For the last three episodes, we’ve watched Athena and Hen head to space. 911 season 9 episode 4 sees an end to this arc, but will both Athena and Hen get back to Earth alive?
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from 911 season 9 episode 4.
We open with the Earth storyline, which ended with people turning up at the firehouses to ease off the hospitals. May had managed to take control of the situation as the 118 got back, and she continues that control. Is it possible that she’ll be at the firehouse for some organization needs?
Maddie and Karen get back to the firehouse, and Maddie has mixed news for Chimney. While the two made it to the ISS, there’s no way of knowing what’s going on up there, and Chimney knows they’re in the middle of a debris field.
Does the International Space Station survive the debris in 911 season 9 episode 4?
Up in space, the ISS has managed to survive the debris field, but there’s more bad news. The communication to NASA has been cut off, and the escape pod only fits four people. Kern is able to rig the escape pod, but work is needed on the outside of the ISS. Of course, Kern can’t go since he’s needed for the pod and the captain has a punctured lung. Hen volunteers herself to go out there and fix the robotic arm to help get everyone to the pod.
We know from the promo that Athena goes out there, so it’s not surprising that we get more focus on her this episode. As she does a confessional about what makes an everyday hero, we go back to when Athena was just a rookie cop at a diner with her partner. While there, a guy pays for the meal and knows everything about Athena’s order. Some might call it stalking, including Athena as she feels uncomfortable by the situation, but the guy isn’t dissuaded just yet.
The flashback is seven years after the murder of her former love, and her partner thinks that it might be time to get back into the real world when it comes to her love life. This isn’t just about her love life, though. As a car swerves into her lane, Athena is forced to slam on the brakes, and so, the two cops need to deal with an emergency that involves a man dead at the wheel of the car that swerved. He’d been shot, but where had he come from?
They come across an armoured truck that is still running but there’s no driver. In the back, there’s a bunch of weapons. This is a much bigger situation, with the driver just a casualty of it. Of course, there’s a bank robbery going on, and rather than wait for backup, Athena and her partner get involved. Is it that surprising that Athena’s partner is shot?
We cut back to present day Athena, who shares that she’s not a hero. The real ones don’t make it back home.
Athena says the truest thing ever
Back in space, Kern focuses on reworking the escape pod, noting that a pound needs to be taken out for a pound that needs to be put in. While he does that, Athena asks about the astronaut who died in the 911 season 9 premiere. It’s clear that she is struggling with the amount of loss she’s faced, and this is the tip of the iceberg.
So, while Hen is connected to the tether and told all the risks of being out there, Athena rethinks Hen’s sacrifice. We head back to Athena in the past, as the backup shoots at the thieves. Athena needs to get her partner out as he’s losing too much blood, but everything is working against them. Looking around at everything going on, Athena realizes that they need to rush to the armoured van if they want a chance to survive.
Back in the present day in space, Tricia decides that she’s breaking up with Tripp after realizing that he wrote them all off. Meanwhile, Athena gears up in a NASA suit. She’s decided that she’s going out into space instead, because she can’t allow Hen’s family risk losing her. Athena doesn’t think she has anything on Earth for her, noting that her children are grown, but she does make one thing clear: she’s selfish. And it’s the truest thing Athena has ever said.
With that, Athena is the one going out. Hen just makes it clear that she better not have to go out there after her.
Athena seems to give up in 911
Athena makes it clear that she did the job to make the world a better place. As she mentions how she finds a way to make it home for her husband and thinks of Bobby, she stops speaking to the camera. It’s back to Athena in space, fixing the broken elements of the ISS under the captain’s orders. With a piece of debris flying toward her, Athena has to move against the ship, which affects something on her suit, and we all know that’s not going to be good later in 911 season 9 episode 4.
This is when we get to the promo. Athena’s tether is caught, and she has to make a choice. Yes, she decides to untether herself from the ship to finish off the work.
