9-1-1 is still feeling the fallout of Bobby Nash's death, and not just in-universe. Fans have made their displeasure known about the tragic loss of Peter Krause's long-serving captain, whether by billboards or petitions to bring him back to the ABC procedural. The most noticeable effect it's had on the show, outside of how the 118 has grappled with the paradigm-shifting moment from Season 8, Episode 15, is in the reviews. A quick glance at IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes shows a steep decline from the typically high user ratings the fan-favorite series has enjoyed over the years, stemming from "Lab Rats" and now bleeding into the follow-up episode, "The Last Alarm." It shouldn't come as a shock, either, given that the controversial moment was just about the last thing anyone wanted from the drama.
On IMDb, Season 8 experienced an immediate plummet of over four points from Episode 14 to 15 before bottoming out at a cataclysmic 2.3 in Episode 16, which confirmed Bobby's death with a funeral. After the midseason break, 9-1-1's latest run never scored lower than an eight, and, going back to the beginning of the season in September, only three episodes currently rate in the sevens. The previous lowest, Episode 7, "Hotshots," was still far from the new lows attained by the last two installments, scoring a 7.2. For comparison, last year's shortened Season 7, which typically scored in the seven to eight range on IMDb, also only had a low of 7.2. In fact, across the highs and lows of the entire show's run since 2018, the next lowest user rating after the episodes involving Bobby being killed off belongs to Season 5, Episode 7, "Ghost Stories," with a 6.8. This isn't unique to IMDb either, as all but one review on Rotten Tomatoes since Episode 15 has been a half-star rating, tanking the audience score to a comfortably low watermark for the series at 58%.
IMDb User Ratings Leading Up to and After '9-1-1' Killed Bobby Nash
None of this is necessarily unexpected, and it wasn't necessarily all bad for 9-1-1. Ratings and social media buzz for the series hit a high, with Season 8, Episode 15 scoring 8.45 million viewers over seven days across all platforms, according to Nielsen. Killing off a character so ingrained in the DNA of a series like Bobby, naturally, is going to spark a very strong reaction, even from the cast. Upon being given the information ahead of time, series star Kenneth Choi recalled feeling a sense of grief and even pushed back on showrunner and co-creator Tim Minear up to the filming of the funeral, saying, “You’re kind of killing off our father figure.” Those shocked, emotional reactions were what Minear was going for when he made that tough creative call, and he explained how that emptiness will hang over the rest of the season as the team moves forward without its captain:
“Yeah, I’m not solving that problem right away for the rest of this season. There is an interim captain there who is not going to be the captain going forward, but the last three episodes are not about who’s in Bobby’s chair. The last three episodes are about that chair is empty.”
'9-1-1' Season 8 Still Has a Few Shocking Moments Left in It
9-1-1 Season 8 airs every Thursday on ABC. Stay tuned here at Collider for more updates on the series as it approaches the finale.
