People who think TKelly didn’t do anything wrong when she held the story til after Chim and Hen were safe are wrong in one massive, MASSIVE way - and the fact that she labeled Jonah a serial killer. Bc here’s the thing - even if he caused several people to code and brought them back, he still has only one CONFIRMED person he killed, and that’s Claudette. By labeling him a serial killer when at this point in time Jonah can only be proven responsible for one death, TKelly has:
Opened the door for every single person who ever had a loved one die under the care of any of the depts he worked at to question whether or not it was a rightful death, and causing them months of agony while its figured out, if ever, since some of the deceased wouldn’t have the bloodwork available anymore to prove anything
Made it impossible for Jonah to have a fair trial anywhere within the state of California since now all potential jury members will be biased into thinking he’s a serial killer (if not him not having a fair trial ANYWHERE in the US given what a media circus this is now)
Opened herself and the station up for Jonah to sue them, bc if no one can prove that he killed more than one person, she would have been slandering him BY THE LEGAL DEFINITION in the press by calling him a serial killer
If Jonah is convinced of Claudette’s murder, TKelly labeling him a serial killer opens the door for him to appeal the conviction on the basis of having unfair coverage in the press
Regardless of whether or not you think she screwed up on WHEN she covered the story and/or what her definition of ‘off the record’ is, she has MASSIVELY screwed up on the professional front and she better hope they can prove he permanently killed other people or she’s in for a world of hurt that she brought down on herself.
honestly if you’re not understanding why buck is pissed at taylor then you’re missing the point. it’s not necessarily about the endangerment––it’s that she used him, hen, and chimney for her own personal gain after she 1) promised him she wouldn’t, and 2) promised hen and chimney all of this was purely off the record.
and buck put his trust in her, and she was never not going to run the story. she was always always going to run the story. that’s why he’s pissed. she still used the details that hen and chimney (and buck!) provided to her after he trusted her to keep his family safe. that anger is 100% warranted
This meta isn’t fully formed in my head yet but I can’t help thinking about the parallels between Jonah and Buck, weirdly enough?
Like. When we saw young Jonah, he’s rambling about his special interest and then we see him save the bus driver’s life, and you know what I thought about? Buck, who loves talking about whatever he’s hyperfixating on. They both have this moment as kids where they realize doing something dangerous has given them the attention that they’ve desired - Buck with getting hurt on the bike and seeing his parents worry about him, and Jonah with seeing the attention that he gets from being a hero. And they both try to replicate that as children, and again as adults.
Even as adults, we see they move around from place to place until they find the 118, and both feel like they belong. Except it’s so different how they view it - Buck sees this as a family, where he can grow with the people he loves, while Jonah saw it as a group of heroes with intense stories, where he could earn his place if he could have these heroic calls. They kind of replicate the attention they got as children (though obviously with the benefit of 5 seasons, we’ve seen Buck grow from that mentality as well), but it’s so interesting to see how it affected them so differently, that Buck rushes headlong into danger to protect people, while Jonah creates the danger to benefit himself.
Now I’m thinking about how you can draw parallels between Jonah and TayKay…
Taylor obviously had it rough as a kid, what with her dad maybe-probably-definitely killing her mom and the media firestorm that ensued. That is apparently her reasoning for being so obsessed with going after The Truth™️
(even though you’d assume that would make her more empathetic towards people not wanting their pain broadcast for everyone to see, but that’s not the point here)
Taylor doesn’t set out to hurt people, but she’s also shown to not be all that concerned if they get hurt along the way, so long as she can justify it as being collateral damage in the name of journalism. It’s the same with Jonah: he didn’t set out to kill people, but he made the choice that it was an acceptable risk so long as he got the adulation he wanted.
Are these equal offenses? Absolutely not, but they both demonstrate a mindset that says, “so long as I get what I want and can justify it, it’s okay if others get hurt.” Taylor has been perfectly alright with capitalizing off of Bobby’s pain, playing at being an investigative journalist when she’s actually a reporter (yes those are two different things!), and violating both ethical boundaries and personal relationships by reporting information that was supposed to be off the record. Like our queen Karen said: once is an accident, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern.
