9-1-1‘s Kenneth Choi Reflects on Chimney’s Important Lesson, Welcomes [Spoiler] Back to the 118
Chimney learned a tough but valuable lesson on Monday’s 9-1-1, one that will not only make him a better firefighter but might also help him take an important step in his personal life. (Gasp?)
It all began with Chimney’s annual evaluation, during which Bobby informed him that his leadership skills could use a tune-up so he was sending Chimney back to the academy.
“I think he’s absolutely right,” Kenneth Choi tells TVLine. “Chimney is one of those guys that kind of likes staying in the middle. I don’t know if you watch Top Chef, but some of the chef tests will say, ‘I didn’t want to win, I didn’t want to lose, I just wanted to be safe. I feel that chimney is kind of that way. He’s always just trying to be safe. And in trying to be safe, he doesn’t ever excel.”
As Bobby anticipated in all his benevolence, Chimney turned out to be a natural-born leader, guiding several trainees in the right direction — and convincing Ravi to return to the 118, which was really Bobby’s plan all along.
“Yes, Ravi is back to stay,” Choi confirms. “At least I hope he stays, because [Anirudh Pisharody] is a lovely guy and they’re turning his character into such an interesting, funny role.”
As for whether this newfound drive might push Chimney to, say, get down on one knee and propose to Maddie, Choi admits, “I do think that falls into the whole fold of Chimney not really being able to make big decisions because he’s always hesitant. He can’t pull the trigger on a lot of things.”
If not a long-overdue engagement, at least this episode gave us another musical moment between Chimney and Maddie; he came home to find her singing the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” to baby Jee-Yun and joined her for a duet.
“It’s always a beautiful thing when I get to sing with the wonderful Jennifer Love Hewitt. She has the loveliest voice and is so wonderful to work with. Any chance that I get to do anything like this with her is such a treat.”
The couple last shared a song at karaoke back in Season 2, and Choi still remembers how “petrified” he was by that prospect.
I really wasn’t sure if I could sing or not,” he recalls. “I do what most people do. I’m a shower singer, I sing in my car, I sing when there’s no one around. So how could I ever really know if I could sing? And then as I was singing, the people in the sound booths were saying, ‘You have a very nice voice, a very nice tone.’ That gave me a boost of confidence, so ever since then I’ve said, ‘Give me all the singing you want. I’m ready.'”
Heck, Choi says he wouldn’t say no to a full-on musical episode at this point. “All I want is to see Peter Krause dancing around,” he says. “Don’t you?”
OK, let’s unpack this week’s Chimney-centric hour. Any favorite moments to share? Drop ’em in a comment below.
How wonderful to finally hear from Kenneth Choi! Love Chimney, he has been underused but is always one of the best. He and Maddie already feel married so I happy either way. Also so glad to see Ravi again . I was sad when we got less and less of him last season and hope he is back for good .
He was busy filming BIG SKY.
Yes I did watch him out that . I’m happy for him he’s getting other roles but hope he can still do 911 .
The fire academy scenes/storylines were the definite highlights of tonight’s 9-1-1 and I’m a major Kenneth Choi fan so the more Chim the better. Also, Maddie and Chim singing to Jee-Yun was adorable! A most happy welcome back to Ravi who has been missed so very, very much!
The tired “Eddie being forced into dating” storyline at least focused on Eddie and Pepa’s relationship, though her being so clueless about where Eddie is spending all his time (hint: it’s building a life with Buck) felt so dismissive of what they’ve shown us even just last week about how full Eddie’s life is with Buck and Chris.
On the bright side, everything about Chim and Ravi’s storylines were PERFECT and it’s SO GOOD to hear from Kenny in a post-episode interview and for him to get a storyline focus. And Ravi!! He has been SORELY missed! While it’s baffling he had this whole major emergency we didn’t see or hear anything about (which could have been talked about all season to keep him in the audience’s mind), it was so good to see him back home where he belongs! With the 118 family!
This… everything – everything… this. WYKYK
Agree with you on all of this! Deserved praise for Chimney and Ravi. They are some of my favorite actors because they have really great comedic timing but can also bring the poignant drama. I’m guessing that Ravi’s actor’s unavailability is why that all happened off-screen but 911 should have locked him down! I hope that these two are paired off a lot more in the future because their scenes were fun. Despite the past mishap, Chimney really showed that he IS captain material.
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I’m a big Eddie fan but they haven’t done much since his PTSD storyline, which is a shame. Honestly the show often doesn’t seem to know what to do with Eddie OR Buck separately except force them into unconvincing relationships. Eddie already had a dating storyline and we were told that the issue wasn’t that he was scared or that he got “too serious too fast” but that he was trying to force himself to love her and couldn’t. Now the WHY of that would be interesting to explore and I still hope that’s where his story goes.
I was wondering if I missed something on Ravi. I assumed since he was no longer a probie he went to a house that had an opening. I did not realize he was still part of their house but out due to injury. In any case, glad to have him back! I also enjoyed him on “Never Have I Ever,” but I think his character arc is done now. Now I wonder if Novack will be a new face at the call center.
Yeah, he just disappeared from the show, it was weird! His name never even came up all season even though they knew by the winter break that the actor would be back from filming his other shows. It was odd they just erased him like that when he was a fan favorite but it’s good to have him back!
Have to agree. Eddie scenes with Buck (and Christopher) have always felt like a true relationship /family. Hard to see him as unhappy or lonely unless you take that away. So I hope that is the point of this and we’re not headed for Ana part 2. I may be old but even I don’t have patience for that.
The Chimney and Ravi scenes were definitely a highlight of this episode! A fun yet emotional subplot, with good forward momentum for both characters, and Choi and Pisharody have an excellent rapport as screen partners. Would love to see more of that in the future.
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The other thing about this episode… Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. They keep using such heavily queer-coded themes with him (first trying to make himself love Ana, now feeling like he has to perform on dates) that feel like a perfect setup to have him discover something about himself, and it could be such a wonderful story, but I don’t trust the show to actually do it.
I love 911. Every week is something new and exciting. I look forward to watching it every Monday night.
Eddie is my least favorite character. The only reason I tolerate him is because of Christopher. People want to ship him and Buck so badly, when it’s refreshing that two men are able to be good friends. Again, I hate Eddie.
Eddie was so funny this episode! and I think what everybody’s suggesting is right, and we are gearing up for a realization from him, I can’t see it any other way.