It is 2024 on Halloween. Youngsters are visiting Station 118. The firefighters are all dressed up for the event: Hen is a mad scientist, Chimney is Jason Voorhees, Buck is a cowboy, Eddie is a werewolf, and Bobby is a vampire. You most likely keep in mind this second, however in case you do not, I am speaking about Masks, the fifth episode of season eight. It is a bizarre factor, however this feels prefer it belongs to a unique present that aired ages in the past and has little to do with what’s presently airing. It isn’t simply Masks; the extra I take into consideration what this present was, the extra I look to season 9 with curiosity and a few barely morbid fascination. So I made a decision this overview could be the proper second to dissect my emotions about the latest episodes of 9-1-1 (Household Historical past, Secrets and techniques, Struggle, Combating Again, and Deal with with Care) whereas taking a visit down reminiscence lane and reflecting on what essentially modified on this present.
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“Combating Again” – 9-1-1. Pictured: Oliver Stark as Buck, Kenneth Choi as Chimney, Aisha Hinds as Hen, Ryan Guzman as Eddie, Anirudh Pisharody as Ravi. Picture: Christopher Willard/ABC © 2026 Disney. All rights reserved. |
Let’s begin with a fast recap of how 9A ended and what occurred on 9B up to now: Harry is coaching to change into a firefighter and will get some assist from Buck within the course of; Athena works on a cyberbullying case that triggers some unhealthy recollections about previous experiences with Could; Hen discovers a persistent sickness and hides it from everybody, resulting in battle with Chimney, who as her Captain has to fireside her; as “9-1-1: Civil Struggle” unfolds, Athena intervenes to discover a solution to unite their discovered household; in the meantime, Buck will get concerned with a person and a girl to later uncover they’re a non-monogamous couple, Maddie offers with the dispatcher AI-assistant Sara, and a previous affected person turns into weirdly all in favour of Eddie’s private life… All whereas some inventive emergencies occur, like a household reunion the place they tear their fingers aside after a recreation of tug of warfare, a person trapped in a chastity belt, and a collective seizure at a drive-thru (the highlights to me).
Hen’s sickness exposes the cracks between the 118. This storyline opens the likelihood that one other of them will die, as Bobby did months in the past, which understandably makes everybody act a bit insane. So Hen lies to her family and friends and passes out after an emergency, Chimney calls her out whereas she’s on the hospital, and so they find yourself having a short argument that ends with Hen fired. All of this results in Struggle, an episode stuffed with battle between the crew, with Athena making an attempt to deliver peace to all with a dinner throughout which Chimney says, “Hen lied to all of us, which is why she was fired.” Hen solutions with “I used to be making an attempt to guard you all.” To which Chimney replies, “You actually assume, after dropping Bobby, we had been able to see one other firefighter go down?” After this, Hen says the road I stored serious about after the episode ended:
“What do you assume I used to be making an attempt to guard you from? Dropping Bobby broke us all into items. Individually and as a crew. We could not take one other hit. So I stored it to myself. Simply till I knew what it was.”
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| “Struggle” – 9-1-1. Pictured: Tracie Thoms as Karen, Aisha Hinds as Hen, and Aimee Teegarden as Alex. Picture: Christopher Willard/ABC © 2026 Disney. All rights reserved. |
There it’s. For more often than not, there’s one thing off about season 9. The 118 is damaged; they don’t seem to be appearing as we predict they need to, they don’t seem to be even appearing as they assume they need to. There’s this occasional melancholy, these awkward silences, these unusual scenes that make me surprise what occurred to the present we used to know and love. It isn’t simply Bobby — it is primarily his absence, sure, however there’s extra to it.
