Huge spoilers ahead! In case you haven't watched tonight's episode, beware.
Okay, this is going to be tough. It's probably the toughest review I've had to write up to this point.
Usually, there’s a quick recap of everything that happened during the episode so I can point out how I felt about this moment, and that one, and that one… But I don’t think this will work tonight.
After all, Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) is dead.
Lab Rats continues the 2-part event 9-1-1: Contagion, with Athena (Angela Bassett) and Buck (Oliver Stark) joining forces to find Moira (Bridget Regan) and the cure she created so Chimney (Kenneth Choi) can be saved; meanwhile, still stuck in the lab, Bobby makes sure that Hen (Aisha Hinds), Chim, and Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody) don’t die.
If you ignore the final minutes of this episode, the whole thing is a typical thrilling, nail-biting emergency, with Athena and Bobby teaming up with many characters — including Karen (Tracie Thoms), in a scene that had me super excited — to find the cure and rescue the 118. The scenes in the lab continue to be great — there’s one that stands out to me, in which Chimney calls Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) to have what could be their final conversation. Then Chim talks to Bobby and asks him to look out for Chim’s family after he’s gone, and these are powerful scenes brilliantly played by Choi, Hewitt, and Krause. Then, in the end, everything’s right, the bad guy is caught, the cure works, and the 118 is safe.
Until Bobby refuses to leave the lab and reveals to Buck that he’s been infected by the disease after the explosion ripped a part of his suit. While Bobby was looking after his team, he was dying inside. And once it became clear that there was only one shot of the cure, Bobby knew that was Chimney’s. So he decided to sacrifice himself and not tell anyone about the infection.
Bobby says goodbye to Buck — and it’s a very emotional scene.
Then, it’s time to say goodbye to Athena. The two main characters reunited at last. Athena is not ready to leave Bobby. We share these feelings with you, Sergeant Grant-Nash. The scene is also very emotional, and it’s one of the most potent, gut-wrenching things both Krause and Bassett have done in this show. Krause especially is remarkable here, spitting blood, finally able to give in and say his last prayer after his team is safe.
And that’s it. We cut to the 118 suffering with the news of their captain’s death, each of them alone, each of them unable to reach out to each other. The end.
“Lab Rats” – 9-1-1. Pictured: Peter Krause as Bobby Nash. Photo: Christopher Willard/ABC © 2025 Disney. All rights reserved.
How do you, reader, feel about this? Because I still can’t believe it. I spent the whole time watching these scenes thinking “Okay, this is 9-1-1! They will find a way to bring him back in the next episode, no need to worry!”, and then I went online and read a letter written by Peter Krause confirming he’s leaving the show. And then I read some post-mortem interviews and they all say the same — Bobby’s dead. That happened for real and he’s not coming back. Do you guys believe this? Because I’m in denial, perhaps I'm only starting to believe what I saw as I write these words.
9-1-1 has been a special, comforting thing for me since 2021, when I started binge-watching season 1 while season 4 aired, finishing all the episodes just in time to live-watch crazy things happen during 4x13 and 4x14. I remember the excitement I felt in that finale, and how it felt good after it ended and everyone was fine. That’s it, I guess — some shows unceremoniously kill main characters every season, but this silly goofy firefighter show here kept us on the edge of our seats for 8 seasons without any big death. We expect everything to be fine, but we’re worried anyway. We laugh, we cry, we are jumpscared, we complain, and we cheer, and it’s like riding on a rollercoaster — we are used to ending the ride safe and mesmerized, eager to experience this once more in the next week… Except that this time, the rollercoaster exploded just as we were about to find comfort.
As a reviewer, I would say it’s normal for a TV show to do something like this after eight seasons. It’s a tremendous thing that will change everything, and sometimes a show needs to get risky, it needs to leave the comfort zone so it can grow and change and become more. But honestly, as a viewer/fan, I don’t need 9-1-1 to become anything else than it already is. I don't want it to be realistic, all serious, and dark. I’m not excited about new characters taking Bobby’s place, I don’t want to see everyone mourning him for weeks, I don’t want to feel like any other main character may die every week. I love this silly goofy show for what it is: all the unserious things that happen are part of the fun. So two weeks from now, I’m expecting Bobby to rise from the dead during his funeral and say he’s fine. I won’t ask questions, I’ll accept whatever excuse they come up with and move on — I'm hoping the lyrics from the Hozier song that played tonight mean something and no grave can hold Bobby down and he will crawl home soon.
Anyway, in case that doesn’t happen, we’ll probably enter uncharted territory. This show will never be the same without Bobby, and honestly, I have no idea if it has what it takes to continue without him. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the main characters — season 5 was the most challenging for me because Maddie was gone, so Chimney went after her and left the 118 for a while, and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) became a dispatcher, and everything was out of place… So it’s more that I don’t think this show works without any of the mains, and I’m not sure if it’ll find a way to work without Bobby, THE main character. Don't get me wrong again, but even if this is an ensemble show, it has two main characters, and one of them is Bobby. And usually, at least in my experience, when the main character of the story dies and the show continues, the show itself is very near the end...
Perhaps I’m just in denial. I’m certainly allowing myself to break the review protocols I established so I can process all the sadness I’m feeling. The truth is that I’m afraid 9-1-1 might bury itself with Bobby in his coffin. And I don’t want to lose this show, as I love having the craziest, funniest, most devastating rides every week with it. But after the rollercoaster exploded, I’m forced to wonder how many rides the show can still offer us before the inevitable end.
Now tell me how you feel about this episode! Feel free to join me in my lamentations and delusions or to leave a comment with your impressions and theories. Thanks for reading, and take care!
