Hi! With some more sleep under my belt, I've decided to try and be more positive about this upcoming storyline.
I really do like the foreshadowing that they did - because as senseless as the gender reveal party seems, it puts stakes to Chimney's NDE. If someone started watching because they saw the Contagion advertisements, they would know why Chimney and even Hen nearly dying is not ideal - they both have families and Chimney may not even get the opportunity to meet his son. Ravi's guilt storyline, despite being a repetition of the last few storylines he was given was pretty well executed, like it gives him a motivation for risking everything - Bobby nearly died for his mistakes, so he can risk a terrorism charge for Chimney. Even Bobby and Athena with their house was good foreshadowing - they're setting up a good life and now Bobby is trapped in a room with a deadly virus.
And I love Buck and Roz continually choosing to refuse to ignore the military orders to try and save Chimney's life and Roz ignoring her boss trying to hide Moira's mistake to be honest about what's going on.
And I completely agree, it doesn't feel like this episode doesn't have real stakes - we know Chimney will survive and furthermore, this plot has been done with Chimney before. He's 2 for 2 on getting infected with a deadly virus within 2 seasons. Also, it confirms that there is a time jump between 8x15 and 8x16 given that Hen and Chimney are both steady on their feet - so I think Bobby will survive this virus if he even gets it.
And Eddie. I said it before, but I'm pretty sure the only impact Eddie will have on this emergency is that it will be the push to move him and Chris back to LA. Which is annoying, but if they choose to give us an Eddie centric emergency in 8x16-8x18, I may forgive them. Because they're showing us the impact the team has on Eddie with these episodes, and now they need to show the impact Eddie has on the team - the entire team, not just Buck.
But I also think why this absence hits so much is that it's the fact that Eddie no longer needs to be in Texas - things with Chris wrapped last episode. There is no narrative reason for Eddie to be staying in Texas. He stood up to his parents and "dadded up." His relationship with Chris is good and stable. There's no narrative reason for him to be in Texas at this point at all, which I think his absence stings bad in this episode in particular, given with the fact that we know that Eddie won't have a major role in this emergency at all because of how 8x14 played out.
I never really thought of those scenes as foreshadowing, but you're right. That does make sense.
I loved Roz! She was amazing from beginning to end in the episode. Her working with Buck and just ignoring the actual Army? That was a really nice touch.
Yeah, we'll see Eddie in episode 15 and him and Chris will probably make the decision there and then to return to LA. Because I really do think he would never leave Chris in El Paso with his parents.
I really like the idea of an Eddie centric emergency later on in season 8. It will highlight the personal storylines more, which is something they said they would do. And also, right now Eddie is the only one who hasn't been hurt recently. They might just decide it's his time now. Who knows? 🤷♀️
We'll have to wait and see if that is the way they're going.
I am quite excited about the next episode though. I wonder what they are going to put the 118 through this time around. And since I'm pretty sure Eddie will appear in this one, I wonder in what capacity it'll be? 👀
