Bees landed on 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 1, causing a host of problems for first responders protecting the streets of Los Angeles.
The bees do wreak havoc though, especially for Sarge who always seems to be in danger.
A lot happens in the first hour, from the aforementioned bees to Bobby’s new job, and No. 118’s exhausting crew of old and new captains. ·Minir conducts dialogue.
The opening episode includes the beginning of “Bee Nado,” as Buck affectionately calls it, a swarm of bees exploding into the sky after a truck crash causes the bees to escape containment.
Since then, we’ve seen some bee-related emergencies at the beginning of the season’s character arcs that are about to take off.
While some stories carry over from last season, others are entirely new, including one that involves a difficult look at the past.
Through an informative and enjoyable chat with Minear, we learned about the various storylines surrounding the season’s opening characters.
Athena’s past and present collide
9-1-1 has always loved bringing past characters and storylines back to the forefront when needed. You really never know when a 9-1-1 character from years past will pop up on screen and what that will mean for the character.
In the premiere, Athena is tasked with transporting Dennis Jenkins, and you’ll remember that Athena arrested him in “Athena Begins” after discovering that he killed her fiancée, Emmett Washington.
“It’s always helpful once you establish some criteria. It’s always helpful if you can go back to that setting so that you can financially put your protagonist into an emotionally understandable conflict. ,” Minear explained when asked about the decision to reintroduce Jenkins.
“We did something last year when we brought back Norman and Lola. Those characters had already had some interactions, but obviously this is something deeper for Athena.
This being 9-1-1, what was supposed to be a routine prison transport turns into something completely different when Athena realizes someone is after Jenkins. This disrupted their planned itinerary and sent them on different paths.
The course takes them to a plane that, as teased at the end of the episode, will be in danger due to an invasion of bees.
“I knew that, logistically, I wanted to get Athena on a plane so that it could be hit by a light aircraft carrying bees,” Minear explained. “I really wanted the story of the bees to collide with the story of Athena.
“The question then is, what was she doing on that plane? Maybe she was transporting a prisoner or something like that.
“I thought Kristen was the one raising Dennis, which immediately seemed like the right idea because ‘Athena Begins’ is such a high point in the series.
“What you don’t want to do is you don’t want to do what David Fincher did in Alien 3 , where you come in and completely erase what came before.”
Not only does Athena have to deal with a plane emergency, she also has to deal with many complex feelings at a critical moment in her life.
“Really understanding and respecting what she went through in Athena Begins was the next step,” Minear told us. “It’s like she spent 30 years not knowing who murdered her fiancé.
She finally found the man, and while it was a bittersweet victory as she had to send the man with his family to jail, her sense of justice demanded it.
“So now she’s in a situation where her sense of justice is going to be fighting against her sense of compassion and forgiveness, and I think that’s a really interesting place for Athena to be in.”
bobby’s hot new gig
By the time the end credits of 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 10 rolled, Bobby was no longer captain of Team 118, having quit before his brush with death. Since there was no room for No. 118, Bobby was assigned the mission.
Serving as a technical consultant for the TV series Hotshots provides Bobby with a unique opportunity to step out of his comfort zone, as well as a chance for the show to laugh at itself.
“You see, the fake world of firefighters just makes Bobby want to go back to the real world,” Minear said of what we can expect from Bobby in his latest role.
“He’s obviously not a guy who would be attracted to Hollywood, but it’s definitely something. When I saw the first scene in ‘Buzzkill,’ we revealed what he was doing, and then he walked on the set and gave His suggestion, it was like, wow, okay.
“So, the TV star was there. Peter had so much weight, charisma, humor and so much more.
“I think putting Bobby in a ridiculous world and confronting it with his deadpan was really appealing to me. And, obviously, we were making fun of ourselves with that.
Henlon’s adoption woes will also continue
Last season, Hen and Karen’s dream of adopting Marla was put on hold indefinitely thanks to evil Congresswoman Ortiz.
