Unfortunately, it seems like the 9-1-1 season 8 premiere is set up to fail, as its emergency situation doesn’t quite live up to my expectations for the show’s opening episode. The ABC procedural drama has tackled a number of dangerous, suspenseful situations over its seven seasons. From a tsunami to a cruise ship sinking, 9-1-1 has come a long way in exploring various compelling tragedies. However, when 9-1-1 season 8 airs, it will be difficult for the upcoming disaster to compete with the ones that came before it.
9-1-1 season 8 will premiere on Thursday, September 26, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. While the network has not announced the episode count as of this writing, many speculate that season 8 will consist of around 18 episodes based on the show’s previous seasons.
While 9-1-1 season 7 had a compelling cruise ship disaster, the season overall didn’t have many interesting emergencies. Of course, it was delayed and shortened due to the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strike, like many other TV shows, which certainly hurt its quality. Still, I’m hopeful that season 8 will be a step up from last season. The bad news is that the first look at upcoming 9-1-1 episodes leaves a lot to be desired.
The 9-1-1 Instagram account has released the first trailer for 9-1-1 season 8, and the video (sadly) reveals that the ABC procedural drama’s first disaster will involve bees. The trailer reads, “The average person can’t survive 500 bee stings” as thousands of bees swarm the city. Meanwhile, the tagline for the 9-1-1 season 8 premiere is “The Bee-nado is Coming.”
A bee attack can be pretty scary and deadly, but the opening emergency of 9-1-1 season 8 is likely to be disappointing compared to all the other routes the show could have gone down.
It’s safe to say that a bee attack could easily be the worst 9-1-1 emergency in a premiere. Compared to a sinking cruise ship, a landslide, or a catastrophic earthquake, it would be hard for a situation where a swarm of bees invades a city to top those previous disasters. A bee attack can be pretty scary and deadly, but the opening emergency of 9-1-1 season 8 is likely to be disappointing compared to all the other routes the show could have gone down.
The bee attack teased in the 9-1-1 season 8 premiere trailer is also frustrating because the ABC procedural drama has done it before. 9-1-1 season 6, episode 8, “Cursed,” featured firefighters responding to an emergency at the Medieval Renaissance Fair. A woman wearing knight armor was attacked by a swarm of bees because the Queen Bee was trapped inside the suit. So the first responders had to cut open the armor to stop the swarm and get the woman to the emergency room.
While the disaster in the 9-1-1 season 8 premiere will likely be different and larger than season 6, it’s not worth repeating a bee crisis, especially when it’s taking place in the first episode of a new season. The writers could have come up with a new, crazy emergency to focus on. Ultimately, expectations for 9-1-1 season 8 are high after season 7, which definitely toned down the craziness of the cases and so far, the results have been less than satisfactory.
