SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Thursday’s Season 8 finale episode of “9-1-1” on ABC.
The eighth season finale of “9-1-1” ended with Angela Bassett’s Athena Grant saying two bittersweet words: “Hello Bobby.”
Athena’s remarks were made not to her late husband Bobby Nash (Peter Krause), but to Robert Nash Han — the newborn son of Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who was named after the recently deceased captain of the 118.
That nod to Bobby was far from the only tribute paid to the character throughout the Season 8 finale, titled “Seismic Shifts,” as the team continued to deal with the logistical and emotional impact of Bobby’s sudden death three episodes ago.
At the start of the episode, Eddie (Ryan Guzman) is set to head back to Texas to start his new job in El Paso. The team gives him his 118 uniform as a present at his farewell party, where two big announcements are made: Hen (Aisha Hinds) says she’s turned down the now-open captain job and Buck (Oliver Stark) has put in for a transfer out of the station because it’s “just a number now” without Bobby.
Meanwhile, Athena is in downtown Los Angeles calling in a high-rise building collapse that’s happened before her very eyes. The 118 is among the stations dispatched immediately to help, and Chimney heads down to help Athena, who is single-handedly trying to save several residents of the building, including “Cart Cop” Graham.
When Eddie sees the situation on TV, he grabs his uniform and decides to come down to help out his former team. “If Bobby taught me anything, it’s that we always have a choice,” he says before pulling off a crazy line gun stunt to help Buck and Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody) save a man from the building.
Next, the whole crew makes it down to help Athena and Chimney, who have been closed in, and get a dying Graham to safety. Chimney is able to save Graham and the act helps him and Athena reach a level of peace they haven’t felt since Bobby sacrificed himself to save Chimney.
When they get back to the station, Chimney is emboldened to give a speech telling Eddie he’s not moving, and Buck he isn’t transferring, and that they’re all going to stay together as a family at the 118.
“Copy that, cap. I mean, Chim,” Hen says, alluding to a new role Chimney night be taking on next season.
In the closing moments of the episode it is confirmed that Eddie is moving back to Los Angeles, a plot point that shuts down the rumors that have been swirling about Guzman leaving “9-1-1.” The rest of the finale’s final montage is devoted to Athena selling the remodeled house where she lived with Bobby, Buck looking for a new place, Eddie and Christopher moving back in to their old place, Hen and Karen adopting Nia, and everyone coming to see Maddie after she has her new baby, Bobby.
The “9-1-1” Season 8 finale didn’t include any Bobby flashbacks or Ghost Bobby moments, but the series has been renewed for a ninth season at ABC. So fans will have to wait until the fall to find out how the team continues to recover from the most significant character death in the series’ history.
