#we didn't get enough chimney or madney for my taste

[thelaurenshippen]

911 really is such a good reminder of the particularly kind of joy that is weekly, seasons-long shows with many episodes per season. every character gets a moment to shine even in a truncated season. the satisfaction of seeing characters grapple with stuff that happened YEARS ago. having multi-episode arcs and one-off arcs that are equally enjoyable. beach episodes (metaphorical). I know we're all saying this all the time but why can't more tv be like this

[outrunningthedark]

So I'm wondering your thoughts on when it could truly be considered a parallel vs when they are recycling a former story and role reversing. I feel like the entire LS episode was everything they have previously done in either OG or LS and assigning it to new characters. Some parts - totally made sense to me with the parallels but some parts felt ... lazy. I think sometimes fandom gets so caught up about the brilliancy of stories (everything is a parallel and everything means something), they don't sit back and go - didn't we do this already? Haven't we moved past this? Isn't that the point of a story - to have growth?

For me, it's fine to headcanon something as a parallel, but I don't assign that label to anything unless the 9-1-1 show runners come out and say it was meant to be one, which never happens (because we've got two different people talking now). I think (understandably) people want to use that term because the alternative "cheapens" the product - "The writers meant to do [this thing]! They have a plan (just like the one in my head)!" vs. "Wow, they really hit copy/paste and thought that was enough, huh." But in the interview Tim did with the two co-showrunners in '22, they mentioned how they aren't always up-to-date on what the other show is doing (particularly LS with OG since LS airs later), so someone on the staff will throw out an idea and it's another's responsibility to be like "Did it already." And obviously, going by the close proximity of some stuff, they just say "Fuck it" and proceed as planned, with a few changes to make it seem different (like what happened tonight - serial killer story lines in two half seasons).

Not to throw a bucket of cold water on anyone's enthusiasm (although that's technically what I'm doing, lol) the "parallel" of the two ships when trying to will their most important person to survive is...a very generic thing to say to someone when they're fighting to stay conscious. Buck told Chimney to stay with him (albeit not in the same tone because it was years ago) when he found Chimney suffering from the stab wound. I've watched my non-yet-canon otp do it on another show (idk if it means anything beyond being bffs). Athena said it to her daughter in the ambulance after the overdose, even. The LS writers tacked on a few "baby's" because that is appropriate/expected and it's "!!! THE PARALLELS !!!" TBH, I think a lot of the time a "parallel" is actually one show taking something they liked from the other show and fixing it to fit the characters. (First one that comes to mind is Madney baby + Albert in the ambulance vs. Ryder baby + TK struggling to wake up.) "Parallels" aren't for the GA, remember, because 1) the GA isn't looking that closely and 2) the audiences for both shows appear to have different tastes since the viewership isn't anywhere near identical. If anything, parallels, particularly ones involving the two most talked about ships, are for the fandoms to dissect. Tarlos fans get to say their scenes hold more weight because they're "real" while Buddie fandom clings to the hope that all roads lead to canon. Everybody (kinda sorta) gets what they want out of it.