I Love Bobby Nash, But Peter Krause’s Best Role is Actually in a Canceled Shonda Rhimes TV Show

I first remember 9-1-1‘s Peter Krause appearing on my television screen when I was about 10. Sports Night, where Krause portrayed sports reporter Casey McCall opposite Josh Charles’s Dan Rydell, first aired at 9:30/8:30c on Tuesday, September 22, 1998, and shows like Home Improvement, Spin City, The Hughleys, Dharma and Greg, and NYPD Blue rounded out ABC’s Tuesday night line-up. While NBC was a tough competitor — Will & Grace was so popular so quickly that NBC ran reruns of the brand new comedy on Tuesday nights — Sports Night held its own for two seasons and then went on to become a bit of a cult classic, or maybe a hidden gem, if one really wants to get particular. The show brought Aaron Sorkin to television and even introduced the signature “walk and talk” that his characters often do before The West Wing even aired for the first time.

By 2001, I was trying desperately to find ways to watch HBO so that I could spend an hour a week with the Fisher family on Six Feet Under. I was a tad young to understand this at the time, but from 2001 to 2005, Peter Krause’s Nate Fisher really built and solidified the mold for the “but, I can fix him” character type. If you came of age in the early 2000s, there will always be something about Nate Fisher. In the nearly 20 years since Six Feet Under ended — with a finale that remains one of television’s most exceptional hours of content — Krause has moved slowly into “Dad mode,” first as Adam Braverman for Parenthood’s six seasons and now as Bobby Nash, the recovering alcoholic and devout Catholic who runs Firehouse 118 with a broad chest and a big heart on 9-1-1. I am a sucker for the kind of character Bobby Nash is, the devout or slightly lapsed Catholic with an addiction or anger problem — think Law & Order: SVU’s Elliot Stabler, Blue Bloods’s Danny Reagan, Bones’s Seeley Booth — but my favorite character of Peter Krause’s isn’t anything like Bobby Nash. Between Parenthood and 9-1-1, Krause starred in ABC’s The Catch, a show that was, unfortunately, short-lived and also featured what I believe to be one of Peter Krause’s most dynamic performances thus far.

Peter Krause Plays a Con Man in The Catch

Peter Krause’s introduction in The Catch actually comes in three stages. The first, about 10 minutes into Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot,” introduces him as “Mr. X,” the criminal who has been taunting Anderson/Vaughn Investigations (AVI), the private investigation firm run by Alice Vaughn (Mireille Enos) and Valerie Anderson (Rose Rollins), for months. “Mr. X” sends AVI a message before he steals money from a client of theirs — $5 million in the previous nine months — but in “Pilot,” AVI finally thinks they’re prepared. They know exactly who he’s targeting and where he’ll be, now all they have to do is figure out what he looks like.

As an avid lover of television for as long as I can remember, there are just some TV moments from the last 30+ years that I’ll never forget. When John Carter (Noah Wyle) was stabbed in Season 6, Episode 13, “Be Still My Heart,” and when Mark Green dies in Season 8, Episode 21, “On the Beach,” both come to mind from ER. The look on Josh Lyman’s (Bradley Whitford) face as he clutches his abdomen after being shot in Season 2, Episode 1, “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part I,” of The West Wing. Meredith Grey and the bomb in Season 2, Episode 17, “As We Know It,” of Grey’s Anatomy. Monica and Chandler proposing to one another in Season 6, Episode 25, “The One with the Proposal: Part 2,” of Friends. The final moment of Season 1, Episode 13, “Michael’s Gambit,” of The Good Place. And the appearance of Peter Krause in Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot,” of The Catch.

Set to a true staple of the 2010s — “Fireball feat. John Ryan” by Pitbull — the three-minute sequence where audiences first meet Peter Krause in The Catch is edited with quick cuts, split screens, and the occasional freeze-frame, giving it a fast-paced, high-energy, mesmerizing feel. Krause’s “Mr. X” rolls up to a public outdoor space in Los Angeles in a bright blue Lamborghini Aventador S. V. Roadster and a bespoke suit and manages to avoid every camera and security guard while he follows his mark, Patrick, across the plaza. “Mr. X” has a child deliver a briefcase full of cash to Patrick, snags the hard drive Patrick left for him, and heads back out of the plaza. While Alice and her investigator, Danny Yoon (Station 19‘s Jay Hayden), race through the plaza trying to locate the con man, “Mr. X” strips down to his t-shirt and dress pants, tossing his jacket and dress shirt in the trash can, and slips a pair of sunglasses on his face and a New York Yankees baseball cap on his head. He walks directly behind Alice, and even chances a look back at her, but then he’s gone.

What makes the moment particularly compelling isn’t the editing or the music, or even how desperate Alice and the rest of the AVI team are to stop “Mr. X,” it’s Krause. Whether he’s a charming sports reporter, a self-involved funeral director, your best friend’s awkward dad, or everyone’s favorite fire captain, Krause has an underlying boy-next-door quality about him that makes his characters seem easy to trust, regardless of what they might be hiding. His “nicest man on the block” routine really shines in The Catch, as does his unique ability to hide in a crowd of people. Peter Krause is somehow both striking and unassuming, and it amplifies his character, even when the audience has only seen him for three minutes. His affable nature and his inconceivable ability to have chemistry with anyone — sorry, not sorry for this comment, but the man could have chemistry with a leaf blower — make the con man hard to forget from the very first moment.

