We’ve had to wait a week to see what happens to Athena and Hen in space. 911 season 9, episode 2 is here, and it’s time to break down the events of the geomagnetic storm.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from 911 season 9, episode 2
Before we get into the details, we pick up with Athena, Hen, and everyone else heading to space doing interviews after the reveal that they go to space from the 911 season 9 premiere. They’re sharing why they want to go to space, with a mixture of answers, and it’s fun watching Athena knowing that this is the last thing she even wants to do.
We then switch to 18 hours later, where Hen’s family and Chim’s family are together. I feel for Karen in all of this, considering she would love to go to space, but she just can’t do it as she is a serious scientist. However, she spends way too much time putting down the entire situation, and Maddie is the one who sees through it.
This isn’t jealousy, as she’s happy for Hen to do this. There’s a sadness to it, because she won’t be the one heading up there.
Harry is angry at Athena’s decision in 911 season 9, episode 2
May decides to see her brother at work, where we find out that Harry is angry at the entire situation. I get that he’s angry that Athena shut herself away in her grief, but as he brings up how Athena lost their dad as well, May had every right to call her out.
There’s a lot of anger toward other people, though. Harry is angry that his dad has made a choice to help other children, and Bobby made a choice to save his team. Now he’s scared because of the choice to head to space, and we know that his fear is valid. It doesn’t matter that she takes risks in her own job. This is one she could avoid.
Well, he might be even angrier that she’s currently made a choice to sit at a bar with Hen, drinking shots. Hen says the thing that we’re all thinking. It’s a bad idea to take Athena to space, because she’s a jinx.
On the day of the launch, Tripp is annoyed that his fiancée going to space isn’t tracking well, but that’s not the issue. In space, there’s a radiation spike, and this could mean a geomagnetic storm, which could be the thing knocking out satellites. Cody, who runs the analyst side of things, suggest scrapping the launch, but Tripp isn’t going to listen to that.
The emergency begins
Those going to space aren’t the only ones doing interviews. The entire 118, Karen and the kids, May, and Harry get to share what they think about Hen and Athena as heroes. It’s clear that these interviews are important for Tripp, as Athena and Hen are the ones getting the most praise, since they’re real everyday heroes.
Everyone should have listened to Tripp, as Cody still isn’t happy about it. He’s not the only one. As lift-off happens, Karen gets a call from work, with everyone there knowing that there’s a 40% chance of a geomagnetic storm. Karen can just watch as her whole world takes off and may never come back.
In some good news, they make it into space, giving them a chance to experience no gravity. That’s certainly a relief for everyone watching, but Karen has something else to be concerned about. She just has to keep a poker face for her kids.
Now in space, they’re able to take their seatbelts off and really get the anti-gravity experience. Do they know that everyone is watching this whole thing from Earth? I’d love to see how people react to Athena’s looks, as she clearly doesn’t really want to be up there. However, I have to admit seeing the Aurora Borealis from space would be amazing.
This is when things take a turn for the worst, as more satellites go out. This knocks out the internal cameras. That’s not all that’s going to get knocked out, as some space debris flies toward the spaceship.
The sky is falling
Now it’s time for the truth to come out, as everyone learns that Tripp was warned of a geomagnetic storm. It’s gone from 40% to 100%, and Tripp’s PR girl has to figure out how to tell everyone in America that Tripp chose to do this.
For now, the ship is fine, but everyone inside are in a bit of trouble. They’re currently just spinning in space, and there are no controls inside to be able to do anything. The young guy, Parker, up there suggests that they unplug the ship and plug it back in, the way that we would with a printer or a computer, and it’s up to him to figure out how to do that.
Back at the firehouse, Harry watches as the photographers leave (on Tripp’s orders) and shares his anger with Buck about how he knew something bad was going to happen. It’s clear from the way Karen is acting that something is wrong, and nobody is telling anyone.
In some good news, Parker manages to get the ship to stop spinning as quickly as it does, but they’re still currently stuck in space. And they’re stuck with a medical emergency, as Parker’s heart stops likely from slamming into a chair when he was saving everyone else. This is when Tripp’s fiancée comes in handy, as she has a watch that measures vital signs, meaning Hen can help to save Parker.
On Earth, Karen and her work look for a way to save Hen and Athena. It’s not just Tripp’s satellites up in the air, but there are others, and this could lead to a rescue squad in space. This does mean telling everyone the truth about what’s happened, but there’s another emergency now on the ground. The 118 is called out to deal with it, and Chimney allows Harry to go with them (thanks to Buck and Eddie convincing him).
What’s the emergency? The sky is falling!
How to deal with the emergencies
As Hen deals with the emergency in space, bringing Parker back to life, the news focuses on the meteor shower. Space debris is falling out of the sky, and it’s up to the 118 to focus on helping people. Meanwhile, Karen head to dispatch to figure out a way to help, as dispatch deal with the various calls.
Karen needs old tech to talk to old tech. While Tripp’s satellites are failing, plenty of others are still working. The satellites from the 1990s are above the debris field. There will be a limited 12-15 minute window for the satellites and the ship to be able to communicate, and someone needs to go outside to be able to use the sat phone from dispatch.
911 season 9, episode 2 is a lesson in not relying on modern technology. With all the satellites out, one of the electric cars has gone completely crazy. In some good news, the car has to follow road rules and lines, and sand is used to help stop the car as it’s a sensor to help. This gets the passenger out of the driverless car, so now the focus can be on the debris calling out of the sky. The poor passenger ends up with another medical emergency, as a piece of debris flies into his head.
I feel sorry for the guy from dispatch who has to go out on the roof to attach the sat phone to communicate with the satellites. However, it should work once it’s all set up, and Maddie calls Tripp to help with the connection process.
We continue to see how technology is disrupted by the lack of satellites. It’s all owned by Tripp’s company, so it’s all freaking out, and the hospital has killer robots. The surgery robots, that is! With all the emergencies going on, the 118 remains calm and just focuses on the tasks at hand, while Harry finally remains in the engine after being told too many times by Chimney.
Buck finds himself trapped in the room with the killer surgical robot, and it leads to Chimney having to call for help from Harry, of all people. They need the sledgehammer and axe from the engine, so they can save Buck. The only option is to break down the door to get in and then destroy the robot. Well, that’s going to be an expensive visit to the ER.
With Buck now safe, the 118 head back outside, looking out for anything else they need to help with. Suddenly, a piece of debris flies through the air.
With that, we end the episode with a phone call coming through on Hen's phone. Yes, Karen manages to call Hen thanks with the help of the old satellites and 911. Now Tripp is able to connect them, he can focus on getting the ship back to Earth. They will need to manually do the returns phase, and Parker is the one to help do that since he has already worked the internal controls.
When the step doesn't work, Cody has to figure out a way to reconnect the power to the thrusters. That doesn't seem to work at first, but then the thrusters suddenly kick into gear. Are they going to go the right way? Well, they are, but there's another issue. There's a fire in the ship coming out of the vents. There is a fire suppression button, but it doesn't work, and the window to communicate is closing.
Of course, that is where we have to end, since this event is a three-episode one. We'll have to wait for next week!
911 airs on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.