9-1-1 EP Talks Bobby's Tragic Loss, Buck's Big News, [Spoiler]'s Return And More In Fall Finale — Grade It!

Nary a member of the 118 escaped Monday's 9-1-1 fall finale without a life-altering experience. Well, almost nary. Eddie got pretty lucky.

Less lucky, however, was Bobby, who discovered the charred remains of his sponsor Wendell while responding to a call about a fire. Having received a troubling voicemail from Wendell earlier in the episode (click here to watch), Bobby became overwrought with guilt and immediately began investigating the circumstances surrounding his sponsor's mysterious demise.

And he already has his first major lead: the seemingly innocent couple who inquired about the fire when the 118 arrived on the scene turned out to be the owners of a rehab facility where Wendell is believed to have been admitted before his death. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until sometime this spring to know more.

(Lest you theorize that Wendell might still be alive — that someone perhaps slipped Wendell's watch on someone else's body to make him appear dead — executive producer Kristen Reidel confirms to TVLine that Wendell is "unfortunately deceased." But there's a silver lining: "Thankfully, it's TV, so we have the opportunity to go back and get to know him after he's dead," Reidel says.)

Elsewhere in the fall finale: Chimney discovered the haunted house of his dreams, though Maddie wasn't quite as sold on their future home; Denny asked Hen and Karen about his birth mother, ultimately going behind their back and finding his birth father; and Buck announced that he successfully impregnated his friend's wife.

Read on for our full Q&A with Reidel about the back half of Season 6, including and the return of yet another ghost from Hen and Karen's past.

TVLINE | Wendell's death is obviously tragic, but I'm enjoying this pattern of Bobby and Athena solving these big mysteries on the side.

We do too. We've joked, going back to Season 3, that they're our Nick and Norah. We love seeing them solve crimes in both funny and more serious ways. Seeing them lean on each other and support each other this season has been great, and you'll definitely be seeing more of that in the back half of the season.

TVLINE | How much of a focus will this mystery be in the back half of the season?

It's going to be a bit. Wendell was a very important person in his life. He was a friend, but he was also his sponsor. He helped Bobby out of some really tough times that we haven't seen on the show. We'll see Bobby investigating this shady rehab place and the couple that owns it, but we'll also get a glimpse into what their relationship was like. We'll get to know Wendell a little bit better.

TVLINE | That charred corpse was... a lot. I credit Bobby for pulling himself together so quickly.

Yeah, it was a lot. Bobby is in recovery and Wendell was a huge anchor for him, so this was a blow on a lot of levels for Bobby. He's a person that does well when he has a plan and a focus. Knowing that there's something wrong with the story he's been told gives him a focus. That's what we'll see in the back half — a focused Bobby trying to solve this mystery.

TVLINE | I have to say, I never thought I'd hear Eva's name again, much less get this whole storyline. Why was this an avenue you wanted to go down at this point?

Denny is not Hen and Karen's biological son, he's aware of that. It's something they've openly talked about, but now he's at an age where you would start to ask questions — about where you come from, about your genetic makeup. For kids that are naturally born to parents, they can see that they look like their dad or take after their mom, but that's missing for him. It's just a curiosity he has about where he comes from. Does he look like his parents? What were they like? It's tricky for him, because he's a kid and has all these questions, but he can also sense that these are hard questions to ask his moms. He's trying to get answers without hurting his mothers.

TVLINE | And he doesn't even know the half of it.

Right. There's a whole other layer of pain and suffering that came from that relationship, and he's completely unaware of that.

TVLINE | We saw Denny on his father's doorstep at the end. Will Troy Winbush be back as Nathaniel?

We are certainly hoping that we'll see Troy again. He's been doing Chicago Fire, so scheduling has been a little tricky, but I think you'll be seeing Troy on 9-1-1 soon.

TVLINE | And how will this test Hen and Karen as a couple?

It will test them, but not so much as a couple. Karen was always fearful about Eva, seeing her as a sort of specter, so Karen is almost more prepared than Hen is. She has already imagined all of the worst scenarios she possibly could. This will test Hen and Karen as parents, but at the end of the day they're very solid as a couple. They will come together to help Denny in his search.

TVLINE | I'm obviously thrilled that Buck's donation was successful, but him saying "I'm going to be a father" bummed me out, since there already is a father. Is he going to struggle with finding his place in this child's life?

I don't know if "struggle" is the right word. He did this wonderful, selfless thing for these two people, and he's proud of that. But now that there's an actual child — not just a theoretical thing — it will cause him to think about why he said yes and what he wants his role to be in that child's life. He might ask himself some questions in the back half that he should have asked himself in the first half.

TVLINE | I feel like Eddie was the only character whose life didn't dramatically change in this episode. Anything big on the horizon for him in the back half of the season?

Yes! Eddie had gone through the wringer last season, so we felt like it was time for a more positive storyline for Eddie. One of the things we're going to explore is how Eddie really hasn't dated [many women]. Shannon died, and then he got into a relationship very quickly with someone else that didn't work out. The questions for Eddie are: Is it time? Do I start dating again? What does that look like? He doesn't want to repeat the same mistake as his last relationship [with Ana], which was jumping in too quickly.