Krause’s second and third introductions go hand-in-hand. After being unable to catch “Mr. X,” Alice returns home at the end of the day and begins lamenting the loss to her fiancé, Christopher Hall, who is in the shower when she arrives home. When he comes out of the stall to greet her, audiences learn what Alice doesn’t yet know — Christopher is “Mr. X.” The next morning, after Alice writes him a check for $1.4 million, seemingly for their new home together, and leaves his office, “Christopher” is joined by Margot Bishop (Sonya Walger, who many fans will recognize as Penny from LOST). Margot tells him that it’s time to break things off with Alice, who has been their mark all along, and their associate, Reginald “Reggie” Lennox III (Alimi Ballard), will help extract him from his own con. That’s when audiences finally meet the real person behind Christopher and “Mr. X,” or at least a version of that real person. His name is Benjamin Jones.

Peter Krause Shines in Emotionally Complex Moments

When Christopher/Ben disappears from Alice’s life, it doesn’t just break her heart; it makes her question everything. Can she really be a good private investigator if she didn’t see this coming? In “Pilot,” Alice is frustrated and distraught and only gets more furious as the show goes on. And yet, she can’t help herself when it comes to Ben. Their push-and-pull dynamic is heady, and the real Ben — whoever he is under all those cons — seems to come out in unexpected moments, like the one in “Pilot,” where I’ll admit, I fell a little bit in love with him.

After Margot tells Ben that he’s going to have to end things with Alice, he arrives home to find her standing in their walk-in closet, trying on her wedding dress. She tries to hide from him, insisting that it’s bad luck, but he wants to see the dress. He pauses and lets his hand rest on his stomach, and the emotion is written all over his face. Alice might think it’s simply because he loves her so deeply, and while it is that, it’s also that he knows he’s leaving. He knows that he has crossed a line he can’t come back from and while he hasn’t figured out how to stay, he knows he’ll always want the memory of seeing her in a white dress.

The words that come out of Christopher/Ben’s mouth are simple — “Honey, please. Let me see.” — but the depth behind them is sophisticated and yet unreserved. Then, when she steps out into the bedroom and asks him what he thinks, Christopher/Ben lets out a sharp exhale that will hit you right in the chest. It destroys me, no matter how many times I watch it because even though he is a con man, and even though he has conned Alice, I know he loves her. I can feel it.

This kind of thing is what Peter Krause does so well. The emotional complexity he shows in just one minute of television is so discernible, so unique, that it puts Krause in a league of his own as an actor. He’s done it before — in Six Feet Under, Season 4, Episode 1, “Falling into Place,” when Nate buries Lisa, the mother of his child; in Parenthood, Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot,” when Adam tells Zeek that there’s “something wrong” with his son Max; in 9-1-1, Season 5, Episode 18, “Starting Over,” when Bobby holds himself responsible for the actions of a paramedic with a god complex and nearly breaks his sobriety. What makes The Catch so special, though, is that he has these complex emotional moments over and over again.

Romantics Will Find a Lot to Love About The Catch

The Catch lasts just 20 episodes, giving the show an abbreviated run that is, frankly, a tragedy. Throughout the tenure of the show, the conflicting careers of Alice and Ben collide on a regular basis, making both of them question their loyalties at various turns. Ben has to decide between Alice and Margot, which is particularly complex given his long-time connection to Margot’s brother, Rhys (John Simm), and Alice has to determine if she can even trust Ben as she learns who he really is. The show pits Alice and Ben against each other just as often as it puts them on the same side but facing off with either Margot and Rhys or Valerie and the rest of AVI. The final episode, Season 2, Episode 10, “The Mockingbird,” sees Ben and Margot fleeing the country with their daughter, who Margot gave up for adoption without telling Ben and who only recently came back into their lives, and leaving Alice and Danny, who has developed a relationship with Margot, behind. It’s a cliffhanger that I desperately wish had a resolution — if someone from Shondaland could just give me a call to let me know if Alice and Ben are happy and together, I’d really appreciate it.

Krause, who deftly juggles comedy with drama in nearly every role he has played, allows the character of Benjamin Jones to be many things. Krause’s ability to play several notes at once is what makes this his best role. Ben cooks, even playing chef in Season 2, Episode 3, “The Dining Hall,” when he and Rhys set up an “underground dining experience” in their home as part of a con, and he steals paintings, gifting Alice a piece they both particularly love at the end of “Pilot.” He tries to learn how to just be a regular guy who doesn’t con people, which goes, as I’m sure you can imagine, pretty poorly, and he turns himself in when Alice is nearly arrested for something he did, only to make a deal with the FBI in order to be released himself. He loves Alice, and he loves Margot. He wants to run away with Alice, and he wants to do right by Margot and Rhys.

The core tenet of The Catch is that love is as complex as it is straightforward, and Krause — along with his co-star and scene partner, Mireille Enos — handles it perfectly. He makes Ben Jones lovable and warm, and I found it exceptionally easy to root for Ben and Alice, even while watching Ben con people in some pretty underhanded ways. Krause’s performance ensures that the audience understands the nuances of a man like Ben, which I find unique. Sometimes, a criminal is just a criminal, but The Catch and Krause turn Ben into someone the audience can root for as he grapples with his past decisions and what he wants for his future. Now, would I fall in love with a con man in real life? I mean — maybe if he looked like Peter Krause.

My belief that The Catch holds Krause’s best role does not negate how I feel about other characters he has portrayed. Bobby Nash has demons and a layered backstory that Krause handles with impeccable care, Nate Fisher’s narcissism fights constantly with the fact that he does love other people, an inner turmoil that Krause negotiates meticulously, and both characters hold special places in my heart. I’m also no stranger to turning to Sports Night when I need a good laugh or Parenthood when I need a good cry. But for me, The Catch will always sit a head above the rest. The short tenure of the show, its cliffhanger, and Krause’s ability to make people fall in love with him through the television screen while sharing the nuances of an alluring con man all make me feel like Ben Jones is the one who got away, and I’m nothing if I’m not a fool for love with unfulfilled potential.