This episode was a bit of a mixed bag. The teeth/tonsil stones call was so needlessly long and gross. While the camera shot from behind the teeth was a cool set up, the rest of the call was nearly unwatchable. The call for the missing child in the mall was also long and felt like it was trying SO hard to pull on the audience heartstrings but the magic this show has often created during calls was still missing. It's a shame because I vastly prefer Athena's storylines when she's showing up to help not to punish someone, but this call just felt empty of the kind of heart we usually see in this show. It was nice to see Maddie at work and a tiny glimpse of Josh and Linda The landfill call at least gave us some firefam at work together and a reason to circle back for more firefam goodness.
The Maddie and Chim stuff was better this episode now that it's not focused so much on the "getting married for tax reasons" stuff and I'm really hopeful that after what we saw with Chim losing the ring and Jee having it, that we will get the storyline the narrative for Maddie and for Chim has set up which is Maddie being the one to propose. Jee was of course, absolutely adorable, and seeing the firefam come together to help (ish) Chim with planning a proposal and then look for the ring when it went missing was so good! I have missed the firefam truck talks, and we got a good one this week (don't think I didn't peep how Buck and Eddie were nearly in each other's laps, thank you Brenna Malloy!), plus the kitchen talk with everyone admiring the ring, and a sweet brother-in-law hug with Buck and Chim. We also got some truly hilarious moments from Bobby's face as he's hugging Maddie, to Chim spilling the beans to Bobby that they pull pranks on each other and don't tell him about it, to Ravi bringing delightful Baby Of The Family vibes to his interactions with everyone. I cannot overstate how much Anirudh's energy has been missed and what a delightful addition he makes to the team.
On the flip side from the fun, this episode FINALLY had some of the deep conversations between main characters happening ON SCREEN! Much of the depth and heart of the show has been lost since Kristen took over but we really got to dig into some meat this episode and I for one really enjoyed it. I love when there are no "wrong" sides because everyone involved is just human and sometimes make mistakes. Maddie needs someone like Buck in her corner to lift her up and be willing to go to bat for her like her parents and Doug never did, and Chim needs someone like Hen in his corner to not let him get away with deflecting from his problems and not really looking at them. I loved Buck and Hen getting into it a bit to defend the person they love. I really enjoyed Hen speaking her peace to Chim as well and their talk after because as I said, she KNOWS Chim and she knows he can avoid looking at the hard things. I do have some issues with a bit of the text regarding how Hen talked about Maddie's depression and I think that specific piece could have been written better/clearer and still gotten the point across about Hen being worried. But overall I really enjoyed getting some depth and heartfelt firefam moments as well as some fun firefam scenes back in the show, especially since the next two episodes look to be shifting the focus back to side characters and random love interests with a packed guest cast (which may not even be complete as Lucy isn't listed but the actress was on set and the "surprise return" character isn't listed either. I'm sure it will be Shannon's ghost giving Eddie "permission" to move on as if we didn't go through this in season 3 and 4 because Kristen is that predictable and seems determined to "fix" that character in her quest to redeem every awful parent and relationship on this show).
I gotta say, 16 episodes in and...not a lot has happened this season so it's hard to imagine what the finale is even building up to at this point. Another review pointed out the multiple arcs and ebb and flow this show used to have in the early seasons and how it's all gone downhill since Kristen took over. Let's all hope the network change comes with a showrunner change as well (whether bringing Tim back fulltime or putting someone else like Coto in charge), because while this episode had some good firefam dynamics, it's still nowhere close to where this show used to be and Kristen and her failed arcs, poor planning and pacing, and lackluster emergencies are to blame. It's only the cast chemistry that has kept me tuning in but even that isn't enough to save some of these arcs like the sperm donor thing that had such potential to dig into Buck's insecurities but instead became a joke and then got changed at midseason, or this awful "death doula" lady just taking screentime when Buck could be talking to Chim or anyone in the firefam about nearly dying (heck, HE'S nearly died several times before himself! This feels very much like it should have been an early season storyline not 6 years and multiple near-death moments later), or whatever they are trying to do with Eddie. I wasn't sure what to expect from this episode but I'm so glad it had so many good firefam scenes, because the next two look like guest cast central and I'm not interested in any of the stuff for Buck and Eddie's love lives and no one but Chim really has anything going on. Manifesting season 7 and ABC can do better because this season has felt like such a waste of time on filler and side characters and bad arcs for Buck while half the cast didn't do anything most of the season. Two things are for sure, 1) this cast makes magic out of the drivel they've been handed by the showrunner for over 2 seasons now, and 2) they can only do so much and the audience can only put up with so much, and if ABC wants this show to live up to it's former glory, they need to address the issues coming from the top.
