For several seasons, 9-1-1 has brought each new season with a multi-episode emergency. Season 8’s emergency was a tornado of 22 million bees that nearly brought down a plane. Once that emergency was over, the rest of the season began. Season 8, Episode 4, “No Place Like Home,” returned right to the show’s previous storylines, almost as if the beenado never happened.
Season 7 of 9-1-1 ended on a heartbreaking note. Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen Wilson (Tracie Thoms) lost their foster care licenses, as did their daughter, Mara (Askyler Bell). Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) couldn’t return to 118 after being temporarily laid off, as he was replaced by Captain Gerrard (Brian Thompson). Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) and Bobby’s house burned down. It seemed like all of this would drag on for a long time, but 9-1-1 instead delivered a pleasant surprise last week by tackling two of these storylines together.
At the end of Season 7 of 9-1-1, Councilwoman Ortiz (Veronica Falcon) began trying to disrupt Hen’s life. The Councilwoman blamed Hen for her son’s death in the Season 7 premiere, and she tried to punish Hen by revoking her foster license. Since then, Mara has been living with Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) while the Wilson family tries to get their foster license reinstated. Hen and Karen went to court again in “No Place Like Home,” but the judge continued to keep Mara away from them, even issuing a no-contact order.
Hen went to Councilwoman Ortiz to beg her to abandon her revenge plan, but to no avail. However, Hen soon learns that Ortiz and Gerrard are friends and that Ortiz is the one who sent Gerrard back to 118. Meanwhile, Ortiz has Gerrard implement a new policy that requires firefighters to wear body cameras while on the job. When all hope seems lost for Hen and Karen, Gerrard asks Councilman Ortiz to confess on camera. Hen plays the video in court, and she and Karen bring Mara back.
After Hen tells Bobby that Councilman Ortiz gave Gerrard the job to harm Hen, Bobby tells Gerrard to meet him at Hotshots Studios, where they talk. Gerrard goes to Ortiz and tells him that the best way to harm Hen is not to take Mara away from her family. Instead, Gerrard suggests going after the 118 family by closing the police station. He points out that this will further distance the 118 firefighters and help cut the budget. Ortiz agrees, but she doesn’t know that Gerrard is recording her. This isn’t a saving grace for Gerrard by any means, but it’s still shocking to see him help this time. At the end of the episode, it’s revealed that Bobby talked to Gerrard and convinced him to help take down the councilwoman. Additionally, Gerrard turns out to be a big fan of the Hotshots, as well as the show’s star, Brad Torrence (Callum Blue). Bobby arranges for Gerrard to get his consulting job, much to Gerrard’s delight. So Bobby returns to 118, just as Mara returns to her family.
Now that Season 8 has gotten past the incident and the plane crash, it’s back to the main storyline of 9-1-1. It’s tying together these two major threads from the end of Season 7 and resolving them together. In doing so, 9-1-1 has left the rest of the season completely open for new storylines. The remainder of Season 8 could see 118 put out the fire together and work through their issues as a family, now that Gerrard is completely gone. Alternatively, Hen could continue with new storylines without putting her family in danger.
