In many ways, 9-1-1 has perfected the art of the season premiere.
Each season, sans a few, they reintroduce viewers to the fray and set the stage for a multi-episode opening arc that delivers on the action and taps into character journeys.
And they do it with aplomb.
There is no other show on broadcast television that would attempt a tsunami emergency or a massive commercial cruise ship disaster. And most recently, a trip into space.
Whether these ideas are ripped from the headlines or a play on blockbuster movies from years past, 9-1-1 has pushed the envelope on what broadcast shows can do, to the point where the big opening emergencies are an expectation with each new season.
Another thing fans have come to expect? For it to run through three episodes.
Hour one has always been the set-up, with the big boom.
Think of the big wave during 9-1-1 Season 3 or the beenado causing a deadly plane crash during 9-1-1 Season 8 — coming at the tail end and catapulting us into the next chapter.
Hour two has always been the bulk of the action.
Think of those harrowing moments with Buck and Christopher in the water, or Athena having to take control of a commercial aircraft as everything failed around her.
Everything then concludes during that third hour, when the emergency winds down, lives are saved, and sometimes we never even hear about it again.
But 9-1-1 Season 9 bucked the trend of the past few seasons, choosing instead to give us a four-part space odyssey that had some highs and lows but was overall one of the better emergencies the show has undertaken.
Hen and Athena were essentially trapped in space for three TV hours, which was a huge undertaking for the production, and they were able to pull it off.
But considering we’re already a month into the season, and we still haven’t gotten into the personal stories for many of the characters, it makes you wonder if four parts is too long.
On the one hand, you can see why it was necessary for this particular emergency, especially considering what they chose to do during 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 4.
The death of Bobby Nash will loom large over this series until its very last frame, and detailing Athena’s journey through grief was an essential piece of storytelling that needed to be told alongside whatever action pieces took center stage.
The hours did an excellent job of alternating between space and the happenings on the ground, with the final hour spotlighting Athena — present-day and younger — dealing with loss and acceptance and looking to move forward in the face of tragedy.
Here, it was very necessary to incorporate this hour.
Had it come during the third hour, it would have rushed the entire storyline, a significant disservice to the story they were trying to tell.
But as a rule of thumb, a four-part opening disaster in a season of 18 episodes is a lot to put on an audience who’ve waited however many months to get these characters back, only to get a taste of them before everything is poured into the emergency.
Now, you may be thinking, “It’s only one extra hour, so what’s the big deal?”
That’s not an incorrect assessment, but any ardent television watcher knows that a series like 9-1-1 doesn’t typically have filler episodes, so every episode is important and valuable.
Expanding the three-parter to four takes time away and often delays what makes the show its most engaging: a look into all the characters’ journeys.
At its very best, 9-1-1 thrives when it strikes that right balance between actors and intimate character work.
And the four-parter did just that, but it did start to wear thin on audiences, who love the chaos, explosions, and rescues but are also itching to get into more of the crux of the season.
Because, as is typically the case, the opening emergencies don’t always carry throughout the seasons.
They’re fun and connective, and in this season, necessary for Athena, but the series would do well not to make it a habit.
How do you guys feel about the four-part opening emergencies?
Is it overkill?
Or is it necessary under the right circumstances?
Let us know in the comments how you liked this opening emergency and whether it was just the right number of episodes or one too many.
You can watch 9-1-1 on Thursday at 8/7c on ABC.
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