If you still need a second to process, take your time.
I have a feeling a lot of people will need to dab their eyes and catch their breath after the closing moments of 9-1-1 Season 6 Episode 10.
We’ve seen cliffhangers before on this series. From the devastating tsunami to Eddie’s shooting, so we should be used to the crushing blow of an unresolved emergency. But there’s something about the end here that hits just slightly differently.
But in an hour with so much to offer, let’s not start at the end. Let’s start with the various personal stories that make this one of the most captivating hours of the season.
And to be honest, things were going so well, we should have assumed it was all going to go downhill at some point.
Much of 9-1-1 Season 6 Episode 9 surrounded Wendall’s death, Bobby’s struggles with his passing, and the circumstances surrounding it. And a time jump here hasn’t stopped Bobby’s quest for answers.
One thing about Bobby Nash is that he never does anything halfway. He’s going to put everything he can into whatever he’s tasked with doing, and for him to even get a whiff of an answer, he needed to get someone into that treatment center.
Lucky for him, he had two very capable women who were ready to help him, though they weren’t exactly getting the information he was seeking either.
Wendall was a significant and influential person in Bobby’s life. A person’s sponsor is truly their lifeline in many ways, as the confidant one needs as they navigate recovery. They’re the person who shows you what life in recovery can be like, is there to help guide you, and hold you accountable.
Losing Wendall really cuts Bobby in many ways and probably leaves him feeling untethered, especially thinking that Wendall died of a drug overdose. It’s just not a conclusion Bobby is sure he can accept.
Bobby can smell something rotten from a mile away, and he got a bad vibe from Carrie and Trey from the start. And that vibe only increases when you spend more time with them and understand that their treatment center seems to be far less about treating and more about the bottom line.
Bobby’s unwillingness to move on from the investigation, even when it stalls, feels like it could lead him down a destructive path because there’s a fine line between dedication and obsession. And you can see the moment Athena begins to worry whether or not a righteous quest for justice is becoming too much.
But the conversation between May and Athena is such a powerful one, and a time for Athena to hear from someone directly involved in the investigation. What they’re doing is important. It’s vital for Wendall, and it’s important for others who may potentially find themselves at this facility.
It’s not time to give up when they’re getting closer, and they’ve found a way to sneak inside the doors.
Athena and May make for a fabulous undercover team. May especially does a great job of appealing to Tamara and getting her comfortable enough to trust her.
You can tell there is so much she knows and wants to share, and since this is clearly a story that will play out throughout the rest of the season, we don’t get all the answers here. But you can tell they’re getting close.
It’s always nice to see Bobby and Athena team up because they make such a balanced pair. And adding May into the mix was a nice touch and an excellent way to showcase this family rallying around each other to be the support system they so often need.
Hen: Why are you worried about a lack of drama?
Chimney: Because it’s unnatural, Hen. Like the two of you down there tossing that ball.
While one family was working together, another was navigating a visit from the in-laws.
Well, not the actual in-laws, as Chimney and Maddie aren’t married yet, but you know what I meant.
The four months have done Chimney and Maddie a lot of good, as they seem closer than ever, and they appear to be settling into their new house nicely. But an impending visit from Philip and Margaret has her on edge, understandably.
Both Maddie and Buck have valid reasons for not only keeping their parents at a distance but struggling with the here and now of that relationship.
There are a lot of hurt feelings and old wounds that may never truly heal, and it’s hard for Maddie to imagine her parents walking into her unfinished home without a list of complaints and judgment because that’s what’s familiar to her. So color her surprised when Philip and Margaret waltz in with nary a bad thing to say at first.
Having the Buckley parents back makes sense, especially in light of how the hour ends, but it’s not something I’ve clamored for since we met them back in 9-1-1 Season 4.
Their story is one of grief and pain, recycled over and over for years. And they haven’t been mentioned enough since then for me to grasp what their story is now. But they’ve come into this visit trying, at the very least. And by trying, I mean they’ve chosen to take the opportunity in front of them and use it for something good.
They have a beautiful granddaughter and a wonderful son and daughter who are willing to have them in their lives, and they seem to be embracing that. It feels a little weird to see Margaret so willingly embrace Buck when she finds out he’s become a sperm donor, but it further cements the idea that they’re trying to change the narrative.
And while Maddie and Buck are walking on eggshells on one end, Chimney is thrown off the ground when Albert brings his father home with him.
Albert, Albert, Albert. On the one hand, I understand where Albert is coming from. He wants Chimney and Jee to have a relationship with Sang, but dropping something like that on Chimney would never go over well and puts him in such an uncomfortable position.
The most I remember about Sang was that he was a jerk to Chimney and that their relationship was pretty non-existent. And he doesn’t do much to change my mind here.
It’s a fascinating thing when there’s a chasm within a family, especially between parents and children. It seems like there are always people who think that no matter how your parents treat you, you have to make amends with them and have them in your life because they’re your parents.
And that’s such an idealistic and frankly foolish way of thinking. Everyone has the right to feel their feelings, and for Chimney, his feelings have pushed him away from his father, and that’s okay. He doesn’t owe the man anything at this point. He’s a good man and a wonderful father, and he can attribute that to himself.
