3.08 - Malfunction
After a very emotional episode the week before, the 911 writers have decided to keep us on our emotional high with these two episodes.
Obviously, Hen was the main focus here, as she struggled to help Karen in her grief (over the lost of 6 embryos some three weeks before) and struggled to juggle the demands of her home and work lives.
This was particularly frustrating to watch since their son wound up in the middle and it felt as though, with each passing scene, both Hen and Karen only closed up more, without managing to truly share their feelings. At that point, only Athena seems to be able to get Hen to speak and give her some sense of relief.
And, as usual with 911, if things can get worse, THEY WILL, while driving a patient to the hospital, Hen hits a young woman with the ambulance. The fact that we got all that backstory on the victim leads us to think that Hen's career will be put on the line.
And that is about everything memorable about this episode, I feel like the writers are starting too many storylines at once, to the point where they just can't co-exist without one being completely under-used or discarded.
To me, Eddie's breakdown, for example, felt like yet another way to force us to feel sympathy and to connect with the character when I had been expecting so much more from this underground fighting situation. It could have lasted until later in the season, leaving us the time to 'forget' about it a little... I've always found that when the things characters do off-screen are suddenly used in a storyline, it makes them feel more real. Just like Bobby's past ice-skating career.
3.09 - Fallout
Thankfully, the next episode doesn't seem to make the same mistakes and slows things down a little.
The tables turn for Hen and Karen, and the wreck this time around is Hen as she struggles to come to terms with her accident, despite being vindicated almost right away. But, despite the horrible situation, this accident allows the couple to open up to each other and finally talk things through and allow each other to be vulnerable.
I have to say that I was surprised to see Tara again, but that I was expecting her story to end the same way Maddy's did. Thankfully, they decided to stop seeing each other because of how triggering the situation was for Maddy. And this is something that 911 has made a point to talk about in recent episodes: mental health. It is fairly rare to see TV characters who have high-stress jobs (first responders, military personnel, etc.) seek professional help and I think that's because it's still considered taboo or shameful. Seeing that on TV, and seeing strong male archetypes (like Buck and Eddie) go through it makes us understand that some things just can't be dealt with alone, and that it's OK to ask for help.
What about you? What did you think of this episode? Leave your thoughts in the comments bellow and I'll see you next week!
