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9-1-1: Buck, Bothered and Bewildered (2024)
Classic 9-1-1 is BACK!
First off, it's a shame this is a short season and the network switch happened when it did because it would be great to have a full cast episode celebration for the 100th episode with something really wild, but coming off the big disaster, another one wouldn't have fit. Maybe for the 118th episode? I need the whole firefam to *shine* together!
That said, this episode was PERFECT. The whole episode was just FUN except for when it was being heartbreaking, and that is the show I know and love! It's one thing for the disaster episodes to feel like old school 911. The lightning strike episode managed that easily. But I knew these more character focused episodes would be the real test if the show could recapture that early magic, and I was NOT disappointed. From the fun and crazy Bachelor call, to Maddie and Chim playing long-suffering older siblings to Buck, to a gut-wrenching call, to Athena having an important conversation with her son, to Buck feeling like his (boy)friend is replacing him, every inch of the episode was CLASSIC 9-1-1. Tim has brought back his excellent pacing as well as inspired storylines to the show. I was laughing one minute, crying the next, and occasionally forgetting to breathe while waiting to see how things played out in a scene. I could not be more happy with how the show is going with Tim back in charge, and ABC is clearly willing to take the risks FOX was not and start moving storylines forward instead of around in circles. SO refreshing. This network switch doesn't seem so much like a fresh start as it feels like finally coming home. Like coming back to what always made the show great from the start and that is the characters and their relationships with each other at the heart of everything.
Now for the big thing! Buck's storyline. It was so, so lovely to see Oliver telling everyone the fans weren't seeing things, there were crumbs along the way, and he has been making efforts to get this storyline to happen. It was SO tiring watching Kristen run Buck's character in circles, be stuck with women who were AWFUL to him (and the firefam), and turn him into someone I hardly recognized. Hearing Oliver and Tim also call out that it was an issue that needed to be addressed was another relief that we weren't seeing things and clearly something at the old network was interfering. To go from all of that, to giving Buck a really fun and funny episode and ending in a really gentle moment with another man was such an absolute treat. The way you can see the wheels turning as Buck has his realization and sort of lights up? It was so beautiful, and tender, and I cannot wait to see his journey as he talks to his family and learns more about himself! Now naturally, I know where I want this storyline to be headed (Buck was just...SO close to figuring out he was begging for Eddie's attention all episode and was worried his kid was looking up to someone else), but seeing as how Tommy also seemed to have picked up on that, I'm willing to see this play out. It will be nice to see Buck with someone who cares about him for a change, and as long as the main focus stays on Buck and his moments with the firefam, I think this could be a good background thing happening this season, as well as a solid base for Buck to re-examine his relationships and have an "oh" moment about why it bothered him so much that Eddie wasn't making time for him. (So funny to me that this never came up with Eddie's girlfriends because Eddie making time for him was never an issue. I see you Tim!) Thank you ABC for being willing to let Tim allow the storylines to move and follow the narrative tugs they've been having since the start, but that fell off somewhere around the showrunner shift. It's truly a moment that will go down in TV history and was so beautifully done. Thank you Oliver for pushing for what you knew was true to your character's story and treating Buck with so much love and care. Let's keep this train rolling!
Final thoughts: 1) I loved the little jokes about people not recognizing Harry since it was a new actor 🤣 I remember hearing the previous actor wanted to step away, so I'm glad they found a way to bring the character back. 2) Ravi is not being paid enough to put up with Buck and Eddie's drama. He has been missed and it was lovely having him back being sassy in the background. 3) Buddie is so close I can taste it, but knowing we have season 8 already renewed, I'm excited that the storyline can breathe and unfold naturally. 4) 9-1-1 proved this week that it is TRULY back, and back in good and respectful hands. I am ready to see what else this season has in store.
9-1-1: Capsized (2024)
WOW what a ride!
I still feel like I need to catch my breath! I don't give out 10/10 often, but this disaster arc will go down in history with the tsunami and earthquake arcs as true cinematic masterpieces. I laughed, I cried, I cheered, it was a roller-coaster in the BEST way! The opening especially had me laughing and while we all knew what was coming with that set up, it still gave me goosebumps watching the kid seeing that wave.
Peter and Angela are absolute stars and it feels like the show was sleeping on them under Kristen's direction, but now they are back in the forefront and it feels so good! I absolutely adored getting to see Bobby do the dangerous rescue and rope work as he's usually hanging back and managing the scene. The little joke with Athena about Buck being there was cute and also a great clue to the new audience about the history there and what kind of character Buck is. The constant snark between and around Norman and Lola was funny and felt true to how a lot of people try to cope under stress. The doctor was so funny and then we got to see that great moment where he was able to break through his fear and really be helpful. I was so happy that the little boy AND his mom were okay and rescued. I was CRUSHED at losing Wes though, and even a little sad at losing Julian because he had many chances to leave everyone but he stayed and was helpful. These moments and this whole arc really, just really hammered home what this show does so well (though it's been less consistent the past couple seasons) which is allowing tragedy to have it's space, but also making room for hope. The most memorable arcs (plane crash, earthquake, bomber, tsunami) DO show the death and tragedy in these disasters, but also show extraordinary rescues and the way people pull together to help one another.
To balance out the more heavy storyline Bobby and Athena had going on, we got some truly great firefam as actual family moments. From sibling-like squabbles to ride-or-die rule breaking together to follow someone's hunch, the audience gets a clear picture of how close this team is and how well they know each other. As someone who remembers Tommy and how the firehouse was in Chim and Hen's "begins" episodes, I'm interested to see where the show is going with bringing his character back, and if we will get some acknowledgement that he's changed. And let's thank FOX for one thing which is taking the actress who played Lucy off our hands so she couldn't come in and muck up a perfectly good scene with her terrible overacting while all the characters have to pretend like the sun shines out of her behind. Lou did a great job having Tommy fit the vibe of the team with the right level of snark and silliness and dark humor. "Who cares!" will live rent free in my head for awhile. It was so good seeing the team banter feeling like it used to. Also, would it be a 9-1-1 episode if SOMEONE wasn't ignoring a hunch the 118 had and then taking the credit when it turns out they were right? It really pulls everyone together to have someone to hate a bit and we got that little bit of tension in this arc with Hen. I'm curious to see if we get anything more on that front!
This was a solid three episode arc overall! It was a great way to introduce a new audience to the heart pounding action this show is known for, along with showcasing the main stars people would know coming into the show blind. Next week looks like it will showcase the lighter side of the show which strikes a nice balance. Tim was always really good at pacing and balancing the big emergency episodes and the lighter and/or more character driven episodes. I'm truly excited to see what comes next. The only thing so far I have not been interested in seeing any more of is Marisol (and the homophobic/transphobic weirdly-always-grinning-like-a-creep actress) so hopefully that mess wraps up soon and we can focus more on the firefam in this short season. As good as this arc has been, Tim still has a lot of ground to recover with fans after the mess Kristen made of everything, especially Buck's character (as if that boy would ever cheat on anyone, or date and move in with someone who nearly ruined Bobby's life. Please). The real test is going to come with how the next couple of episodes flow and if the show still feel like the early seasons in these less disaster driven episodes. Seeing the previews, it looks likely, but only time will tell. For now, the show seems to be blessedly back on track!
9-1-1: Rock the Boat (2024)
Back into the swing of things!
It has, unfortunately, been a hot minute since this show was able to keep me on the edge of my seat, but Tim coming back has breathed new life into a show that was floundering in its writing and pacing.
First of all, we have to talk about Peter and Angela being (rightfully) given the spot light and absolutely carrying this disaster arc. In just two episodes I feel like we got more Bathena moments, conversations, and insights into their relationship than we have in the past two seasons combined. In fact, this season so far feels very much like it's picking up where in left off in season 4. I saw some people being confused about Bathena having issues and that it felt "out of character" but to me it just felt like that fight they set aside when Eddie and then Bobby got shot finally had a chance to get picked back up again and resolved. The beauty of Athena confronting her fear and seeing that she did have so much more she wanted to talk about with Bobby was contrasted so sharply with Bobby confronting that he was still feeling unworthy and hasn't fully dealt with that yet. It made the scene feel so heartbreaking and real. Just two flawed people reminding each other how much they love one another. This kind of depth from the show has been sorely missed.
It was also great seeing Bobby and Athena investigating together, Bobby getting to be in the center of the action when we usually see him directing everyone else, and Athena being the commanding presence we all know she is. On top of all the drama, there was also the perfect balance of funny/snarky moments to cut the tension a little. That is another thing the show used to be really good at that fell somewhat flat over the past few seasons, but seems to have returned along with Tim. The jokes and snark give the audience a little break, without ever making the emergency or people involved seem trivial, and it's really good to have that balance back on the show. Even the editing choices gave us some humor with things like Bobby saying he needed his team, and cutting to the 118 at work, or someone pointing out Bobby and Athena were off relaxing only to cut to them actively trying to evacuate people from a sinking ship. Just delightful.
Speaking of the 118, what a great B plot for the episode! We get to see Captain Hen again, while also showcasing how no one on the show is perfect, and our main characters are still complex, real-feeling people. We got a few laughs with Hen vs The Boys, while also showcasing to a new audience the dynamics of the team even though they're still currently spread out and not the full 118 crew at the moment. We also got a great Hen and Karen scene and finally some good Hen/Maddie content! It's great seeing Maddie back in the middle of things, and we got some funny moments there too, along with the drama and tension. Something the show always used to do incredibly well and seems to be bringing back, is manage arcs for multiple characters at once. The last few seasons it felt like a character might get one big episode "for them" and then not do much of anything for several episodes. However, in the early seasons with better pacing, as one arc would be reaching its peak, another one would be starting, and sometimes a third would be closing meaning the mains were all having things going on at once and no one felt sidelined or overshadowed. We've got this big Athena and Bobby story, and this episode had this plot with Hen starting, and last week we got Chim/Maddie and Buck/Eddie/Chris stuff. The pacing is starting to feel more like it used to, which is a relief after the past couple of years. I hope it continues!
Overall, this was an incredibly strong episode that didn't cut where I thought it would (Bobby and Athena stuck in the bilge pump room) which left me extra on the edge of my seat the whole rest of the episode after that waiting to see where it was actually going to end. That moment did NOT disappoint! I know the disaster episodes are not the metric to judge the whole season on as they tend to be An Event of their own, but just these two episode have felt so much more like home than 99.9% of seasons 5 and 6. People saying the show has "changed" with the network need to go back and watch the first couple of seasons because this is the most "9-1-1" the show has felt in a long time. I'm excited to see what comes next, and to see more of the firefam acting like their old selves again, with good emergencies, and the heart and soul of the show back in the right place- centered on the people of the 118 and their connections. Also, a shout out to the ABC promo team for actually doing their jobs and promoting the show. This great cast deserves it and between the promo and Tim returning to run the show, things are looking up!
9-1-1: Abandon Ships (2024)
Tim is back in charge and it SHOWS.
Wow. What a difference a showrunner can make, huh? ABC pulled out all the stops to actually promote the show and cast, and Tim delivered on the promise of bringing the show back to life. The whole vibe felt like home again, and it's PALPABLE in every scene that these main characters are the heart and driving force of the show, NOT the emergencies or side characters. Those are there to facilitate the main character's plot points, a fact that has been sorely lacking while Kristen was at the helm, from pointless drawn out emergencies to weird focus on side character, many episodes left very little time for the actual main characters. There was a whole lot of "telling" and not a lot of "showing" this group be a family, but this episode really brought back the "firefam" feel, and we haven't even gotten everyone together at work yet!
The set up for this cruise emergency is so fun, and sure to bring the dramatic tension this show is known for, and it was neat seeing some familiar faces for Bobby and Athena to run into, that also brought the sense of humor this show is known for. The whole episode had me laughing out loud with moments that were funny, but not hollow, and moments that were truly touching. It was wonderful to see Maddie and Chimney having some more lighthearted struggle without undermining their real fears. Chim was such a steady presence for Maddie in season 2 and now she is getting to be that for him. I can't wait for the wedding shenanigans!
We can't end though without talking about the Buddie elephant in the room. First, Tim spoke for the audience when he wrote Buck asking what he was even thinking dating a death doula. I respect him walking in and shutting that nonsense down. We all knew it was a bad fit from the get-go and I'm glad it didn't take up a second more time that it needed to. Tim was right, they had better things to do with the episode. If only the same treatment was given to the other pointless, lackluster, shoehorned love interest Marisol. Not only is the actress transphobic, she also...can't act. Her constant manic smile was terrifying and even her couple of seconds were so awkward as to be unbearable. We all know Ryan can ACT, so constantly trapping Eddie with these terrible actresses and recycled plot lines is getting tiresome. Even aside from that though, the episode went out of it's way to put Buck firmly (and literally) in the space Shannon occupied (but in a smoother, more easy fit than she ever did). Which brings up the question, how can the show possibly introduce any kind of viable partner for either of them when they are already occupying that space in each other's lives? No matter what Tim has planned, it was good to see them being friends again ON SCREEN instead of being told they're friends and barely seeing them interact. I do hope we get more from Chris on this though, as seeing him and Eddie (and Buck!) navigate his abandonment issues and his anger now that he's old enough to fully understand what happened could be an interesting arc!
Overall, a SOLID and very promising start to the season with much to look forward with in this big emergency. Let's hope the show can keep the momentum up!
9-1-1: Pay It Forward (2023)
Firefam feels can't save recycled plots and bad pacing
This was the planned series finale? The show has known since before October that FOX was not renewing the show and didn't know ABC was taking over until after the show wrapped and THIS is what they chose to do with this season as a whole (mostly filler and wasted time) and this episode as the culmination of 6 years? The cast, the fans, the characters, and their storylines ALL deserved better than this.
First, some things I liked:
-Bobby being captain dad and his favorite children of the 118 all making him look bad by talking in class, being on their phones in class, daydreaming, and being late, was hilarious. 118 bottle episode stuck in the firehouse when? I need a whole episode of JUST them together.
-Athena cradling Eddie's head sitting him down at the hospital made my heart smile. She is the Station Mother
-Hen being hurt but trying to wipe Buck's face was so sweet and I love their dynamic together.
-Hen and Karen fostering again and getting an adoption call would have worked better if this had come up at all this season, but I'm happy for them and they deserve this.
-Maddie and Chim are adorable and I hope Bobby gets to marry them in their backyard after some fun wedding delay shenanigans
-Bathana finally going on a cruise, good for them! I hope we open season 7 with the cruise disaster we should have had this season.
