As much as I would love for 9-1-1 to continue on and on, at some point the show will end (😭)
I wonder if we’ll see each one of the 118’s career trajectory before it ends
We know at some point Bobby will retire and we know that Hen is on track to become Captain
I do think Chim, Buck, & Eddie could end up staying at the 118 under Hen’s captaincy if they chose for her to remain at the 118 as Captain as they could do a storyline where’s she’s offered a captaincy somewhere else
If she were to remain at 118 as Captain after Bobby I do believe the others would be happy under her captaincy just as they are Bobby’s
That is one way 9-1-1 could end with Bobby’s retirement and Hen taking over (if Peter stays on the entire duration of 9-1-1)
However that isn’t the only way they could end the story
Chim has acted as Captain before but he did have a difficult time figuring out his captaincy style and dealt with two major tragedies regarding his crew - Shannon’s Death & Freddie targeting the 118
This could have impacted his overall view of captaincy and make it so he’d rather just stay in his current position, I believe when Bobby was choosing an interim captain in S6(?) Chim even said absolutely not or something to that effect
He could also be Hen’s lieutenant (Just realized, unlike in Lonestar we don’t see anything about Lieutenants - so I looked up the rankings, apparently LAFD doesn’t have them and have Firefighter ranks 1, 2, & 3 instead? Interesting… so never mind on that idea lol)
Anyways, he’s shown no problems working under Hen, but he has shown discontent at the idea of Hen not being his partner (when Hen was starting her journey to become a Doctor) so while he may have no problems working for interim Captain Hen, it might be hard for him to lose her as a partner completely
Would that inspire him to become a captain himself? It would be a really good storyline for him to overcome any doubts he may have due to his previous experience as Captain
Or would be ultimately decide that he’d rather continue working with Hen even if they aren’t partners, that would also make a good storyline
I think one problem if they go that route is who becomes his partner? More on that later
For Buck, I do think he could continue as a firefighter and be happy but we have seen them start to sow the seeds for him also to pursue captaincy, such as him trying to be a good candidate when Bobby was looking for a interim captain as referenced above and at the end of season six we saw him take charge of an entire scene and save everyone
And even in this current season we’ve seen him use his smarts to solve a lot of problems
He would make an amazing captain- however he would then have to lose part of his 118 family - not entirely but partially if they’re no longer working together (if they are in fact continuing with Hen becoming a captain trajectory which I’m pretty sure they will)
So if Buck also goes down the captaincy route himself there’s several options
1) Hen becomes Captain of the 118 and he later becomes Captain of another house
2) Hen is offered Captaincy elsewhere and Chim becomes Captain of 118 and Buck becomes captain of another house
3) Both Hen and Chim become captains elsewhere and Buck becomes the 118 captain
That could be a good storyline for Buck, having to accept his family going down different career paths and choosing a career path that’s good for him and helps him grow as a person, not based on trying to keep everyone under the 118 roof and realizing they’ll always be a family even if they’re no longer working together
Eddie though, I don’t think he’s shown any interest in becoming a Captain
When Chim was searching for Maddie Eddie was partnered more with Hen, (and I believe we’ve seen Hen as interim Captain and Eddie helping Chim? might be misremembering that) and this season we’ve seen Eddie work with Hen and Chim
They have been emphasizing his skills as a medic this season as well
We could see Hen become Captain and Eddie become a paramedic and Chim’s partner
I think that would be hard for everyone involved, Chim not having Hen as a partner, and Eddie and Buck not working as partners anymore
If he doesn’t become a full time paramedic, he’d probably remain Buck’s partner as long as Buck remains a firefighter (if Buck does go the captaincy route)
Eddie has also stated the he enjoys the camaraderie of firefighting, not that the Captain can’t be apart of that, but they are held a bit apart from the rest, that’s just one of the effects of being a leader
He’s also shrugged off the idea of being even interim captain, like when he talked about it with Buck when Buck was frustrated to not being in the running
Unless they start sowing the seeds for him to be interested in captaincy as well, I just don’t see it happening based off his current trajectory/attitude
If he does become a captain then it’s a similar situation as Buck above
If Buck becomes captain and he doesn’t, I imagine he’d want to go with him or be a full time paramedic on his team unless #buddiecanon happens and and then they may have to be separated (as this is a show and not real life they may decide they can remain in the same house if one of them becomes Captain even if I’m not sure that would happen irl, idk)
But then if they are separated by the brass and Chim doesn’t become captain I’d imagine he’d stay with Hen & Chim and if both Hen and Chim become Captain then he’d stay with one of them if he couldn’t stay with Buck for any reason
There is another possibility of them all who become a captain remaining at the 118 and ending up as captains of different 118 shifts but I can’t really see any of them wanting to give up A shift or wanting to go have alternative shifts as the others as that would make spending time together as a family outside of the firehouse even harder and losing both firehouse time together and outside of firehouse time together would wreck all of them
I have no idea if the show will end with us knowing what future paths they follow career wise but I think it’s interesting to think about where they may take them if they do
