i'm having some thoughts on the baffling lack of individual storylines and poor characterisations so bear with me while i untangle the mess..
everyone was so excited about the move to a new network - it started out so hopeful with finally letting Buck be bi! but the individual storylines since the move has been 90% soap opera trash out of left field for shock value with little regard for continuity and with little to no follow through and what they do follow through on they end up botching.
okay: i do think they did a decent job of Mara's storyline and Henren's family, but it still had the problem of siloing Hen into her family unit outside of work - which has been a problem for every character since season 7:
the 118 has work scenes together, then everyone shuffles off to their family units where they eat a meal and talk, with little to no overlap (let alone intertwining B-plot) except to have someone over for dinner or a coffee, probably while someone does housework or parent the kids in the background, and there's some *drama* which is addressed, like.. huh? i know parenting and kids is an element of their lives and we do need drama in the drama show, but: what happened to actual slice of life scenes? yeah we got some Madney and Henren overlap in s8 but it was: let's have dinner while worrying about Mara.
what happened to the fun side quests????
(i'm not even talking about full filler eps like Treasure Hunt - by omg i miss full filler eps; thankfuck we had Masks but it was still mired in unnecessary shock-value angst for Henren - i just mean all the filler stuff in people's lives that fill them out as people and not just work-and-relationship dolls.)
they took away the fun outside-work interactions but they also refused to let anyone have a fucking personality: no one has any hobbies or fun outings (this is one reason i miss chris!! because we got variable plot and fun outings etc etc!!), there's no surface-level fun friendship stuff (unless it's poking fun of Buck at work) it's just all work and familyORromantic relationships (Masks was a rare welcome gem but again: still not enough) and deep-n-meaningful convos that are then brushed aside while the interesting threads of those characters are ignored.
and we should have seen a lot more Bucktommy in s7/s8 but we barely got any. they introduce this amazing new relationship and dynamic!! and hen.. don't explore it all? [*insert Gru's plane meme*] then they rope Buck into other people's drama instead of letting him have his own rich storyline.
there are sooooo many good dropped storylines - this post would get too long to name them all..
s8 was fumble after fumble: gerrard and ortiz were set up for season-long baddies but instead we got redeemed (*GAG*) gerrard who was also made a goofy old bastard?? and ortiz done away in like ep4 or something?? and instead of exploring Bucktommy and Tommy's character and have them work scenes together (even if Harbor was out of the budget location-wise) and show Tommy's friendships with the rest of the 118, we get a breakup (triggered by reasons that go against canon) and then 2 seasons of a guy pining through baked goods and then some damaging bisexual rep. that's it.
s9 ignoring Buck's grief bc they wanted to introduce *new drama* for Hen. focusing on Harry instead of focusing on Ravi. Buck's absent career progression.
āand that's not even touching on everyone else's characterisation (Maddie's kidnap thing was insane, unnecessary, and obviously done bc they've written her as someone who just works and folds laundry and has no personality for 3 seasons so let's make her the victim of traumatic violence again ig? Eddie's doppleganger was stupid af, his texas move was interesting but again fumbles when he returned to the team to shoehorn in heroics that belittle and overshadow others - and that's just s8 stuff).
..i could go on. my key takeaways of the last 3 seasons are these:
they've lost the magic of writing ensemble storylines
they've forgotten how to write interesting individual storylines
they silo characters into family units outside work
they drop interesting plot points like hot potatoes
they ignore characterisation / write ooc scenes/plot
no one has any real personality, everyone feels like a puppet
they shoehorn shock-value plots in for "entertainment"
they ignore everything that made this show so loveable
i think the general fan sentiment towards 911 lately seems to be:
*gonna remind folks that i'm not watching this season, i'm absorbing through dash osmosis, so i may have missed some good things re:plot + character bits so feel free to add those and point out the ways the writers have actually managed to harness some of that older seasons goodness bc we all need a little hope in these trying times š«¶
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