911 Season 9 Episode 16 Recap — Who Is Detective Hooks?

We had our suspicions about Detective Hooks (guest star Josh Stamberg) based on his tense team-up with Athena last week, but after seeing him again on the April 2 episode of “9-1-1,” we’re confident — this guy is trouble.

This week’s episode put the 118 through the wringer (as always), with Chimney standing accused of assaulting a building manager and disabling a fire alarm system. The 118 had previously responded to at least five “false alarms” from the building, and when it eventually did go up in flames, the alarm failed to go off. The angry residents immediately rioted, blaming the 118 for not helping sooner before barricading them in their truck.

Things were looking bleak for Chimney when the building manager turned up dead, but this only lit a fire (so to speak) under the 118 to prove their captain’s innocence. They discovered a hidden room on the same side of the building as all of the previous “false alarms,” with 16 immigrants being held inside. It turns out the building manager was involved in a human trafficking operation, and his captives had been sending smoke signals through the ventilation system in the hopes of being discovered. One day, their smoke signal accidentally ignited an actual fire… and you know the rest.

All evidence of the building manager’s connection to the trafficking operation was destroyed in the fire, so Detective Hooks was ready to shrug his shoulders and call it a day. Hen spoke up, reminding Hooks that the immigrants can provide eyewitness accounts of the man’s involvement, something Hooks hadn’t bothered to think of himself. With all the fake sincerity he could muster, Hooks thanked Hen for the suggestion, adding that perhaps he can do something to help the victims in return for their participation.

But Hooks is no do-gooder. The next time we saw him, he was placing a troubling phone call to an unknown associate, telling them, “Hey, I think we might have a real problem here.”

While Detective Hooks’ exact motives are unclear, our interpretation of his conversation with Hen was that he was perfectly fine sending the immigrants back to their country of origin and shrugging off the destroyed evidence of their captor. But why wouldn’t a detective want to do everything in his power to bring a human trafficker to justice? Our assumption is that he was somehow involved in the trafficking himself, though we’re sure there are plenty of other dots still to be connected here.

We met Hooks for the first time when he worked alongside Athena in the show’s March 26 episode, though “alongside” is a generous word. He tried to use her position as a patrol sergeant to have her removed from the case, telling her, “Get yourself a detective shield next time.” (Rude much?) Athena was also warned about Hooks by the man they were trying to protect; he asked her not to share some key information with anyone, “especially not that detective who was conveniently assigned to this case.”

Though Hooks has only been on “9-1-1” for two episodes, the actor portraying him should look familiar to longtime TV viewers. Best known for playing Jay Parker on Lifetime’s “Drop Dead Diva” from 2009 to 2012, Josh Stamberg has also held down memorable roles on shows like ABC’s “Nashville,” NBC’s “Parenthood,” and Showtime’s “The Affair.” “Sex and the City” devotees may remember him as Brian, a man who made a certain request of Charlotte in the HBO comedy’s first season, while Marvel fans will likely recognize him as S.W.O.R.D. operative Tyler Hayward, who appeared on Disney+’s “WandaVision.”

And we can’t talk about the April 2 episode of “9-1-1” without talking about Sam (guest star Michael Johnston), who filled in for Buck while he was on paid leave. Sam seemed harmless enough at first, even volunteering to help cook at the firehouse, but it wasn’t long before the adorable little weasel started making trouble.

Despite everyone else on the 118 insisting that Chimney did not assault the building manager, Sam testified that he “thinks” he saw it happen, which was enough to give the review board pause. He later admitted that he only heard someone else say they saw it happen, so he just went along with it. That’s how spineless he is. Sam gave a whole explanation about how he’s always been a people pleaser, but Chimney was more interested in him recalling his testimony before the board, which he did.

Fortunately, we won’t have to worry about Sam stirring up any more trouble for the 118, as Buck returned to work at the end of the hour. Buck accidentally making a farewell cake for “Max” only made the moment better, especially because Sam was too much of a people pleaser to correct him. The guy was fully prepared to just start going by Max for the rest of his life. Again, spineless. Moving forward, Sam is now the 144’s problem — but something tells us we haven’t seen the last of him, whether we like it or not.

OK, let’s talk: What do you think Detective Hooks is up to? Do you hope “9-1-1” keeps Sam in the universe as a running gag? And are you emotionally prepared for the four-week hiatus before the show returns on April 30 for the last two episodes of the season? Drop a comment with all of your thoughts below.