Is Kenneth Choi leaving 911, role of Chimney in season 2?
If you remember, last season we saw Choi’s character of Chimney find himself at the center of a most-unfortunate rebar incident. Typically, the common rule of being a major TV character on a show is this — they won’t try to almost kill you off two seasons in a row. Apparently, that rule doesn’t apply to Chimney, given that we’re now stuck mired in another debate as to whether or not this dude’s days are numbered.
As for how the crisis came about for him today, it has a thing or two to do with his relationship with Maddie, but then also the arrival of Maddie’s psychotic ex Doug (Brian Hallisay). He’s seemingly now holding Maddie captive, and for Chimney, he’s left bleeding out and it’s hard to know if anyone will get to him in time.
Let’s get back now to the subject at the start of this article — we know that Choi’s not leaving the show immediately. As we talk about over at the link here, this character will be front and center for next week’s “Chimney Begins.” It won’t be set in the present per se, as much of it will cover how he got himself to the point where he could be almost killed off as a first responder. (Is the guy starting to regret this career choice? We wonder.) It’s a bit of an odd choice to do an origin story right after a cliffhanger, but obvious Tim Minear and the producers are quite interested in dragging this out for a little while … much to the torture of everyone.
Given that Choi’s not leaving immediately after Chimney’s bloody incident tonight, that gives us a healthy dosage of hope he’ll stick around. For now, though, let’s break this all down a little bit further.
The case for killing Chimney
How many lives does this guy got? Sooner or later, it does feel like he’s going to run out of steam and will, like the top of a chimney, turn into mere smoke. There’s really only so long somebody can cheat death and last we checked, Chimney is not a cat. He doesn’t get nine of these.
Also, if 9-1-1 as a series wants to continue to build this whole “nobody is safe” atmosphere around the show, then it’s probably right to do something to prove it.
The case for keeping him alive
This is absolutely an easy one to make — we don’t want to see him go! He’s one of the series’ strongest characters played by a fantastic actor, who brings a different perspective and experience to the team. Also, we don’t want Doug to get any satisfaction that he killed anybody. Given that most of Doug’s friends and colleagues are first responders, shouldn’t they be more qualified than most to help him? They’ll absolutely do everything that they can.
For now, light a candle for Chimney — he’s going to need all the love he can get. (Yes, we know that the episodes were filmed a long time ago, but let us live within our imaginary world for a little while! It’s still fun to think that we can magically influence something here.)
What did you think about tonight’s big 911 episode, and what the future could now hold for Chimney? Be sure to share in the comments. (Photo: Fox.)