9-1-1 said goodbye to a beloved member of the 118 family during Monday’s season finale.
I’m of course talking about Buck’s couch, which finally fulfilled its purpose — both as a metaphor for his heart’s desire and as a perfectly viable seating option — and was given a fitting farewell for its great service and sacrifice. (Kidding! He just tossed the old thing out. My emails to Fox about that couch deserving a viking funeral apparently remain unread.)
But the final episode of Season 6 was about so much more than Buck’s couch. It also marked the last time that this show will air on Fox, as 9-1-1 is relocating to ABC for its seventh season. And the finale certainly set these characters up for an eventful transition: Chimney and Maddie’s wedding, Hen and Karen’s plus one, and Eddie’s new relationship are just a few of the developments we’ll get to watch unfold this fall.
It also darn near killed every last member of the 118, thanks to a bridge collapsing in the middle of a group rescue. Noting that “the show has become a little smaller” this season, Oliver Stark tells TVLine that he was thrilled to finally have another “crazy, big emergency” in the books. “It’s so much fun for everyone to be on those big sets,” he recalls. “In many senses, it feels like you’re making something bigger than usual network television.”
Below, TVLine lightly grills Stark about the finale’s biggest moments, from Buck’s new relationship (and couch) to the ominous ending we’ll be thinking about all summer…
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BABY LOVE
Image Credit: Fox screenshot Just when Buck thought his rollercoaster of a week was over, Kameron went into labor and Buck had to deliver his own donor baby, all while Connor was MIA. He held the baby in his arms for a moment before remembering that he’s not technically the father in this situation, and the look on his face when that realization hit was absolutely heartbreaking.
“It’s a big moment that we’ve been building up to for a long time,” Stark says of the delivery. “In some sense, it presented pressure on my back to try and live up to what that moment might feel like.” Stark gained more confidence after speaking with a crew member “who had been through quite a similar situation” herself.
It was a quick moment, but it was one that Natalia was able to pick up on. Stark credits that to the couple’s “growing connection,” plus the fact that she deals with people’s emotions through her job as a doula. “Even from just seeing his back, she’s able to shape that in the moment,” Stark.”
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IS NATALIA THE ONE?
Image Credit: Fox screenshot Speaking of Natalia, it says a lot that she was willing to come back even after experiencing the chaos parade that is Buck’s everyday life. Could she really be the one Buck has been waiting for?
Stark’s outlook on the couple’s future is “very positive,” adding that he’s “excited to continue to play out that relationship and see what it can turn into.”
As for the new couch, “we shall see what it looks like,” Stark says. “Maybe ABC has a different couch budget. It’s been a long-running metaphor of sorts, ever since that episode where Buck realized that his other couches came with girlfriends. He presented that symbolism himself, and I think it’s nice to see it come full circle.”
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BUCK DOESN’T LOVE LUCY
Image Credit: Fox screenshot One pairing you shouldn’t hold out hope for, however, is Buck and Lucy — at least not romantically.
“They’re almost mirror images of each other in some senses, which I don’t think always results in the best relationships,” Stark says. “I think they’re a fun duo to see around each other, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a romantic duo.”
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A FAMILIAR FACE
Image Credit: Fox screenshot (2) Just as executive producer Kristen Reidel teased to TVLine back in March, the finale welcomed back a familiar face from a previous episode. Well, familiar to viewers with really, really good memories.
“It was really nice to have him back,” Stark says. “And I’m glad the episode goes back and shows the first time we met him, because it really is the same guy. He was like a kid back then.”
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BUCK’S WEDDING MARCH
Image Credit: Fox screenshot (2) And we can’t look ahead to Season 7 without discussing the long-awaited Chimney/Maddie wedding. The details are still being finalized, of course, but Stark knows exactly where he wants Buck to be on the big day.
“Personally, I think it would be really beautiful for Buck to walk Maddie down the aisle and give her away,” he says, adding that Hen should be Chimney’s Best Woman.
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CRUISE (OUT OF) CONTROL
Image Credit: Fox screenshot (2) Let’s wrap things up by discussing the final shot of the episode: Bobby and Athena randomly boarding a cruise. Don’t get me wrong, these two definitely deserve a vacation after everything they’ve been through, but it’s impossible not to imagine the worst — this being 9-1-1 and all. Specifically, we’re predicting that this turns into the cruise from hell, dropping Mom and Dad into a Poseidon Adventure-type crisis. It’s just a theory, but it’s one Stark fully supports.
“I think I’m possibly going to be getting into a wet suit sometime soon and having to go save Angela,” he says. “I mean, just knowing how they cannot catch a break, I feel like there’s a strong possibility of that happening. How do you involve the rest of our team, though? They’ve made stranger things work.”
OK, you know what to do now. Grade the finale and the season below, then drop a comment with your full review. What are you hoping to see when 9-1-1 relocates to ABC next season?
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