As we approach the midseason finale of 9-1-1 , many storylines are swirling in the show’s typical matter-of-fact beats and frenetic pace.
9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 7 only saw Athena dealing with a hot new recruit who probably didn’t join the force for the right reasons, Bobby returning to the hot cast, and Buck struggling after the breakup.
It’s a busy time and things are only going to get more intense as we enter the final hour before the long winter pause.
After such an entertaining hour, we got to chat with 9-1-1 showrunner Tim Minear about everything, including our favorite first responders’ next steps for the next hour and beyond.
It sounds like this might just be the beginning of some journeys.
Athena and her rookie conflict
Athena has been through a lot in the opening hours of 9-1-1 Season 8, with her jumping slowed down after an injury and her being paired with an up-and-coming rookie.
Freshman office Sparks and Athena had a rough time as partners, and eventually, after they separated, Sparks shot a woman during a routine traffic stop, using a weapon instead of Taser.
We often see Athena working alone, but Minear tells us that the idea of Athena having a partner has been brewing for a while.
“We’ve actually been talking about getting her with a rookie since the beginning of the year, just because I thought it would be fun to change it up,” Minear said.
“Sometimes it’s hard to tell a lone wolf story when they’re just a lone wolf. Unless you introduce stimuli into the situation, you almost don’t remember that’s who she is.
While the story does start out one way, with a spark of eagerness offending Athena, it takes on a more serious tone, which wasn’t necessarily planned.
“It felt like it was a good story for Angela and ended up being a lot more serious than what we originally talked about. It was going to be a sillier thing. She was riding with a goofball.
“But when we get to the complication that happens near the end, it’s also interesting with Athena because she even says to Hen, ‘There’s something about him that makes me uncomfortable, but maybe I’m just Annoyed by the pulled hamstring, I’m not as young as I used to be, I can’t keep up.
“So, I think it’s a fun little dilemma for Athena, where she’s wondering, ‘Is she leaving someone behind because she’s angry or because her Spider-Man doesn’t feel right?’ I think it’s a little bit of both. combine.
After we see Sparks heading to a disciplinary meeting, Athena tells Captain Maynard that she would be interested in mentoring another rookie in the future.
That leaves the obvious question: Will we see Athena and her partner anytime soon?
“It’s very possible,” Minear told us.
Every time he tried to leave, they pulled him back
While Athena deals with her own set of issues at work, her husband Bobby is also facing some stress in his professional life.
No matter how much he wanted to leave the world of Hotshots behind, they kept calling him. After dishing out 118 assists on the Hollywood set, Chief Simpson made an interesting request to Bobby: make Gerrard more likeable.
To achieve this, he had to try to convince star player Brad Torrance to get along with Gerrard, a difficult ask given that Brad was so enamored with Bobby himself rather than his replacement.
“I think Brad is a big boy in some ways,” Minear said when asked about Brad’s fascination with captain No. 118. But I think underneath it all, he felt like a fraud.
“He may feel like a fraud, but he does feel like a fraud. He wants to be who he is on screen. I think that’s really true. He wants to be an artist.
“He saw his attachment to Bobby and really absorbed the reality of what Bobby was doing and incorporating that into his work would make him feel like he made some valuable contribution to the world.
“What you see is that he was a man who didn’t have much in his life, and perhaps he sacrificed the really meaningful things: family, parenthood and relationships in pursuit of his celebrity ambitions. .
“I think he conflated celebrity and meaning with art. You probably understand that, you’re a writer. I understand that. So, he wanted to feel like he made a difference. That’s why he thought Bobby not only had a career , and the mission of saving lives.
“That means something. So he’s probably going through some midlife crisis, poor old Brad, and he’s trying to find his place in the universe where he can feel like he’s making a difference.
Brad hauls his bags and prepares to join Fire Department 118, following behind Bobby and the rest of the team, and by the end of the hour, he’s fully experienced what it means to be a real fire fighter on the streets of Los Angeles. Firefighter fun.
Minear previewed what we should expect from it.
“You’re going to see some confusion, and then you’re going to see some of the bravado and facade peel away, and you might see the real people underneath,” he explained.
“That’s The Wizard of Oz, right? It’s like, ‘If you’re looking for your heart’s desire, look no further than your own backyard.’ “His life may have a meaning that he doesn’t even understand, and maybe he’ll learn.
Can you find a house in Barcelona?
While the hour explores Athena and Bobby’s professional lives, we didn’t get a chance to interview the fan-favorite couple to see what’s going on in their personal lives.
But rest assured, Barcena fans, Minear tells us the search for their house has not given up.
“For the Basenas, the next step was definitely a house which was a very important priority,” he said. “When we come back after the hiatus, all of that stuff will be transferred onto the field in a big way.”
Baker Buck deals with breakup
After Buck unexpectedly breaks up with Tommy, he turns his grief into baking in an attempt to stop himself from contacting his most recent ex.
We even get to see Buck spend some time with his niece Jiyun, getting her into the baking spirit after parents Maddie and Chimney send her off to spend some quality time with her Uncle Buck.
As Buck deals with the end of the relationship, Minear tells us what we should expect from Buck in the ongoing post-breakup period.
“For Buck, now that he’s discovered his bisexuality, I think at some point he’s going to say, ‘I don’t know which pond to jump back into.’ For Buck, this is not just a normal post-breakup. He is discovering something about himself.
“As Tommy said last week, ‘You’re still figuring it out, and that’s good.'” Buck is still touching himself. So, I don’t think it’s as simple as the old hamster wheel of, “Get together, let’s move in together, break up, move on.”
“For Buck, it’s more about turning his attention to himself, just like Eddie is looking to himself. These guys are at a stage in their lives now where they’re still kind of figuring out who they are.
“I think that’s especially true for Buck, even though in some ways Buck understands who he is better after his relationship with Tommy, but there are a lot of possibilities for him.”
For an hour, Eddie and the Hens kindly hid the phone for Buck as he complained about whether he should call his ex.
While the call never came through, it begged the question of whether Buck was ready to put this relationship behind him and move on to the future.
When asked about this, Minear said, “Yeah, I mean, he’s going to move on to his future. Look, Tommy is definitely in Buck’s romantic past. But that doesn’t mean Tommy’s not necessarily in Buck’s romantic past. Will cross paths with Buck again in this universe.
“Tommy will always be the one to open a door for Buck, and that’s a big thing in someone’s life.”
A different story from Madni
While the Buck brothers were battling heartbreak, Mattie and Chimney were still in the pregnancy bubble and wouldn’t tell Buck about the pregnancy when they came over to have dinner with him.
But soon, Maddie’s aversion to food led Buck to learn the good news about his sister and brother-in-law, leading to a round of congratulations and a sweet family hug.
Looking ahead to what’s next for Medney and when others will discover their happy bubbles, Minear said: “People are going to find out about the pregnancy. I’m not interested in Maddie and Yannie’s pregnancy story.
“It’s like we’ve finished the story, so I think the way I’m approaching it this time might be a little surprising to some people.”
Relax, everything will be fine during the midseason finale. Or will it?
As mentioned before, 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8 will serve as the mid-season finale. The show will then go on hiatus until its return on March 6, 2025.
Going into the final episode of the year, we knew we were ready to see Brad ingratiate himself into 118, but we knew very little about how to end this part of the season.
Minear helps us out by sharing a few little jokes about what’s to come.
“I would say this year’s episode eight is more about tying up some of the story threads that have been established in the first eight episodes. At the end of the episode, no one is hanging on a cliff except maybe one character.
***This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You can watch 9-1-1 every Thursday at 8/7c on ABC.
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