To start with, Hen hasn’t been a part of the crew for a lot of the season: she was in house throughout the opening emergency, and as quickly as she got here again, she came upon she was sick and needed to go away. Then there’s Ravi — he is there for more often than not, however they don’t seem to be doing a lot to him when it comes to character growth. And typically he vanishes with out rationalization, his absence undoubtedly felt throughout the Struggle episode, which featured the 118 as simply Chimney, Buck, and Eddie (the home has by no means felt this empty). However this does not final a lot, as a result of Harry joins the 118 quickly after this, and as soon as once more, the 118 looks like one thing totally new. The firefighters from 9-1-1, as soon as this fastened group that all the time featured Bobby, Hen, Chimney, Buck, and Eddie, are a unique beast virtually for every week of season 9.
Seeking to the present’s previous, it is arduous to not recall season 5, which had the 118 divided with Chimney in search of Maddie and Eddie becoming a member of dispatch, Jonah and Lucy becoming a member of the crew later within the season — besides that for that case, we knew (or not less than had the sensation on the time) that the separation was momentary and the entire 118 we all know and love would come collectively by the finale. There isn’t any such certainty now. What was regular is destroyed, and makes an attempt to reconstruct the crew into a brand new regular are consistently interrupted as a result of the crew is frequently altering. I’ve the sensation that Hen will come again to the 118 quickly, and we’ll lastly have the entire home with Chimney, Hen, Buck, Eddie, Ravi, and Harry working collectively. Then, after a number of episodes with this new crew, perhaps we will have some sense of the brand new regular — however as of now, there’s solely this unsettling feeling.
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“Combating Again” – 9-1-1. Pictured: Elijah M. Cooper as Harry, Corinne Massiah as Could. Picture: Christopher Willard/ABC © 2026 Disney. All rights reserved. |
There are different the reason why this present feels completely different from the way it used to. At its earliest, 9-1-1 was a group of a number of insane, stunning, and pressing emergencies that by some means mirrored the primary responders’ private lives. They was particular, actually unforgettable, primarily as a result of the victims used to die.
We would be introduced to a number of characters, we would know their backstories, their targets, we would see them in a scenario that was about to change into messy shortly, the air could be stuffed with suspense (Who was going to hit who? Would the scenario change into too ugly, too gory? How would the primary responders save the day?). Then an accident would occur, and typically the efforts of the primary responders wouldn’t be sufficient.
How can one neglect in regards to the heartbreaking time that an injured police horse needed to be put down (2×7 – Haunted)? Or that one emergency during which there’s this entire montage devoted to this aged homosexual couple, which additionally ends in an emotional, unhappy — however in the end pretty — dying (2×8 – Buck, Really)? Or when a person tries to be courageous sufficient to suggest to his girlfriend till he’s devoured by a faulty mall escalator to shock her, ending up useless (2×4 – Caught)? These are all examples taken from season two episodes, however there’s that one time in season three when a younger cellist had the 118 ambulance crash into her automotive by Hen (3×8 – Malfunction). We get to see the cellist’s backstory on this highly effective montage; we get to take care of her, and by the point the brutal occasion occurs and she or he dies, it is unimaginable to really feel detached.
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“Deal with with Care” – 9-1-1. Pictured: Angela Bassett as Athena. Picture: Christopher Willard/ABC © 2026 Disney. All rights reserved. |
What I am saying is that it takes some difficult work to create these sympathetic characters, plot these inventive conditions, and clarify their backstories utilizing a couple of minutes — typically even much less — in order that their accidents (and typically deaths) can hit us more durable. Any such emergency would not occur anymore. Season 9 has some actually good emergencies — one of the best of their days on ABC in the case of “common” circumstances, I would say, particularly in 9×01, 9×05, and 9×06 — however for a present that killed its foremost character for stakes, it is mesmerizing how little the stakes are these days for one of the essential issues: the folks in peril.
