9-1-1 fans, HOW ARE WE DOING?
The highly-anticipated Season 8, Episode 14 just aired on ABC, and if you thought Part 1 of the two-part 9-1-1: Contagion was absolutely ruthless, just wait until you see the intense, emotional, downright terrifying teaser for Episode 815 that aired at the end of it.
“Sick Day” saw the 118 get called to a research lab for a run-of-the-mill emergency that turned into a deadly biohazard situation. While Buck (Oliver Stark) and Athena (Angela Bassett) are safe outside desperately searching for a fix, Bobby (Peter Krause), Hen (Aisha Hinds), Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody), and Chimney (Kenneth Choi) are in lockdown exposed to a deadly virus.
While Ravi and Bobby survived the lab explosion unscathed, Hen’s life was immediately in danger when her lung collapsed. But fear not! Bobby seems to have saved her by performing an emergency surgery with coaching from Chimney. Why didn’t Chim perform the procedure himself? Because his mask shattered in the blast, and he got firsthand exposure to the airborne virus. Since rogue lab worker Moira (Bridget Regan) modified the virus strain and shortened the incubation period to 90 minutes, Chimney’s health is at serious risk. When the episode wrapped, Moira was on the run with the only antidote to the deadly virus, so now fans are left to fear the worst for the 118 member for an entire week!
Does Chimney die on 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 15? And is Kenneth Choi leaving 9-1-1? Here’s everything we know about Chimney’s 9-1-1 fate.
Episode 815 will presumably feature a serious manhunt while the 118’s situation worsens. But how the heck does 9-1-1: Contagion conclude?! Before fans watched the preview for Season 8, Episode 15, we were fairly certain that the trapped 118 members would eventually be rescued, the antiviral is retrieved in time, and Chim will survive in the nick of time like everyone always does on this show. But things are admittedly NOT looking good in the dramatic AF preview, located at the top of this article.
When the two-part thriller continues, Bobby says what we’re all thinking: “I’ve got two firefighters down in here. What’s the plan?!” The 30-second clip shows a deeply distressed Maddie explaining that Chim is already in the second phase of exposure and infection, organ failure, and Chim says, “I’m running out of time.” We saw him cough up blood and start bleeding from his nose in 814, and based on the 815 teaser, things are about to get a whole lot worse.
The clip shows Buck telling people on the scene that by the time they get to the trapped 118 members, they’re going to be “pulling out bodies.” We see a sobbing Hen with her mask off and a breathing tube in her nose. We see Chimney dripping blood and saying, “OH GOD.” We see a firefighter collapse beside a 118 helmet. And we see Buck wailing uncontrollably as if…one of his teammates really just died.
While all these distressing clips are flying by, a narrator says, “Think you know the ending? You’re dead wrong.” So, uh, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT WEEK?!
The clip does show Bobby explaining that Athena is on her way with the antiviral, so there’s still hope. But would 9-1-1 really kill off one of its main characters like this?! Time to investigate.
As a reminder, Maddie is pregnant and just survived a serial killer/kidnapping/throat slashing, so on a basic human level, I highly doubt that 9-1-1 would off her husband of all people right now. Back in Season 7, Tim Minear confirmed that 9-1-1‘s main characters aren’t unkillable and admitted, “I just don’t want to kill any of them.” The comment seemed incredibly hopeful, but the showrunner also told TheWrap, “One day when it does happen, it’s going to be a sad day for me,” implying that a major death could, in fact, happen one day. So is that day on the horizon in Season 8?
Fearing for characters’ safety and watching them emerge from dangerous, life-threatening emergencies in tact against all odds is the sheer nature of the show. As we know from the steady string of near-death experiences these characters have survived, after the show takes viewers on emotional roller coasters, things usually turn out OK! Things do look disastrous for Chim, but the predictable turn of events would be for him to die, and because the teaser literally warns, “Think you know the ending? You’re dead wrong,” I have to believe he doesn’t. But does another member of the 118 go down?!
Right now we’re meant to primarily fear for Chim’s life, but could Bobby be the one most in danger at the end of the two-parter? If you need a run-down on the Bobby death theories, Decider’s got you covered. Basically, 9-1-1 filmed an elaborate funeral scene for Cap, so fans have been wondering if his death storyline will be real.
Since Episode 814 opened with a Bobby death fake-out and Episode 816 is reportedly called “The Last Alarm” (which may reference the final bell service at a firefighter funeral, a 1940 movie about a firefighter dying, or both!) Bobby’s fate isn’t looking good. And killing him instead of Chimney would fit the unpredictable 9-1-1: Contagion narrative.
Before you go mourning Bobby and worrying that Peter Krause is leaving the show, just know that an unexpected Oliver Stark script leak earlier this month seemed to suggest Bobby will be calling 911 from a coffin in a later episode while being buried alive. So perhaps…he ultimately lives?! (ICYMI, the script leak happened on April Fool’s Day so no one knows what to believe!) Though Bobby is trapped in the lab with his fellow firefighters at the end of 814, his life doesn’t seem to be the main one in danger. But is 9-1-1 trying to throw us off the trail? We don’t know what awaits, but if Bobby gets exposed to the virus, too, and there’s only one antiviral dose, who among us doesn’t believe he would sacrifice his own life to save Chimney’s and put his own life on the line to save his team just like he did when he rescued that baby at the start of the episode?! AHHHHH!!!! Is it Thursday, April 17 yet?! How could you do this to us, Tim Minear!
New episodes of 9-1-1 premiere on ABC Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET with next-day streaming on Hulu.