My comfort show isn't my comfort show anymore

9-1-1, a TV drama series about first responders and cops that used to be on Fox but is now on ABC, has been one of my favorite shows for a while now. I started watching it in its second season but I was able to watch Season 1 through reruns. Now, the show is on its 9th season. I love the characters and their family dynamic. Seeing them go through a lot of stuff individually and as a group has made me quite emotionally invested in them and in the show as a whole.

I've been following 9-1-1 quite religiously for years because it was my comfort show. By that, I mean that no matter what kind of deadly situation the lead characters had to face, they always came out of it alive. A bit worse for wear but still alive.

Which is why the death of Captain Bobby Nash, the head of Firehouse 118 and the father figure of everyone there, was a very bewildering and unpleasant twist that I felt kind of goes against what I believe is the grain of the show. While I can't speak for everyone, the appeal of 9-1-1 to me is that for the most part, it makes you feel good after watching it. You might go through an emotional roller coaster with high highs and low lows, and this can sometimes span multiple episodes, but after all of it, you see everyone triumph over adversity. Bobby's death does not feel like a triumph over adversity. Worse, the family dynamic of the firehouse has been permanently altered for the worse.

Bobby was actually killed off in the previous season (8) and the 9th season already premiered in October. When I learned on X (previously Twitter) that Bobby died, I actually didn't watch any of the remaining episodes that season. I only recently decided to start watching again because I realized I am still invested in the rest of the characters and I still want them all to have amazing and interesting arcs and (fictional) lives. It just sad that a very integral part of the 118 is no longer around.