We’ve made it to the 911 season 9 fall finale, and all eyes are on Hen. The promo makes it clear that she’s going to suffer from some sort of medical emergency, but what exactly is going on?
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from 911 season 9 episode 6.
There’s a big decision for Chimney to make during this episode. He has to find someone to take over the captain position permanently, and this is what makes him realize that maybe he should be the one to take the spot permanently. Maddie also thinks it’s time for him to become the Captain of the 118, and that the team will love the idea because he’s family. We’re all ready to see Chimney step up.
Harry needs Buck’s help in 911 season 9 episode 6
We have to get the first call of the night, and that means the buildup to it. A woman is getting to know her boyfriend’s family, which is always nerve-wracking anyway, but this family is way too much when it comes to competitions. While the family plays tug of war, the woman starts choking, with nobody realizing what is going on.
That’s not the emergency, though. As she manages to spit out the food, the family collapses with the rope. That’s when we find out the rope tore the fingers off all the family members. The 118 needs to collect people’s fingers and place them in bags in the hope that all fingers can be reattached.
Now that they’re back at the firehouse, Hen notices that she has a rash appearing on her hands. It looks like an allergic reaction, but we know this is going to become something bigger. The conversation moves on when Chimney comes in to “commend” the team for an excellent shift, showing that he’s trying to step up, but not doing the best job of it. Buck even wonders if he’s retiring, and while Hen understands it, none of them really want to sit through that again.
The images for 911 season 9 episode 6 showed us that Buck would help Harry with some fire training, and now we get to see how that comes up. Harry got a letter from the fire academy to invite him to try out and do the interviews. Buck is a little too concerned with whether Athena knows that he was the one who inspired Harry to join the LAFD, but eventually, Harry gets to the point. He doesn’t want to turn to Athena for help on this matter, but he does need help.
As for Athena, she attends a call when Maddie gets a call from a woman who is worried about her daughter, who has taken all of her pills. Athena has been in this position before, so she knows exactly how this mom feels, and this could be a big moment for Athena to accept her children have their own plans for their lives thinking back to when May tried to take her own life. I get a sense that this will be a heavy episode.
A trip to the spa (but not for a good reason)
It turns out that the daughter was getting horrible messages from anonymous people, which led to her deciding to take her own life. This girl had just ended a friendship with some mean girls, so it’s likely one of them. However, it’s hard to track this sort of thing. Athena isn’t going to give up, though.
Meanwhile, we get to the big call from the 911 season 9 episode 6 promo, finding out who the patient is going to be at the spa. This woman decides to get a full-body CT scan for “peace of mind” about her health, and she’s given lorazepam before the scan. The doctor is more bothered about a sales talk as the woman starts to suffer from some sort of reaction from the drugs. It’s only when he walks into the room that he realizes there’s been a major issue. She’s had an allergic reaction to the drugs.
It's no wonder Hen gets mad at this doctor, then. That scan took 30 minutes, and he has no idea when she started suffering from the allergic reaction. While trying to treat the woman, Hen’s hand gets a tremor, and while nobody sees it from the team, the doctor does, but ignores it for now. It’s not clear exactly what this woman has had an allergic reaction to, but that’s not the concern right now. The 118 fights hard to get her back as she flatlines.
Hen doesn’t want to give up, and Chimney is the one who decides it’s time to call it. However, since they can’t call it and Hen refuses to let the doctor do it, Chimney decides that they’ll get her to a hospital where a doctor can call time of death.
Now that they’re leaving, the doctor talks to Hen about the tremor, but she’s not interested in listening. He’s just a salesman. However, we know that she’ll probably want to get her tremor checked out.
Buck proves himself as a mentor
Buck certainly decides to take advantage of training Harry, getting him ready in terms of both fitness and questions. Oh, and he also decides to get Harry to make him a pizza…from scratch! It’s a cute scene showing just how great Buck can be as a mentor. Bobby always knew what Buck could become, and here he is without realizing he’s living up to Bobby’s expectations.
What’s also clear in all of this is that Harry does want this career. He doesn’t quit as it gets hard, and he’s able to take on all the orders from Buck.
