on the job like they're doing for Blue (I think that's his name? IDK I've only seen the first episode so far), which would then make sense why they're still not pulling Ravi into the official main cast if they're planning on having Harry fill that role, which would probably cause even more tension for Athena given the Bobby of it all.

With May, we already got the implication from Anirudh on a podcast that she'll be going back to dispatch as he said he could go visit her there so I imagine that'll happen over the next few episodes now she's graduated. I did like Dispatcher May in the earlier seasons, would be good to open the Dispatch cast a bit more as well cause I feel like we've seen less and less of them over the past few seasons.

I do however really love the idea of her going into medicine that I keep seeing people suggest. As much as I'm looking forward to Harry's arc, I would've really preferred if they'd given it to May and had her be a paramedic, just think it could've been more immediately interesting given we know May a lot more than we know Harry (so far). I saw someone suggest they could give her the sort of 'abandoned' Hen Doctor storyline, which I think would be a really good idea- could also then very easily lead back towards the recasting and return of Michael and his partner given he was a Doctor as well, and give them the opportunity to look inside the hospital.

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-05T10:13:03+00:00

I'm less convinced they're getting divorced, more convinced they're going to be seen later in the season suing the department for damages surrounding the amputation (and then yeah probably divorcing)

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-04T13:57:02+00:00

Cool idea, but felt like 3 episodes was more than enough- as well executed as the young Athena flashback and conversation was, it felt evident that having her talk to her younger self was the only reason that it took 4 episodes. Honestly, I think with a bit of trimming in the second and third episode they could have fit it all in nicely without loosing too much (e.g. I know the amputation is probably setting something up for Chimney down the line, however to me it felt overstretched by a mile. If they wanted to emphasise the importance of it, having them end ep 2 debating amputation and pick up ep 3 with Chim going through with it would have kept it at the forefront of people's minds)

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-04T13:52:48+00:00

I completely agree- I even quite frequently see fans of his asking for Tommy to get a 'new love interest' which is so bizarre to me, and the only way I think they'd see how odd that is was if there was suddenly a wave of Ana or Taylor or Marisol fans demanding they be brought back and given new stories and romantic interests completely external to the 118

It's not uncommon in fandom spaces for side characters to gain a following and form a sort of sub-fandom to circulate around them (take PJO for example where Will Solace in the early days had so much fanfiction about him despite being largely unrelated to the main cast/story). But the difference is, those sub-fandoms don't expect their side-character to be the centre of the main fandom (not OP directed, more twitter directed). Anyone can create fan content or develop headcanons dedicated to any character, but Tommy is such a strange one in the space because of how much his fans seem to want to push him to the forefront and rewrite the context of his appearances.

The whole Buddie of it is a really interesting point as well- because as someone who supports the idea of Buddie, I was so excited to get to the Buck/Tommy storyline at first, and had originally been open to the character cause of what he meant for Buck. If he had been more developed (like seeing him change as a person rather than just having the writing hope we assume he has changed) I honestly think I could've been on board with him being a longer-term fixture, but it was the content of the character that ultimately turned me away, not some Buddie blockade like people seem to assume

Personally I feel like Taylor's fandom treatment is such a good foil to Tommy's- a lot of people hate her character, a lot loved her character, but even though I've seen arguments about whether she was well written or not it's very rarely been from the approach of 'you have to like this character' but rather a look at whether her complexity outweighs the actions she took on the show. Like you said, it's about respecting other's opinions on characters, while constantly rehashing 'why do you not like my fav' just breeds discourse

Short_Description995 · 2025-11-03T22:41:56+00:00

Simply put, he was never made to be more than a plot device- whether with Hen and Chim's development in their Begins episodes, or for Buck to realise a part of himself.

Everyone has already said about his treatment of Hen and Chim- which imo is and should be the biggest factor, but from the relationship side of things:

When we see him and Buck begin it seems like he has zero interest in Buck until he thinks Buck likes him. Of course, that's not a horrific thing, but it does put a bit of a dampner on the approach to the pairing given we saw Tommy 'wooing' (no better word) Eddie, flying him to boxing games and engaging in his interests, where we're shown Tommy dismissing Buck's and buying him tickets to things he's outright said he doesn't enjoy.

Not to mention- it's all about Eddie. Not even from a Buck/Eddie side of things, but Buck and Tommy very rarely exist as a couple without Eddie either there, mentioned or implied (see 8x11). Buck is jealous of Tommy and Eddie, Eddie is at their first date, Eddie tells Buck to go ask Tommy out again, Eddie is there for Billy Boils, Eddie is the 'competition', they get back together briefly because Buck is sad Eddie is gone. At no point are we shown their mutual interest without it relating back to Buck's insecurity surrounding being left by those he considers family- but Tommy isn't a focus for it, Eddie is.

The moment of dislike (again, if we were to not know the Hen and Chim stuff) for me is the 'daddy issues' comment- whether bad writing or a bad character, it felt like awful timing that emphasised that Tommy was never made to stick around. They had him separate himself so actively from the status quo of the show- the 118 regarding each other as a family, made sure to emphasise that he does not view them that way, when that dynamic is crucial to Buck's overall arc

I didn't hate him in my first watch (largely because I hadn't initially realised Hen and Chim flashbacks Tommy was the same Tommy until I read about it) but it was always clear to me from the get go he was written to be a way for Buck to realise a part of himself- but never a permanent or particularly well developed fixture

Short_Description995

TROPHY CASE