#911 eli

[breathe-2am]

Hen runs a betting pool they know nothing about

Based on this post by @epiphainie

Tumblr ate the quality, so halftone closeups are under the cut

Based on this classic art (also inspo for the halftone coloring)

yes i changed beauty to hottie bc they fight fires and its hot idk man its my drawing i draw stupid shit

[setmeatopthepyre]

i've just. been thinking about this scene from chimney begins a lot, especially in relation to the bucktommy break up.

in this episode, the changing relationship between chimney and the general population of the 118 is shown through his (attempts at) interaction with tommy. so this conversation he has with eli is as much about 'the other firefighters' in general as it is about how tommy has been treating chim.

and there's... something there in the 'you don't name it until you know it'll pull through' and the 806 breakup in which neither tommy nor buck say the words i love you but they do say pretty much everything else. it feels like they've both been hurt before by this thing called love that might make it feel like they're pushing their luck to name it. and there's something there in tommy ending things before buck can hurt him.

and then there's this:

and there's something there in buck looking at tommy and thinking, wow, he's so cool, he's so confident, (he has a cleft), he's so comfortable with who he is and that makes me feel comfortable.

eli tells chim: [switching to my quick attempts at gifs here bc the text is spread out over so many shots otherwise]

and what eli's saying is: feeling like a hero isn't enough. it can be your motivation to start, but it can't be the only thing that keeps you going. you can't always be a hero. no one can. everyone is flawed and everyone's gonna slip up. there's a darkness, and if you don't account for that, you're going to run into the hard things, the things you can't solve by being a hero, the things you have to struggle through, change your perspective for. if you try to ignore those things, you're going to learn some really tough lessons really fast.

and I'm thinking about tommy and buck not knowing the details of each others' pasts, being maybe a little too comfortable with how comfortable they were, enjoying that honeymoon phase rush and thrill, not really having dug into the darkness. they learn some tough lessons really fast.

tommy leaves buck. they both didn't name the puppy. (it still hurts)

chimney loses kevin. he faces the hard, dark parts of this path he's chosen and he chooses to continue anyway. because of this, he's is in the right place at the right time to save tommy's life.

[oshaskell]

a toast, to old friends

[xofemeraldstars]

9-1-1 -> 2x12 ❝ chimney begins ❞

[mythtakens]

my brother is watching 9-1-1 for the first time so naturally I am watching with him and we watched Hen Begins last night which if my math is correct is set like 4 or 5 years after Chimney Begins? anyway Chim has been at the 118 at that point for half a decade and he still tells Hen not to let them see her cry, that none of these guys are inviting the asian guy to their houses for barbecues or out for beers. that is word for word what he says after being there for YEARS and more than proving himself. he went above and beyond, saved lives and lost a brother, but he doesn't have any real friends there or a safety net until Hen arrives. and he was still the only one who openly stuck up for her from the get go! he offered her friendship and solidarity and genuinely listened when she explained that her experience was still different to his. and she was also the first person in 5 years to show up and be his friend even while she was struggling to be respected herself... and now they both have families of their own and a family in the 118 they feel safe with that values them but they were that for each other in that firehouse before anyone else do you understand!!!! they're besties to the grave truly no one is doing it like them

[kinardsevan]

Has anyone thought about Eli in all of this? I mean I know he wasn't in 706, but you can't tell me that man didn't get an invite to the wedding and didn't make the flight across the country to see his friend get married.

But also like... He shows up, and Howie (sorry, he goes by Chimney now) is marrying the woman he was struggling to make things work with just about two years ago. And Hen is also there, and it's nice to run into her and see how life is working out. But then like, Chim ends up in the hospital and that's a little scary because hasn't he had enough of a rough go of it in the last few years.

But then, Tommy fucking Kinard shows up as the date to Chimney's new wife's brother? And how in the fuck did that happen? Because they always got along but were never besties and yet somehow he's come to town to see his buddy get married and instead he's getting a reunion with the team at the 118 that he used to have. And just out of curiosity, he asks Tommy if he still talks to Sal, and Tommy's all "sure, from time to time, we hit the gym. You should join if you have time before you leave".

And so, a quick trip to see his friend gets married becomes this whirlwind of seeing the people he left behind when he moved to Boston, and how maybe they haven't stayed the tightest over the years, but some how a decade (at least) has passed, and they're all still tangled within each other's lives.

I've been thinking about that today.

[cinematicnomad]

9-1-1 ▸ 2.12 chimney begins

[whollyjoly]

✨✨manifesting eli to come back for chim's bachelor party / at least for the wedding✨✨

[ironworked]

Hen Begins timeline

"Ah, since the meltdown in '08, everybody's been cutting back.", says one of Hen's co-workers (2.09)

"Gina dragged me to that vampire movie." (2.09): New Moon was released on November 20, 2009 and remained in theaters until at least the end of March. Eclipse came out on June 30, 2010 and lasted on theaters until at least mid October.