This is not completely an issue of season 9; even earlier than Bobby died, the pattern of lighter emergencies with considerably decrease stakes existed. It is one thing that got here from their ultimate season at FOX, amplified by the transfer to ABC. There may be an evident shift: probably the most memorable stuff about season 7 and eight, the 9-1-1 on ABC seasons, are the primary character arcs and the stunning issues that occurred to them or the opening disasters, however the common stuff, the each day bread that really makes the present what it’s, eh… Season 9 delivers higher accidents, typically getting actually inventive with them. Nonetheless, it nonetheless refuses to let the viewer emotionally have interaction with the emergencies because it used to, and I believe this can be a drawback.
One more reason this present has been feeling bizarre — and that is one thing that has happening because the transfer to ABC — is how sidelined dispatch has been. I do know, I do know, each episode has not less than one scene of Maddie taking a name, typically we even see Josh, Linda, or Sue taking calls too. However there was a time we would have entire storylines developed in a number of episodes in regards to the dispatch as a office, in regards to the folks working there going via modifications, like when Maddie skilled a brand new dispatcher within the first 5 episodes of season six (the person was revealed to be a legal ultimately, however it took many episodes to get there). Or when Could joined dispatch in season 5 and went via the pains of her first job (together with having issues with a coworker explored in varied episodes), whereas on the similar time Eddie joined the crew and in addition went via some attention-grabbing growth, and each storylines wrapped within the unbelievable Could Day episode (5×16).
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“Struggle” – 9-1-1. Pictured: Jennifer Love Hewitt as Maddie, Bryan Safi as Josh. Picture: Christopher Willard/ABC © 2026 Disney. All rights reserved. |
Let’s additionally deliver to the desk the season 3 arc that noticed Josh tricked right into a date simply to be overwhelmed up (3×12 – Fools), a storyline that led to the good masterpiece that’s The Taking of Dispatch 9-1-1 (3×14). There was additionally an episode in season 4 (4×11 – First Responders) that had a hit-and-run leaving Sue in vital situation, with Josh and Maddie supporting one another as they tried to maintain it collectively and get the work finished (finally, this work would result in a kidnapping plot that might additionally reveal who tried to homicide Sue).
Anyway, the purpose is that the dispatchers used to matter on this present; that they had multi-episode arcs, intense episodes that largely befell in dispatch, and moments of hardship, change, and development from their on a regular basis jobs. Since season 7, nevertheless, the dispatch is usually Maddie speaking to the telephone for a scene or two, and that is it, which is unhappy as a result of the purpose of the present was the connection between folks in lethal conditions and the primary responders, that are firefighters, police, and the glue to all of them: the dispatchers. If something, what makes 9-1-1 completely different and even distinctive when in comparison with different procedurals is how very important the dispatchers are (or was). Season 9 even tries to alter that by bringing the AI-assistant storyline, which is an effort I admire. Nonetheless, a lot extra must be finished to get the present again to its richer, stronger roots. Lengthy story brief: dispatch is a vital, defining a part of 9-1-1, and the way in which it has been downplayed is hurting the present.
Anyway, change is inevitable in life and in tv. And 9-1-1 has clearly become one thing new through the years. Not all of it’s unhealthy: a lot of the emergencies this season are robust, even when I wished to care extra in regards to the folks in peril. I nonetheless love the characters (that opening montage in Combating Again with everybody serving to Hen is one for the ages, nailing the found-family side). By the way in which, have I discussed that Deal with with Care ends with Christopher seemingly kidnapped, establishing one thing much like the Sob Tales/Voices arc, this time with Eddie and Athena becoming a member of forces as an alternative of Athena and Chimney? There are many attention-grabbing issues on this new world, so not all is misplaced. Nonetheless, typically I keep in mind of the Masks episode, which didn’t have iconic emergencies on the extent of earlier seasons, nor dispatch vastly concerned, however had lightness and enjoyable in ways in which this present will hardly return to, and I do know that if issues proceed at this tempo, the remembrance of season 9 within the years to come back will all the time have a bittersweet style.
Be at liberty to go away a remark together with your impressions and theories. Thanks for studying!
