9-1-1 Season 7 Finale Wasted One of Its Best Plotlines With Gerrard & Ortiz

Summary

• In 9-1-1 Season 7, Hen and Bobby are in danger of losing their careers at the hands of Olivia Ortiz and Vincent Gerrard.
• A recent photo posted by Tim Minear suggests that the latter two are in cahoots.
• However, their storyline is too cartoonish, robbing it of potential thoughtful development.

Since its transition from Fox to ABC, the procedural drama 9-1-1 hasn't lost any of its quality, delivering just as much action and drama in the lives of Los Angeles first responders as in previous seasons. Season 7 ended less than a week ago, and despite a slight dip in ratings due to the move to a new home, the show is still very much a vibrant and entertaining series that keeps audiences engaged.

And yet, it would be wrong to deny that for all its merits, the most recent season has left us scratching our heads, especially as we approached the finale. For all the life-affirming events and self-acceptance of the Station 188 crew, there was no small amount of tragedy and reflection on past mistakes. But redemption, according to Tim Minear and the writers' room, can only come after enduring the ordeal in the form of almost cartoonish antagonists, Olivia Ortiz (Veronica Falcón) and Vincent Gerrard (Brian Thompson).

Fans feel that the plot would have benefited from having these two as serious sources of conflict, raising many questions about the ethics of the main characters' actions.

Unfortunately, it looks like we will be getting almost farcical storylines in the future, though.

What Happened in the Last Episodes of Season 7

In the context of this article, it's important to focus on two characters, Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Bobby (Peter Krause), because it's the consequences of their actions that likely led to Ortiz and Gerrard's now looming threat to the entire 118.

In Hen's case, she ignored an aggressive young man at the scene of a traffic accident earlier in the season who was clearly in an altered state of consciousness. Sadly, this led to his death. And he happened to be Councilwoman Olivia Ortiz's son. Now the grieving mother is trying to get revenge on Hen for her son's death: first she destroyed her and Karen's plans to adopt Mara, and now Hen is in danger of losing her job.

And after Bobby returned from the hospital in the last episode, everyone learned that he had resigned as captain, and the new chief of Station 118 is the racist and homophobic Gerrard.

Gerrard and Ortiz Deserve More Subtle Storylines

Tim Minear recently posted an intriguing sneak peek on his private Facebook page that hints at the upcoming season 8 storyline.

In the photo, Gerrard and Ortiz can be seen standing together, which clearly indicates that they are probably in cahoots. It looks like the whole manipulation of bringing the unpopular Captain back to 118, who has caused no small amount of trouble for his subordinates, is the result of the Councilwoman's manipulation.

Posted by Tim Minear on Facebook
byu/A_Howl_In_The_Night in911FOX

All of this turns these two from theoretically interesting antagonists into very cartoonish villains driven only by bigotry and a desire to screw things up. Unfortunately, it's hard to empathize with these characters, which is a great irony given that the screenwriters are trying to make the audience root for the cops who threaten innocent black people with guns.

And while the Gerrard situation isn't easy to fix, a great solution in Ortiz's case would have been to provide more drama regarding her son. Olivia's actions would have carried a lot more weight and empathy if, say, she was trying to fight her son's addiction. Yes, he was to blame for the car accident, but that would have really raised the question of the ethics of throwing a man to his death.

Well, we'll just have to wait for Season 8 and hope that the whole situation takes a much deeper turn and provides thoughtful ethical dilemmas.