That was not at all where I thought we were headed when this hour began.
But leave it to 9-1-1 to turn an odd hour that revolved around overprotectiveness and the perils of trying to keep your loved ones from harm,only to end with one of 118’s loved ones potentially in danger.
Why must they continue to inflict all this misery?
9-1-1 has just been on this rollercoaster ride of sadness since 9-1-1 Season 8, and there are periods where they hop off the ride for a minute, but they seem to always get right back on it.
The series was never just drama, but lately, the joy is missing. When the show does recall its whimsical roots, it applies them to storylines that would benefit from more seriousness.
Basically, it seems I can’t win.
Opening the hour with Chimney having an apparently recurring nightmare about Harry dying while on shift was a hell of a way to start things off, but knowing that Chimney had a lot of trepidation about Harry wasn’t unexpected.
Not even taking into account who Harry is to Chimney and the 118 as Bobby’s stepson, there’s also the fact that Harry will be Chimney’s first probie. There’s a responsibility and a care that comes with that, and he knows better than anyone what impression your captain leaves on you.
Chimney’s obviously wanting to protect Harry because he’s scared, but as the message throughout the hour makes clear, wanting to protect someone can turn into being smothering and overbearing, and it doesn’t actually help anyone.
Harry was taking everything on the chin, and one shift not really getting to do much shouldn’t be the end of the world, but it was also apparent that Chimney wasn’t just treating him like a probie, but instead like he couldn’t do the job.
At least that’s the way it could have been interpreted.
This little running joke about no one wanting to talk to Chimney about captain things is a little funny, but it also highlights the divide between Chimney the co-worker and friend and Chimney the captain.
It’s understandable that everyone’s a little apprehensive about just going up to him and trying to tell him about himself, but honestly, Hen was the right person to talk to him in this scenario because of their shared past with the 118 before Bobby took over.
Every time I forget about Gerrard, I feel like his name pops up like a bad omen.
Comparing Gerrard and Chimney on the surface, I guess, makes sense, since they held both Hen and Chimney back when they were probies, but the reason he did that was not at all the reason Chimney was holding Harry back.
Gerrard was a misogynistic bigot who didn’t think Hen and Chimney could do the job. Chimney knows that Harry can do the job, but he’s terrified of losing him on the job because it’s not something he would be able to withstand.
9-1-1 can be pretty on the nose at times, so it wasn’t a shock when Harry’s first time out with the crew led us to Harry being one of the ones to come up with a solution in a hurry, but I thought it was interesting to then show Chimney still getting scared while on the job.
When he lost sight of Harry and literally started panicking, it was a little surprising because it felt like him bringing him out into the field was Chimney burying some of that anxiety and recognizing what the right thing to do was.
But instead, he almost got himself killed! And there was basically zero reaction to it.
At the end of the day, as captain, one of Chimney’s responsibilities is to help Harry become a better firefighter, and getting past his fear was for the greater good. But I also don’t know if this one episode, and even Harry saving his life, will just erase all the apprehension because of just how big all of this must feel.
Harry’s never going to be like any other probie.
Considering this was Harry’s first shift, there wasn’t much insight into how he was feeling, aside from his initial excitement, which radiated from him at first and then slowly dissipated as he realized he wasn’t actually going to do any firefighting.
But the moment between him, Athena, and May was such a poignant moment.
I don’t know about you guys, but at least once an episode, something happens that reminds me Bobby isn’t there anymore. And yes, they’ve done a good job of keeping his name alive, but there was something really special about Athena giving Harry something of Bobby’s to keep with him as he now integrates himself into the very firehouse that was an extension of Bobby himself.
And then giving him the gift Bobby would have given him on top of it? It was really touching, and you could tell how much it meant to Harry to receive the gift and to Athena to give it to him.
I know that there will be speedbumps and hurdles for Harry moving forward, and he’s probably going to mess up and scare Chimney for real, but that’s part of the job. And Harry knows what he signed up for.
Chimney has all the tools to be a great captain, and he’s already had a few tests early into his new role. But there may be none bigger than helping everyone on his team succeed.
Just like Bobby did for all of them.
While Chimney was dooming and Harry was cleaning, Eddie found himself in a genuinely weird situation. As the storyline unfolded, I found myself growing increasingly confused about what was happening.
Eddie and Hen getting called in to testify about the exorcism from 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 5, which they and the rest of the team helped stop, wasn’t strange, and it was nice to see them patiently defend what they witnessed that day and be on Abigail’s side, as anyone would.
And when Abigail talked with Eddie at the courthouse, I didn’t think much of it. You could tell how scared she still was of her parents, and just how much trauma she’s had to endure in her life.
Being in that situation and then getting out of it only to feel more alone than ever must be very confusing and sad. It didn’t seem like she was looking to Eddie as some kind of savior, but rather as someone who would listen and maybe understand her.
