One Confusing Detail From 9-1-1’s Most Tragic Character Backstory Will Never Be Solved Now

Bobby’s dark past stayed with him until his tragic death in 9-1-1 season 8, when the deaths of his wife and children once again came to the forefront. Aside from being heartbreaking, the circumstances surrounding Bobby’s controversial death resulted in more questions than answers. Furthermore, while 9-1-1 season 8 left mysteries of its own, Bobby’s backstory has one strange outlier.

9-1-1 Season 3 Revealed Bobby Was A Competitive Figure Skater

The Fire Captain Was A Championship-Winning Skater

When 9-1-1 premiered in 2018, Bobby was easily the most complex character. It was clear he headed 9-1-1’s found family as a mentor to people like Buck (Oliver Stark) and Hen (Aisha Hinds), but he was riddled with guilt and misery behind his brave exterior. Throughout the procedural’s first season, Bobby gradually accepted his right to experience joy in life.

From there, 9-1-1 continued adding depth to his character while allowing him to seek happiness, especially in his romantic relationship with Angela Bassett’s Sergeant Athena Grant. In contrast to his morose pilot year, however, Bobby was able to show off his humor and whimsy more often. In 9-1-1 season 3, episode 8, Bobby even has an unexpectedly lighthearted subplot.

After the team responds to one of 9-1-1’s over-the-top emergencies at an Ice Capades-esque performance, Bobby nonchalantly tells the team he was an ice skater and hockey player while growing up in Minnesota. Though the 118 is initially incredulous, the team later uncovers photo evidence and brings a cardboard cutout to work of young Bobby in his skating costume.

Impressively, he wasn’t just any skater: Bobby won the Twin Cities Junior Pairs Championship for three consecutive years. 9-1-1 never specifies his age or the years he competed, but the blown-up photo Chimney (Kenneth Choi) brings to the firehouse appears to be during Bobby’s middle-school years. Unfortunately, everything 9-1-1 subsequently revealed about Bobby’s past made his skating career seem impossible.

Bobby’s Figure Skating Career Doesn’t Line Up With His Traumatic Childhood

His Skating Doesn't Match His Tragic Upbringing

The initial impression given off by Bobby’s past in figure skating and ice hockey painted the picture of a happy, active childhood. Sadly, that couldn’t be further from the truth, as evidenced by the 9-1-1 season 7 episodes “Step Nine” and “Ashes, Ashes.” Aside from introducing Bobby’s parents and older brother, episodes 8 and 9 revealed Bobby’s earliest traumas.

When Bobby’s mother decided to leave Tim in 1981, Bobby stayed behind to take care of his father. Quickly, Bobby was forced to become a caretaker of sorts. After Tim snapped at Bobby in a drunken rage, Bobby holed up in his room— which caused him not to notice when Tim accidentally hit his head and bled to death.

Bobby’s tragic past in 9-1-1 weighed on him for decades, with the captain even apologizing to a hallucination of his father in season 7, showing his lingering guilt. It’s difficult to believe that Bobby would go on to become a gifted figure skater with such horrific childhood memories, especially considering it must have been mere years after his father’s death.

How Bobby’s Award-Winning Figure Skating Can Fit Into His Tragic Past

There Are Very Few Plausible Explanations

Nevertheless, there are ways to make Bobby’s figure skating a believable aspect of his backstory. The key to preventing Bobby’s championship skating from becoming a continuity issue is by bringing in Ann Hutchinson (Lesley Ann Warren). Bobby’s mother in 9-1-1 is nearly as complicated as the captain himself, especially when taking into account her season 8 appearance.

Given that Ann later became a traveling evangelist, it wouldn’t be absurd to suggest she put Bobby into figure skating for the dramatics. Conversely, Ann could have encouraged her sons to enlist in many extracurricular activities due to her busy schedule as a single mother. Bobby’s skating could have even helped him avoid his grief and delay his alcohol addiction.