It’s his right to put up that wall with Sang, and it should be respected.
But he feels the pressure from Albert and just the magic of those moments when his sanctuary is filled with his daughter’s laughter and family’s smiles to wonder if he’s wrong to keep his father at bay.
The conversation between Chimney and Hen in the ambulance is probably my favorite scene of the hour because it’s something Chimney needs to hear, if only because it allows him to see how bridging the gap with Sang is more about himself than anyone else.
This idea that Sang deserves to be a grandfather is not the pitch Albert thinks it is. But the belief that Chimney deserves to say his peace and maybe find some relief from all that built-up pain is. So, whether or not a conversation brings them closer together, it could be very cathartic for Chimney.
And coming off what happens to Buck, it should be more evident than ever to him that tomorrow isn’t promised.
Buck spends his hour in a great place, probably for the first time in a while. Things with his parents may never be perfect, but they’re better, and everything with Connor and Kameron appears to be going well.
Buck: No rain. Where the hell did it come from?
Eddie: I don’t know. Really hope it doesn’t strike twice, though.
He’s happy, and you can tell when he has that conversation with Eddie and Bobby in the truck that it’s an unfamiliar emotion for him to be so enveloped with the feeling of family as it relates to the Buckleys, but it’s not unwelcome. It’s something he’s never thought he would have, and having it leaves him satiated at that moment.
So naturally, the person most at ease is the one that gets struck down by lightning.
The lightning emergencies throughout the installment show just how devastating the weather phenomenon can be. Turning sand into lightning and causing car accidents that literally rip a baby out of the womb. It’s scary, scary stuff, and deadly, too.
The entire last few minutes are shot and executed beautifully. Buck is struck and promptly falls off the ladder as the spark bounces down and throws Eddie off the base. And then, we get each member of the 118’s reaction to seeing a lifeless Buck hanging in the air.
It’s a chilling, slow-motion moment that’s as gorgeous as it is haunting. Bobby, Hen, and Chimney all look to be in disbelief as the effect makes them each inch their way closer to help slowly. But it’s Eddie’s reaction that takes the cake here.
He has to scramble to catch his bearings after his own electrical blast, so he’s a little slower on the uptick, but once he’s ready to get back to work, that’s when he sees it. That’s when he sees Buck dangling in the air, and his face morphs from mild concern about what just happened to sheer panic about what’s before his eyes.
Eddie’s climb to the top in the pouring rain, punctuated with frantic screams of Buck’s name, is a nice parallel to 9-1-1 Season 3 Episode 15 when it was Buck digging through the mud with the rain cascading down his face yelling Eddie’s name in agony.
Buck used his bare hands to try and pull Eddie up from the earth, while Eddie used his hands to lower Buck back down to earth.
And it’s not lost on me that both of these scenes also have lightning strikes in common. 9-1-1 doesn’t do things on accident, and this feels like a pretty deliberate choice. Though what it means moving forward remains to be seen.
Listen, I’ve waxed poetic about Buck and Eddie’s dynamic for years now, and what else is there to say, really? They’re so fundamentally paramount to one another, and scenes like this drive that home. They anchor one another, and it’s fitting that Eddie is the first to reach out and offer that help.
The seconds it takes to get Buck lowered onto the stretcher seem to stretch into oblivion, and we each passing moment his pulse doesn’t return, you can see the hope dwindle from everyone’s eyes.
It’s just a complete and utter gut punch of a cliffhanger to leave us on, with Buck literally dead and the 118 racing his across the city, hoping to bring him back to life.
Where do we go from here? Buck won’t stay dead, there’s no way, but this is a traumatic incident that should have long-lasting effects. And what does this do to his found family? The ones who watched him hurt yet again.
As great as it is to have 9-1-1 back, this isn’t quite the reunion we were preparing for.
Odds and Ends
- Denny’s having a secret relationship with his father that is going to get so much worse before it gets better. I can understand from Denny’s perspective why he’s keeping it a secret because he’s a child and scared to hurt his moms, but Nathaniel is a grown man and should know better.
- Eddie rushing over to the stretcher once he was down from the ladder, pushing past Bobby to see what was happening, and then Bobby rushing him off to drive the ambulance and distract him from the recovery efforts was a moment that left me speechless. As did Bobby’s call into the hospital.
- The show has never quite known what to do with Albert, but I’m a fan of having him come back in these kinds of stories to further the brother relationship.
- Buck asking Maddie if she ever thought about what life would be like if Daniel lived? I’m not crying. YOU ARE. He’s 100% going to be apart of the next hour, and I’m not ready.
- All the emergencies were intense and a further reminder of how quickly things can go wrong.
- Once Buck went down, and it was all hands on deck to save him, who stepped in to put out that apartment fire?
- Those final few minutes are some of the best 9-1-1 has to offer. When they nail it, there’s truly nothing like it on television.
All the chills throughout the end of this hour and the anticipation for what’s to come next is at an all-time high. This is 9-1-1 at its absolute best.
You must have many thoughts, and I want to hear them all, so get into that comment box! And if, for some reason, you’re not caught up this season, watch 9-1-1 online via TV Fanatic right now so you can join the chat!
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
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