Hearing about Eddie’s “violent” past, brought up in the courtroom, clearly stuck with her, and Eddie has always excelled at connecting with people and making them feel seen. It’s one of his first responder superpowers.
But once he brought Abigail back to the firehouse, things started to subtly change, and it was so obvious in the way Abigail looked at Eddie. While the courthouse conversation seemed like a reach for support, there was something in her words and looks that suggested there was something else going on.
The minute Alex walked in, she was eyeing her up like she was the enemy, and it didn’t seem to come from a place of fear that she was going to take her away, but from fear of her proximity to Eddie.
And once I saw that, I immediately knew where this story was headed, though I was wrong about its final destination.
To know me is to know that I adore Eddie Diaz, but he was not at all reading the tea leaves when it came to Abigail, and that’s likely because he has a huge heart, and he wanted to help Abigail and protect her in the same way he’d want someone to do for Christopher if he were in need of it.
But the second she showed up on his doorstep (and just HOW did she find his address?), there should have been a boundary put in place.
There’s a slippery slope with getting too involved with the people they help, and that’s something we’ve seen play out at various times throughout the course of the series.
And maybe it sounds harsh to say he should have sent Abigail away when she was clearly fragile and seeking comfort after finding out about her parents’ acquittal, but for everyone’s sake, there should be clear boundaries in place, especially from Eddie’s perspective.
As the awkward dinner scene played on, I just felt it in my spirit that something was going to go wrong, and it’s such a perplexing feeling because, on the one hand, your heart breaks for Abigail, who’s endured so much and is overwhelmed and petrified.
But the correct place for her was not with Eddie in that moment.
She was a victim of her parents’ abuse, and what she truly needed was the right resources, but it seemed like she had slowly started to see Eddie as a parental figure, and in her eyes, the perfect parent she never had.
It was such a turn from their first conversation, where she seemed to see Eddie as a sounding board for understanding, to quickly positioning him as something else entirely. She was suddenly enamored of Eddie, in a way that became increasingly uncomfortable.
When they had the misunderstanding about her sleeping over, I audibly said, “Oh no!” out loud because I had a sinking feeling that this was going to turn dark rather quickly. But I suspected it would involve Eddie, not Christopher!
We probably shouldn’t jump the gun and assume that Abigail plans to do something nefarious with Christopher, but whatever her intentions may be, what she did was kidnapping.
She lied, and she took Christopher from school without Eddie’s knowledge. There’s no getting around that, even if we find out in the ensuing hour that she took him out for ice cream or something. She needs to bring Christopher Diaz home!
This is precisely why boundaries are so important!
Again, it’s not at all clear how Abigail found Eddie’s address, and hindsight is 20/20, but she should never have been inside his home because they are still essentially strangers.
They could still communicate, but it should never have been once she returned to the group home. During her time at the house, she took the information he gave her about his self-disappointment for letting Christopher take the bus and used it to further insert herself into their lives.
It’s all just very sad, and I’m unsure how I feel about now framing Abigail as some kind of villain when she was abused, and she’s in such a deeply traumatic place still.
The story isn’t over yet, so perhaps we should see how everything plays out before branding it as good or bad, because it’s not really about that.
It’s about trauma, misplaced trust, and the reality of blurred boundaries. However things turn out, this storyline has left a very uneasy and complicated impression.
Loose Ends
- So, do we need to discuss the implications of Alex’s return and the small setup around her being pretty and potentially into Eddie, even if it was only added to highlight Abigail’s feelings about Eddie?
- The man riding the lawnmower to pick up his online girlfriend from the airport was the kind of 9-1-1 emergency that really gets it right. It was a little silly, but also deeply relatable, and it made an excellent point about doing a little too much to keep the people we love safe.
- The same could be said for Reed-Man! That was also a lovely reminder that we can protect our kids without hindering them from being kids. But my goodness, when he stuck his hand into the fire? I screamed!
- This is another week of me being someone out there to give May her own storyline! We all love May, and she deserves something for herself!
- It was good to see baby Nash, even if only for a second! The Han family’s domestic moments are always appreciated!
Was odd the correct way to describe this one? Or can you think of something better?
There is a lot to unpack here, so feel free to do so in the comments!
You can watch 9-1-1 on Thursdays at 8/7s on ABC.
-
American Hostage Series Premiere Review: Somehow, This Story Is More Relevant Than Ever
American Hostage brings the Tony Kirstis, Dick Hall, and Fred Heckman story to the small screen, proving some stories never get old.
-
Lanterns Season 1 Episode 6 Reveals What’s Next, and It’s Sad — Review
Lanterns Season 1 Episode 6 says goodbye to another character as a deeper mystery looms. Our review of a somber hour.
-
Lioness Season 3 Finale Review: The Past Comes Back to Haunt Joe and Cruz!
On Lioness Season 3 Episode 8, Joe is on the warpath but nothing can prepare her for what lays ahead. Read our review.