Now for everything else:
Kristen's inability to pace a show and manage an ensemble cast strikes again. This should have been like seasons 2-3 where the build up to the big finale disaster started in the previous episode and took most of the finale. This set up could have been SO good and the start of the collapse WAS. We got everyone in danger, Maddie was finally on a call with the 118, and it looked like we were going to have a lot of desperate rescues and lots of firefam feels! And while the actors absolutely delivered and the practical effects this show uses helped make everything feel real (can't wait for that Disney budget so we can get more stuff like this again!), the episode and firefam were once again absolutely let down by the writing.
The emergency was tense for a moment but suddenly everyone got rescued in a couple minutes? Buck just yanked Hen and Eddie out and we moved on, he took two seconds to get Chim (don't get me started on him pulling that bar out which the show itself has told us MANY times is not the right thing to do), and Bobby's rescue took the longest but we didn't actually get to spend a lot of time on people looking for or worrying about him. There were multiple parallels to past traumas for all the main characters and the show didn't touch on a single one of them! Eddie's fear of dying alone plus being "buried" again, Hen having a crash behind the wheel, Chim being stabbed, Bobby's back being injured again and being buried like last season, Ravi watching a vehicle going over a bridge, Buck having to watch the people he loves being hurt and worried he can't save them in time. It's all just...right there and they did NOTHING with it. And while Buck taking charge would be an nice bookend to the premier, the journey across the season lead him absolutely nowhere so this feels unearned and doesn't make sense. We didn't see him learning lessons and gaining leadership skills, and working to study up or anything at all! He's always been a favorite character of mine and he got so much screentime this season and it was almost all wasted time on plots that went nowhere or didn't inform his character or let the audience know what he was thinking. Also, if they wanted to pay homage to the series and with a title like "Pay it Forward" it was the perfect time to showcase dispatchers we know and love collaborating to save the 118 for a change and to bring back more than one familiar face from emergencies past (the one kid didn't even get to talk about who he was or to say it was his chance to help Bobby back or anything) or had the crowds rush in like 2x18 to help save the people who normally save them. We did get a tiny bit of that with Maddie calling in outside help (nice to see her getting to do that again, I've missed her at dispatch) but not nearly enough.
And then the whole team is out of the hospital except Chim and Bobby who are almost ready to be released (the Maddie/Athena moment was a bright spot) and the next thing we know everyone is fine and at work with no problems and jumping around like nothing ever happened. Recycling season 4's finale right down to no injury recovery moments and Taylor (left and came back because Buck got injured (just like his parents) and still doesn't understand him but we're forcing it anyway) and Ana (personality-less blank slate Latina Character) 2.0.
Any and all things they tried to do or say for Eddie and Buck all season were thrown out in this episode as if they never happened just so the showrunner could end the series with them paired up with any woman, doesn't matter who or what it does to their characterization or story arcs as long as they have a woman tied to them. Eddie says not to date people from calls, and needs to stop getting into relationships because others tell him he needs to? He's suddenly materialized this random character's phone number and no longer has any hangups or reservations about performing and calls her after other people push him about dating! Buck needs to stop being passively suicidal and choose himself and stop making the same mistakes? He picks out a new couch with the first person to look his way, who happens to think him dying was "so freaking cool" and who left the second his life became about more than his death only to come back after he nearly dies and is interesting again in a recycling of season 4 and Taylor/the Buckley parents and their conditional love attention and interest. How original. Kristen would rather ruin their individual characters and arcs rather than face the fact that the show built them together into the perfect partners for each other and their own family unit and allow that story to be told, and in a way and at a time that makes sense. They're running out of time to do it right and to not do it at all is a slap in the face to their own narrative they built.
The sperm donor arc was nothing but missed opportunities to delve into really interesting and meaty arcs for Buck and his emotional state and choosing himself and his own mental/emotional wellbeing over making others happy at his expense just because he can. It instead brought about a baby no one wanted or needed, only to make the whole thing about the guest characters and THEIR relationship and nothing at all interesting done for Buck. The labor was ridiculous and Natalia is frankly unwatchable as a character, the only thing good coming out of this was Kameron's actress being surprisingly funny and actually a good actress. Not even the "big man tiny baby" of it all made any of this worth it when we've seen better with babies on emergencies and when Buck is already a dad to a wonderful kid and has a little niece we could see more of him with.
Final thoughts:
-Buck never interacted with his sister after she got engaged
-A parting shot for Kristen keeping Ravi out of the closing montage when she had no problem forcing Lucy in front of and over Eddie in the season 5 finale moment that was supposed to be his big return to work
-This show has never once needed an air ambulance but of course we had to have one this week just so Kristen could wedge her fave Lucy in one last time to be "bad@ss" and talk with the 118 like she's still besties with all of them when we don't even hardly get to see them talking like that and being besties with EACH OTHER. The only good thing was her time was blessedly short, even though her line delivery was even worse than usual to make up for it. This show has such talent in even one off emergency victims, but between Taylor, Lucy, Ana, Marisol, and Natalia, I can't believe they have picked this many talentless women to waste screentime on just to throw someone, ANYONE at Buck and Eddie to avoid putting them together.
ABC has to do better. They HAVE to. This cast is so good and this show used to be so refreshing and unlike any other tired procedural out there with so much heart and joy and depth. Kristen has turned it into a shallow, vapid, cheap shell of itself. Everyone deserves better than this.
9-1-1: Love Is in the Air (2023)
Not feeling the love-Everyone deserves better and Kristen NEEDS to go
It took me a few days to get my thoughts together and I'm sorry, but what was this episode?! Seriously, what was this? A retcon of what we used to know for some characters, recycled plots galore, and indecisive Madney tainting a bit what should have been a good and happy storyline for them, plus a whole heck of a lot of wasted time. What's new? Nothing with Kristen at the helm since she hasn't had an original idea in her life.
The calls: The parachute proposal emergency didn't end up being the emergency I thought would happen which was a nice surprise! He actually made a perfect landing but got tangled up in a robbers car? Just bonkers enough to feel like old school 911, however making it all about her accepting the proposal because it was public and planning to break it off later? I knew it would send Chim spiraling exactly like last week which, while I have ALWAYS loved Madney and I ADORE Chim, was making it very hard to root for him to commit if he was so indecisive. The best was the older bride, trapped and desperate to get to her wedding. The whole call was very sweet and it was great seeing Bobby get a little moment to be cheesy. (Sidenote, he wants to marry a couple SO BAD and I thought this would be his moment and they would bring the groom to her but still very sweet how it played out. Give Peter/Bobby more to do! He's SO GOOD!) The team teasing Chim was very cute as well and reminded us they are a family which we have seen too little of lately. The last call, while it started out heartbreaking, went on for FAR too long. Why would we need a whole montage of this couple's life when we don't even know them instead of using that time for the firefam? It's the amnesia couple from 5x18 all over again. I don't think I would have minded quite so much if the rest of the episode time (and time across the past two seasons since Kristen took over full time) was better utilized to show us important main character conversations on screen. Athena had a lovely talk with this stranger but we've not heard her talk that much with BOBBY about her feelings on literally anything. Same with Maddie and Chim who have yet to have an open an honest conversation with EACH OTHER about their feelings in....a VERY long time. Something I would have liked to see before they chose to get married. The depth and honesty of their relationship has always been one of it's strongest selling points and seeing their story take place off screen so often once Kristen took over is deeply disappointing and disrespectful to their characters and love story.
However, speaking of Madney, regardless of the set up being a mess for them to take this leap, Maddie was hilarious staring at the ring and then getting it stuck (though we never find out if she ever made it to her shift? I miss Josh and Linda and Sue and Maddie having friends) and so was Chim dragging that poor insurance lady into his problems because Kenny has such great timing and delivery. I really loved the Hen/Maddie scene too, though I cannot believe it too this many seasons to get one. I was happy Maddie was the one to officially propose and to do it in a way that involved Jee and despite all the waffling, the relationship had a strong foundation from previous seasons and JLH and Kenneth Choi have phenomenal chemistry together and really sold it. They absolutely deserved to take this step, but the journey matters on how we got there and I think the writing let them down quite a bit in that regard which is a shame. I'm excited for a wedding though!
Eddie: Eddie, who worked 3 jobs to try and make ends meet when he was discharged from the army, who always makes sure Chris has what he needs first, who said that he wants nothing more than to spend every free moment with his son, who fought with his estranged wife because he was struggling to pay for surf lessons because Chris wanted them and he would find a way to make do, is suddenly a golfer? A hobby that takes both a lot of time and a lot of money? He has all the clothes and gear and yet it's never once come up? Okay. We DO know for a fact that Eddie likes baseball and Ryan played in high school and college. This would have been the perfect time to hit up the batting cages and we still would have seen Eddie looking GOOD. (I can't imagine him hiking alone either without Buck and/or Chris on a WEEKEND but we all know what Kristen thinks of that) Buck is a crypto bro, Ravi is a landlord, Eddie is a golfer, what show is this? Who ARE these characters? Kristen certainly doesn't know and now the audience doesn't really know either. And WHAT is with this continued retcon of Eddie and Shannon's relationship?! Eddie just said last episode he only agreed to marry her because she was pregnant and he didn't even really propose but now he's trying to recapture the "magic" they had? Where? WHEN?! With a timeline for them (and their ages) that makes zero sense? Why is Kristen glorifying Shannon, and Eddie's relationship with her, as though it wasn't incredibly toxic and they weren't both miserable and as if she wasn't planning to leave again before she died? We could have had a season of Eddie and Chris working through complex emotions about Chris's growing understanding of how he was abandoned. We KNOW Ryan and Gavin can deliver a gut punch of emotions and instead we got this bland flavorless retcon because Kristen has something against parents being allowed to be bad and their kids having their own complicated emotions about that. And as much as I LOVE Bobby and Eddie getting scenes and wish we could see more since Ryan and Peter are so great together and Dad Bobby is the best, it's another recycled plot of Bobby only being there to push Eddie to another love interest and surprise, surprise! In comes Ana 2.0 with Eddie running into a woman he vaguely knows and suddenly out of nowhere having a "spark". Even though he just said he didn't want to date and also JUST told Buck that going out with someone from a call never works out. Why point that out only to have him do the same? Do the writers not know what happened the previous week? Does the showrunner and script coordinator not watch for that kind of stuff? If it was this show 3 years ago I would say it was foreshadowing and meant it wasn't going to work out with her, but with Kristen in charge and the show having prepared these last episodes to be the series finale because they didn't find out until after wrap that ABC was picking up the show? It's just lazy. (Also, Buck worked construction and regularly helps Chris with his homework so him NOT helping with this is another pointedly missed opportunity from a petty showrunner willing to ruin the natural direction of the story to keep these characters apart.)
Buck: Did we really waste this much time with a parade of awful women reminding the audience of every storyline for Buck that was hated? NO ONE wanted to see Lucy back much less to talk about Buck cheating (again treating it like a joke). NO ONE wanted to see Taylor back much less be reminded that she was yet again using Buck the whole time to get inside info to push her career. Which also makes every moment spent trying to make her palatable in s5 even more of a waste of time than it already was. NO ONE knows or cares about Kameron (though at least the actress can act and was enjoyable to watch!) and making the donor arc entirely about the emotions and relationship of guest characters instead of about Buck and HIS emotions and giving us insight, growth, and exploration of HIS character and traumas was another mistake in a storyline entirely made up of mistakes. Another missed opportunity to have Eddie and Chris crash Buck's "date" but that would mean focusing on the actual main characters and their dynamics and Kristen doesn't want that. I'd call Natalia bland but even bland would be watchable which she is not, and the chemistry is so laughably not there it would be funny if Kristen wasn't dead set on forcing this down our throats. What is the point of her character? She didn't even help Buck about his death, just left when it was clear there was more to him than that. Taylor 2.0. Another recycled plot. With all the stuff Kristen has happen off screen all the time, Buck's entire storyline this episode should have been one of them.
Final thought: It was weird to have an episode all about love and then barely show Bobby and Athena (though Bobby grabbing and holding her perp for her was delightful) and not show Karen at all. Glad Hen got to have a relaxing day off but weird to drop that their son is just having a sleepover in the house of the man that saw their son behind their back for months.
I hope the move to ABC brings with it a change in leadership because this show and us fans and these amazing actors and stories deserve SO much better than this.
9-1-1: Lost and Found (2023)
Gross/boring emergencies-episode saved by funny/heartfelt firefam goodness
This episode was a bit of a mixed bag. The teeth/tonsil stones call was so needlessly long and gross. While the camera shot from behind the teeth was a cool set up, the rest of the call was nearly unwatchable. The call for the missing child in the mall was also long and felt like it was trying SO hard to pull on the audience heartstrings but the magic this show has often created during calls was still missing. It's a shame because I vastly prefer Athena's storylines when she's showing up to help not to punish someone, but this call just felt empty of the kind of heart we usually see in this show. It was nice to see Maddie at work and a tiny glimpse of Josh and Linda The landfill call at least gave us some firefam at work together and a reason to circle back for more firefam goodness.
The Maddie and Chim stuff was better this episode now that it's not focused so much on the "getting married for tax reasons" stuff and I'm really hopeful that after what we saw with Chim losing the ring and Jee having it, that we will get the storyline the narrative for Maddie and for Chim has set up which is Maddie being the one to propose. Jee was of course, absolutely adorable, and seeing the firefam come together to help (ish) Chim with planning a proposal and then look for the ring when it went missing was so good! I have missed the firefam truck talks, and we got a good one this week (don't think I didn't peep how Buck and Eddie were nearly in each other's laps, thank you Brenna Malloy!), plus the kitchen talk with everyone admiring the ring, and a sweet brother-in-law hug with Buck and Chim. We also got some truly hilarious moments from Bobby's face as he's hugging Maddie, to Chim spilling the beans to Bobby that they pull pranks on each other and don't tell him about it, to Ravi bringing delightful Baby Of The Family vibes to his interactions with everyone. I cannot overstate how much Anirudh's energy has been missed and what a delightful addition he makes to the team.
On the flip side from the fun, this episode FINALLY had some of the deep conversations between main characters happening ON SCREEN! Much of the depth and heart of the show has been lost since Kristen took over but we really got to dig into some meat this episode and I for one really enjoyed it. I love when there are no "wrong" sides because everyone involved is just human and sometimes make mistakes. Maddie needs someone like Buck in her corner to lift her up and be willing to go to bat for her like her parents and Doug never did, and Chim needs someone like Hen in his corner to not let him get away with deflecting from his problems and not really looking at them. I loved Buck and Hen getting into it a bit to defend the person they love. I really enjoyed Hen speaking her peace to Chim as well and their talk after because as I said, she KNOWS Chim and she knows he can avoid looking at the hard things. I do have some issues with a bit of the text regarding how Hen talked about Maddie's depression and I think that specific piece could have been written better/clearer and still gotten the point across about Hen being worried. But overall I really enjoyed getting some depth and heartfelt firefam moments as well as some fun firefam scenes back in the show, especially since the next two episodes look to be shifting the focus back to side characters and random love interests with a packed guest cast (which may not even be complete as Lucy isn't listed but the actress was on set and the "surprise return" character isn't listed either. I'm sure it will be Shannon's ghost giving Eddie "permission" to move on as if we didn't go through this in season 3 and 4 because Kristen is that predictable and seems determined to "fix" that character in her quest to redeem every awful parent and relationship on this show).
