9-1-1 ‘s three-part premiere wrapped things up on Monday with a happy ending for one family, immediately followed by the birth of a new crisis for another.
The final hour of #TheBlackout began with Athena’s son attempting to outsmart his captor while desperately trying to forget the moment he walked in on Jeremy smelling his mother’s panties. (Sure, the whole night would be great to delete, but if I had to zero in on one specific moment to never remember ever again, that’d be it.)
Athena agreed to let Michael play 9-1-1 (because we all know how well that worked out last time!), complete with ride-along banter about Jeffrey’s junk. When Athena revealed that she shot Jeffrey in the penis, Michael complimented her on the poet justice. “He was using it as a weapon,” Athena quipped, to which her ex-husband added, “You disarmed the man!” It was a fun exchange.
RELATED STORIES
What happened next, however, was extremely not fun. First, we saw that Jeffrey did some redecorating at Lou’s place, including hanging a framed photo of Athena’s battered face from the night of her assault. It was beyond nauseating. It was… well, let’s just say that Room Rater would have some strong words for that decorative choice.
Then came arguably one of the biggest twists of the night: Someone actually said, “Thank God for nosy Karens and their Twitter accounts.” A young woman apparently posted footage of Harry being kidnapped in which Jeffrey posed as an undercover police officer, and Athena wasted no time using the viral video to find Jeffrey in a police protection zone.
Athena and Jeffrey finally came face to face midway through the episode, though their big reunion was cut short when he put Bobby in his crosshairs, which sent Athena into a fully justifiable fit of trigger-happy rage. And as he bled out on the dirty ground, Jeffrey’s final words were that his gun wasn’t loaded. A real gem to the bitter end, this guy.
Overall, our story got a happy ending. Not only is Jeffrey dead, but the 118 successfully freed Harry from behind a wall and brought him home to safety. Was part of me secretly hoping that “Harry” was going to remove his mask, revealing himself to be Jeffrey? Sure. But even this show has its nonsensical limits.
Other emergencies in need of addressing…
* Maddie officially hit her wall this week, dropping her baby off at the firehouse — and not even specifically with Chimney! She did, however, leave this heartbreaking video message for him: “I’m sure that you are confused, hurt and probably really scared. I don’t know what to say. You don’t need to go to the police or come looking for me. I’m not in any danger and no no one is making me dong this. Jee-Yun is not safe with me, not now and maybe [not ever]. I know that you’re going to take really good care of her, and she’s better off without me. I love you. I love both of you. And I’m really sorry.”
Based on our interview with executive producer Tim Minear, we knew that Maddie would be facing serious mental health struggles in Season 5, but this went several steps further than we expected. As for whether actress Jennifer Love Hewitt is actually leaving the show, we wouldn’t bet on it. It’s worth noting that Hewitt gave birth last month, so this is likely just the show’s way of writing around her maternity leave.
* In other sad news, Eddie finally told Ana four little words we all knew were coming, even if they weren’t the ones she wanted to hear. “We need to talk” led to a fairly amicable split, though I wasn’t expecting their exchange to get so emotional. Frankly, I wasn’t even expecting tears. But we got ’em. We got drama. We got multiple languages. Heck, we even got a “You’re an amazing father” speech. I’m curious to see what’s next for Eddie.
* As for Buck’s love life, he was happy to greet Taylor upon returning home from his longest shift in recent memory. He didn’t even seem to mind that he had to say it through the TV during one of her broadcasts.
Your thoughts on the conclusion of 9-1-1‘s three-week premiere event? Drop ’em in a comment below.