Meanwhile, Athena pulls in the mean girls to hear from them about the text messages. It turns out that they knew about the messages, and it’s surprising to hear that there are 4012 messages in total! No wonder the girl broke and tried to take her own life. And it’s no wonder that she started to suspect everyone in her life.
The name Bailey comes up, and the mean girls share that she was the worst of the group. In fact, she was the girl, Alisha’s, best friend at one time. When Athena goes to see Bailey, it turns out that Alisha cut Bailey out of her life, but it doesn’t seem like it was her who sent the messages.
Hen is worried about her tremor, and she’s calling around to get some family history. Of course, she’s doing it on the sly with her mom, but she needs to get to the bottom of the health situation. However, as she stands up from the call, she collapses on the floor, and it’s only once it’s dark that she wakes up, confused at the situation and in pain.
When she’s late to meet Karen, she has to call, but she doesn’t tell the truth. Maybe part of her doesn’t want to worry her wife, but she really needs to let Karen know that she needs help so her wife and children don’t walk into the house to find her on the floor in the dark.
Athena and May look back on the past
Athena uses this chance to bond with May a little more, and when May spills some wine on the files from Alisha’s case, May is shocked, and she also realizes why Athena invited her over that night. May’s suicide attempt is something they’ve never really talked about, but May looks back on that time sharing that seeing Athena’s face is what helped her. As Athena thinks back to how Alisha’s mom was with her daughter in the hospital, Athena has worked out the bully.
It doesn’t take long for Athena to get some proof. The police managed to get the IP address of the texter, and now Athena would like to see Alisha’s mom’s phone. Sadly, she is the one who has something to hide, and when she goes off to find her phone, she locks herself in the bathroom and calls Alisha. The mom had some time to take pills, but Athena was fast enough to get in save her.
On the day of Harry’s interview, it turns out that he failed the test. It was nothing to do with the drills. Despite getting ready for the interview, Harry failed on it because he has a criminal record. This means he needs to get his mom involved, and he knows his mom doesn’t want him going down this career path, so he feels like it’s over for him. He’s officially dropped out, and I’m broken for him. I get why Athena doesn’t want him being a firefighter, but she needs to allow him to live his life.
Chimney officially makes his decision in 911
It's heartbreaking for Alisha to find out her mom had sent all those text messages. There’s a sick excuse from her mom, and Alisha gets the chance to voice her opinion and disgust at the entire situation. This woman needs some help, but at least Alisha does have a friend in Bailey, who turns up at the hospital and leaves with Alisha.
Buck decided not to take Harry’s decision to heart, and he decides to set up a meeting between Harry and the fire chief. Of course, he goes about it in the most Buck-ish way possible, and that’s to take Harry to a fancy restaurant on the off-chance of running into the fire chief. While it’s not the exact way Bobby would have done things, Buck does manage to get Harry to fight for a place in the LAFD. It does just the trick, as the fire chief wants Harry to report to the training center on Monday morning. He’s getting a shot at being a firefighter.
It turns out that Chimney was having dinner with the chief, and Buck is the first to learn what Chimney has decided to do. Sure enough, he made the choice to become the Captain of the 118. It looks like the 118 does get a chance to take a big step forward with a new captain leading them through, and it’s so good to see his parents there at the ceremony as he is sworn in.
Maddie helps Hen without realizing it
The celebrations continue in the background, while Athena looks up at the plaque with Bobby’s name. This is a chance for Harry to share he got into the fire academy, and Athena surprises him with her support. I love this.
Meanwhile, Chimney gets a moment with the main members of the 118, where they give him a gift. It’s a watch with the enscription, “The 118 is not just a number. It’s us.” Of course the rest of the team would always welcome Chimney in as captain.
Throughout all of this, we haven’t gotten to the bottom of Hen’s issue. She collapses coming down the stairs, but catches herself, and this is an attempt to talk to Maddie. She’s trying to get to the bottom of the medical issue that her patient had, since Maddie used to be a nurse. As Maddie mentions a CT scan, Hen gets an idea. Since the spa doesn’t take insurance, Hen can pay in cash to get to the bottom of her health problems with nobody knowing. I guess we’ll have to wait for 911 to return in January to find out what’s wrong with her.
This is a live recap of 911, so stay tuned to see the latest updates.
911 will return on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 8/7c on ABC.