I gotta say, 16 episodes in and...not a lot has happened this season so it's hard to imagine what the finale is even building up to at this point. Another review pointed out the multiple arcs and ebb and flow this show used to have in the early seasons and how it's all gone downhill since Kristen took over. Let's all hope the network change comes with a showrunner change as well (whether bringing Tim back fulltime or putting someone else like Coto in charge), because while this episode had some good firefam dynamics, it's still nowhere close to where this show used to be and Kristen and her failed arcs, poor planning and pacing, and lackluster emergencies are to blame. It's only the cast chemistry that has kept me tuning in but even that isn't enough to save some of these arcs like the sperm donor thing that had such potential to dig into Buck's insecurities but instead became a joke and then got changed at midseason, or this awful "death doula" lady just taking screentime when Buck could be talking to Chim or anyone in the firefam about nearly dying (heck, HE'S nearly died several times before himself! This feels very much like it should have been an early season storyline not 6 years and multiple near-death moments later), or whatever they are trying to do with Eddie. I wasn't sure what to expect from this episode but I'm so glad it had so many good firefam scenes, because the next two look like guest cast central and I'm not interested in any of the stuff for Buck and Eddie's love lives and no one but Chim really has anything going on. Manifesting season 7 and ABC can do better because this season has felt like such a waste of time on filler and side characters and bad arcs for Buck while half the cast didn't do anything most of the season. Two things are for sure, 1) this cast makes magic out of the drivel they've been handed by the showrunner for over 2 seasons now, and 2) they can only do so much and the audience can only put up with so much, and if ABC wants this show to live up to it's former glory, they need to address the issues coming from the top.
9-1-1: Death and Taxes (2023)
What is this show even trying to do anymore?
After last week had some truly delightful moments we are back to another filler episode that can't really decide what it's trying to do so it ends up just mostly being a waste of time.
The Athena storyline was filler but it was at least a little interesting with the body swapping guy, and it's always nice to see karma coming back around for bad people. For me, Athena's storylines are the best when she's responding to help people in crisis and those always fit better with the heart of the show so her punitive justice storylines are meh for me. This season has also been severely lacking in good emergency calls (on the weeks we get any at all. Remind me what this show is called again?) so at least Athena's storyline gave us some scenes of emergency response though it was weird that for some reason they had the 133 instead of sending the main characters to the emergency in the show about our main characters responding to emergencies.
The Maddie/Chim storyline this week is just so dumb. It's hard to imagine they didn't sit down and do the taxes together. Unless you have something majority complex, the computer filing is free and takes less than an hour and itemization isn't really needed until you're dealing with more money than a couple that both work and still needed help to buy a house are working with. I get they wanted a little fun in the episode but not everything needs to be a joke and that's something Kristen has REALLY struggled with finding balance with since she took over (lookin at you sperm donor arc with such potential that got turned into masturbation jokes instead of character development). It's so disrespectful to a relationship that back in seasons 2-4 was some of the best build up I've ever seen. These two have been through so much they deserve to both get married because they WANT to, and honestly, Maddie proposing because she's ready to take that step would make the most sense. Maybe that's where this is going for the finale but as of right now with what we have seen? Madney's love story deserves better than to be constantly played for laughs after brushing aside everything they went through, better than resolving everything off screen, and better than the family they built on love being turned into a tax shelter marriage. The only saving grace (and one the show has been clearly using as a crutch), is that Kenny and Jen are magical on screen together and genuinely hilarious, and baby Jee is adorable meaning that while the storyline is flimsy at best, at least the scenes about it are at least watchable.
The same thing can be said for the Eddie/Chris scenes this episode-poorly planned and executed storyline saved by Ryan and Gavin being such a powerhouse duo on screen. Their scenes were still somehow able to hit some heavy emotional beats because of those two despite whatever material they are given to work with. Because, continuing on the unearned parental redemption train, we're bringing Shannon back to garner sympathy before Eddie "moves on" from her (despite having a serious gf last season and already going through a big talk with Bobby about moving forward). Great. Never mind that she abandoned her husband who had nearly died, and her disabled child, and cut off all contact, now we're going with sitting by her graveside reminiscing about a woman Eddie only ever fought with, and Chris would barely have remembered being around at this point? He was what, 5 when she left the first time? A far better, more interesting, and true to the heart of the show story would be Chris struggling as he gets older and understands more about what happened. A scene with Chris and Eddie having an honest conversation re: complex feelings about good memories vs Chris' growing understanding of her abandoning them would be far better than whatever this nonsense is I mean, Eddie wistfully stroking a picture of Shannon?! When seasons 2-3 showed us how deeply incompatible they were, constantly fighting and never in agreement even about Chris, and how they only got married because she was pregnant and how Eddie struggled to recover from how angry he was?? When Kristen said Eddie was going to be looking to recapture the spark he felt, we were all joking that it had to be about Buck because he's never been show to have had a spark (outside the physical with Shannon who was just using sex to get Eddie to agree to let her see Chris) with anyone else. But apparently Kristen is just rewriting history to serve the plot SHE wants to write, regardless if it makes sense for the characters. On top of that, we get the erasure of Eddie's struggles with his mom ("Don't drag him down with you" haunts me) while again showing Eddie having to put in all the effort to see them instead of his retired parents coming to see him. I think the scene was supposed to be "sweet" and push the idea that Eddie is lonely and is going to realize he DOESN'T "have time" so that it makes sense when he jumps into things with whatever lady Kristen throw at him this time. Funny though that we've never seen him being lonely until now, only after Buck is busy chasing someone new. They're never going to beat the Buddie allegations if they keep having them only start looking at women and being lonely when the other one is being set up on dates by family or too busy to hang out.
Unfortunately "flimsy storyline, but at least watchable" CANNOT be said about whatever was going on with Buck this episode and apparently the rest of the season. (My eyes hurt from rolling at this latest push by Kristen to avoid the pull of the narrative in it's logical direction and at the copy/past of the "meet-cute" Eddie had with Ana right down to the hand injury.) We are once again back exactly where we have been since Kristen took over, with Buck feeling like maybe THIS woman will fix everything for him and it is just so beyond tired at this point. Buck used to be a fan and general audience fave, but Kristen seems bent on ruining him by not allowing him to ever learn or grow, just recycling the same things and struggles for him over and over until the fans and even casual audience viewers are sick of seeing him. And it breaks my heart because he is SUCH a good character and there is so much potential for good storylines with him that dig into his traumas and then let him GROW from the experience, but every time it looks like we might get that, Kristen swerves, makes the whole thing about someone else, and then reverts Buck back to square one to try it again. Enough is ENOUGH.
It's clear that this is just yet another attempt to find a viable love interest for Buck that they can keep in their pocket for next season, however I have never seen anything more cringy than their interactions, and I watched the Eddie/Ana math date and suffered a season of Buck/Taylor. Not only is this woman a ridiculous choice for a character who is supposed to be guiding elderly people through end of life stuff (who better than a 20-something with barely any life experience and acts like she's never spoken to someone who has been that close to death before?), but she's also incredibly unsympathetic and quick to make light of something that is clearly a struggle for Buck to talk about. Her squealing like a schoolgirl about how "freaking cool" it was that he died was so deeply uncomfortable and gross to watch. Buck's family sure didn't think it was so freaking cool when they were yelling for him, and performing CPR, and begging him to stay with them. It feels like Taylor all over again. She's just another using him, while the dialogue forces words into Buck's mouth about how great and wonderful and interesting this women is and how she truly understand him, in hopes of getting the audience on board. Meanwhile, Eddie is standing next to Buck ACTUALLY seeing him, and has BEEN seeing him for five seasons now! It's so right there and in your face it would be comical if it wasn't for the showrunner saying fans are just seeing things and none of this is intentional. But if it's not intentional, then what are they doing? Because that scene of Buck and Eddie at the cemetery may have felt very forced and on the nose about pushing their new dating arcs dialogue wise but even with all that, they still looked a second away from a love confession and in all that open space they're still bumping shoulders and standing practically on top of each other.
This flavor of the week love interest is such a waste of time when there are SO many characters the viewers already knows and love that Buck could talk to. Chim and Karen both have clinically died on screen within the past season! Everyone in the firefam has almost died at some point! Hell, we could have found out Ravi nearly died while battling cancer as a child and let them talk! Kristen brushing aside years of friendship and family and LOVE from people who genuinely care about Buck just to force this new woman is a slap in the face to the firefam, to Eddie and the Buckley-Diaz family unit, and it makes Buck as a character so casually hurtful to the people around him and look so clueless. It's beyond clear that Kristen doesn't understand found family so it is past time to get her AWAY from the found family show.
Final notes, Ravi remains adorable and a delight to have back on the team. More of him getting to talk to everyone please!
9-1-1: Performance Anxiety (2023)
Ryan's performance saves tired storyline, Ravi/Chim/Bobby delight
While this was a really good, really fun episode with a great balance of excitement and poignant moments, once again, the pacing issues that have plagued the show since Kristen took over kept things from flowing as smoothly as they might otherwise have with a better build-up across the season. Lucky for us, this cast is phenomenal!
Getting the "meh" out of the way first, Eddie's storyline feels very much like a rehash of what the show has already done with regards to Eddie getting back into dating after Shannon's death with him already talking to Bobby about not being sure if he was ready. We heard "follow your heart not Christopher's" back in season 4 and followed that advice up with the eddieana breakup, so having Eddie AGAIN being forced into dating by other's expectations isn't anything new or exciting. I suppose the argument *could* be made that now Eddie has to figure out what HE wants besides just "not Ana", however if this was the case, why have we not had little scenes here and there all throughout this season showing that Eddie is struggling with being alone/lonely with Chris growing up more? (Spoiler alert, it's because Eddie is not alone OR lonely, we have seen him this season relaxing over family meals and beers and dressing up and going out, he's just doing all that stuff with Buck.) Eddie has had basically no arc all season, this could have been a through-line for him but it seems like yet ANOTHER in the ever-growing list of things Kristen wants to insist has happened off screen, without ever mentioning it in the show before or giving the audience a single clue about it. So again, here we are with another storyline out of nowhere when Eddie has been wasting away in the background all season.
At least this episode focused on Eddie, and his relationship with his Tia, and talking to the firefam instead of pushing a random side character into the focus all episode. Ryan also continues to make some...Choices with his face and body that are very loudly saying something, I'm just not sure the show is willing to step up and follow things to their natural conclusion. Given what we know of this season pushing the idea that every child needs to quietly reconcile with their toxic bio parents without making a fuss and without the parents taking any accountability, then that the lesbian mom's HAVE to allow their son to have a relationship with his bio dad after months of him demonstrating incredibly poor judgment and putting the onus on a literal child to tell his mom's about it, I'm not thrilled that this week we're getting told Eddie isn't whole and doesn't have a rich and fulfilling life because he's not currently dating a woman. And knowing that next week is supposed to Buck and the "hot death doula" woman, it seems that Eddie starting dating is immediately followed by Buck doing the same. Which is just a repeat of season 4 which was itself a repeat of season 2. Has Kristen ever had an original idea? At least Eddie was adorable all episode and the talk with his Tia and their clear love for each other, even when she was pushing his buttons a bit, was very sweet.
The emergences were fun and interesting with the woman stuck in the mixer definitely making me cringe but it was also a classic 911 "karma will get you" moment which I always love to see! The body builder call was classic wild, wacky 911, and Maddie with that kid was just perfect! It was so good to see Maddie back at work for what feels like the first time in ages, and her and Chim singing to Jee was such a good callback to their pre-dating karaoke days. Overall it felt far more centered as a 911 episode in that regard. We also got a brief Hen/Athena friendship moment which is always such a delight.
Of course, the BIG WIN this week was a Chim centered storyline on his own personal life outside of Maddie and Jee that wasn't half a scene tacked onto the end of an episode, and Ravi our beloved probie back where he belongs. Plus, a bonus of Captain Dad Bobby Nash bribing people with cake, and the team trying to avoid their performance reviews of HIM as a captain. The performance reviews for each main character were so much fun and it was nice after all the Buck/Bobby relationship stuff got dropped immediately after 6x11 to see them talking again, and having it be about Bobby being too lenient on Buck and Buck asking for an honest eval instead of spiraling about not being perfect. Hen of course is Practically Perfect In Every Way (except for a couple missing CEUs), Eddie thinks he's slick trying to sneak out the door without reviewing Bobby back, and Chim may have been shocked at first, but it turns out Bobby was killing two birds with one stone in getting Chim some confidence he needed in his leadership skills, and in bringing their lost sheep Ravi back into the fold.
Every scene with Ravi and Chim was amazing! Chim is hilarious as always, and the baby montage was so fun! Seeing him step up with the kid on the ropes and talk him down was engrossing to watch, and I love that he saw the talent the kid had and helped direct him to dispatch because it wasn't about washing out, it was about finding the best use for his skills. And of course, Kenny can always bring the heart when it's needed (he's not called the heart of the 118 for nothing!) and his chat with Ravi about Kevin, what happened with Ravi's accident, and convincing him to come home were all just magical moments to watch. More of this kind of stuff please! The only issue with this whole setup is, of course, the pacing again having it crammed into this episode instead of having some crumbs to lead up to this feast. Ravi's quite frankly RIVITING sounding rescue and fallout is yet another thing that happened not just off screen, but was entirely kept from the audience until now without Ravi's name coming up a single time this whole season until this episode. I mean, we all know there's no way the 118 gossip train didn't hear about Ravi's big save but even if they wanted to keep it under wraps from the team and the audience what exactly happened until Anirudh was back filming and we could see HIM tell the tale, they could have given the audience SOMETHING. They easily could have just had Bobby in the know and telling the team back in 6x01 that Ravi got injured and was going to be helping out at the academy during his recovery. It wouldn't have taken any more time than that ridiculous scene about why Lucy, a replacement hire that was never needed in the first place as Ravi took Eddie's place and Jonah took Chim's, wasn't coming back when Eddie returning should have made her doubly superfluous. At least we got to see Ravi coming back to the station, and everyone being so happy to see him and scooping him up in hugs was a perfect picture of what the audience would like to be doing. It's good to have all our family home!
