9-1-1 almost lost a member of its cast in Thursday’s Halloween episode when Hen found herself responding to a near-fatal accident involving… her son?!
“[The Wilson family] really don’t get a break from the show to have fun,” Aisha Hinds (aka Hen) told TVLine with a laugh. “At the end of last week’s episode, we had a beautiful scene where we were together [after being separated], and now we’re in danger again.”
Speaking of danger, nothing was more heartbreaking than the scene where Denny (Declan Pratt) almost died after being hit by a car while trick-or-treating. Hen reacted like any frustrated mother would, jumping into action to save her child’s life, leading to one of the show’s most heartbreaking moments in recent memory.
Hinds credits the powerful scene to the close relationship she and Pratt have cultivated over the course of eight seasons. “It made everything so much easier — almost too easy sometimes,” she says of bringing their mother-son relationship to life. “There were times when I was really trying to hold back my emotions, but then I looked at him and my heart just went crazy.”
Hinds also developed a close relationship with Pratt’s mother, Dennisha, who was on set during filming. Hinds recalls Dennisha asking her son during this particular scene, giving him a thumbs-up and saying, “Are you okay?” without saying a word. “I saw her do it, and I saw him make eye contact, and that connection really resonated with me,” Hinds explains. “I felt like I had to keep making sure he was okay.”
“Declan and I talk about all the technical stuff and we review every scene he takes together, but when he comes on set, I don’t think of him as Declan anymore—he’s Hen’s son,” Dennisha told TVLine. “I’m standing nearby if he needs me to do anything, but I try to stay away from everyone.”
Despite the Wilson family’s constant crises, Hinds notes that there’s a certain glimmer of hope in their hardships: “The strength of this family is amazing,” she says. “All of these experiences have not only brought them closer together, but they’ve helped each other. It’s great to see that no matter how dark things get, it’s like a slingshot—the more you pull the string, the more love comes out when you let go.”
And the evening wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Wilsons. Together with Jee-Yun, they got to live out their Wizard of Oz fantasy by dressing up as Dorothy and the gang.
“This is easily one of my favorite episodes because of the work they put into creating these costumes,” Hinds said. “A big shout out to our hair, makeup, and costume team for doing such a great job. They did a great job this time, as the kids said.”
Needless to say, Karen will be much more understanding of Hen having to miss “big” events because of her work from now on. “Karen said to her, ‘I keep thinking while you’re taking care of our son, thank God you’re working,’” showrunner Tim Minear reminded TVLine. “The way Tracie Thoms said that encapsulated everything I wanted to do in this episode.”
With the Wilsons safe (for now), let’s turn our attention to this week’s other dramatic development: Buck is cursed! When he buys a corpse mannequin for the haunted house of 118, Buck accidentally buys a real corpse, that of an abandoned outlaw known as “Billy Boyles.” When real sores start appearing on his face, Buck does a little digging—you know, instead of just going to the dermatologist—and deduces that he’s a victim of Billy’s curse.
The episode ends with Buck realizing that Billy isn’t just randomly “cursing” people; he’s crying out for help because he’s been abandoned by his friends in life. By visiting Billy’s grave and adding to his pain, Buck believes the curse will be lifted and his sores will go away. (Again, it’s a call to the dermatologist.)
