Mac Taylor: You're not a doctor. You're a murderer with a medical degree.
Mac Taylor: I'm so tired. I used to sit like this with my wife. Her name was Claire. She died on 9/11. Nobody saw it coming. I was cleaning out that closet the other day, and I... I found this beach ball. And I remembered it was my wife who blew it up. I never told anybody this, but I got rid of everything that reminded me of Claire. Too painful. The one thing I couldn't throw away was that beach ball. Her breath is still in there.
Chosen answer: Probably to broaden the scope of the show's plot and give the audience a chance to see the characters in a different setting, People act differently at home from the way they do at their workplace. By the ninth season, the characters would have become overly familiar and predictable. It gives the writers a chance to do something different with them.
raywest ★