This Hilarious ‘9-1-1’ Episode Is Now Heartbreaking on a Rewatch
When a major character death or a game-changing plot twist occurs late into a series, it can recontextualize old episodes upon a rewatch. This has been the case with the death of Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) in Season 8 of 9-1-1. There is an added level of sadness to moments like Buck (Oliver Stark) telling Bobby he doesn't know what he would do without him while worrying about his exposure to radiation back in Season 3. It's also painful to look back on the start of Bobby and Athena's (Angela Bassett) love story, knowing that it ends with her losing him and selling their dream house shortly after.
9-1-1 certainly does the high-stakes and large-scale emergencies very well, but some of its best episodes are its funnier and more low-key installments. This includes episodes like "Jinx," which sees the 118 deal with an especially busy shift full of bizarre calls after Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody) uses the word "quiet" at work. Another great one is "Ocean's 9-1-1," in which the 118 get in trouble for breaking into a bank vault on a call. One of 9-1-1's funniest episodes, "Dosed," is a hilarious installment on its own, but it is actually much sadder while rewatching in the context of Bobby's death.
"Dosed" Sees the 118 Get High After Eating Hallucinogenic Brownies
9-1-1 Season 2, Episode 6, "Dosed," is best known for being the episode where Bobby, Buck, Eddie (Ryan Guzman), and Hen (Aisha Hinds) get high after unknowingly eating brownies that have been dosed with hallucinogens. Even before they get drugged, though, the episode is wildly funny. The 118 tends to a number of bizarre calls, like a cricket-eating contest where one of the contestants gets sick, and a bodybuilding competition where a competitor gets stuck in his position due to steroids and dehydration. Later, as a gift to help relax the firefighters, the eating contest moderator, Sandy (Susan Ruttan), gives the 118 brownies that she has dosed with hallucinogens.
It's absolutely hilarious to see a sober Chimney (Kenneth Choi) have to try to work with his high friends as they tend to a call where two mothers have gotten into a physical fight at a children's beauty pageant. During the ambulance ride, Buck and Eddie become convinced that they can see and hear the pollen, which they believe may have developed into "a new kind." At the pageant, Buck, Eddie, and Hen have a hard time focusing, and they can't stop giggling. Buck and Eddie are confused by how tiny the beauty queens are, and Hen believes that she can smell love on Athena. It's a wildly funny scene that ends with Eddie crying when Athena handcuffs them all to keep them from getting hurt. This scene makes "Dosed" one of 9-1-1's funniest episodes, even with Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Bobby's much heavier storylines.
Bobby's Storyline in "Dosed" Is Devastating in the Context of His Eventual Death
Bobby's storyline in "Dosed" has always been sad, although it ends on a hopeful note. He grieves at the church and talks to Father Brian (Gavin Stenhouse) about Brook's (Noelle Parker) upcoming birthday, where she would have been thirteen. When the 118 gets drugged, Bobby gets high and starts to believe that he can see Brook. He calls Taylor Kelly (Megan West) by Brook's name and tries to teach her a science experiment, believing her to be Brook. Later, Bobby winds up on the roof of the 118 fire station, trying to get to Brook. Athena finds Bobby up there, where he delightedly tells her that he can see Brook again and feel her presence. Athena manages to get Bobby back down by grounding him in the reality of the two of them, and the episode ends with him joining her family for May's (Corinne Massiah) homecoming pictures.
Now knowing that Bobby will die six seasons later, his storyline in "Dosed" makes the episode that much more heartbreaking. Bobby worked so hard to manage his sobriety, yet it is broken without his knowledge or his choice when Sandy drugs the brownies. Bobby tries to join his family while high, but Athena is the one to pull him back to reality, and to encourage him to keep going and to embrace being alive. He says as much to her during their goodbye in "Lab Rats." Bobby tells Athena that LA was only initially about saving enough lives to make up for the fire, but that she made him want to be alive and build a home. "Dosed" is the perfect example of this, where even high, Bobby chooses a life with Athena over death with his other family.
Bobby's storyline in "Dosed" is very intentional, as he initially struggles to be happy about May's homecoming due to his grief about the milestones that his children will never reach. When Athena talks him down from the roof, though, Bobby is finally able to make it past his grief enough to embrace his role as Athena's partner, and as May and Harry's (Marcanthonee Jon Reis) eventual stepfather. Looking back, that final scene of Bobby joining the Grant family is bittersweet, because he will have to leave them six seasons later. The beauty pageant scene will always be one of 9-1-1's funniest, but "Dosed" ultimately is a much harder episode to rewatch now in light of Bobby's tragic death.