It's a shame the pacing was so off in the first half of the season that it's affecting how these episode play out, but the cast is giving us solid performances every week, and this episode really felt so much like home with everyone back where they belong and seeing Maddie at dispatch again. We'll see what direction the show goes with the same old "Buck and Eddie having more random women thrown at them because the show doesn't know what else to do with them if they're not having scenes together" thing in the next few weeks (though if it's not leading to Buddie someone should tell Oliver and Ryan's faces about those heart eyes, and maybe their bodies about leaning into each other in background shots), but I'm taking this episode as a major win overall for firefam feels.
Final note, Kenny should get to do interviews more often! And as much as he is asking for more scenes with Peter and Ryan we are all doubly asking! More Chim, all the time!
9-1-1: Mixed Feelings (2023)
some old school 9-1-1 fun, but still left with "mixed feelings"
First of all, it's been a minute since we had a fun episode that centered on the firefam and this episode had so much to love. It's not all roses, but unfortunately it feels like a lot of the issue that came up this episode for me are a result of failings across the rest of the season and poor planning/execution of character arcs by the showrunner. This is a bit of a mixed bag, true to form for the show since Kristen took over.
I am...honestly a little confused about the last minute title change from "New Sensations" because let's be real, where were the "mixed feelings" this episode? Maddie is suspicious of that scammer woman immediately and so are Chim, Bobby, and Athena, and they are ultimately proven right, and the woman's scam had nothing to do preying on people's feelings. Hen and Karen are (justifiably) upset with Denny and more so Nathaniel (as he's the adult) and they hold onto that, only allowing some leeway for Denny's sake, but I would hardly call their feeling mixed, and neither are Denny's, he's very clear about what he wants. In the sneak peek, Buck looks like there might be a moment of discomfort at the mention of his death, but we ultimately got nothing moving forward for either his or Eddie's arcs or anything in regards to "mixed" feelings. As for the emergencies, you could sort of make a case for the girl being unsure about the drastic and public haircut while still wanting some independence, and the sex toy call being something where the feelings drastically changed from good to bad but overall, the title change was incredibly weird and I don't see how it was a better fit.
The opening call at the gym and the hair salon call were fun and not too serious emergencies, and I like how we got Hen giving someone advice she was going to need herself later. It was very reminiscent of early seasons when the calls were often vehicles to push the main characters forward.
Unfortunately the stuck sexy toy call was gratuitously uncomfortable and drug on way too long, and ultimately was used to push Buck falling back into old insecurities about if he's been good enough for other people. Is that not what 6x11 was all about? And him moving the chair in place of the couch earlier this season? And him accepting Bobby picking someone else for captain? And him breaking up with Taylor? And him telling Taylor all the way back in 4x14 that he was done chasing people who don't want him? Imagine how tired we are. I can't wait to see what random woman they bring back for him next. Plus we got a bonus of the team ragging on "Buck 1.0" as if they shouldn't all know by now how clearly Buck was so desperate that he was giving himself away to anyone who would have him just to for some semblance of connection. Kristen once again fails to understand the history and driving force behind these characters and their actions. And yeah it was maybe just supposed to be funny but that's been a huge issue lately with her turning all of Buck's storylines into jokes and refusing to dig into the messiness and actually let him learn and grow. No wonder he's still going in circles.
It was SO good seeing Maddie allowed to interact with other main characters besides just Chim and Buck (though I miss seeing her at work too), and I was so excited to see some Bobby investigation hijinks, especially with Chim. It's a shame it was so brief because the little interactions we got with Chim and Bobby were SO funny. Peter and Kenny are both hilarious and I would have loved to see more of them together. Maybe instead of exiling Buck and Eddie into a side plot that Kristen specifically said she didn't want to actually affect anything outside the episode, we could have had all of them on "stakeout" trying to get info on the neighbor and maybe had Buck talk a bit about returning to work, while Maddie and Athena had a talk together about learning to feel safe in your home again after trauma. Still some fun, but this storyline could have had some emotional weight too like the stories used to.
As for the Wilson family stuff, Declan has gotten so big and his scenes absolutely packed a punch. It's always good to get some Wilson family focus and having Toni come back was also nice to see and her getting to have a chat with her grandson on screen. But once again this is a storyline that could have been handled so much better by not trying to forget what happened back in season 2, but USING that to tell this new part of the story this season. We could have had Denny asking questions last season then had him showing up at Nathaniel's door at the end of LAST episode. This week would have had Karen's panic at Denny not being at the bus, and the accident happening as Nathaniel was driving Denny home to talk to his parents. We still could have had the Denny drama of wanting to know his bio dad and making the choice to seek him out, and arguing with his mom's about it without the creepy "adult seeing a kid for months without telling the parents" factor or erasing the s2 development of him being on good terms with Hen and Karen and agreeing to follow their lead. We could have Nathaniel bring up their agreement and ask if, since Denny is asking questions and Nathaniel wants to be involved, they can work out some kind of visitation plan. Then instead of having the message look suspiciously like "a boy HAS to be allowed to know his bio dad, two loving moms and multiple male figures in his life aren't enough and mom's need to accept that" (in the season of bio family being pushed by the showrunner at the expense of found family moments), we could have gotten something more akin to "our child is growing up and acting out, lets navigate this together as a family and by our choice bring another loving adult into his life." At least we FINALLY got a Chim/Denny scene and it was great to see some follow up on Chim's relationship with his dad, though it was a little surprising to hear what he said givenhe didn't follow Hen's advice on saying his piece, and the show left things looking peachy a month ago. Inconsistent messaging and pacing strike again.
I was really excited for the Bobby/Buck aspect of 6x11 and it's such a shame it's been entirely dropped. Have they interacted (outside commands given at work) or talked about what's going on with the other at all since then? And as cute as that Buck and Christopher scene was (a scene I've read almost down to the word in dozens of fanfics, I see you 911 writer's room!) Eddie not being a part of ANY of the final "family" scenes was...certainly a choice. If only the showrunner loved this character (or any of them) as much as fans do he would stop getting shafted out of interacting with the other main characters.
As, quite frankly, DUMB as this "Buck gets superpowers" storyline was, with Kristen again saying she wanted to bring "fun" to the coma arc instead of allowing it to carry some weight or maybe just...allowing someone else to have an arc for a minute, it was good to finally get some Buddie stuff again. It's ALWAYS good to see the Buckely-Diaz family unit get time together and with the rest of the episode split into family units, it's certainly not the audience "misinterpreting the intention" by seeing them as their own family together. On top of getting top tier family moments together with Chris, we also got to see Buck and Eddie out together (on what suspiciously looks like a date, complete with adoring eyes at each other but we're just seeing things, right?) I'm still confused why they were playing poker, a game that's more about bluffing than math (and Buck is still terrible at bluffing), rather than blackjack where counting cards is a well-known thing, or why it had to be some secret LAFD club that apparently Eddie has somehow been going to without the man constantly attached to his hip knowing about it, if they weren't going to actually do anything with them to push on Buck or Eddie's trauma buttons this episode. For someone who has said she has trouble coming up with enough plot to fill out episodes, Kristen sure is leaving a lot of potential on the table, and having a lot of stuff happen off screen or not even happen at all, leaving the audience in the dark a lot of the time.
As always, the actors have given wonderful performances, there was a lot of fun and laughs, but because of issues all along the way with character arcs and direction and pacing, things are still off and almost in a more frustrating way where just a couple little tweaks could make a WORLD of difference in the storytelling. With a room full of people getting paid to do this for their job, and several previous seasons of this show with the groundwork already laid and already keyed into what the audience liked, it's disappointing to see what the show has been allowed to become when we know the potential is there just wasting away.
Final note, Ravi is FINALLY back next week! Not that anyone would know unless they follow the show on SM because there has not been a single mention of him on the show or where he disappeared to after 5x18, nearly a YEAR ago now. Not even a throwaway line to let the audience, who embraced Ravi with open arms, know what happened to him. Knowing how much time was wasted on telling everyone where Lucy was and showing her in flashbacks with the team after most of her scenes got cut due to the audience reaction to her character, it definitely feels very pointed and petty of the showrunner to not allow the characters to mention Ravi. Hopefully his return doesn't involve more pettiness against his character for being well loved by the audience instead of the character Kristen tried to promote and squeeze into everything.
9-1-1: Recovery (2023)
Improved thematic continuity, but lacking build up for major storylines
Last week's episode was such a mess with the thematic messages the show tried to force at the same time being in complete opposition to each other so in that regard, this episode was a vast improvement! And while this episode did feel more in line with the heart of the show, having a second week in a row after a long hiatus with NO emergency calls for the firefam and then going on break for three weeks feels like poor planning, and again feels like the show doesn't remember what it's supposed to be about or what fans tune in to see.
Bobby's storyline-
I love that after quite some time, Bobby is FINALLY getting a storyline centered on him, it's been FAR too long. I DO wish he could have a personal storyline NOT about his addiction, but given that it came up last season with Eddie (though strangely NOT after he again hurt his back at work or after he got shot in s4 and was likely either on or had to refuse pain meds) I was glad it was addressed in some fashion. However, it was incredibly weird that they decided to do flashbacks all the way back to season 1 when Wendell has never once been mentioned in all that time until 6x09, five minutes before his death. This storyline SHOULD have carried far more emotional weight, but by choosing not to have any build up or mention of Wendell before his death and shoving the entire character into flashbacks in one episode, the emotional beats just don't really land. I WANTED to care about Wendell, and I wanted to care about BOBBY caring about Wendell but it was so rushed and felt so much like an afterthought that was thrown into 6x09 to give Bobby something to do that it was hard to connect with the story. Not to mention the weirdness of the timeline and certain story elements. Tamara only knew May as "Jade", but Bobby just calls her "May" talks to Tamara like she knows everything. Also, the episode even shows the flashback of Wendell calling Bobby while high IN THIS EPISODE, but five minutes later turns around and shows Wendell dying immediately! And lets not get into the message about recovery and managing addiction and making it out like EVERY place that does that kind of work is shady and just trying to keep people addicted.
I did really like the Bobby/Tamara stuff though. Bobby is SUCH a dad and will adopt anyone who looks even remotely like they could use a father figure and their moments were really sweet. I also really enjoyed seeing Bobby at a meeting and geared to take up Wendell's mantle of reaching out and being a sponsor, and not out of guilt like in s4 with the woman from the car crash. We also got some good supportive Athena/Bathena this episode which is always nice to see, however again it's weird that 6x11 was SO focused on Bobby and Buck's relationship only to entirely drop it this episode without having Bobby mentioning anything about Buck or Buck being allowed to be concerned or involved in what was going on with Bobby. By wrapping this whole thing up in this episode, it didn't really give anything time to breathe or allow the firefam to be there for their captain like he's there for them.
Buck's storyline-
While it was good to see some light-hearted fun this episode, and seeing some of the firefam with Buck, it doesn't make up for them forcing the firefam out of 6x11 to make it all about "blood family" and giving most of the emotional moment scenes to the Buckley parents instead. Plus it was SO WEIRD that out of everyone visiting Buck we got Connor and not Chim! And it wasn't even about Buck, it was to push this stupid sperm donor arc that no one wants and has been so poorly handled. No one cares about Connor or if he's getting cold feet! HOW did an arc that should have been about BUCK and his character growth turn into something that he's just in the background of, not caring at all about having a child he's not allowed to be involved with, and focused on Connor and Kameron's relationship instead?! They should have just scrapped the whole mess over the break and opened with Buck having been told it's not his after all and been done with it. What a waste of screentime! Especially when we could have gotten some good Buck/Chim content out of it.
The BIG WIN this week was the Buddie storyline with Buck being able to find peace in the place, and with the person (and on the couch), that feels like home. It was so good to get a start of a conversation about the shooting and I hope we can get more when TPTB stop jerking everyone around and finally let the Buddie storyline move forward (hopefully under the direction of a better showrunner. Is JCC available?) This scene was SUCH a good callback to s5 and Eddie telling Buck that Chim knows Maddie in a way Buck doesn't because we clearly see Maddie being so loving and trying so hard to help and Buck loving and appreciating her and what she's doing but it not being what he NEEDS, and him finding that with Eddie, because Eddie knows him in a way Maddie doesn't. The soft lighting, the soft clothes, the soft expressions, the WHOLE scene was perfect and Andrew always does such a good job when he's allowed to write for Buddie.
With all that said, Eddie being SO heavily featured in this storyline made it MORE weird that he wasn't in last week's episode! He and Buck haven't had scenes outside of work aside from 6x0, and the group phone call 6x09, so this had no lead up and while it felt good to see it was confusing and made last week and Eddie's absence make even less sense!
And again, no emergency calls for the first responders show, two weeks in a row after only 1 week with calls after such a long break and heading into yet another break. And with everything for everyone looking pretty wrapped up at the moment, we're left with the question of what could the show even do for these last 6 episodes? What are we building to? The dread of more filler like 6a has never been higher. What happened to having multiple arcs running at the same time for multiple characters? Everything is so self-contained and then immediately forgotten about. Can we please get someone in charge who understands packing and planning and anything about this show and these characters?
STILL no mention of Ravi in 12 episodes even though he's set to return in the next couple episodes, but don't worry, there's time and space to bring Lucy back doing some "bad*ss" rescue and Buck having more focus on her. Joy.
9-1-1: In Another Life (2023)
Great acting, interesting concept can't overcome confused writing
This episode was hard to rate because when it was doing something well it was doing it PERFECTLY, but when it was doing something badly it was so bad it drug the whole rest of the episode down.
After a return to true 911 form last week, this episode was disappointing for many reasons and every single one of them have to do with the writing trying to say/do two different things at once and because it couldn't pick a lane, nothing ultimately worked. There are a lot of episodes that didn't go quite like I wanted but I still enjoyed what happened. This was...not that. After last week's cliffhanger giving us all of those delicious firefam feels, I was READY to sit down and watch the firefam love and support Buck in the way he never got from his parents. Buck has never (on screen) had anyone from the team besides Bobby around for any of his hospital visits and the audience has been waiting for that and it seemed like this episode would deliver.
It did not.
This episode had some truly phenomenal moments, but I'm going to get through the bad stuff first. The main gripe, as pointed out by many others (before someone made false claims of "review bombing" resulting in...this mess you see in the comments and the skewed rating), is that the writing was all over the place trying to do two sets of opposing themes. That kept anything from really hitting the emotional beats that were set up, and pulled viewers out of the episode because it was CONSTANTLY contradicting itself.
What WAS the theme for this episode? Was it Bobby being Buck's dad and how the family you choose will help support you while you heal from what your parents broke? Or was it the importance of bio family and how they'll probably change and magically do the right thing this time? Was it about Buck going back for himself because no matter what he's enough and worthy of living his life and being loved anyway? Or was it about how the firefam wouldn't exist and the people he's closest to would be dead or miserable without his actions so he HAS to go back to a world where he "fixed" them?