"Senate votes 63 to 31 to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'" (6.06): Hen and Karen celebrate the repeal (December 2010) when they're already living together.

"I'm a Black lesbian that joined the fire department at 30" (4.03); "Last time I saw Clive was 1978 [...] I couldn't walk out on the father of my child." (5.09) -> Hen was born in 1978 or 1979, so it's likely she'd be 30 in 2009.

"After 13 years in the same firehouse, why would I know - what supplies we need?" (5.03)

“When I first entered this department, Captain Gerrard didn't even see me as a firefighter. And now, 12 years later," (6.01) -> this is a quote that doesn't quite fit, because it would put Hen starting out in '11, but it's not far off.

Circumstantial 'evidence': It's raining on every call and every time we can see the outside from the firehouse (and they make a point to note how 'rare' it is "it's nice in the sunroom when it's raining. Which is, like, once a decade now."). They don't imply or mention a 'significant' passage of time; we only see Hen meet up with Athena and her friends once ("Three of us we get together once a month, swap war stories."), no montages or timestamps or mention of holidays, and on the contrary, many scenes are connected in time:

Hen arrives during the day, there's a 'raining outside' transition shot, then they all arrive at the station after a call:

Next they're eating, a fade to black, and another transition (still raining, as we can see thanks to the window and the transition shot) this time to night and into the next 9-1-1 callers:

We follow the mudslide call, fade to black, another 'raining in LA' transition shot, and come back to Hen and Chim doing the dishes:

Next up, another transition shot showing a lightening sky with, you guessed it, more rain. From there we get Gerrard berating Hen (gif edited for length; also notice it's still raining!) followed by the 118 leaving on another call, without her. Jump to her dinner with Athena and friends:

The end of that dinner segues into Hen's speech, and then straight to the next call (limo accident). The end of that call fades to black. Lastly we get Hen arriving at the station the next day ('Yo, Wilson. Nice work yesterday') to find Gerrard gone:

After her talk with the Commander and then with Chim, they get called to another accident (and, poetically, it has stopped raining).

--

So we have a period of time from end of November 2009 to December 2010. In that time, Hen worked under Gerrard, and later made friends with Chim, and 'met-dated-moved in' with Karen. Which part of that lasted longer?

Next we have this:

"They're trying to recruit women now, you know?" + "8 women were recruited, and 3 of them make it through the academy" + "the mayor wants to say that female recruitment is up" "Since you've started working here, we've received numerous complaints. [...] It's not just complaints we're receiving. Your colleagues all have some pretty complimentary things to say about you. You've made quite an impression. [...] Why would we do that [fire Hen]? You're the future of the LAFD."

What makes sense to me, is that since the LAFD was making efforts to increase diversity they probably acted fast to oust Gerrard when the 118 started making noise, to avoid the possible bad publicity.

See what happened with Buck's lawsuit:

Bobby: You're gonna get a call tomorrow from the Chief; You're being reinstated to active duty. The brass didn't want the headache, they're afraid of the bad press. [3.05]

So, I would say Hen worked under Gerrard for a few shifts.

Thoughts? corrections?

I know that 911's timeline is hmm dot-on-Jeremy-Bearimy-coded, but this one actually made sense to me.

-

9-1-1 Episode Transcripts

[epiphainie]

i think the first gen 118 (sans hen for obv reasons) was like sal crushing on tommy crushing on chim crushing on eli. i won't elaborate.

[angelwiththeblue-box]

911 abc seeing the trainwreck fox was doing and taking their show and making buck and eddie best friends again and making buck queer abc shoulda bought fox forever ago god i love this show

[setmeatopthepyre]

Flame

[@118dailydrabble day 1] [part of my tommy begins snippets]

Tommy Kinard does not keep skeletons in closets, but he does keep their ghosts in the back of his sock drawer: his dog tags, a house key, an engraved lighter.

To this day, he doesn't know how Eli had managed it. Only remembers how he'd pressed its familiar weight into Tommy's hand as they'd stood side by side in their dress blues. How tracing the words had kept his hands from shaking.

B.E. to bad habits T.K.

He'd found the probie smoking on the roof after his first bad call. It became their thing for each one after.

Now, Tommy tries to remember only the friendly flame that lit their shared cigarettes, and not the inferno that had followed.

[scottishaccentsareawesome]

Eli(gets a phone call): - Howie! Ho's it goin'? Chimney(sighs): ...One of my firefighters - Maddie's brother, actually - just came out as bi, and he's dating a guy, and his best friend who is also a guy is clearly jealous over it but of course, he's not letting Maddie's brother see it - just the rest of us. Eli:...Tell Maddie to send me your funeral arrangements. If I can't make it, I will definitely send flowers. Chimney: I appreciate that.

[xofemeraldstars]

9-1-1 -> 2x12 ❝ chimney begins ❞

[vanmarkus]

TOMMY KINARD IN EVERY EPISODE ↳ S2E12 “Chimney Begins”

[mattoidmeerkat]

Found Family Thursday (5x05-5x08)