Fortunately, good friends Chimney and Maddie stepped in to adopt Mara during this time, while Hen and Karen worked to regain their foster care license.
The premiere doesn’t delve into the issue, but it’s a safe bet that there won’t be a quick and easy solution to the couple’s predicament, a sentiment Minear confirmed.
“The Wilsons and the Hans have almost become one big family within a larger framework,” Minear said, giving us a preview of what we’ll see next in this emotional storyline.
“It won’t be long before Congresswoman Ortiz raises her mean old head, and things won’t be as simple as Hen hopes. She’s going to have to wear the gloves.
Buck and Gerald strike a pose
As mentioned before, Captain Gerrard is back, bringing his bad, bad attitude with him. His brash demeanor had quite an impact at the premiere, letting everyone in Theater 118 know that he meant business at various times.
The rocky relationship between Buck and Gerald will likely change once Buck steps in to save his life (assuming he succeeds!)
But before Barker’s heroics, Gerrard was particularly interested in chasing him, perhaps because he reacted differently to the changing of the guard than his peers.
“You’re absolutely right when you say Buck is the focal point of Gerrard’s terror,” Minear said.
“The reason we went down this route is there were a lot of different ways for Gerrard to succeed Bobby. Obviously, Hen has worked under him. Chimney has worked under him, even Tommy has worked under him. Worked for me, right? Eddie didn’t.
“But I don’t want to replay the conflict between Hen and Gerrard or Yanni and Gerrard. That’s been played out before. I think at this stage in their lives, they’re also different people, right?
“Just like the hen has her own problems. She has to focus on trying to get Marla back. Chimney is newly married with a young daughter, and Addie is serving in the Army. So, Buck seems to view Bobby as his surrogate Father, encountered the biggest problem in this area.
“He’d never worked for another captain. He started with Bobby. It felt like poor Buck needed to be the focus of Gerrard’s wrath. It made the most sense.
“In some ways, it almost feels like he’s always been the younger brother. It feels like the other three guys will understand that sometimes you just have a bad boss. Maybe Buck has never had a bad boss before.
Despite the insults and dismissal looming over him from Gerald, Buck proves himself to be an excellent firefighter with great instincts, something we’ve already come to know about him. His wealth of bee knowledge was critical in helping resolve both bee emergencies.
The series toyed a bit with Barker’s interest in one day becoming captain this past season, so is this something we could see happen?
“I think Buck would probably be a good captain, but I still feel like even though he is, no matter how old Buck is, I still think he’s a big kid in a lot of ways,” Minear answered for us. “I still think he needs to mature a little bit.
Eddie looks in the mirror
We meet Eddie during opening hours after Christopher heads to Texas to live with his grandparents, who is still grappling with not being a part of his son’s life like he once was.
Eddie’s video birthday party for Christopher, which included Buck and Tommy, cupcakes and party hats, did not go as he expected, leaving him feeling left out.
With this change, what should we expect to see as Eddie comes to terms with the events of last season? Will he start moving forward?
“Yeah, I mean, Eddie had to let Christopher go and wasn’t very good at communicating, and Eddie was regretting that and trying to figure out how to repair his relationship with his kids who were far away,” Minear clarified.
“Eddie is alone and has no love interest right now. He has no children at home, and children are his raison d’être, to raise them and make the world a safe place.
“When he realizes that he made Christopher feel a little insecure last year, he now has to look in the mirror and figure out who he is before he can repair the relationship. That’s Eddie’s struggle.
In the past, we may have seen Addy shut himself off, not letting others help, or simply not admitting the problem.
But Minear assures us that won’t be the case this time.
“No, he won’t retreat,” he shared. “He might have done that in the past. He certainly shared it with his friends, colleagues and his family, but he also looked for other mentoring opportunities elsewhere.
“He’s definitely not shying away from this fight. He’s trying to figure it out.
***This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You can watch 9-1-1 every Thursday at 8/7c on ABC.