The show and showrunner mentioned the It's A Wonderful Life comparison, but it doesn't really work here because this episode was not about Buck questioning his place on the team or how much they love/need him at this point, it was about him looking for love and acceptance from his bio parents and needing to see that he doesn't need it because he's enough on his own, and he already has the "ideal family". (Plus, an adult with a loving wife and 3 kids having a midlife crisis about if he's done anything impactful because his life doesn't look like he expected, is not the same as a neglected child seeing that if his parents HAD loved him, everyone else he knew would have suffered or died, so he should have suffered because it's better for everyone else that way. Kind of the OPPOSITE of the lesson Buck needs to learn.)
This episode tried to do a "look how awful the firefam's lives would be without you" which...wasn't anything Buck was struggling with right now. It tried to do "but my parents love me here and this is what I always wanted" but then had his parents acting exactly the same in the real world so it wasn't even a choice to be made besides the fact that a world with Doug still hurting Maddie isn't one where he would stay. And the episode tried to do an "I'm getting out of here for me because I'm enough just existing" but used Buck "fixing" Bobby and the others as the catalyst. (VERY poor choice of words there writers, along with reducing Eddie to the "angry" Latino man who apparently in Buck's mind needed Buck to be a competent father.) Not to mention last episode having Hen tell Chim he needed to express his hurt to his dad for his own good, advice that should apply to Buck and his parents as well, and instead of doing that, Chim was guilted into saying nothing and pretending everything was fine, and Buck's parents just acted like nothing ever happened. Just like they did when Daniel died. This is not growth and neither is them suddenly caring about Buck because he's hurt which they've always done to the point of him hurting himself for their attention. It's a toxic cycle.
This episode would have been amazing if they had committed to a side and gone for it As it is, everything fell flat without the depth or contrast needed to make the storyline work. Either go all in on redeeming the parents and make them put in the work or go all in on the found family and let the parents be awful, but you can't have both here.
If they wanted to compare and contrast Buck's coma life/"ideal family" with his real life/found family, shouldn't it have been HIS worst nightmare in the coma dream? (not "worst case scenarios" for everyone else which, being that it's how his subconscious thinks of everyone, came across really badly)? Picture a world where his parents might be happier and fostered a happier family because Daniel lived, but Buck's "found family" at the 118 doesn't know or need him and are fine without him, contrasted with real life where his parents leave because it's "too much" for them, but his found family is THERE and telling Buck in their own words what he means to them. THAT would have been a solid storyline and given us great firefam scenes. But by showing Buck that the people he loves most (Maddie, Bobby, Eddie/Chris) are suffering without him, it not only undermines the theme of "ideal world" vs "real world", but it undermines Buck choosing to go back for himself. If he is fighting ideal world vs reality, shouldn't the dream world be...ideal? Shouldn't it make him WANT to stay? Is he really "choosing" if he's leaving a world where Bobby is dead, Chris is gone and Eddie is lost, and Maddie is trapped in an abusive home, for a world where they're all alive and well AND his parents are now the parents he always wanted? Make it make sense!
Couple ALLLLLL of this mess with the lack of scenes for the firefam, but most notably Hen and especially Eddie who didn't get scenes talking to Buck in the real world (or at ALL in Eddie, the supposed BFF's case, which no matter how you see their relationship is a DISGRACE and downright bad writing), not seeing any of the firefam there when Buck was waiting to take a breath, and Bobby (or Eddie though with the parental focus my bet was on Bobby before the episode aired) not being the one to take Buck home with him, and we're left with a lot of contradictions, and too much screentime taken from the firefam and given to the Buckley parents and for what? I'm still unclear what this episode was trying to say, and I shouldn't need to read interviews afterword to be told things I should have seen play out on screen.
And it's SUCH a shame because otherwise from an acting and visual perspective? This episode was PERFECT. Oliver put everything into this performance and should be incredibly proud. The difference between Buck and his subconscious talking to each other was chilling in the BEST way. Peter also really shone this episode, and the brief moments we got of May, Athena, Hen, Chim, Eddie and Chris were all heartfelt performances that really struck a chord. Maddie seeing the man at the door and her face crumpling as she asks "Which one?" is going to haunt me, as is Chris' moment at Buck's bedside. Just absolute perfection. Along with all that was the camera angles we got in the coma dream, the little easter eggs for big events for Buck from crush injury and finding Maddie, to the tsunami and train derailment (though the lack of anything about Eddie's shooting was....very loud), and the eternal Hen/Chim bestism and older sibling energy Buck has always found in them.
It's frustrating that what could have been a nearly perfect episode had it been allowed to be about Bobby and the firefam and their relationship with Buck, and Buck's fight to get back to them was instead used to push side characters and unearned "redemption" while sidelining the very people the episode was trying to tell us were family. At this point you HAVE to wonder if the showrunner has any idea what fans of the show want to see.
As for the people incorrectly claiming this episode was "review bombed" before review bombing themselves, perhaps If you truly cared about the show you would be willing to call out its flaws and push for better for the characters and actors you claim to love. These actors, these characters, these stories ALL deserve so much better than what the current showrunner has done and continues to do to them, especially knowing she got her way and is bringing Lucy back to take more screentime from the other main characters when we can't even get a follow up on Eddie after he was ALSO struck by lighting and thrown from the truck.
Still not a single mention of Ravi in 11 episodes despite him also slated to return later on.
This is the bad place.
9-1-1: In a Flash (2023)
911 returns to what it does best (mostly)
911 is back with an episode that was (for the most part) a return to beloved s2-3 form after a lackluster, filler first half of the season and a messy season before that. The dream team that brought us the first of the tsunami episodes showed up in full force to bring interesting emergencies the likes of which we haven't seen in quite some time (handled again with care and gravitas instead of cheesy, quippy 911 call-ins), and a cliffhanger that will leave you breathless. There were a few glaring things that keep this from being a perfect episode and given what we ended up getting in 6x11 it's no surprise, but still disappointing. But first, lets talk about the good stuff!
There were 3 emergency calls this week and every one was riveting! The father on the beach, cut by glass from the lightning was SUCH an interesting event, and seeing Buck with those kids was a treat. He's so good with them, and it's always fun to see him helping the kids on calls. The pregnant woman call was another nail biter and I liked that it started with a little levity in the conversation between the woman and the driver. I laughed several times and then was left rooted to the TV waiting for the team to free everyone and save the baby. That Buck and Bobby scene was such a mirror to the pilot episode which was fun to see and I absolutely teared up a bit when the baby started to cry. You could feel all the people at the scene letting out a breath! Maybe the best part of these emergencies is that we didn't spend 10 minutes setting up the scene before the 118 arrives only to get a minute of them working the scene. These two emergencies felt far more balanced and had the energy we used to see in earlier seasons.
The final emergency was a masterpiece! Buck taking Chim's place on the ladder, Eddie hooking Buck to him with the equivalent to a red string of fate, the sound as Buck tumbles from the ladder as Eddie is thrown backwards, the team moving in slow motion until Eddie sees Buck's lifeless body twisting on the rope and screams for him, everything starting to move at a frantic pace again, Eddie screaming for Buck all the way up the ladder, Eddie trying to pull 200 something pounds of dead weight up to himself because it's BUCK, Eddie asking if Buck can hear him, Eddie lowering his best friend AWAY from himself and down to the team, Bobby reaching up and cradling Buck with an "I got you kid", Chim and Hen frantically working, Chim hopping up to perform CPR, Eddie shouting "talk to me!" and pushing Bobby out of the way to get to Buck, Bobby pulling Eddie back and making him drive so he has something to focus on, the last shot of Buck's helmet lying in the street in the rain, every last second of that call was amazing and I could not look away. After the first half of the season barely let Buck and Eddie speak to each other it was wonderful to see their close relationship (however you want to look at it) on full display and to see the team fighting for one of their own.
As far as personal stories, it was interesting to see what May and Athena were up to investigating for Bobby, and the Bobby/Buck scene about the chili was another great moment. We have been missing that relationship for awhile so it was great to see it again! Other good nuggets include Hen and Denny scenes, Hen getting Eddie to play catch so she can practice to play with Denny, Chim calling Buck "Evan" while Buck looks confused and calls him "Howie" back, The Buckley siblings + Chim as a united front against the impending parents, and Buck counting glasses, trying to figure out why Chim needed to go get more wine.
Unfortunately, that leaves the rest of the episode to talk about which is where we run into the bad and confusing. The timeline is confusing with the crew on shift multiple different times, interspersed with various scenes at home in between so there's no sense of how much time is happening. Speaking of personal scenes, everyone was shown at home with family except for Eddie and Chris. In fact, aside from a quick line in the opening emergency and the final emergency call, Eddie is barely seen at all and isn't even at the pregnant woman call. After barely seeing him in the first half this was disappointing and is starting to look shady given what the showrunner seems to think of his character having scenes with Buck.
The major thing this episode though was the push for an unearned redemption for two sets of toxic, emotionally neglectful parents without any of the care or apologies or ownership of their mistakes and how they hurt their kids. For the Buckley's, I think we all remember The Baby Box Incident, and the fact that Maddie, Buck, and Chim are all absolutely baffled at how Margret and Phillip are acting SHOWS the audience that they haven't made any progress over the past two seasons since they were last mentioned, even while the words we're being told say something different. And for Bobby and especially Eddie to brush it off and act like this relationship is the So Important to repair when Eddie was the one telling Buck in s4 that his emotions were valid if that's how his parents were making him feel. As for Mr. Han, he barely says a word until the whole sperm donor thing comes up (WHY is this storyline even still happening? What is the point if Buck isn't struggling with the decision at all? What is he learning?) as the catalyst for a fight between the parents vying for Worst Of Show. The scene was wholly uncomfortable and not in a good, tension building way but in a "why are we wasting time on this" way. Far too much time this episode was spent on these parents and the other characters guilting and gaslighting Buck, Maddie, and Chim about how THEY are the ones causing the problems because they don't want to just get along with Hen being the only one who gave good advice to Chim. I know where these plots are going and I am NOT here for it. The work and care put into Eddie and Hen's stories with their parents was one thing, but sometimes parents are just bad and that's okay. For a show about found family and putting in the work to be better, this push to simply ignore everything these parents have done wrong doesn't mesh.
No one asked for this and in was a grating flaw that took up too much time in an otherwise spectacular episode. It was nice to get an episode that FINALLY felt like the show I knew and loved, but seeing where these arcs are headed and knowing who is still for some reason running this show, I'm not holding my breath for the rest of the season.
Still not a single word or mention of Ravi and while Anirudh has been spotted on set, it's going to be odd for him to pop up later after zero mentions for nearly a year since s5 ended last May.
9-1-1: Red Flag (2022)
Fun firefam scenes can't save nonsensical, filler finale
Alternately titled "disappointed but not surprised". Once again, the cast and their chemistry in group scenes together give us a sparkling reminder about what they can do and what made us fall in love with the show in the first place. The firefam all having insomnia and getting some quiet moments to chat and drink hot chocolate was sweet and that 4-way call (despite the subject matter) was delightful and is one of the few "filler" moments this season that felt like it told us something about the group and their dynamics. The Hen/Eddie chat was also a nice surprise and proof that playing around with different dynamics just for a scene or two can still work without throwing out all other dynamics (yes I saw that interview, and Kristen completely missed what people are actually upset about to no one's surprise). Unfortunately, that doesn't quite counteract the multitude of things that drag down the episode, from storylines coming out of nowhere with no build up, awful storylines dragging out into even worse territory, more "filler" in a season of filler, nonsensical emergencies that are somehow still left hanging unfinished, and probably the least exciting fire this show or ANY show has ever seen. It's frustrating that for every "good" part of a thing, there are equal or more "bad" parts, leaving fans and casual viewers alike feeling bored, lost, and frustrated with the continued floundering of the new showrunner who 2 seasons in actually seems to be getting worse instead of better.
Maddie/Chimney
The good: Maddie and Chim taking a dark, abandoned tragic house and filling it with light and love is such a good metaphor for their relationship. They deserve some happiness, and some space to flourish. The bad: Literally two episodes ago the show reminded us how superstitious Chim is, to the point of refusing to even TOUCH a supposedly "cursed" bracelet. Yet he displays not even a single qualm about the murder house. No jumping at noises, no asking to leave because it freaks him out, nothing. WHAT?! How does that make ANY sense? We could have had MADDIE taking the ghost call, asking Chim if the house looks good and if he thinks they could get a discount because it's a murder house and Chim being spooked as usual, but he loves Maddie so he looks more into it and figures out it's not haunted and agrees they should buy it. (Also, as much fun as it was seeing Josh and Linda again, we've BARELY seen dispatch all season so it felt forced into this episode, and that "prank" ultimately felt kinda....mean. They could have just talked to Sue and then shown us commiserating with Josh about all the super crazy calls instead of pitting them against each other)
The Wilson Family
The good: The Wilsons continue to be a delight on screen, Denny is sweet and loves his moms SO much and every scene showed that. The bad: Does Kristen remember that we already met Denny's bio dad back in season 2? That he agreed to follow Hen and Karen's lead and wasn't going to try and take Denny or disrupt their family, and they agreed to allow him to be in Denny's life? Exploring this situation isn't necessarily bad, but treating it like some huge cliffhanger we know nothing about is. THIS could have been the story in What's Your Fantasy, leading to a resolution and family-focused Christmas episode to end the season but alas.
Bobby
The good: It is about time Bobby got a focused storyline that doesn't end with the episode never to be mentioned again. And it looking to be him struggling but working on an investigation instead of a full-blown relapse is something I'm actually looking forward to in 6b. The bad: This storyline came out of NOWHERE. In 6 seasons we have never met or even HEARD of this sponsor and now they want to use his death as an emotional hook?? Even if the show messed up by not mentioning him before so they had a name in the back of the audience's mind for when they were ready to do a storyline with him, knowing that this was where the storyline was heading THIS season, we should have met Wendell in 6x01 and had mentions of him off and on so his death could actually hit an emotional beat. No amount of the promised flashbacks in 6b are going to change the INITIAL moment of his death being meaningless to the audience because we have no idea who he is and met him 5 minutes ago. Hearing what an apparently "important" part of the Grant-Nash family this guy has been for years from a post mortem interview and not in the actual show is just...BAD and worse, LAZY storytelling. (Also not a fan of hearing that voicemail and not seeing Bobby try to do anything, not even calling for a wellfare check. About as un-Bobby and Chim was un-Chim about the murder house.)
