‘9-1-1’ Aftershow: Oliver Stark Talks Buck’s Jealousy, Space, Honoring Bobby & More (VIDEO)
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the 9-1-1 Season 9 premiere “Eat the Rich.”]
9-1-1 kicks off its ninth season with an episode that features a billionaire being swallowed by a whale — then rescued by the 118, of course — and sends two of its own to space. Yes, Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Athena (Angela Bassett) are leaving Earth. “It’s very on brand for 9-1-1,” Oliver Stark says.
But he does agree it’s not like there’s much the 118 can do about the trouble coming for Hen and Athena, whose trip to space comes after the paramedic helps save the billionaire (Mark Consuelos). “It’s not really within the 118’s abilities to help them in space, but there are other people down on earth and characters within the show that can offer a little bit more to try and help that situation,” Stark says as part of TV Insider’s 9-1-1 aftershow, First Response. “There are plenty of people down on the ground that are going to end up needing help and in kind of classic 9-1-1 style, the most bizarre ways you could possibly imagine.”
The 118 this year is moving on without Bobby, and the firehouse is dedicated in his memory. It is now the Robert Nash Memorial Station. Filming that dedication was “emotional,” admits Stark. “It was a real moment of clarity in the sense that this is the show now. It is different here, but it was also kind of beautiful, and it was honoring, obviously, Bobby Nash on the show. But I think anytime we have a huge scene like that with all the characters and a scene of that nature, we were honoring Pete as well and what he meant to us. And so yeah, it was a mixture of emotions — it was sad, but it was also a celebration of him and I really hope that it comes across like that and that we are paying tribute to everything that they both were to the show.”
As for how Buck’s doing without Bobby this season, “it comes and goes,” the star shares. “I don’t think you see it having too much of a negative effect in the first few episodes, but then there is an episode later on in the season where you do start to see Buck get really in his head about it again.”
Elsewhere in the episode, with Chimney (Kenneth Choi) now interim captain, Eddie (Ryan Guzman) and Hen are working together, while Buck’s partnered up with Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody). And, to no one’s surprise, given how Buck has acted in the past when Eddie grows close to someone else, he’s not exactly happy with the “dream team” his best friend is part of with someone else.
“I think it’s just that he wants things to be normal. We’re talking about him adjusting to Bobby or the loss of Bobby. So, now it’s just that something else is different, something else has changed, and I just think he wants to cling onto everything that he knows and kind of keep that as close to his chest as he can, and this is just another thing that he has to adjust to,” explains Stark.
Watch the full video aftershow with Oliver Stark about the premiere, the space emergency, Buck’s jealousy of Eddie and Hen’s friendship, what’s coming up in Buck’s love life, how he feels about a new captain, and much more.
9-1-1, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC
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J
OMG, I'm watching this and thinking: they've so obviously lost their rudder. It's SO wrong without Bobby. And I keep thinking (even as I was watching the promo ads over the past couple of weeks) that IF Bobby had to go for (shaking my head) REALISTIC reasons, this episode feels so far far out from realism, I can only think there was another reason for the end of the amazing Peter Krause as Bobby Nash. The heart and soul of this show.
Though I know it's almost impossible now for my original 'solution' to come true, I can't help but wish this wacko episode is part of an over-the-top fever dream that Bobby is having as he recovers secretly back in that lab where some mad scientist re-formulated another dose of the antidote from the blood of that revived mouse Chim was shown rescuing at the end of that nightmare episode. Factoring in Bobby's incredibly rare blood anomaly that saved innumerable kids.
Especially, since who can forget that really 'realistic' episode with Buck having HIS lightning-induced, near-death experience. Methinks the money they lost on that stupid cruise ship sister show was probably the real reason one of 9-1-1's most expensive stars had to be sidelined, but I still cling to the faint hope that tonight's episode is going to result in the most incredible Bobby comeback since Dallas -- against all odds -- revived their Bobby (Ewing) back in 1986! Think of the incredible ratings boost if I'm right! It's still not too late, Tim M!!!
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O
I just saw the season opener Kind of disappointing. For someone so important to the firehouse there was not much. Not even a photograph Just that gold plaque that looks like a big chocolate bar What about some flashbacks and or music Maybe a story being told. He deserved better than that . Let’s see what happens next week. Anyway we always have the reruns.
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R
I think once again the show dropped the ball in honoring Bobby. First there was the pathetic excuse for a funeral and now this so called dedication. Both were inadequate for Bobby/Peter Krause.
The arrogant Minear claimed he killed Bobby for realism. Which is ridiculous. 911 is a TV show not a documentary. Realism was never it's focus.
Bringing Bobby/Peter back makes more sense then sending Hen and Athena into space.
Shame on Minear, the so called writers,and the production staff for letting this happen.
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G
I was very disappointed with the season opener. Very disappointed with the way the firehouse celebratory renaming went on without Athena there, and it was so quick with no photos or recaps from previous episodes of Chief Nash. Very disappointed with the entire space junket also. Did enjoy the humpback swallowing the billionaire, that was awesome.
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R
The show jumped the shark when they killed Bobby.
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