911 continued the storyline with Eddie and Chris in El Paso as back in Los Angeles, Hen’s attempts to celebrate her birthday went awry when everyone, including her own family, forgot what day it was. Let’s go over what we enjoyed about the episode as we celebrate the 911 season 9 renewal from ABC!
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for 911 season 8, episode 13.
With Eddie’s arc in El Paso, we have seen him attempt to fix things with his son but with fixing the new house he bought and struggling to find a job, things were difficult. However, by the end of episode 12, Eddie and Chris had built a bridge to begin restoring their relationship. This episode saw Eddie planning to take Chris to a basketball game and see if he wanted to move back in with him instead of his grandparents.
However, Eddie’s plans were thrown off course when his parents mentioned that Chris had a chess tournament coming up. They said only one parent per kid could ride up there and that Ramon would go with Chris. This struck a nerve with Eddie, but he didn’t feel he could say anything at the moment.
Eddie's parents are a problem in 911 season 8, episode 13
Eddie’s parents have a way of stepping over him, leaving Eddie feeling like he can’t get his own word in. Plus, he had been giving Chris the space he needed after Eddie messed up in season 7. However, good advice from Buck during one of their Facetime calls led Eddie to realize he needed to “dad up”. He went to the chess tournament and because he knew his son so well, Eddie could see he was struggling.
Chris got sick with nerves and Eddie immediately rushed to his side to take care of him. After getting cleaned up in the bathroom, Chris admitted he hated chess and only played it because his grandpa loved it. Realizing his son was being pushed into doing something he didn’t want to do, Eddie told Chris he didn’t have to do anything to please his grandparents and that he was coming back home with Eddie.
Chris was thrilled, and it was clear he wanted Eddie back but he didn’t know how to ask without upsetting his grandparents. He is still a kid even though he’s growing up and Eddie realized he needed to remind his parents that his son’s place was with him.
Driving back to the house with Chris, Eddie informed his mom his son was coming home with him. Helena had spent the entire episode acting in such a manner that made her seem blind to the fact that she was taking over in a capacity that was not her place. Eddie gently informed her that Chris was his son and that he would be coming back with him.
This was such a big step for Eddie to take for Chris, and even though we haven’t seen them talk about the events that brought Chris to Texas, we do hope that we will see further resolution between them. We still don’t know what will bring them back to Los Angeles, but we hope it’s sooner rather than later.
How did the team and Hen's family forget her special day?
Now speaking of Los Angeles, what was happening with the 118? Well, not only did the entire team forget Hen’s birthday, but they had to deal with helping the same call victim multiple times throughout the day. The first time, he had become trapped inside of his bed and got stuck, leading him to discover his fiancee was cheating on him with his own cousin. Talk about a family affair!
Then after he got stuck inside the wheel of an 18-wheeler, the team helped him again, with Hen trying to give him advice. He admitted to feeling invisible and told her as such. She tried to give him advice about taking up space, and in her frustration over everyone forgetting her special day, she blurted it out for them to hear.
The team immediately felt bad and tried to make up for it. Bobby sent her chocolates and Chimney got her a balloon bouquet. Buck somehow did not know her favorite pie, wanting to make her one, although finding out Eddie knew because of Facebook threw him for a loop. Buck, didn’t you say you had Facebook at one point?
What was the most surprising was Karen forgetting, since she was so good at organizing and following the schedule for their family. Hen just wanted to have a special day, but felt silly for being upset. The only person who escaped her disappointment was Mara, who they had just adopted. At this point, Hen and Mara should celebrate together while everyone else grovels.
Hen ended up helping the same call victim, Archie, again, only this time he got so wound up he held a bus full of people hostage. After the bus got rammed, he inadvertently stabbed someone, leading Hen to come in and help.
Hen apologized to Archie for not giving him the best advice. She really was talking about herself during their earlier conversation and she wasn’t really seeing him. However, Archie did feel she had helped him and eventually trusted her to let them get off the bus together. He attempted to give her a gift, but because he reached into his pocket, the police attempted to shoot him. This led Hen to save him a fourth time…at least.
What was the present? A chicken key chain from the fast food restaurant he had just been fired from. By the end of the episode, Hen got to enjoy dinner with her wife, Bobby, and Athena while Buck did chores around the house to ease his own guilt.
While we do wish we could have seen Buck get to enjoy dinner with them, we have loved seeing him in the last two episodes be there for his loved ones. However, we do wish that we could see his gestures returned. Since the focus of the last two episodes focused on other characters, we’re excited to see what happens with Buck since as far as we know, he has yet to call Tommy after mentioning that he wanted to do that in a conversation with his sister, Maddie.
The next two episodes are set to be a two-parter and those are always enjoyable to watch. Make sure to tune in to 9-1-1 on ABC so you don’t miss out on the action!
9-1-1 airs on ABC Thursdays at 8/7c. You can find all previous episodes on Hulu.
Stay up to date with the latest 911 news with Precinct TV.