The Maddie and Chim stuff was better this episode now that it's not focused so much on the "getting married for tax reasons" stuff and I'm really hopeful that after what we saw with Chim losing the ring and Jee having it, that we will get the storyline the narrative for Maddie and for Chim has set up which is Maddie being the one to propose. Jee was of course, absolutely adorable, and seeing the firefam come together to help (ish) Chim with planning a proposal and then look for the ring when it went missing was so good! I have missed the firefam truck talks, and we got a good one this week (don't think I didn't peep how Buck and Eddie were nearly in each other's laps, thank you Brenna Malloy!), plus the kitchen talk with everyone admiring the ring, and a sweet brother-in-law hug with Buck and Chim. We also got some truly hilarious moments from Bobby's face as he's hugging Maddie, to Chim spilling the beans to Bobby that they pull pranks on each other and don't tell him about it, to Ravi bringing delightful Baby Of The Family vibes to his interactions with everyone. I cannot overstate how much Anirudh's energy has been missed and what a delightful addition he makes to the team.
On the flip side from the fun, this episode FINALLY had some of the deep conversations between main characters happening ON SCREEN! Much of the depth and heart of the show has been lost since Kristen took over but we really got to dig into some meat this episode and I for one really enjoyed it. I love when there are no "wrong" sides because everyone involved is just human and sometimes make mistakes. Maddie needs someone like Buck in her corner to lift her up and be willing to go to bat for her like her parents and Doug never did, and Chim needs someone like Hen in his corner to not let him get away with deflecting from his problems and not really looking at them. I loved Buck and Hen getting into it a bit to defend the person they love. I really enjoyed Hen speaking her peace to Chim as well and their talk after because as I said, she KNOWS Chim and she knows he can avoid looking at the hard things. I do have some issues with a bit of the text regarding how Hen talked about Maddie's depression and I think that specific piece could have been written better/clearer and still gotten the point across about Hen being worried. But overall I really enjoyed getting some depth and heartfelt firefam moments as well as some fun firefam scenes back in the show, especially since the next two episodes look to be shifting the focus back to side characters and random love interests with a packed guest cast (which may not even be complete as Lucy isn't listed but the actress was on set and the "surprise return" character isn't listed either. I'm sure it will be Shannon's ghost giving Eddie "permission" to move on as if we didn't go through this in season 3 and 4 because Kristen is that predictable and seems determined to "fix" that character in her quest to redeem every awful parent and relationship on this show).
I gotta say, 16 episodes in and...not a lot has happened this season so it's hard to imagine what the finale is even building up to at this point. Another review pointed out the multiple arcs and ebb and flow this show used to have in the early seasons and how it's all gone downhill since Kristen took over. Let's all hope the network change comes with a showrunner change as well (whether bringing Tim back fulltime or putting someone else like Coto in charge), because while this episode had some good firefam dynamics, it's still nowhere close to where this show used to be and Kristen and her failed arcs, poor planning and pacing, and lackluster emergencies are to blame. It's only the cast chemistry that has kept me tuning in but even that isn't enough to save some of these arcs like the sperm donor thing that had such potential to dig into Buck's insecurities but instead became a joke and then got changed at midseason, or this awful "death doula" lady just taking screentime when Buck could be talking to Chim or anyone in the firefam about nearly dying (heck, HE'S nearly died several times before himself! This feels very much like it should have been an early season storyline not 6 years and multiple near-death moments later), or whatever they are trying to do with Eddie. I wasn't sure what to expect from this episode but I'm so glad it had so many good firefam scenes, because the next two look like guest cast central and I'm not interested in any of the stuff for Buck and Eddie's love lives and no one but Chim really has anything going on. Manifesting season 7 and ABC can do better because this season has felt like such a waste of time on filler and side characters and bad arcs for Buck while half the cast didn't do anything most of the season. Two things are for sure, 1) this cast makes magic out of the drivel they've been handed by the showrunner for over 2 seasons now, and 2) they can only do so much and the audience can only put up with so much, and if ABC wants this show to live up to it's former glory, they need to address the issues coming from the top.