We head back to the past, where in the gunfight, Athena is shot in the leg. But before we can see what’s going on there, we’re back in space, with Athena’s heartrate jumping too high. Hen can tell that there’s not enough oxygen getting in. While the oxygen tank is full, the regulator was damaged, and while Hen and the captain tell her to get back to the airlock, Athena decides against it. She’s done the work on the arm, and she legs go.
We flick back to the past, with Athena giving it all she can to help her partner, although it means getting into the back of the armoured van. Meanwhile, present day Athena floats in space with her past self questioning where she is right now. What’s going to happen to Athena?
Athena has a choice to make as younger and older meet
There isn’t another suit or time to get to Athena, but Hen has another idea. She uses the now-fixed arm to get Athena to get back in. Meanwhile, Athena’s younger self tells her to “let go.”
Back in the past, a younger Athena apologizes for not being able to help her partner. He really should have listened to her to wait for backup, but he knows that he isn’t making it out of the situation. He makes it clear what he wants at his funeral, but Athena isn’t ready to hear it all. One thing he does want, though, is for Athena to move on after his death and not step on his grave once more. It makes sense why she’s thinking of him, as she realizes how stagnant she’s become once more.
The younger Athena isn’t trying to get the elder version to move on from Bobby, though. She wants Athena to let go of life. What’s the point in holding on for more pain? It’s a realization for Athena, as she focuses on how there is good in life. While there’s pain, there’s a lot of good in between. “As long as there’s light, there’s hope.”
We continue to flick between the past and the present, but the focus is on Athena as she shares with her younger self, “pain is the price we pay for joy.” I don’t think I’ve been as emotional in an episode of 911 since Bobby’s death. It’s a powerful moment for Athena, as she reaches out to her younger self and to the arm in space, making it clear that they choose to live.
Kern makes a sacrifice an everyday hero would
There is some good news now that Athena is back inside. The escape pod has been modified. However, there are only five seats. Kern makes it clear that he needs to remain behind to operate the arm. Athena isn’t happy with the idea knowing that he could die when the debris field comes back around, but he is optimistic. Maybe it’s also that he has waited his whole life for this.
With that, the escape pod is launched from the ISS just as the debris field comes back. On Earth, Tripp holds a press conference to share that NASA has confirmed that all five made it to the ISS and that the captain up there is coming back down. It’s time to watch and hope that the escape pod is able to make it to Earth safely. Will the heat shields in the old Soviet technology hold?
Well, it’s 911, and we can’t have two main characters die, can we? Before we find out, though, we head back to the past with a young Athena in the hospital. She’s told that she has landed a promotion for her work, even though it was her partner who was the one to help catch the bank robbers. Sadly, her partner didn’t make it, and it’s a major death that she has to live with.
There is one thing that she is given, the ring on the chain from Emmett. The ring that her partner wanted her to get rid of. Will she hold onto it?
It’s back to the escape pod. So far, the parachute from the capsule deploys, but everyone needs to wait for the capsule to land on Earth to make sure everyone make sit out. Well, sure enough, they all do, although poor Parker as Athena and Hen start laughing at the entire situation. The space story has come to an end in 911 season 9 episode 4.
Harry has a career choice nobody is surprised by
With Hen and Athena back on Earth, it’s time for them to return to their families. It’s almost time to pick up the pieces of the “Tripp Houser Disaster,” where we find out that Kern did happen to survive up in the ISS. Athena can live knowing someone didn’t die for her. Tricia makes the decision to end her engagement with Tripp, and it looks like she ends up with Parker.
As for Athena, May and Harry have come to see her, so that everyone can clear the air. Athena makes it clear that she and Harry need to make a plan of what to do next, and Harry has already made a decision. Harry has sent in an application to be a firefighter, which we could all tell was going to happen with the previous two episodes, but it sure isn’t the decision Athena wanted to hear.
Meanwhile, in the past, a younger Athena pulls the mystery man from the diner. It turns out this is exactly how Athena meets Michael Grant.
911 airs on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.