After a far more watchable than season 5 but still lackluster season 6, we FINALLY got a 911 episode that felt like home. This is still a "begins" type episode so there aren't as many scenes with the firefam, however unlike 6x03 they are at least included AND this episode, much like Eddie and Buck's "begins" episodes, takes place around a central emergency. This allows us to see the firefam doing their jobs in between the flashbacks, and we even get a surprise Athena appearance and a double surprise of her not being there on duty but purely to support Hen as a friend.
First, I want to talk about the emergency which still felt a tiny bit lacking in the energy we're used to seeing from earlier seasons, but overall was a vast (if a little bit gory) improvement over anything we've seen this season and most of last season if not even further back. I would have liked to see a little big more of the firefam, but given that we saw them about as much as we did in Eddie or Buck begins, I think most of that is due to the choice to already have 1 episode this season without the firefam at all, and the previous 2 episodes having very little focus on the firefam and doing first responding. If they had handled the pacing better in the early part of the season, I don't think it would feel like we haven't seen certain characters doing anything for weeks, which was also the issue last season. Eddie's thing with Chris was weeks ago, Buck's sperm donor storyline will have a month between it's introduction episode and any sort of follow up, and there's been no mention of Lev's death or Buck's couch, or Athena's emotional state since those respective episodes aired. Which again all comes back to pacing and had those issues not been so prevalent, this episode wouldn't have felt off-kilter at all not seeing the firefam as heavily. I will say that what we DID get was great! Buck being the one in charge of getting Karen out while she grabs his equipment, and gives orders which he follows was great and added a little levity to some stressful moments, we got to see Medic Eddie in full force, and Bobby making sure to tell Hen he loves her and then putting himself in danger to save lives based on Karen's information was just SO Bobby. We even got Athena helping out on the scene which just goes to show that just like Maddie, she's a helper and even off duty and grossed/stressed out, she's going to be in the fray helping where she can. Athena's cop-centered storylines can be touchy as they often contradict the heart and moral of the rest of the show, but every time they have her working pure first response and helping save people, her character shines all the brighter.
Now, for the Hen/Karen/Chim flashbacks of it all! I absolutely LOVE seeing Hen and Karen's first meeting, and finding out that Chim knew Karen and Hen separately and is the one that introduced them to each other?! THIS is the kind of important flashback information I needed to have! It makes him and Karen getting drunk together in a previous episode even funnier, as well as the stories about him helping take care of Denny. Kenneth has been criminally underused for awhile now and this episode is yet further proof that he brings SO much to Chim's character and to the show and should absolutely be given more to do, all the time. His friendships when Hen and Karen were a delight this episode and I think we should see more of the firefam being friends with each other all the time instead of just maybe hearing about it in passing in other episodes. As for Hen and Karen, this backstory was riveting to watch, though much like Buck Begins, it really changed perspective on a lot of their previous scenes and it especially made Hen's cheating with Eva from season 1 hit so much harder. It was great seeing more of Karen's job as well since she's LITERALLY a rocket scientist and is so smart and does such fascinating work. I saw Tracie said she was excited to be more involved with the emergency side and the rest of the team so I hope this leads to seeing more Karen (and baby scientist Denny!) in the future.
This is probably the best episode as a whole that 911 has put out since season 4 at least and maybe even since season 3 (seasons 4 and 5 had some great *scenes* but the overall episode those scenes were in weren't always great), and Aisha and Tracie really delivered everything! We got sassy, snarky, sexy, competent, worried, in love, broken hearted and on and on! Hopefully, production is taking notes, and we can get more of this kind of vibe and energy in firefam-focused episodes. This cast *sparkles* together, let them work together and play/feed off each other!
As for notes, there are only a couple.
One, we ended last episode with Karen calling Maddie and it would have been nice to at least see a glimpse of Maddie and that call at the start.
Two, I am THRILLED Hen is back with the 118 but it just felt...off that after her paramedic skills are what saved that man's life and ultimately saved her wife, that she didn't bring that up as her main reason for quitting medical school. People, PARENTS, are doctors and nurses all the time, and posing it like being a doctor would mean she couldn't "effectively" be a wife and mother rubbed me the wrong way, when they literally set the whole episode up for her to say something about belonging on the front lines. Also, they never made it clear until the party at the end of the episode last week that Hen would be quitting the 118 if she got into her 3rd year of medical school, so her deciding to stay with the 118 fell a little flat since most people didn't know she wasn't sticking around until a week ago. It also makes the whole first episode not make sense because if Bobby knew she was going to be quitting after finals in a couple weeks, why would he have even considered her for Captain? They appoint people that they want to groom to take over and while Hen was certainly competent and did a great job, she was on her way out the door to another job. And why would she have offered instead of focusing on her finals if she knew she was already leaving? We needed more build up in previous episodes for that emotional beat of her choosing the 118 to really, truly land.
Three, it really is past time to have Buck asking dumb questions for exposition purposes so someone else can tell the audience things. There was a waiting room full of people who knew and loved Karen that could have asked the question or it could have been Denny, still waiting with everyone for news about his mom and Buck could have answered with fun facts. Buck is smart, they need to LET HIM be smart.
Finally, and perhaps most egregiously, there is The Photo. I laughed at the first look at the collage because I recognized the cast photo from the season 5 finale and there was a necklace hanging over the picture covering up Lucy while showing the core firefam and Athena. HOWEVER, when the scene zooms in, the necklace is magically moved to the side so Lucy is in full focus and it also become glaringly obvious that the photo was cropped so Ravi is not included at all. It also looks like it's either cropped, or hidden behind another picture on the other side so we don't see Karen either. Karen being missing from what should be a picture of her own vow renewal ONLY makes sense if the picture is supposed to focus on just the firefam, in which case we are STILL having Lucy forced on us, while Kristen and Co. Continue to erase Ravi from the show. They didn't have a picture of the 118 from the party they JUST had last episode? At this point it just screams pettiness and jealousy on Kristen's part that people hated her fav self-insert character while Ravi was a fan favorite. There's been mention or visual of Lucy in half the episodes this season yet not one person has mentioned Ravi's name or why he's not around. It is far, FAR past time to let go of trying to bring Lucy back and while I miss Ravi, I hope Anirudh is having a great time being appreciated and valued on the shows he's working on now. If he never wanted to come back to such a toxic showrunner who gave storylines that should have been his to some rando white woman while sidelining him, I wouldn't blame him in the least. Do better.
Let's all hope the show can keep up this momentum going into the season finale. The next few episodes sound promising but so did 6x04 and 6x05. One good episode does not a good show make and 911 needs to seriously consider who they are leaving at the top. It's time for a change.
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