Peter Krause Says Bobby & Athena Are ‘More Committed’ After Confessions

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 3 “Capsized.”]

9-1-1 brings its three-part cruise ship disaster to an end with an episode full of exciting saves—by and of Bobby (Peter Krause)—and an off-the-books requisition of a helicopter, and what better way to cap it off than with the honeymooning couple home and enjoying being together?

Athena (Angela Bassett) and Bobby have saved themselves and the others with them as much as they can by the time the 118—Hen (Aisha Hinds) finds Chimney (Kenneth Choi), Buck (Oliver Stark), and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) waiting, along with former 118-er Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) as the helicopter pilot—arrives on scene. (Even Athena and Bobby can’t help everyone climb out through the giant hole in the ship.)

Below, Krause takes us inside some of the biggest moments of the cruise ship emergency, talks Bobby and Athena’s relationship, and teases what’s ahead.

I’m not surprised that Bobby and Athena can’t just go on a regular honeymoon. The second episode has that fantastic scene with Bobby and Athena trapped and thinking they’re going to drown and their confessions. Talk about filming that with Angela.

Peter Krause: That was a rather intense scene. We had to stay in the water a really long time, but the circumstances, feeling that you’re going to drown to death together, are certainly very dire [and] grave. Of course then all of Bobby’s guilt rises to the surface—his guilt over his past—and here he feels like he’s made another decision that’s going to harm someone else. And I think that for Bobby, there’s nothing more painful than thinking or knowing that some action or something he did do or something he didn’t do led to somebody else being harmed. He loves Athena so much and is afraid that he’s going to lose her here on this ship and this cruise that he wanted to go on.

It was wonderful working with Angela as always, and with this season reaching 106 episodes, she will be my longest standing scene partner in my career. It’s been an absolute joy, and certainly she was very helpful in these episodes when we were filming the dance sequence—she helped me learn the fox trot rather quickly. I love working with her.

Disney/Mike Taing

Then in the third episode, Bobby MacGyvers his way to Norman (Daniel Roebuck) and gets him down. Talk about filming that. Then it ends with that quip about wishing he could’ve watched Buck do it instead.

Yeah, that was a physically arduous stunt to perform, climbing around in those nylon straps and being in upside down world, but it was a lot of fun. Part of the language and the fun of this show is getting to do stunts and being in extreme circumstances. That was one of the more extreme circumstances that they’ve put me in. It’s a very ambitious show, so we get things done and we move on to the next. While I did wish I had a little bit more rehearsal time and everything—I haven’t seen the entire episode, but I saw some of that when I was doing some audio recording afterwards—it’s a good, dynamic scene. And now that I’m in my mid-middle age, I will say that it would’ve been easier for me to do that years ago. [Laughs] And that’s, I think, where the joke about wishing I could watch Buck do it instead came in. But it was fun.

Bobby and Athena said things that they both needed to say and the other had to address for a while in that second episode. How long do you think they needed to have that conversation, and what do you think it would’ve taken for them to get to that point without those circumstances?

Oh gosh, I don’t know. When death feels imminent, you really lay your soul bare. And so I thought that was a really, really powerful scene where they find out that they really do love each other deeply. And with all of their fears and things like that exposed, I think it’s just going to make them a better, more committed and healthy couple. I kind of think we see that at the end of the episode when they’re home with the Hollywood T-shirts and the bag of fast food and then they start laughing and run into the bedroom to be together. I think that’s the essence of their relationship, really, and it’s really nice to see Bobby in a more playful place.

Do you think they’re in the best place they’ve ever been because of that?

I would say that they’re in the most solid place that they’ve been in, for sure. I think that Bobby and Athena, after this cruise, are super solid. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to go on another honeymoon. Who knows what might happen then?

Disney/Chris Willard

They’ve had quite the journey! I remember their early days and that date at the end of Season 1. When did you know or get the sense that these two would last?

I knew that we’d last once we got married. It just didn’t make sense for them not to be together. Once Tim [Minear] put Bobby and Athena together, it seemed like that was going to be it for the run of the show and that they’d face things together. And that’s something I love about the show, is that anything can happen on this show, and moving forward, it gives Tim and the writing staff tremendous freedom to think about, what can we do with these characters next? We don’t live inside a constrained storytelling world on this show at all. Firefighters sometimes joke that, oh, you must cover all of Los Angeles County because of all the places that we go and things that we do. But that’s the language of the show. It truly is a comic book about first responders come to life. And I will say this about it being a procedural, to borrow a phrase from my Six Feet Under home of HBO, it’s not a procedural, it’s 9-1-1.

I agree. Next week is Episode 100. Congratulations! What can you preview about the episode and the Bachelor crossover?

Reaching 100 episodes these days is a rarity. It’s a milestone. I don’t know that much about The Bachelor, to be honest, but we filmed that out there. It’s very interesting to see scripted and non-scripted shows collide on 9-1-1. Again, anything can happen on 9-1-1. So this might be the beginning of other adventures similar.

Something I did like, even though the 118 did show up and Bobby knows he can rely on his team, is that at no point in the third episode do he or Athena say they will. How much prouder than usual is Bobby of his team after that? There’s that really nice moment between Bobby and Hen after the rescue.

Part of the language of the show over the seasons has been that they come to the rescue when Bobby’s in trouble. They rescue the captain. And so it wasn’t surprising to me that this is the way that it unfolded in these episodes. But in terms of Bobby being proud of them, he is as proud of them as he’s ever been.

Norman and Lola (Romy Rosemont) returned on the cruise. Tommy was back in this episode. Jeff (Mike Gray) from the earthquake returned in the Season 6 finale, which was a great callback. Is there anyone else you’d like to see Bobby cross paths with again?

In the very beginning, there was a guy who was on a balcony whose relationship didn’t work out, and he was going to jump. And I always thought that it would be fun to see that guy return over and over and over again, that he was a jumper who was never going to jump, but we still had to go and take the calls and get him inside and talk him down. He did a really good job. It’d be fun to have him back.

There have been so many wonderful guest cast members over the years, and I think that one of the unique things about The Poseidon Adventure episodes is that this group of survivors got to work with each other for just over two months. It really was like a movie cast getting to know each other. I greatly enjoyed that. And by the end of our time together, everybody was really sad to say goodbye.

What are you enjoying most about who Bobby is now, heading into Episode 100, versus who he was back when we met him in Episode 1?

I think that his tragic past has less of a grip on him now, and he’s able to be a more consistently cheerful person. And I like how that translates into more playfulness with Athena.

I love that relationship. It’s so good.

Yeah, the more fun they have together, the better. When they’re having fun, the audience is having fun, even if it means teaming up and saving the day. … I just honestly want them to go on one honeymoon disaster after another.

What’s coming up?

There are definitely some hijinks around the Chimney and Maddie [Jennifer Love Hewitt] wedding. I can say that there will be some karaoke.

Are you singing?

I’m not.

9-1-1, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC