9-1-1 Roundtable: Karma’s a Bitch

For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.

On 9-1-1 Season 1 Episode 8, “Karma’s a Bitch,” our heroes learn that first hand both on the job and at home. As the title shows, karma is a cruel and nasty bitch.

Our heroes respond to a series of calls about people getting their just desserts for certain actions in their past. All the while Hen realizes just how far-reaching the consequences of her affair are. Athena realizes that her actions aren’t doing anyone in her family any favors and Bobby gets some of the best news any person could get.

Tell-Tale TV Writers Alamin Yohannes, Samantha Coley, and Mary Misasi discuss the episode below.

• Alamin Yohannes (@AlaminYohannes)
• Samantha Coley (@samcaseys)
• Mary Misasi (@dorothynyc89)

1. What are your thoughts on the revelation that Bobby is suicidal, to an extent?

Alamin: It’s incredibly sad to hear Bobby talk about wanting to end his life after he’s saved enough lives to make up for the people who died in the fire his family died in, but it does fit with what we know about the character so far. 9-1-1 has done a great job mining the impact events in the past have had on Bobby.

Samantha: I feel like it makes sense with his past that he would try to make up for the lives he ended by trying to save the same amount. And it makes sense that he would want to be with his family again, but this path is making me start to question whether he really is stable enough to be a leader. I really like Chimney taking him to see the babies he’s saving though.

Mary: I think the biggest take away from this moment for me was realizing just how hopeless and broken Bobby feels. I thought that he was starting to make progress in dealing with his guilt from the death of his family.

To find out that he is merely masking an even deeper pain worries me. I hope that Chimney stepping up and realizing his brokenness will start to turn things around. I have every confidence in the skills of the writers to treat this with the utmost respect.

2. Bobby is unique in that he can save lives with his blood. If you were in his position, how would you react?

Alamin: It would blow my mind. The chances are slim, so it would definitely be a surprise.

Samantha: I would feel overwhelmingly blessed and honored. I already enjoy giving blood so I don’t have to worry about Bobby’s fear of needles. I would love to be able to save babies just by giving something my body replenishes in itself on a regular basis.

Mary: Once I got over the shock I would definitely do whatever I could to save lives. I am a diabetic so I know what it is like to live with a chronic illness. If someone were to tell me tomorrow that my blood to help cure diabetes in children and save them from a lifetime of worry and health problems, no question I would give all I could.

3. Should Bobby continue to donate his blood?

Alamin: I think he should and I also think he will. This new part of Bobby’s life will force him to figure out how to live.

There’s not a counter on saved lives for Bobby to focus on anymore because donating blood to save lives is something that will go on for the rest of his life. He’ll have to confront what living for much longer than he planned means.

Samantha: Absolutely. Yes.

Mary: There is no question that the answer is yes. I also think that Bobby knows this and thus will continue to donate. Alamin brings up a good point when he talks about what this continued service will do to Bobby’s mindset.

He will have to confront his feelings and fears and actually deal with them instead of just running from or hiding them.

4. Should Athena have asked Michael for a divorce before now?

Alamin: I’m surprised she didn’t ask for the divorce during an earlier episode. Athena seems like someone who would be anything for her kids, but the show began with Michael coming clean to his children. People need their own time to process any shocking change, but I definitely want Athena to move forward in her life however she sees fit.

Samantha: No, I think it’s fair that she needed time to process. That’s a huge change for her life and I’m glad that her kids came around to the news faster than she did, but I understand why it took her so long.

Mary: I am honestly a bit conflicted about how I feel. On the one hand, I understand why it took her so long. After all, this was a bomb dropped on her out of the blue.

However, the part of me that wants nothing but love and happiness for my fierce warrior woman is screaming that it should have happened ages ago. Either way, I am glad that she is getting her life back on track now.

5. Was Athena correct in saying, “you have to wreck it before you can fix it?” Is this the most sound advice for Hen?

Alamin: I don’t know that it’s sound advice, but it could be true. Hen certainly has chosen to go down that route because she did something that would definitely wreck her life at home.

Samantha: Yes, people in a healthy relationship don’t keep secrets from each other. And Hen’s infidelity is a big issue, she should have never done it in the first place and she absolutely should’ve told her wife.

Mary: I’m not so sure Athena’s way of saying things was necessarily correct, but I understood where she was coming from. She realizes that Hen has already wrecked her happy home life and now she needs to fix it.

It makes me really happy to see such a positive and healthy relationship between two women. Shows tend to pit the women against each other and it’s nice to see that no matter what Athena will have Hen’s back and vice versa.

6. Hen has the rug pulled out from under her. Is this penance for what she did or is Eva going too far?

Alamin: What Eva did was cold-blooded and, in my opinion at least, very well planned. I think Eva had this in mind from the very beginning. From that first phone call, she made to Hen, or at least when Hen didn’t appear at her parole hearing and Eva still got out. I’m not sure I would go as far as penance though.

Samantha: This is karma coming for Hen too. She shouldn’t have trusted Eva, she shouldn’t have slept with Eva. She put herself into this mess and she’s going to have to put in some hard work to make it right.

Mary: This is definitely karma at its finest. Like Sam said, Hen wrecked it and she has to fix it. It’s going to make Hen’s life very difficult for a while but, I have faith that she will manage to make things right. Hen knows she did wrong and wants to make up for it now.

7. All the victims presented tonight had some kind of karmic retribution. Which one was your favorite?

Alamin: I don’t know about favorite, but the most ridiculous was definitely the guy that pulls up the tree only to get hit in the chest with the bullet his wife put it in the past. Karma in its purest form.

Samantha: I really enjoyed the guy getting eaten by the tiger he messed with, especially after we learned about his illegal/questionable hunting practices.

Mary: Honestly, I’m going to go with tanning bed guy. Who leaves their pet in a hot car and then fires the employee who tried to rescue said dog? Dirtbags, that’s who. That man got what was coming to him.

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What did you think of this episode of 9-1-1? Respond to our roundtable questions with your own answers in the comments below! You can also catch up with our review of 9-1-1 Season 1 Episode 8, “Karma’s a Bitch” right here.

9-1-1 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on FOX.

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