The sperm donor arc
The good: completely out of context of the storyline, Buck buying a little firefighter onesie is ADORABLE. The bad: Literally everything else. IN the context of the show, it would have made more sense seeing that onesie as a gift for Jee, or later when he's getting a kid of his own to keep, but we are again having Buck's big "first" moments (like his first "I love you") happening with rando side characters we don't care about. Buck spent s1-3 trying to figure out who he was, why he was Like That, and how to be better. S4 gave us that reason with his backstory slotting SO many pieces into place for the audience and for Buck himself. S5 SHOULD have been about Buck confronting allowing himself to be unhappy just to make someone else happy, but Kristen bungled the Taylor storyline and kept her around for far too long, adding cheating into the mix and ultimately ending, not due to Buck admitting he was unhappy and not getting the support he needed out of the relationship, but as a moral stance because of what his gf did to his friends. This sperm donor storyline had the potential to show us Buck being asked to give of himself, and agreeing because he thinks that "spare parts" is all he's good for and it's more important to make others happy, and in the end realizing that he cannot make others happy at the cost of his OWN happiness and choosing not to go through with it. Instead this arc has been treated like a joke most of the time, without even a deep Bobby, Eddie, or Maddie talk trying to set him straight, and after the first time it came up Buck hasn't seemed even slightly hesitant, just super happy about the whole thing. Meaning that the only way this storyline can go is him being abandoned *again* either by his friends getting what they need and leaving (sperm banks, even ones taking personal donations, typically require signing away parental rights in order to donate), or a miscarriage, unless they WANT a baby hanging over Buck's story forever (UGH). No discussion of his "defective parts" with a history of childhood cancer, no growth where he gets to choose to leave something that isn't good for him, just more of him being a "clinger" and having wasted a season with him learning nothing and going nowhere. Eddie nope-ing out of the conversation immediately was what all of us wished we could do.
The Calls
The good: The opener was fun with the "clap your hands" montage (if nothing else the 911 music department is ALWAYS on point), Eddie chasing the guy down, and the multiple appendages that never went with the person holding it made me chuckle (though Buck looked SO COLD and it was never explained why everyone but him was bundled up), and Buck and Eddie's reactions to the naked woman were hilarious. The Bad: That "wildfire" was even more of a letdown than the blimp emergency and that's saying something. It could have been taken most of the episode and had the body as the cliffhanger but instead it was over in less time than probably any other call this whole season, despite having an "important" death involved. The other two calls ended with BIG questions: "Where is our 3rd victim?" and "Where did this lady get this car?" neither of which were answered. For a season that has spent so much set up on pointless things and followed up on every random emergency that DIDN'T leave anything hanging, when it counted we got nothing. Typical.
This felt far more like a Halloween episode and honestly it could have worked as one FAR better than Cursed (which focused too much on the guest star instead of the mains). Also as a Halloween episode, it would have been around the middle of 6a, and given the last few episodes some meaty arcs to work with leading into a big, family-centric happy Christmas episode like we used to get, with a few surprises leading to next season. Instead we got no real Halloween OR Christmas episode.
Final thoughts: Kristen has said a lot of ridiculous things in these post mortem interviews from STILL talking about bringing Lucy back, to explaining Ravi has been off training his peers at the academy even though he's barely out of probationary status (little help to the general audience who was NEVER given this information in the text of the show), to talking about Eddie learning to date again (does she even watch this show? That was explicitly stated as the reason he asked Ana out in s4), to banging on about how deeply important and anchoring Wendall had been for Bobby AND the entire Grant-Nash family for years, which is odd considering the man's name hasn't come up ONCE in 6 seasons. But by FAR the most egregious thing is this: "I will say, every time that we're short and we can't figure out what it is I do make a joke about making a musical one day because with songs you need less story because they take up a lot of space!"
Can someone PLEASE explain to me why she has this job if she is constantly struggling to fill time and looking for ways to get out of making stories which is LITERALLY the job of the showrunner? It has been said across every platform by fans and general audience/casual viewers alike that this season has felt like all filler with very little story or depth. I guess now we know why.
9-1-1: What's Your Fantasy? (2022)
"Fun" filler is still filler
"Fun" filler is still filler, and in what feels like a whole season of filler episodes (none of which are fulfilling the PURPOSE of "filler" episodes: main character centric and pushing their arcs along), we're at mid-season with nothing much to show for it. Outside of Hen's med school arc closing and whatever is going on with Buck which is for some unknown reason dragging out into 6b, nothing much else has happened. Eddie has had a few individual moments, Athena had one episode that was never mentioned again or had any repercussions or affect on anything, and I guess Madney getting back to normal is a thing, but 98% of that happened off screen with zero on-screen mentions between them or to others about how things were going, about therapy, or anything really, and I don't think not showing OR telling us the story counts as it being an arc.
There was some good stuff in the episode though as always, it's all pretty surface level stuff without the depth we know the show, characters, and actors to be capable of. First on the list of good things is Uncle Buck! We have been begging for Buck and Jee scenes since she was born and it was great to finally get something (though it's hard to believe at 2 years in Buck hasn't watched her for a full afternoon before now, or has zero idea how she normally behaves, or that he has couch cushions and no couch), and the scenes with Buck helping set up her new "room", the montage, and the Buckley-Han family scene at the end were sweet. Next, Buck and Hen always have fun banter and it's nice to see more of their relationship, and Hen inspiring those girls was nice to see. Bobby being utterly offended with the couple on the firetruck was quite hilarious, and that shot of the "Buckley Diaz" turnouts was a delight. Hen and Athena talks are always good, and it was nice to check in with May for a bit especially her scenes with Athena. Corinne really shone this episode, but even so, her story really had no barring on the season/episode plot as a whole (nothing really does, which is why this season feels so "filler" and disjointed because there's not a clear path for where the season or characters are going, it feels like the writers are sitting around going "this might as well happen"). Finally, the way Chris and his crush was handled, especially the gender neutral approach was, as always with Eddie and Chris scenes, a highlight of the episode.
Which brings us to the not so good.
The glaring elephant in this episode is the continued separation of Buck and Eddie's arcs. In season 2 Eddie took Buck with him and Chris to see Santa and talk one-on-one after only knowing him a few months, Buck was concerned about Chris going away to camp in season 3, but he's not even involved for this milestone? It's super clear Carla was brought back for the first time in a year JUST so they didn't have to use Buck, even though him watching Jee, and then seeing Chris growing up would have been the perfect opportunity to bring up the sperm donor thing in a one-on-one with Eddie. Instead, we get Buck with Hen and Denny which, while sweet, was also odd because the only other time we've seen them together is Christmas WITH Eddie and Chris. You're telling me Buck didn't invite Eddie and Chris to the ren fair? Hen didn't invite her wife, or her BFF Chim and ask him to bring Maddie and Jee along? The "girl power" talk was cute too but felt disjointed with the theme of the rest of the episode/Buck's part of the episode and again, felt far more like trying to fill time until the episode was over. And it's SO frustrating because we have been asking the show to EXPAND the firefam dynamics for so long, but now they've just REPLACED the dynamics we love with some fluff and twaddle scenes between characters who, BECAUSE they haven't interacted much, just feel odd and misplaced instead of feeling like they are adding anything of depth to the show, moving arcs along, or revealing anything about the characters that we wouldn't get in the normal pairings.
This show used to have such tight storytelling in the first few seasons! A LOT could happen in an episode but it all had a clear narrative purpose and every episode pushed multiple arcs along. Even "filler" episodes didn't FEEL like filler. Episodes like Oceans 9-1-1 (picked because Andrew Myers wrote both that episode and this one) gave us important character developments like showing Michael and Bobby's friendship, Hen being stressed, where things were with Maddie, Buck, and Chim (and a glimpse of his 2nd welcome back party, RIP to the 3rd we were robbed of in s5 to make room for the Lucy show) and most importantly, showing us how Eddie and Shannon continued to be on vastly different pages leading up to her asking for a divorce, and setting up for Bobby's absence and arc into the last few episodes of the season. What did this episode set up for the mid-season finale? Buck watching Jee was the perfect set up to actually DO something with the sperm donor arc and how Buck might be second guessing the idea of being "donor not dad" and yet it wasn't even mentioned at all this episode!
So many times in the past few seasons the show has had a set up to do a great arc (never shutting up about Eddie seeing the firefam in danger while working at dispatch NOT being part of his breakdown arc), or actually had a scene with such juicy potential for character arcs (also never shutting up about 6x05 Chim abduction/Buck bicycle scene) that the show just...never does anything with. Scenes happen, sometimes BIG things that we're waiting for resolution on because the show always used to come back to things, but now they're used for one-off dramatics and never brought up again. (For example, Bobby, an addict, getting shot and probably needing painkillers, Bobby having a celling falling on his previously injured back, Bobby dodging a falling ladder truck while on a rope rescue...when was the last time Bobby had a meaty arc that wasn't just a moment in an episode never to be heard about again?)
Clocking in at around 11 minutes, the bee sting emergency had about as much time as the "big" season opener, too much time was wasted on the multiple boss-killing fantasies, the sex fantasy was entirely unnecessary, and being juxtaposed with the truck talk about a child's first crush swung the mood weirdly, as did May's arc in the middle of a lighter episode, without anything to tie things together and smooth the transitions out. We didn't see Madney house-hunting which could have fit in a montage within the Uncle Buck one, but we haven't had any Maddie/Chim scenes without Jee outside of I think the one scene in the bathtub in 6x05? Which is a shame because Madney's relationship story was one of the better told stories in the show in 2-4 and now we get all their resolution and supposed development off screen and are lucky if it's even mentioned in the show and not just interviews. (I'm allowed some grace on that because JLH may be on "light duty" as a new mom, but it doesn't excuse Chim having nothing else going on, especially since him and Eddie talking about the mothers of their children is RIGHT THERE.)
This...sure was an episode of a show! Things happened, people spoke, sirens blared, and yet nothing much at all happened, there's no clear arcs for most if not all of the main characters and nothing feels like it's leading towards anything in the mid-season finale. Even season 5, disaster that it was, gave us that much. When is Tim coming back? I'm bored, I want my show back, and the characters and their stories deserve better than whatever this mess is that Kristen is delivering.
Still no Ravi.
9-1-1: Cursed (2022)
Fun firefam banter saves the episode
I am...struggling with rating these episodes. I often have some fun as the episode is airing (an improvement over last season for sure) but often get to the end feeling hollow. I was looking back at the ratings this season and how low they are and was wondering why, when the episodes overall as a whole are FAR more enjoyable on initial viewing than last season. But I think that's because last season fans were giving the show some grace for Covid restrictions, and JLH being out. With that leading to Chim being gone and the team being separated through 5b, a lot of stuff was written off to the season being "darker" on "purpose" to show the distance and bleakness everyone was going though. But with everyone back, and the focus seemingly more on the main characters, Kristen has all the ingredients again to make banger episodes like we got in season 3, yet it's become clear now that something in the soul of the show is missing.
So first, lets talk about the good because the banter we got this episode was it's saving grace. Kenneth Choi remains an absolutely delightful presence on screen and him and Hen being so deep in the curse theory that even Bobby was cracking jokes was hilarious. I do love that we are seeing the characters interact more each other because Eddie and Chim are the comedy duo of the hour and so much fun to watch. Another unexpected and delightful surprise was Eddie and Athena having scenes together (now do Maddie and Eddie, we have been asking for YEARS!). That team up was so enjoyable to watch and seeing Eddie just casually having dinner with Athena and Bobby calls back to Buck and his dinners with them and I love that we are getting some glimpses of how much of a family the 118 really is, not just as a big group, but individually. We need more of that.
Now for the bad. Outside of the firefam banter, this episode was...kind of a mess, and trying so hard to be "Jinx" but without the heart that Jinx had where the emergencies were in a montage and there was far more focus on the 118 and their dynamics. This episode had WAY too much focus on the guest star, leaving the 118 as nothing more than the episode's comic relief. I thought we already talked about Chim (and the rest of the team this season honestly) being SO much more than that?
Speaking of the guest star, the language around her character was so confusing and definitely came across as a part written for a much older character (even the synopsis called her a "fading" star) slapped on a barely legal actress. The quip about having a stalker in '05 when this young lady would have been what? A toddler? Having a "bad decade" when she's barely in her 20s could work if she was a child star but there wasn't a single movie poster for a kids movie/show. Also, the storyline didn't make any sense! The set up was right there, that her assistant was working with the scammer to manufacture "bad luck" for the past decade to make the assistant "invaluable", but it turns out it WAS all bad luck except the last couple things the bracelet guy was involved in? Not to mention it's brought up multiple times that the actress was arrested and had friends (PLURAL) die of overdoses in her home yet her choices are never brought up as the reason for things with her life not going well, it's all played off as a "luck" thing?
There's also the thing with the assistant being horrified at the chandelier accident when it happens and frantic when the 118 arrives but for some reason her call to 911 is "I think HERstory just ended!"?? I said in another review, the show always used to treat the emergences with at least some amount of dignity because the people calling were actively in distress but that's another part of the soul of the show that's been chipped away, along with the voiceovers and the main characters getting to be deep and real with each other for more than a single 2 min conversation that's never brought up again.
The other BIG fail this episode is Buck's arc coming back, not as a serious sign of him spiraling trying to find happiness in sacrificing himself for others like he seemed to take away from Lev's death, but as a series of masturbation jokes, with him being accosted at work as the punchline. Not to mention the lack of research by the writers given they had Buck claim to be doing everything "right", when even a cursory look will tell you "keeping the tank full" actually works AGAINST sperm count. But good thing we get to know all about Buck's wanking struggles! And to make matters worse, this is supposed to drag out into 6b and possibly all season?? This is Taylor Kelly all over again, a relationship that should have ended in the same ethical conflict it did, just after the prison break freeing Buck up to be integral to Maddie and Eddie's stories which should have been the center of 5b. And just like the Taylor fiasco, and the Lucy fiasco, a storyline that could have been used to explore Buck spiraling and being self-destructive leading to FINALLY talking about things with at least his father figure Bobby and his best friend Eddie, is just dragging out and being used for laughs. Hen had a crisis about school in 6x02 that was brought up briefly in 6x04 and closed out in 6x06 but this sperm donor thing has to drag out for an entire season? It has never been more clear that Kristen does not know, not only WHAT to do with Buck's character, but WHO his character is and what fans love about him. He's looking for the right "couch", NO, he's looking for the secret of happiness outside of work, NO, he's trying to be a "parent" at any cost! Or is he spiraling and sacrificing himself when the universe is screaming at him not to. Who knows! It isn't the audience, that's for certain. And the donor reveal not even giving us a good Bobby/Buck father/son talk? No, we needed time for ANOTHER actress emergency. Eddie FINALLY bringing up the tsunami and not only is Buck not involved (or even anyone we actually care about), but he isn't even MENTIONED?! This is Frank telling Eddie to talk about his trauma with the ones he's shared it with and ultimately getting NOTHING in the way of Buck and Eddie talking about any of the stack of traumas the show refuses to let them talk about. The elephant in the room is just getting bigger and bigger and the more they ignore it, the less anything makes any sense.
