Note: This story contains spoilers from “9-1-1” Season 8, Episode 4. “9-1-1” has had a season with its latest episode, which included several big moments fueled by the “seething desperation” of beloved firefighter Henrietta “Hen” Wilson.
Episode 4, titled “No Place Like Home,” continued the narrative threads of the ABC first responder drama’s Season 7 finale — which took a backseat to Season 8’s risky Bee-Nado/airplane emergency opener — following Hen’s (Aisha Hinds) fight to protect her adopted daughter Mara, as well as 118, led by Captain Vincent Gerrard (Brian Thompson), after Bobby (Peter Krause) accidentally quits. This week’s episode sees the fire station facing budget cuts and possible closure, as Hen struggles to make Councilwoman Olivia Ortiz’s (Veronica Falcón) personal vendetta against her the root of all the problems in her life and those of her teammates.
“Our writers really made us live in our true emotions from episode to episode. They didn’t give us any clues about the character’s storyline, the family’s storyline,” Hinds told TheWrap. “Going through this journey and when we finally come together as a family, it’s just an exhalation.”
While dealing with some bizarre emergencies this week — including a cheerleader who flipped upside down after an injury and rescuing a landlady from being eaten by a tiger in an apartment — Hen and her wife Karen (Tracie Thoms) go to court to regain custody of Mara from Chim (Kenneth Choi) and Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt). While it seems like Ortiz will get his way and separate the family, while also aiming to shut down 118 altogether, Hen and Bobby recruit Gerrard and get the politician to admit her wrongdoing on camera, leading to her dropping out of the mayoral race and no longer being a threat.
The ending works out for everyone (except Ortiz), as Bobby is reinstated as captain of 118 and Gerrard takes over his job as a fire consultant on the fictional firefighting show “9-1-1.”
“They keep us on our toes on this show,” adds Tracie Thoms, who plays Hen’s wife Karen on the show. “We can relax now, but we know what show we’re in. But right now, the Wilsons are just happy to be together and cherish each other for as long as they can.”
Below, Hinds and Thoms break down the biggest moments from Episode 4, tease what’s next, and share their call for a potential musical episode: TheWrap: It seems like you guys have gone through an entire season’s worth of story in just Episode 4. What was your reaction to seeing how things would play out when you read the script?
Thoms: I’ll be honest, sometimes I’ll get a script and there’s something going on, and because we have the devices to read the script, it’s not exactly the same. But if I had a script in my hand, I’d throw it across the room. Why can’t the Wilsons just take a break, you know? Because it looks like everything’s going to go smoothly… and then we hit a roadblock, like we all do on “9-1-1.”
Hinds: Our writers really made us sit in our real emotions episode after episode, they didn’t give us any insight into the character arc, the family arc. So we were really sitting there holding our breath like, “Are we going to get to keep our daughter?” So when we got this script, it was like, “Oh, you take another breath of oxygen… there’s still hope.”
All of this is compounding Hen’s stress, and she’s bringing that home to Karen… we’re really sitting in real emotions that are struggling with each other. And when we go through this journey in Episode 4 and we finally reunite as a family, it’s like an exhale.
