911 gave the often cliched TV wedding trope a new spin in episode 6 of season 7, “There Goes The Groom?” when Howard Han (Kenneth Choi), aka Chimney, disappeared. The previous episode gave fans an epic cliffhanger when Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) asked Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman) and Buck (Oliver Stark) where her fiance was… and Buck said, “It’s complicated.”
It was clear that Maddie and Chimney’s wedding wouldn’t go smoothly (just the usual TV tradition, like when Jake and Amy faced a bomb threat on their big day on Brooklyn Nine-Nine). But no one could have predicted the wild ride that the beloved character Chimney went on…
What happened to Chimney in 911 season 7, episode 6?
In episode 6, season 7 of 911, Chimney woke up in his car on a Los Angeles street confused about who he was and how he got there. After a man pretended to help and stole his vehicle instead, Chimney rode a bus around town. Like she has many times before, perceptive Hen Wilson (Aisha Hinds) saved the day when she realized that Chimney had contracted a disease called viral encephalitis from Thom. If he didn’t go to the hospital, he could have permanent nerve damage. Thom was a “peeping Tom” who got stuck in a ceiling vent when spying on his ex-wife and her new partner. (It wouldn’t be a 911 episode without at least one corny joke or strange case.)
In typical 911 fashion, Chimney got a happy ending when his team found him and got him to the hospital just in time for treatment. Once again, this plot point proved that this group of first responders is a true family. Like Connie Britton’s beloved 911 responder Abby Clark, Chimney is a fan-favorite character thanks to his kind nature, and he proved that even when he has memory loss, he’s going to help people. When most people would be freaking out that they couldn’t remember who they were, he still went ahead and saved a man who had a seizure and crashed his car into a produce stand.
This episode of 911 featured flashbacks to Chimney’s unwanted bachelor party that Buck insisted on throwing and also featured Chimney’s hallucinations of Maddie’s dead ex-husband, Doug Kendall (Brian Hallisay), and his brother, Kevin Lee, who also passed away. These visions suggested that Chimney might die and drove home the terror of his situation.
In an interview with TVLine, Kenneth Choi said that he was “completely satisfied” after filming Chimney’s terrifying experience. He said of his character, “He’s got amnesia, he has brain fog and he’s on the brink of death — those things are difficult to play.” The actor added that it took longer than usual to film this 911 episode, which highlights the unique nature of the storyline.
Did Chimney and Maddie get married on 911?
Chimney and Maddie finally got married at the end of season 7, episode 6 of 911. While Chimney didn’t appear at their wedding venue and all of their planning went out the window, they knew that nothing mattered except being together. As Maddie said, “We always find our way back to each other somehow” (aw).
911 fans cheered when the couple said “I do” at the hospital where Chimney was recovering, with Captain Bobby (Peter Krause) officiating (of course). The moment was made even more romantic thanks to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ “Islands In The Stream” playing, which was the couple’s special song. Another fandom-wide wish came true in this episode — we all wanted more Buck and Tommy after their kiss and we did get to see the new couple kiss again at the end of the episode.
Jennifer Love Hewitt confessed to People that as soon as she began playing her sweet character, she had told executive producer Tim Minear that she thought Maddie and Chimney should have a great love story. She was definitely right.
Let’s hope that the couple can enjoy some wedded bliss before the next disaster… but this being 911, that’s not likely.