The soft, deep, caring heart and soul of the show is never more obviously missing then here, where there is surface level fun but with absolutely NOTHING underneath. We are being given the illusion that things are "back to normal" with the firefam having their scenes together but where are the actual conversations? What is everyone else doing when the "character of the week" has "their episode"? What happened to everyone having something going on all the time? Where are the Madney/Maddie scenes? JLH may be working less as a new mom, but given she can film for dispatch calls all at once, why was she not the one on all the multiple calls and part of the group "mystery" about the curse? Does the episode have to be "about" one character for them to be even involved?
Where is the show that we knew and loved? The answer very clearly lies at the top with who is in charge, who is planning the arcs, and how many episode script writer's hands are in the pot (and who those people are. Kristen's "besties" to no one's surprise). Can the Kristen experiment be over now? This show, these character, ESPECIALLY Buck and Chim deserve better treatment.
Final note, Chris is getting TOO BIG and I need him to STOP IT. As always, Eddie, and Eddie/Chris scenes elevate the episode and add a little of the missing heart back into the mix.
Still not a word or mention of Ravi.
9-1-1: Tomorrow (2022)
THIS is the show I fell in love with
After a far more watchable than season 5 but still lackluster season 6, we FINALLY got a 911 episode that felt like home. This is still a "begins" type episode so there aren't as many scenes with the firefam, however unlike 6x03 they are at least included AND this episode, much like Eddie and Buck's "begins" episodes, takes place around a central emergency. This allows us to see the firefam doing their jobs in between the flashbacks, and we even get a surprise Athena appearance and a double surprise of her not being there on duty but purely to support Hen as a friend.
First, I want to talk about the emergency which still felt a tiny bit lacking in the energy we're used to seeing from earlier seasons, but overall was a vast (if a little bit gory) improvement over anything we've seen this season and most of last season if not even further back. I would have liked to see a little big more of the firefam, but given that we saw them about as much as we did in Eddie or Buck begins, I think most of that is due to the choice to already have 1 episode this season without the firefam at all, and the previous 2 episodes having very little focus on the firefam and doing first responding. If they had handled the pacing better in the early part of the season, I don't think it would feel like we haven't seen certain characters doing anything for weeks, which was also the issue last season. Eddie's thing with Chris was weeks ago, Buck's sperm donor storyline will have a month between it's introduction episode and any sort of follow up, and there's been no mention of Lev's death or Buck's couch, or Athena's emotional state since those respective episodes aired. Which again all comes back to pacing and had those issues not been so prevalent, this episode wouldn't have felt off-kilter at all not seeing the firefam as heavily. I will say that what we DID get was great! Buck being the one in charge of getting Karen out while she grabs his equipment, and gives orders which he follows was great and added a little levity to some stressful moments, we got to see Medic Eddie in full force, and Bobby making sure to tell Hen he loves her and then putting himself in danger to save lives based on Karen's information was just SO Bobby. We even got Athena helping out on the scene which just goes to show that just like Maddie, she's a helper and even off duty and grossed/stressed out, she's going to be in the fray helping where she can. Athena's cop-centered storylines can be touchy as they often contradict the heart and moral of the rest of the show, but every time they have her working pure first response and helping save people, her character shines all the brighter.
Now, for the Hen/Karen/Chim flashbacks of it all! I absolutely LOVE seeing Hen and Karen's first meeting, and finding out that Chim knew Karen and Hen separately and is the one that introduced them to each other?! THIS is the kind of important flashback information I needed to have! It makes him and Karen getting drunk together in a previous episode even funnier, as well as the stories about him helping take care of Denny. Kenneth has been criminally underused for awhile now and this episode is yet further proof that he brings SO much to Chim's character and to the show and should absolutely be given more to do, all the time. His friendships when Hen and Karen were a delight this episode and I think we should see more of the firefam being friends with each other all the time instead of just maybe hearing about it in passing in other episodes. As for Hen and Karen, this backstory was riveting to watch, though much like Buck Begins, it really changed perspective on a lot of their previous scenes and it especially made Hen's cheating with Eva from season 1 hit so much harder. It was great seeing more of Karen's job as well since she's LITERALLY a rocket scientist and is so smart and does such fascinating work. I saw Tracie said she was excited to be more involved with the emergency side and the rest of the team so I hope this leads to seeing more Karen (and baby scientist Denny!) in the future.
This is probably the best episode as a whole that 911 has put out since season 4 at least and maybe even since season 3 (seasons 4 and 5 had some great *scenes* but the overall episode those scenes were in weren't always great), and Aisha and Tracie really delivered everything! We got sassy, snarky, sexy, competent, worried, in love, broken hearted and on and on! Hopefully, production is taking notes, and we can get more of this kind of vibe and energy in firefam-focused episodes. This cast *sparkles* together, let them work together and play/feed off each other!
As for notes, there are only a couple.
One, we ended last episode with Karen calling Maddie and it would have been nice to at least see a glimpse of Maddie and that call at the start.
Two, I am THRILLED Hen is back with the 118 but it just felt...off that after her paramedic skills are what saved that man's life and ultimately saved her wife, that she didn't bring that up as her main reason for quitting medical school. People, PARENTS, are doctors and nurses all the time, and posing it like being a doctor would mean she couldn't "effectively" be a wife and mother rubbed me the wrong way, when they literally set the whole episode up for her to say something about belonging on the front lines. Also, they never made it clear until the party at the end of the episode last week that Hen would be quitting the 118 if she got into her 3rd year of medical school, so her deciding to stay with the 118 fell a little flat since most people didn't know she wasn't sticking around until a week ago. It also makes the whole first episode not make sense because if Bobby knew she was going to be quitting after finals in a couple weeks, why would he have even considered her for Captain? They appoint people that they want to groom to take over and while Hen was certainly competent and did a great job, she was on her way out the door to another job. And why would she have offered instead of focusing on her finals if she knew she was already leaving? We needed more build up in previous episodes for that emotional beat of her choosing the 118 to really, truly land.
Three, it really is past time to have Buck asking dumb questions for exposition purposes so someone else can tell the audience things. There was a waiting room full of people who knew and loved Karen that could have asked the question or it could have been Denny, still waiting with everyone for news about his mom and Buck could have answered with fun facts. Buck is smart, they need to LET HIM be smart.
Finally, and perhaps most egregiously, there is The Photo. I laughed at the first look at the collage because I recognized the cast photo from the season 5 finale and there was a necklace hanging over the picture covering up Lucy while showing the core firefam and Athena. HOWEVER, when the scene zooms in, the necklace is magically moved to the side so Lucy is in full focus and it also become glaringly obvious that the photo was cropped so Ravi is not included at all. It also looks like it's either cropped, or hidden behind another picture on the other side so we don't see Karen either. Karen being missing from what should be a picture of her own vow renewal ONLY makes sense if the picture is supposed to focus on just the firefam, in which case we are STILL having Lucy forced on us, while Kristen and Co. Continue to erase Ravi from the show. They didn't have a picture of the 118 from the party they JUST had last episode? At this point it just screams pettiness and jealousy on Kristen's part that people hated her fav self-insert character while Ravi was a fan favorite. There's been mention or visual of Lucy in half the episodes this season yet not one person has mentioned Ravi's name or why he's not around. It is far, FAR past time to let go of trying to bring Lucy back and while I miss Ravi, I hope Anirudh is having a great time being appreciated and valued on the shows he's working on now. If he never wanted to come back to such a toxic showrunner who gave storylines that should have been his to some rando white woman while sidelining him, I wouldn't blame him in the least. Do better.
Let's all hope the show can keep up this momentum going into the season finale. The next few episodes sound promising but so did 6x04 and 6x05. One good episode does not a good show make and 911 needs to seriously consider who they are leaving at the top. It's time for a change.
9-1-1: Home Invasion (2022)
Exciting set up manages to somehow still be boring-Lots going on but nothing is happening
It's frustrated because while this season is still FAR better than season 5 as far as fun viewing experience goes, I have ended every episode this season (barring 6x03 which had nothing to do with the rest of the season so far) ultimately feel unsatisfied. This was a filler episode, but it wasn't good filler, like eating potato chips-not nutritious but still delicious and enjoyable (episodes like Oceans 9-1-1, Jinx, and Treasure Hunt come to mind). Instead, this season has felt more like crunching on iceberg lettuce-going through the motions of eating but at the end you're still hungry because there wasn't a lot of substance there. Another review mentioned that in 5 episodes not a lot has actually happened and I have to agree with them, I am also getting bored. The emergencies don't make sense, things don't seem to hold weight, and the pacing is all over the place. What was the point of dedicating an entire episode to a cold case? Because it sure as heck wasn't to push Athena's arc forward since it's been *crickets* about her emotional state ever since, instead of telling us a bit about what happened, catching the guy, and then showing us the after-effects and growth for Athena.
That said, there was good stuff about this episode which I'll talk about first before I get into the bad because while the show is still really struggling to find it's footing (an issue that should NOT be happening on such a well established show this late in the game, seriously get Kristen out of here ASAP) they did take some notes about the issues with season 5 and have worked to correct in some areas, making the episodes, if not as fulfilling as before, at least watchable (getting rid of Lucy and Taylor and focusing on the main cast was a great start).
For starters, the Hen and Karen stuff was absolutely delightful! We have been begging for more of them and while it's mostly so the audience can re-connect with Karen, Denny, and the Wilson family unit before next week's big episode, I'm not going to complain about seeing more of that family on screen! Tracie and Aisha play off each other so well and are truly a delight to watch. Extra props to the costume department for those wonderful zodiac pajamas to remind us Karen is a space nerd and has the coolest job of anyone on this show. Another scene stealer was Hoover Grant-Nash-Wilson-Diaz-Han-Buckley who made the rounds and gave us a split second of Pet Owner Joy for each character (except Chim, RIP). I'm glad Hoover found a forever home where he will be loved and pampered and never left alone! Madney hiding and drinking wine together in the bathtub was fun, but the "mean German nanny" caricature was a little cringe, and having a montage of them trying to hire a nanny, picking a "normal" one that fit with their values, only to be trapped with something they didn't expect, might have worked better. We also got a signature 118 celebration which was nice (more Karen/Eddie bestieism!), but the montage has me worried for Hen's future on the show, not just yet, but after season 6 when Aisha's contract is up. I also enjoyed getting another scene in the "mom Athena deals with armature detective son Buck" saga. And on a superficial note, everyone in the cast is looking SO GOOD this season, but after their pretty rough, angsty season 5, seeing Eddie and Chim settled and happy makes them especially attractive right now. Overall we ARE getting scenes with our main characters together and things feel more normal than they did last season, but something in the heart of the show is still missing. Which leads us to the not so good.
This show has typically been so good at not catering to hate, but the amount of people being suspicious of Noah from the start just for having a normal interaction with Maddie was disappointing, and for the show to then follow through and allow that kind of insidious racial bias to be proven right was certainly a low point for me. Noah had access to those logs too, he didn't need to use Maddie's info, the only reason to do so would be if he was trying to get her in trouble. But we're told that wasn't his plan, and he was using her info while she wasn't even on shift so it's not like he was doing that good at hiding. So what was the point of any of this, when we could have had him coming to Maddie for help and show them on the same side?? It all just feels very contrived to make him the bad guy and make Maddie the victim, for no reason other than the showrunner doesn't know what to do with any of these characters. And a whole scene about cuffing the kid who was threatened and is now cooperating with police, but not about the arrest of the dangerous men with guns? This show is always at it's best when it's about hope and saving people in trouble, and always at it's worst when it's focusing on the punishment aspect of policing instead of first response/rescue.
As for the emergencies, the first one was okay and gave us some good medic Eddie content and Detective Buckely vs The Raccoon, but WHAT was up with that DIY call? I'm glad I'm not the only one who got very weird, NOT sibling vibes from those characters. Someone pointed out that this must be why Kristen is convinced Buck and Eddie are just "really good friends/brothers" if she signed off on any of that as "siblings" behavior. It felt very strange and almost like those siblings lines were thrown in during the last minute reshoots we saw the actress was called back for, to try and change them from a romantic couple of some kind. I don't know what was going on but it was uncomfortable. Also, why on earth would Bobby have them stabbing the celling and risk hitting the victim?! We saw Eddie nearly hit him in the face! Wading or cutting through that foam would have been so much funnier, not to mention far less destructive. As good as Buck and Eddie (and a handful of random people we have literally never seen before) looked showing up to "help", Marisol needs an actual contractor to deal with structural repairs like that, and, why would they pick out paint for her house? Why was this something we needed to circle back to? Speaking of Buck and Eddie, the distance is getting VERY noticeable after 4 episodes of pretty much nothing, and in an episode where we saw Hoover getting passed from one person to another throughout the firefam, NOT seeing Eddie and Chris bringing Hoover to Buck's house was especially glaring. If nothing else, this show has spend several seasons telling us these two are the best of friends so let us see them being friends! This actually goes for everyone because we aren't getting a lot of meaty interactions and conversations between anyone and that's part of the heart that's missing. Little changes like having Maddie be the dispatcher on call when Chim got abducted and giving us some scenes around that between some of the characters, seeing Athena talking with Hen about what happened in Florida instead of wasting a whole episode on what happened 45 years ago and never mentioning it again, or a big one right now, not seeing some of firefam talking about how Buck is acting a little weird, could add so much! Oliver and JLH have mentioned Maddie and Eddie (and the rest of the fam besides Hen) don't know about the donor thing, so this would be a perfect way to give us depth to the story AND show some of the most important people to Buck talking about their concerns about him! Instead we are getting scenes with little to no emotional payoff, consequences, or even coming up again outside of the scene/episode they happen in.
Aside from a few highlights (mostly for Hen), most of this season so far could be an email. Next week's episode sounds like it could really be something special and amazing, but I've said that about 4 out of 5 episodes so far this season and somehow despite all this set up for good storylines between our main characters, every episode, especially these last two, has somehow still managed to be boring. The argument I keep seeing that we are 6 seasons in and the writers might be struggling to make things interesting is frankly ridiculous because you can log on to any social media site and see fans discussing fascinating things that could come out of moments like Chim getting abducted and Buck going after him and getting/almost getting injured, yet the show is playing stuff like that off for a quick laugh and not DOING anything with those moments, instead contriving random plots to throw at the wall until something half sticks. Knowing that the writer for this episode put out some decent work previously but hasn't had a solid episode since Kristen took over really speaks to how having a showrunner who doesn't understand the characters or heart of the show really affects everything. It is BEYOND time to get Kristen out of that chair and this season almost more than s5 proves that, since she blamed "scheduling issues" for a lot of the s5 mess, when it was clear she was trying to put her own "spin" on the show and was made to correct when things weren't well received. S6 seems to have put some restrictions for her like focusing on the firefam, but even doing that, with all the ingredients for some GOOD episodes (every synopsis outside 6x03 has had SUCH potential), she just cannot deliver anything truly satisfying. The ever smaller circle of her fave junior writers and directors being given multiple episodes even when their ones from last season were poorly done, and the shuffling of episode orders, changing registered titles, reshoots, incorrect synopsis, late or no promo/stills, all just goes to show how unfit she is to run a production like this. If even the diehard fans are bored, keeping casual viewers is going to be even harder. Something needs to change and sooner rather than later.
