‘9-1-1’s Peter Krause on Obstacles in Bobby & Athena’s Marriage, Plus Is [Spoiler] Dead?

911 Season 4 Episode 12 Athena Bobby Peter Krause
Spoiler Alert
Jack Zeman /FOX

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 4 Episode 13 “Suspicion.”]

Is one of the 9-1-1 franchise’s seemingly stable couples headed for disaster? It looks that way after the May 17 episode.

After Sergeant Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) notices that her husband, Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause), has been acting off — and he tells her he doesn’t have an AA meeting on a day he does — she follows him and discovers he’s sponsoring the woman whose drunk driving caused the pile-up earlier in the season. Sure, he kept this from her but, “you don’t let me in on half the decisions you make,” like dismissing retirement without speaking with him, he argues.

Though he knew she’s used to doing things on her own, he’d hoped that would change. “Maybe you wouldn’t feel like an outsider if you talked to me instead of playing this tit-fort-tat game. Marriage isn’t supposed to work like that,” she says. To her surprise, he counters with, “Who says this marriage is working?”

But that wasn’t the most shocking moment of the episode. In the final moments, firefighter Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman) is shot in the chest — and the other member of the 118 on-site, Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark) can only watch as his friend possibly dies before him.

TV Insider spoke with Krause about Bobby and Athena’s future and tried to find out if the 118 just lost one of its own.

911 Season 4 Episode 6 Athena Bobby

Jack Zeman / FOX

How worried should we be about Bobby and Athena’s marriage?

Peter Krause: I don’t think you should be that worried. I think Bobby and Athena are pretty solid. There are a lot of cool couples on 9-1-1, but I’m partial, I think Bobby and Athena are the coolest. They have to compartmentalize for their jobs as first responders, and I think that along with the rest of us during this pandemic period, they’ve even had to further compartmentalize and even though they try to keep calm and carry on, I can definitely speak for Bobby that he’s been burying some of his feelings. I think that Athena has been, too.

When Athena finds out that Bobby is helping a fellow addict after she caused fatalities in an accident, she didn’t know exactly what he was up to. And I do think that Bobby was unconsciously keeping it from her because he felt like she wasn’t reaching out to him when she was having some troubles and difficulties. Athena’s definitely strong and is her own person and independent, but as the relationship has grown, Bobby has wanted more intimacy and more connection, and that intimacy and that connection have helped Bobby live his life more fully and not be emotionally shut down. You certainly have seen Bobby full of more joy in the last two seasons. I would think that we can attribute most of that to his relationship with Athena and some of it to his family at work.

Do you think they’re going to be stronger now that they’ve said these things they’ve needed to say and can actually talk about them and move past them?

I do. I think we will see that happen. I think they’ll be left in a good place by the end of this season.

911 Season 4 Episode 12 Bobby Peter Krause

Jack Zeman /FOX

Should Athena be worried about Bobby possibly falling off the wagon or at least the effect that helping the drunk driver from the pileup is having on him?

I think it does weigh on him. It certainly makes him reflect on his past and that will always be with him, but as time goes on, it takes up less space in his life. I think he is immensely and eternally grateful that he has been adopted by Athena’s family. I also enjoy that Bobby and Michael [Rockmond Dunbar] have become such good friends and that in the homage to Rear Window episode, we also get to see Michael’s partner David [La Monde Byrd] be a part of that particular caper, which was a lot of fun. I really enjoy when 9-1-1 dials up the fun, even though we do tackle some difficult issues.

How worried is Bobby about himself? Because as Athena recalls, he had that line about being like one bad day away.

With a character on the show who deals with addiction, we can deal with and address all things surrounding addiction. I think it’s just true of anybody who struggles with addiction that they are one bad day away. There was an episode that just aired at the end where [showrunner] Tim [Minear] had written a nice speech for Bobby, where he says with the help of your loved ones, you can find the strength to carry on. That’s what we see with Bobby and Athena and Bobby and the 118. His family at work and his family at home are what he really needs to continue on and to experience joy in his life and to not feel like he’s undeserving of those things.

911 Season 4 Episode 13 Eddie

Jack Zeman /FOX

Is Eddie dead? It looked like a fatal wound and last we saw him, he closed his eyes, but you never know.

I can’t say, but I can say that the finale episode is action-packed and that the sniper is not stopped before he inflicts more damage.

I was going to say, the logline teases that the sniper is targeting members of the LAFD, which suggests another firefighter might go down.

Yeah, I was surprised that they wanted to tackle this with as many shooting incidents as we experience here, but we’ve tackled [serious topics] and Tim Minear will continue to do so in an intelligent and sensitive way for sure. I can tell you that Angela Bassett as Athena in the final episode got a very tough assignment. She has some very difficult things to do in the final episode, and she handled it with her usual strength, style, and grace. I’m really proud of her. There was one night she was walking towards me, [while] we were shooting and she said, “Peter, they’re trying to kill me.” And she just kind of fell into my arms, and I held her for a little while. But yeah, she has a tough assignment in the final episode, but she handled it in a beautiful way.

911 Season 4 Episode 13 Bobby Eddie

Jack Zeman /FOX

What can you say about how Bobby and the rest of the 118 handle the aftermath of whatever Eddie’s fate may be?

Obviously, they have to keep going out In the field and doing their jobs. They may need to rely on law enforcement to give them some protection while they go out and respond to calls. … [Bobby] has to keep everybody staying positive.

Is there anything else that you can tease about the finale, like how it leaves off to set up another season? 9-1-1 isn’t really known for cliffhangers.

No, it’s not. I can say that the final episode is action-packed and will not disappoint. Like life, there is a surprise lurking around every corner of the show. And if somebody told me in the past that I was going to play a firefighter and Angela Bassett was going to be my wife on a television series, I would have said, “Get out of here.” I love this show. I love that it is a non-traditional procedural. I love how progressive it is — and rather quietly progressive — and again, I love it when we dial up the fun. I’m glad that there’s no specific tone to the show. If there’s one specific tone it’s that with the help of your loved ones, you can find the strength to continue on.

9-1-1, Mondays, 8/7c, Fox