Stop invoking btnAction() when I remove the debugger

Question

My download() only passes to btnAction() when I include a debugger statement.

If I remove the debugger, it no longer passes to btnAction():

download(helpAction, modal) {
    if(this.component === 'templateComponent')
    debugger
    this.templateComponent.btnAction(helpAction, modal);
}

btnAction(action, modal) {
    this.page.action = action;
    this.page.helpAction = action;
    this.modal = modal;
    let dto = serializeForm(this.dynForm.form.value, this.dynForm.fieldsDates);
    this.submit(dto);
}  

And this the HTML:

<div class="form-group" [formGroup]="group" *ngIf="!field.hidden">
    <label [for]="field.name">{{ field.label }}
      <span *ngIf="required()" class="danger">*</span>
       <a *ngIf="field.help && field.helpAction" href="javascript:;" 
           (click)="download(field.helpAction, modal)">
         <i class="icon-question"></i>
       </a>
    </label>
    <ng-select #select [items]="field.options" [bindLabel]="field.name" 
               placeholder="Selecione..." [formControlName]="field.name" 
               [readonly]="field.readonly" (change)="field.action ? 
               onSelect(field.name, field.action, $event) : null" 
               [style]="field.style" [ngClass]="field.class" 
               (close)="select.blur(); select.focus();">
    </ng-select>
    <ng-container *ngFor="let validation of field.validations">
        <small *ngIf="group.get(field.name)?.hasError(validation.name)" 
               class="form-text text-muted danger">{{ validation.message }} 
        </small>
    </ng-container>
</div>