911 - Spiraling, The Sky Is Falling, Reentry

Spoilers ahead!

If you watched all the seasons of 9-1-1 up to now, you know that this show has a tradition: the premiere serves as an introduction to what the characters are up to, showing their internal dilemmas and external conflicts while a bizarre or silly emergency is solved. Then, in the last minutes, a catastrophe begins, with episodes 2 and 3 showing the firefighters, the dispatchers, and the police joining forces to save multiple victims of the calamity. The multi-part, all-characters involved arcs started with the earthquake in season 2, which was followed by all kinds of catastrophes tackled in huge multi-part arcs: a tsunami, a city-wide blackout, a cruise ship sinking, and even a beenado followed by a plane crash. Now, 9-1-1 decided to go bigger and explore the space.

For season 9, however, instead of the usual 3-part model, the powers that be decided to split the story into 4 episodes, with the first part being the usual introduction and the other three being the actual space emergency. This article is an overall review of the space triad of episodes, containing a summary of their most important moments and overall impressions.

Spiraling starts with a quick montage of the space crew being interviewed by Tripp Hauser’s team. The spaceship launch will be televised as this big event, so our 118 main characters (plus Hen and Athena’s respective families) talk a little about what makes them everyday heroes. The group of five travelers also shares their thoughts about themselves. The space mission starts well, but after a geostorm starts, Tripp’s satellites crash into each other and fall onto Earth. Tripp loses contact with the spaceship Inara, and the event stops being transmitted on TV. In space, the ship is hit by debris and starts spinning out of control. One of the crew — a young man — restarts the programs and stops the spinning, but the efforts to do so make him suffer a cardiac event. Hen, with the help of the others, restarts the man’s heart in this zero-gravity environment.

On Earth, Karen works with Maddie and the other dispatchers to make contact with the Inara with the help of an old satellite. They are successful and can talk to the space crew in a touching, thrilling scene. They can get the Inara working again, but after that, it catches fire. Meanwhile, the 118 has to deal with space debris falling on LA and the consequences of technology being out of control: first, they help a man trapped in a self-driving car, then hit by debris in the head; finally, they stop a malfunctioning robot with killer tendencies at a hospital.

Spiraling gets the space part right. The beginning with the testimonies is interesting, and Hen having to restart someone’s heart in space is a great way to reinvent an ordinary emergency and turn it into something different. Karen is a delight to watch; it’s amazing to watch her under the spotlights this time, using her connections and her abilities to bring her wife and friend back to Earth. However, when it comes to the 118, they are given substantially less interesting things to do here. The technology theme feels like more of the same, being the weaker parts of the episode.

However, this changes in The Sky is Falling. Here, the couple Cal and Laurie get into trouble during the storm. After a fight, they separate ways, with Laurie exiting into the subway; then, the entrance collapses, leaving an unconscious Laurie with her leg stuck under cement. The 118 does its best to save her, but with the water filling the subway and the victim’s blood pressure dropping lower and lower, Chimney has to amputate Laurie’s leg.

The situation is compelling: Harry helps Cal as they both deal with their feelings of dread regarding their loved ones, and Chimney is hit by an awful situation in which he can’t help but think, “What would Bobby do?” There’s a hint of conflict between Chim and Eddie, with the latter suggesting the amputation and the former waiting for a better solution, as he’s sure there’s one Bobby would find, even if Chimney himself can’t see it.

This situation develops a bit more of a bigger arc that could take the whole season: Chimney constructing his own identity as the 118 Captain. Ending with the bitter feeling of the hard decision taken, The Sky is Falling gives the juiciest parts to the 118 and to May, Denny, and Mara at the firehouse, helping injured people. When it comes to the space subplot, things are not as interesting, with a convoluted development that keeps going in circles — knowing they have to save the better stuff for episode 4, the space crew faces some tiring challenges. The best part is when Karen and Maddie work together to make contact with them again, getting the help of 9-1-1: Nashville’s Cammie in a quick crossover.

If Spiraling is more of a space crew/Hen and Karen-centric, and The Sky is Falling is more about the 118 dealing with an especially hard situation, Reentry is Athena Begins Again. This way, the opening emergency ends with an episode entirely dedicated to Athena, with a significant portion of the episode dedicated to flashbacks to an afternoon in 1998 when she lost her work partner. At the time, she was still dealing with the loss of her late fiancé Emmett, so losing people and moving on is a central theme. After all, back to the present day in the International Space Station, Athena is also fighting against urges to give up.

After volunteering to risk her life and fix something outside the station, Athena loses oxygen in an accident and is given the choice to just give up on life. It’s harder to fight for life without Bobby there. And after everyone she has lost all those years — is it really worth it to keep fighting? In a beautifully deep conversation with her past self, Athena finds reasons to live and returns to the station, so almost everyone can make it home.

“But as long as there’s life, there’s hope. They keep us going, those stars, those moments. Like a dance between lovers, or a laugh between friends. They pull us along. They warm us. They blaze with all that’s good. And tell the darkness, not today.”

Bassett is a joy to watch, as always, giving one of her most powerful performances. And the episode is, when you look at it isolated, great. In context, however, it ends this season’s big emergency in a more intimate note, replacing the usual tension with moments of reflection on grief. Athena, Harry, Chimney, they are all dealing with the consequences of Bobby’s absence, which in Harry’s case means Athena’s absence too. The flashbacks here contribute to a convoluted pacing, even if the presence of a younger Athena throughout the episode makes the scene between past and present Athena more compelling.

“Pain is the price we pay for joy. And it’s a fair trade; a good deal. Because any second, instant, moment of joy is like a diamond in the darkness.”

Anyway, the episode ends with a quick moment between Hen and Karen, finally reunited, and Athena and her children in peace. At least until Harry announces he’s intending to join the LAFD. An obvious decision that everyone saw coming miles away, it will be interesting to see if Harry adapts himself to the 118, and that’s his true vocation; while watching how they handled the emergencies, I was under the impression that Harry would make a great dispatcher, while May would be great as a paramedic or even a firefighter. Let’s see how everything unfolds this season.

Thinking about the emergency as a whole, the episodes are irregular. The pacing isn’t the best; sometimes, the episodes drag too much on things that could be cut. Sometimes, it hits home perfectly. Fun, silliness, a bit of tension, a bit of boredom, some weird choices while also being emotional at times — these episodes have it all. With three black women (Athena, Hen, Karen) as the highlights, the whole cast is heavily involved this time, with everyone being included and having something to do. May and Harry, the show’s new regulars, are also smartly used, and not even Denny and Mara are wasted. Perhaps, if not for the choice to drag it for 4 parts, this emergency could be one of the best — the potential is there. As it was, it makes for an uneven viewing that tries to do too much and yet, at the end, feels like it didn’t do enough. The world of 9-1-1 without Bobby still looks unbalanced. Let’s wait and see if they can find their feet before the mid-season finale in two weeks.

Feel free to leave a comment with your impressions and theories. Thanks for reading!

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