Constant Confusion

He definitely knows that this season premiere got the lowest ratings ever and makes me wonder how the rest of the season will go

(This answer isn't about Ronen. Bear with me.) You know, Tim isn't a fantastic show runner by any means, but it's amazing how one episode is...undoing our previous perceptions of him. Tim isn't supposed to be the show runner who develops shit off screen and expects the audience to follow along, yet here we are processing a secret marriage that was never even hinted at. Tim isn't supposed to be the show runner who lets plots drag out for longer than necessary (ie the lawsuit arc starting at the end of 3x04 and wrapping up in 3x06, which is much less time than the fandom would have you thinking based on how often it's discussed), yet the new LS season is starting with the secret marriage so that the Tarlos wedding can be (allegedly) delayed until sometime in 4B. These changes, wherever they came from, are (possibly) going to affect viewership going forward because LS fans - the fandom specifically - prided itself on "not being like OG". I just. I don't get it. (Has he maxed out his potential already?)

My gripe about the sponsor stuff with Bobby is that Bobby....wasn't really doing anything in 6a and after nearly relapsing in 5x18, if the show wanted to explore that more why didn't we see the sponsor all throughout 6a so his death would mean something? At this point, he's already dead and it meant next to nothing to the audience when it happened. No amount of bring him around NOW in flashbacks is really going to change that. It just feels like a waste of time to have him in a buch of flashback scenes in 6b after they gave him a lackluster death scene already, when they COULD have had him in non-flashback scenes during 6a and had the death mean something! Plus the audience would be more invested because we would know this character and care more about his death and who killed him.

It really makes me think they had something else planned and when they swiched the titles of the last couple episodes, that's when they came up with this plotline, because without Bobby busy with something else in 6a there's no reason we shouldn't have seen the start of this storyline LONG before 6x09.

(This one got lost in my inbox. Apologies.) IMO, the Bobby story line feels like another case where a minor change here or there could have helped kick-start the intended impact (the most recent example being Carlos's current marriage to Michelle's sister). Remember in 5x11 when Bobby was struggling to find (temporary) replacements for Eddie and Chim because "everything falls apart" when the dynamic isn't right? Remember how we *knew* something was going to happen with Lucy or Jonah (but mostly Jonah) that caused problems for the firefam in the future? Let's apply that well thought out (I give credit where credit is due :P) detail to the Bobby and Wendell situation. Remember when Bobby nearly relapsed in 5x18? And the "conclusion" was Eddie reminding him that he's done more good than bad as a Captain? And Bobby got rid of the alcohol? Could Bobby not have placed a call to Wendell? Even if we didn't know who Wendell was at the time? (Though I'm sure some would have figured it out.) Could we not have had a glimpse of Bobby at an AA meeting in the closing montage, sitting next to the guy we would later learn is Wendell, instead of having Kristen say it happened off screen? Or, since "Bobby will always be an alcoholic", could there not have been a mention of him having gone to another meeting off screen during 6A? And giving his sponsor a mention? What about Athena asking him if he did before they set off on their cruise (that never happened)? Especially since she knew Bobby was anxious about being surrounded by drinkers and 11 different bars to do so? The answer to all of the above...is no. And the most logical explanation for why that is can be summed up in these words: it was not planned. (An example of an arc that *was* carefully crafted? Eddie's PTSD. Season five started off with a panic attack. Can't get much more obvious than that.)

My gripe about the sponsor stuff with Bobby is that Bobby....wasn't really doing anything in 6a and after nearly relapsing in 5x18, if the show wanted to explore that more why didn't we see the sponsor all throughout 6a so his death would mean something? At this point, he's already dead and it meant next to nothing to the audience when it happened. No amount of bring him around NOW in flashbacks is really going to change that. It just feels like a waste of time to have him in a buch of flashback scenes in 6b after they gave him a lackluster death scene already, when they COULD have had him in non-flashback scenes during 6a and had the death mean something! Plus the audience would be more invested because we would know this character and care more about his death and who killed him.

It really makes me think they had something else planned and when they swiched the titles of the last couple episodes, that's when they came up with this plotline, because without Bobby busy with something else in 6a there's no reason we shouldn't have seen the start of this storyline LONG before 6x09.

(This one got lost in my inbox. Apologies.) IMO, the Bobby story line feels like another case where a minor change here or there could have helped kick-start the intended impact (the most recent example being Carlos's current marriage to Michelle's sister). Remember in 5x11 when Bobby was struggling to find (temporary) replacements for Eddie and Chim because "everything falls apart" when the dynamic isn't right? Remember how we *knew* something was going to happen with Lucy or Jonah (but mostly Jonah) that caused problems for the firefam in the future? Let's apply that well thought out (I give credit where credit is due :P) detail to the Bobby and Wendell situation. Remember when Bobby nearly relapsed in 5x18? And the "conclusion" was Eddie reminding him that he's done more good than bad as a Captain? And Bobby got rid of the alcohol? Could Bobby not have placed a call to Wendell? Even if we didn't know who Wendell was at the time? (Though I'm sure some would have figured it out.) Could we not have had a glimpse of Bobby at an AA meeting in the closing montage, sitting next to the guy we would later learn is Wendell, instead of having Kristen say it happened off screen? Or, since "Bobby will always be an alcoholic", could there not have been a mention of him having gone to another meeting off screen during 6A? And giving his sponsor a mention? What about Athena asking him if he did before they set off on their cruise (that never happened)? Especially since she knew Bobby was anxious about being surrounded by drinkers and 11 different bars to do so? The answer to all of the above...is no. And the most logical explanation for why that is can be summed up in these words: it was not planned. (An example of an arc that *was* carefully crafted? Eddie's PTSD. Season five started off with a panic attack. Can't get much more obvious than that.)