9-1-1: Season 3, Episode 9 “Fallout” – Recap, Review (with Spoilers)

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Trauma, and methods of dealing with it, are explored as Eddie, Maddie, and Hen go into therapy to handle their new normal.

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Directed By	Marcus Stokes
Written By	Juan Carlos Coto
Air Date (FOX)	11/25/2019

Recap

Scars Of The Past Forever Haunt Me: Tara, Maddie, Buck, Eddie

Tara finally seems ready to leave her husband, but it sadly comes with her shooting him. This leads to her calling Maddie, seemingly with the original idea being to bear witness, and this triggers something in Maddie. It forces her to deal with murdering Doug, and even if it was in self-defense, it doesn’t erase taking a human life. Never mind someone she loved.

Hence why, when Tara ends up going back to her husband, Maddie considers herself done because Tara is too triggering for her to continue being around or worrying about.

Leading to Buck and Eddie, both who have gone through therapy but Eddie is the current one going through it over various things. The big one though is his fight nightlife and nearly killing someone. Which, in Buck’s mind, may have to deal with misplaced feelings because he couldn’t do nothing to Buck for nearly losing Christopher after, in an act which was out of his control, losing his ex-wife within the last year.

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This idea is kind of played off, yet doesn’t seem too far fetched. Yet, it seems that Eddie is ready to move on and may not wish to do so with the help of a therapist.

A Paper Can Say I’m Right, But My Survival Feels Wrong: Hen, Karen

Hen is really messed up after killing that girl, and while a report vindicates her, it doesn’t take away from the impact, having killed an actual person, and the struggle to move on. Which makes Karen coming out of her funk, since a project manager can now see her wife as a project, a saving grace. Though, in the long run, it seems what got Karen out of her clouded mind was actually a combination of things.

The first thing might be Hen understanding her pain in some form. Granted, the loss wasn’t one of Hen’s eggs, but seeing someone so tortured, even if not over the same thing, it opens them up. And when it comes to Karen, one of her issues was that in Hen trying to be strong, it seemed she wasn’t as affected. So with Hen breaking down, it meant she is still feeling.

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Secondly, with the hormones not heightening Karen’s emotion, she can verbalize one of the major things she was going through beyond just a sense of failure: fear. For with Hen having a son before her, there came the question that, if Karen couldn’t produce, would Hen find someone who could? An idea dismissed when verbalized and seemingly, after all that has happened, peace has returned.

New Troubles Down The Road: Bobby, Athena

Because there were too many resolutions, naturally the show had to set up some new worrisome drama. This week’s is Bobby heading into a tunnel and trying to save a man who is in a burning truck that contains radioactive material. The kind that, after a doctor’s check, has raised the level of cobalt in Bobby’s urine and liver. Leading to the need to ask, will Bobby end up having cancer?

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Review

Highlights

The Need Of Therapy When Working In Emergency Situations – And Just Living Life

I don’t think enough of these shows about cops, doctors, medical professionals, and those in high-stress situations take note enough of the mental toil their jobs have. There is such a focus on the adrenaline rush and saving, the harrowing acts, it ignores how many are lost and how one lost can’t always be compensated with ratios of how many were saved before and after one loss. So even though it seems unlikely we will see anyone in therapy for more episodes, it was nice to acknowledge the need for it.

Also, not just in terms of those who are heroes, but for stuff like what Maddie is going through. Yes, she killed her abuser, her stalker, the man who beat her within an inch of her life. However, taking the life of any person, even someone with malice in their heart, doesn’t make killing a human being any less traumatic. People aren’t wired, usually, to take a life and be able to brush it off. So Maddie addressing that was powerful, and I’d even said made Tara’s return more impactful instead of coming off as a means to keep Maddie relevant as they continue to not bring much attention to anything related to Chimney.

Throwback To Old Issues & Characters

One of the things that often suck about shows focused on emergency responders is there is such a focus on what’s next, setting up the big thing, it makes what happened either feel like a rest or slow down period, if not things that end up forgotten. Yet, increasingly, it seems as 9-1-1 settles in with its current cast, starts going beyond the surface and trying to see what makes them tick, what could break them, and what strengthens them, things are changing. Thus leading to people from Hen’s past returning, topics like Maddie killing Doug, Buck’s guilt over Christopher and Eddie’s feelings, not being something that happened to heighten an episode or event, but things with long-lasting effects.

Which, ultimately, gives me hope for the longevity of this show.

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