Sumith Prasad
The sixth season of FOX’s action series ‘9-1-1’ offers a detailed insight into Captain Robert “Bobby” Nash’s life as an addict. When Evan “Buck” Buckley ends up in a coma, he sees the alcoholic Bobby in his visions. The twelfth episode of the season begins with a flashback that depicts how he sought help from Henrietta “Hen” Wilson to stay away from alcohol. The person who changes Bobby’s life around is Wendall, the firefighter’s sponsor. In the ninth episode, Wendall meets him to inform the latter that he would be away for a while. The next time Bobby sees his support system, the latter is dead. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Wendall’s Undercover Investigation Leads to Fatal Overdose
In the ninth episode of the sixth season, Wendall shows up at Bobby’s house unannounced. He lets the firefighter knows that he is going to New Mexico to visit his son. Wendall asks Bobby whether the latter can be an “interim sponsor” for the former’s AA companions, only for the firefighter to respond yes. Bobby notices that his sponsor isn’t well, only to get confirmed about it when the latter calls him under the influence of drugs. The next time Bobby sees him, Wendall is found dead by Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz after extinguishing a fire. Bobby eventually comes to know that Wendall hasn’t contacted his family, including his son, as he told the firefighter.
Wendall lies to Bobby to secretly investigate Winding Paths, a rehabilitation center in Hollywood that provides drugs or other intoxicants to the residents of the place to make them stay at the place for longer. Bobby’s sponsor knows about the same through Tamara, a recovering addict who works at the establishment. When Wendall comes to know that Carrie and Trey, the owners of the place, are stopping their clients/patients from achieving sobriety, he sets out to save them. Upon telling Bobby that he is leaving for New Mexico, Wendall ends up in the rehabilitation center with a hidden camera that looks like an electrical socket.
Wendall, who gets admitted to the establishment as a client, and Tamara try to find a way to garner enough evidence to incriminate Carrie and Trey, who have caused the deaths of several of their clients due to overdose by providing drugs to them. Tamara leads Wendall to the couple’s main office, where he plants the hidden camera. Carrie enters the room and gets shocked to see Wendall and Tamara but only after Bobby’s sponsor has turned on the hidden camera. Since Carrie has noticed the duo’s discussions, she tries to find out what they are doing in the office, only for Wendall to reply that he was asking Tamara for drugs.
Carrie gives Wendall the same, who hesitates to use it after being sober for nearly ten years. Seeing his hesitation, Carrie gives the same to Tamara and asks her to use it. To stop Tamara from using the same, Wendall injects the drug into himself. He must have called Bobby when Carrie is outside the office with Tamara, threatening the latter to clear her suspicions. Wendall then dies of a drug overdose. Carrie and Trey drag his dead body to the nearby ground where addicts usually use drugs. They set the body on fire to destroy any connection between the couple and the dead man.
Bobby solves Wendall’s murder with the help of Tamara, who lets him know what exactly happened to the former’s sponsor. The firefighter also succeeds in saving Tamara from the place before she gets nearly killed due to a forced overdose. The authorities eventually find Wendall’s hidden camera and arrest Carrie and Trey. Bobby then decides to fill Wendall’s shoes on the day which would have been the tenth anniversary of the latter’s sobriety. The firefighter also becomes a counselor to honor the memories of his late sponsor, who played a big role in leading him to a contented life.
According to Peter Krause, who plays Bobby, the firefighter may continue to help others as Wendall helped him. “I wouldn’t mind seeing Bobby play that role on the show some more, to move on from his own addiction and pain to helping others with theirs. That would be very full-circle, honoring Wendell and the other people in his life who have kept him moving forward,” Krause told TVLine.
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