9-1-1: Season 3, Episode 10 “Christmas Spirit” [Mid-Season Finale] – Recap, Review (with Spoilers)

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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Like a holiday movie, 9-1-1 mixes in a lot of sweet moments with a bit of darkness that some might see as devastating.

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Directed By	Alonso Alvarez-Barreda
Written By	Andrew Meyers
Air Date (FOX)	12/2/2019
Introduced Character	Actor Playing Them
Maddie’s Therapist	Eddie McGee

Recap

Moving On From Trauma: Maddie, Maddie’s Therapist

With being left nearly half a million dollars, due to her marriage to Doug, Maddie is feeling all kinds of guilt and complicated feelings. So, working with her therapist, she confronts the ghost of Doug in her head and seems like she may get to move past Doug rather than try to avoid his continued influence on her life.

A Christmas To Remember: Michael, Bobby, Athena, Christopher, Eddie, Buck, Hen, Karen

This Christmas isn’t necessarily the best for many people. Christopher is dealing with it possibly being one of the first his dad isn’t spending time with him, it’s Michael’s first as a single man, and considering the madness of holiday shoppers, it brings down everyone’s Christmas spirit. But, to add onto that, there is the continued fear Bobby could have cancer, and now with Michael wandering about, even walking through glass, there is the need to question if something is wrong with him?

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Which there is. While Bobby gets a clean bill of health, after so many tests and procedures, Michael learns he has a tumor. Something which he wants to keep a secret, even from Athena, who is still one of his closest friends, despite it all.

But, to make sure things don’t end on a downer, we learn Athena and Buck arranged to have a large family dinner at the station, and Karen decides to sign up to become a foster parent. Why? Well, the trigger is learning about a kid who would have been separated from his mom at Christmas. Following that, there is the thought about what would have happened with Denny if he wasn’t with them, and it snowballs into a solution to expand her and Hen’s family. Also, considering the overflow at local group homes, this seems like an excellent idea.

Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs

Don’t go borrowing trouble.
— Bobby

Have you moved past him, or around him?
— The Therapist

Comment Down Below

1. Anyone else hope, considering the time and effort put into Karen’s storyline struggling to have a child, her and Hen having a foster child would get the same commitment?

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Review

Highlights

Maddie’s Therapy

While it isn’t clear whether or not Maddie’s storyline may ever truly move past Doug, and thus may be Chim could maybe get his storyline with her off the back burner, there is hope. But, I hope that with the work we see Maddie do in therapy, she won’t be alone. We saw nearly everyone speak to Maddie’s therapist at one time or another, and it would be nice to see all of them back in. For a lot of the time, it really does seem the job is being used as a distraction from their problems. Especially the men.

Karen and Hen Becoming Foster Parents

At the sacrifice of Chim, Karen has gotten quite a lot of screen time. Pushing you to wonder, maybe even hope, if she continues to be pushed beyond a guest star and seeming like a regular, they may bring her and Hen’s quest for a child to the forefront. Mainly so that we can get a real sense of a child’s fear of stability, especially when your parent does a really dangerous job. For we don’t get that from Denny or Athena’s kids at all, or anymore. So bringing someone new into the equation, that may remind us how dangerous everyone’s job is and despite what has happened to Chim, Buck, and others, with miraculous recoveries, both physically and in terms of personal relationships, the team isn’t God-like.

On The Fence

Giving Michael Cancer

On the one hand, it is nice they are still invested in this character, despite making him single and like a remora fish  (suckerfish) on Athena. But, on the other hand, after teasing Bobby having cancer and then revealing Michael having it, the switcheroo isn’t really appreciated. Mostly due to Michael being stripped of most of what made him an individual, so giving him cancer seems almost cheap or desperate.

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Which I recognize maybe extreme terms to use, but Michael being phased out right now would be similar to Denny’s dad being phased out. In the long run, you may wonder what happened to him, yet also you may recognize he served his purpose and had his moment in the sun. Rather than the state he is in now where, similar to Chim, he is held onto without any notable vision for the character being in place.

So here is hoping this cancer storyline somehow mirrors the seriousness of Karen’s struggle with getting pregnant. Otherwise, here is hoping, by the end of the season, they’ll kill him off to start pruning the show’s cast.

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