Final note, we are 5 episodes in, and there has still been NO mention of Ravi or why he's not around, but Kristen made sure we got another glimpse of Lucy as "part of the team" in that Hen montage. Make it stop.
9-1-1: Animal Instincts (2022)
Better episode, but too much going on for plots to breathe
Lets start with the good stuff because while I still have some issues with how things are going it's important to acknowledge that this season is, so far, MILES better than season 5, the episodes are (for the most part) enjoyable to watch, and I want to re-watch later as well. Most of that is due to the focus on our main characters and them having plots (most of last season could have been an email for all the main characters got to do), and I'm intrigued to see where most of these are going.
Bobby being back and rescuing that dog was fun, though I'm glad we got one last emergency with Captain Hen. She was brilliant in command and if she chooses to stay with being a paramedic, she's going to be an amazing captain some day, and if she goes with doctor, she'll be amazing at that too. It was nice to see her getting to have a little tipsy fun with Buck too (a VAST improvement over their cheating discussion in 5x11) though not having Buck at work for no reason was an...odd choice given the entire struggle last season was due to them not being able to work as a team without each other. Maddie had a rough call but I loved that Noah was able to help, and Maddie was able to take the information she got and get some resources for that mom and her little girl. Her getting a hug from the girl at the end was so sweet! Kenneth Choi continues to be an absolute delight every time we are blessed with him getting lines or little moments and I hope to see more of him next week as he has been criminally underutilized since last season. The scenes with Eddie, Chris, and Ramon were just an absolute highlight for me! Chris is growing up and wanting to branch out more and I'm so excited to see where this storyline goes for him and watching him and Eddie work through it. It was also good to see Eddie and Ramon putting in the work to communicate more and heal their rift.
Now for the not so good. For starters, I feel like I need to watch this episode a second time, and not in a good way. There was way too much happening this episode and consequently I feel like we didn't get to see some things we should have (Kristen's tendency for having things happen off screen strikes again!). Having an entire episode dedicated to NOT first responding last week really put a cramp in the continuity for everyone this week and it forced too much into this episode trying to get things moving again. Chim was abducted, and Buck planted himself in front of a moving vehicle to try and save him and we got.... NOTHING out of it! While the chase scene was fun (and putting Buck on a bike while an iconic song about bisexuality plays was...certainly a choice that I'm loving), we didn't get to see any of the team catching up, Eddie and/or Bobby (or even Chim!) talking to Buck about why he made that choice (which would have been a great way to bring up the rift between Buck and Chim that is looming over them since Kristen refused to address their issues from last season, claiming they were, again, resolved off screen), we didn't get to see the team checking Chim out and making sure he was okay, and the biggest thing of all, was after Chim and Maddie BOTH had rough moments, we did not see them interact AT ALL. I love that Buck went to talk to Hen because he not only loves and respects her, but he knows they have some idea of the other end of the donor thing, but it's also weird (enough that casual viewers have started to notice and mention it being strange) that Buck and Eddie were so absent from each other's big arcs this episode. If less time had been spent last week on showing a whole Cold Case crime drama, and incorporated some of the stuff from this week, things might have felt a little more connected (Hen running herself ragged and then being bored out of her mind when she's sent home, Eddie and Chris being close and playing games together and now Chris wanting space, Buck losing someone on a call who chose to let them save someone else, and then making a decision that will make someone else happy at cost to himself), and the plots would have had a little space to breathe and we could have seen some of these missing scenes.
As for Buck's storyline, I'm willing to grit my teeth and see how the sperm donor thing turns out, but it is clearly getting to the point that Kristen and her ever-dwindling group of writers/directors (which is really starting to feel like someone weeding out everyone but her friends at this point) don't quite know what to do with Buck. Part of that feel like it's because we should have been on the road to Buddie when Eddie got shot in that lovers framing in 4x13 but instead Kristen spent all of 4x14 keeping Buck from his firefam in order to wedge in a woman he realistically wouldn't have wanted anything to do with after what she tried to to do Bobby in season 2 and then wasted an entire season watching him fade into grey misery in his apartment with her. The less said Lucy and that nonsense Buck character assassination, the better. Now he's once again having the majority of his scenes with random people we do not know or care about and not having scenes with Eddie about any of the important things happening from the bike stunt, to the donor plotline, to Eddie seeking input from his co-parent about Chris. We could end this arc having finally gotten somewhere, but given that Oliver said it's not even coming back for another 3 episodes I'm not expecting much, and everyone is getting tired of watching him spin in circles. We know Oliver can do great things, so LET HIM do great things!
Things still feel messy with stuff like the Madney couples therapy from the synopsis getting cut, May getting dropped off at collage getting cut, Hen asking for a second chance for medical school THIS episode when it's on the synopsis for NEXT week, and now this huge plot for Buck coming up and disappearing for 3 episodes. The vibes are better than last season for sure, but the show still doesn't feel settled into it's groove like it was before. The show used to give some weight to even fun/funny emergencies because the person calling 911 IS in distress, even if it ends up being nothing, but now they are leaning so hard into the "one-liner quips" that we get garbage like that "curiosity killed the bird watcher" line, and the warm heart of the show has felt missing ever since Kristen took over. It's clear she doesn't understand the show or characters and is either swinging so dark and depressing and unsettling it's nearly unrecognizable as the show we love while being undistinguishable from every other procedural out there, or going so cheap and surface-deep "fun" that it all feels hollow. The drop of a point and a half in demo and 2 million viewers is LOUD and it is beyond time to get her out of the drivers seat and put in someone who can bring back the heart and soul to the show. We're getting closer, this season is certainly an improvement on last, but the cast can only bring so much to the table if the writing and show direction isn't there to support them.
Final thought, it's been a month and not a single mention of Ravi's name despite him being both a fan-favorite, AND used by the 9-1-1 social media team to promote engagement over the hiatus when they knew the actor was filming other things and wouldn't be back right away if at all. But thank goodness Kristen takes every chance she can get to remind us how much she wants to bring Lucy back. It's time for a change, yesterday.
9-1-1: The Devil You Know (2022)
Difficult to rate-impactful, well done episode of tv, but not a 911 episode
Angela and everyone delivered strong performances, in a well-written episode, with stunning cinematography, gut wrenching reveals, and an important, impactful storyline handled with grace and care by a black writer focused on the way these events affected all the people involved. There's only one problem. This isn't Law and Order SVU. Or Criminal Minds. Or Cold Case.
If I wanted to watch a show about the grooming, assult, and murder of women and children (a trigger/content warning would have been nice) I easily have a dozen other shows to choose from. 911 is and always has been a show about first responders showing up at the time an emergency/accident whatever is happening and helping the people involved. This was not that. I'm not used to 911 episodes leaving me feeling sick. The only other episodes to do that were the ones involving the Jeffrey storyline, ALSO about sexual assault which we just did so I don't see the need to rehash the same thing with Athena again (though if I had to pick, the impact of this story is more important, and also easy to skip if needed since again, it's entirely a self-contained episode).
I've seen people trying to make the argument that this is just like other "begins" episodes for 911 or like "Boston" however all of those episodes focused on the characters either choosing the job and settling in, or how they got the idea for the job, interspersed with present day emergencies. As for "Boston", had JLH not been on maternity leave, they would have split the scenes into other episodes leading up to her and Chim meeting again, but even with how it was done, we still saw multiple emergency calls Chim went on, and him and Maddie meet up because she's helping someone in active distress. The only outlier? Athena Begins.
An episode can be a well constructed and performed episode of television, but if it completely sidelines the premise and/or other characters of the ensemble show it's not going to be a good episode *of that show*. I would much rather have seen Bobby and Athena have to help on an active emergency on their honeymoon, or had this episode with less graphic flashbacks of what happened and interspersed with othet things.
The performances, writing, and directing all deserve praise, but Kristen needs to just go work on a police investigation procedural instead of trying to turn this show about first responders into something it's not, and never has been. I love Athena, and Angela Bassett is incomparable but my favorite moments of her around her work on this show are when she's helping people in need on a call and I wish we would get to see more of that. There's a reason she's a sargent and not a detective, because she wanted to be out there helping in a moment of crisis, not only showing up after they find a body and its too late to help.
This is one of the few episodes of 911 I will never be watching again, which is an easy choice since it wasn't a 911 episode.
9-1-1: Crash & Learn (2022)
An improvement, but still messy BTS/promo and too long on emergency set up
Juan Carlos Coto has once again stepped up to deliver some great writing and directing (anyone else catch the paralled of Karen comforting Hen and Buck comforting Eddie in 5x13 which Coto also worked on?) and gave us an episode the most like old school 9-1-1 we have seen in quite some time. (It's helpful that he's not being forced to waste time on catty women or Kristen forcing Lucy into scenes Buck should have been having with someone who understood his relationship with Bobby like in May Day)
It was so good seen Hen and her boys working scenes together, the team supporting her as much as possible, and her thriving on calls as captain. It made the breakdown hurt that much more, but I'm always so excited when we get to see Karen and the Henren content this episode was great! It was also good to see more of Buck and Hen's relationship because he looks up to her and respects her so much! I love that she noticed he was reading something but was trying not to bother her so she reached out first, and how after they lost someone on the call, even with as much as she had going on personally, she still took the time to offer what she could for Buck. She is going to make an AMAZING captain some day! I know Buck is going to take the wrong thing away from that conversation with Lev and I'm excited to see where his journey takes him this season. Eddie and Chim being there to support their partners however they need was so good and knowing that the little look between Chim and Eddie was Ryan and Kenny's idea makes it that much better! I did also enjoy seeing Bobby being firm but kind when sticking up for Athena and continuing to be a rock for her when she's struggling.
This episode overall was one of the better ones we've had recently, but we're still spending waaaaay too long on the set up for some of these emergencies. That cheating call (what is Kristen's obsession with cheating arcs?? 😬) while sort of amusing the first time around was definitely much to long. I would rather have seen Eddie and Chim's breakfast talk about their worry for their partners, or seen anyone give Buck a hug after that call. We also still have had no mention of fan favorite Ravi when we know he's not coming back any time soon and some closure on that should have happened by now.
The show is also still clearly a mess behind the scenes with the promo touting "TONIGHT on 9-1-1" with scenes from an episode 2 weeks from now! The official Instagram even posted specifically with the tagline about a paramedic being in danger! Kristen continues to run anything but a tight ship and is still changing episode titles which does not inspire confidence. Neither does the look at next week and her obsession with turning this first responder show into the same kind of cop drama on every other station. Perhaps that energy should have gone into creating a better disaster arc. It's a shame the continued incompetence behind the scenes is leading to dropping viewership. This was the lowest viewing numbers 9-1-1 has EVER had, and Coto's brilliant character work, and Aisha and Oliver's outstanding performance deserve more recognition but when your showrunner comes out of the gate saying they are out of ideas for big episodes, it's not terribly surprising. Hopefully the show won't loose too much momentum with next weeks episode (we already know the likely culprit is the contractor's dad, do we really need 45 minutes of non-first responding cold case investigation to get there?), and 6x04 can continue the good character work we have seen so far this season. But the ratings are telling, and they need to do something about the person running things sooner rather than later.
Final thought: it was INCREDIBLY refreshing to have an episode focused on our mains, no vapid, pointless women gobbling up screentime, and Buck getting to have an arc outside whatever relationship drama Kristen has been forcing on him and scenes with characters we know and love. The cast seem to be enjoying themselves again too which is great to see. Let's hope TPTB take the hint and drop the idea of trying to bring Lucy back for 6b. This episode proved we don't need her and background firefighters are just fine to have around without stealing focuse from the main characters.
9-1-1: Let the Games Begin (2022)
Lackluster for a premiere/disaster, Lucy continues to drag down good eps
For a regular 911 episode? This has all the things we love with a heavy focus on our main characters (FINALLY) and lots on interpersonal scenes between them. And if this was the opening to a 2 episode disaster arc, I don't think I'd be as disappointed as I was. But with Kristen for SOME REASON saying they are moving away from the big disaster arcs (WHYYY??? It's hook for the new season!) and the way this Blimp emergency was hyped to at least be a one episode Big Emergency, to have it done by the first commercial break with only 4 people in any real danger?! WHAT a massive let down.
Kristen said she couldn't think of anything else to do for a big disaster?? What about a wildfire? Freak tornado? Hurricane? A stranded cruise ship since LA has a port for them? She CLEARLY should not continue to be in charge if she can't even handle the "emergency" parts of an emergency-based show. She fumbled the blackout arc, the s5 finale could have been any mediocre middle season episode (remember when 9-1-1 didn't DO mediocre? Me too. I think more than HALF of the lowest rated episodes on IMDB are in s5), and the blimp emergency was basically nothing, and they could have had 2 trapped hang gliders and the girl getting separated from her mom just in the bustle of the stadium and falling to break the heart device with the same effect.
The other continual disappointment is Kristen's insistence in forcing Lucy onto the audience. Fans have been beggjng for more of Ravi and yet, while Anirudh is off filming something else and won't be back for a bit not a word was mentioned about his absence, yet we had a whole scene dedicated to why Lucy wasn't around TO BE CAPTAIN?! What a JOKE. If Buck isn't fit, she surely isn't, seeing as how Buck had to talk her down after *checks notes* NOT failing to save someone. Please. It would be laughable how hard they keep trying with her if it wasn't robbing us of genuinely good scenes with characters we love. And Kristen mentioning Lucy in an article about the core cast while some of the ACTUAL core cast wasn't mentioned?? What a slap in the face to Ryan after he carried season 5 on his back with Eddie's arc being one of the only watchable things to come out of the season. It's past time to get Kristen out of the driver's seat.
At least she didn't write this episode and Andrew delivered some spot on character moments and some dynamics we've been missing! The Buck and Bobby scenes in particular stood out because there have been a lack of those, and the Buckley-Diaz family dinner was perfection. We also got great stuff for Hen, Athena, Maddie, and Chimney, and seeing the writing focusing in on the mains was really good. Andrew should write for the show more often. Again, if this was a normal episode it would have been a pretty great one, but as our "big" season opener the emergencies were a letdown, nothing at all comparable to even regular episode emergencies like the hospital fire or dispatch fire last season. It's time to put someone else in charge.