Spoilers ahead!
After ending its seventh season on a cliffhanger and following months of anticipation, 9-1-1 is back for its eighth season, the second one on ABC. It’s worth mentioning that while season 7 was shorter, its ten episodes were packed with all the chaos this show is loved for: we had a deadly cruise ship disaster, a fan-favorite character discovering new things about his sexuality, a big wedding event (that went wrong before finally happening… at a hospital), a strange (it’s a compliment!) doppelganger storyline inspired by Hitchcock’s Vertigo, one of the main couples facing drama with adopting another child (and losing that child few episodes later because of a vengeful Councilwoman), a big fire destroying one of the main couples house, the 118 Captain almost dying, a cartel storyline that ended in another big fire, and — phew! — the 118 Captain being replaced by its terrible predecessor. Do you think that’s a lot? The amount of stuff I had to cut off this “previously on 9-1-1…” was even bigger!
This all means that while season 8 starts only a few months after All Fall Down, our characters are still dealing with storylines that didn’t get closure in the past. Thus, Buzzkill is all about reminding its audience about how each character ended last season — with an unbeelievable twist. While last season’s disaster was inspired by The Poseidon Adventure (1972), this one mainly takes inspiration from another 70s movie, The Swarm (1978) — millions of bees are attacking Los Angeles after an accident with the vehicle that was transporting them.
However, the first three episodes of this season being part of a bigger event means that the bees are only the beeginning of this new chaotic adventure — one that’s hinted at in the episode’s very first scene, which shows two flying vehicles crashing up in the sky, a plane crash caused by the bees. Then it’s time to rewind and discover how this happened, and how Athena and the 118 are related to these events.
“Buzzkill” – 9-1-1. Pictured: Angela Bassett as Athena. Photo: Christopher Willard/ABC © 2024 Disney. All rights reserved.
Let’s start with Athena (Angela Bassett). After almost dying, almost losing her husband, and losing her house, she’s back to work — and she’s given this painful task: Dennis Jenkins (Glenn Plummer), the man who murdered her fiance, needs her help. After getting away with it for decades until she arrested him in Athena Begins (3.07), he’s now getting released earlier because he agreed to help in a bigger operation destined to expose powerful people involved in a sex trafficking scheme. There's more to it though: Dennis agreed to depose to a jury, but only if Athena is the one to escort him from Phoenix to LA.
We watch Athena very hurt about this, unable to cope with the unfairness of this whole situation — but once she gets to escort Dennis and they are almost killed on the road, she realizes that there are bigger forces involved in this — and they all want Dennis gone. I think it's a great storyline; Athena is this complex character who is yet again having to deal with a past trauma, but in another way this time, so I'm looking forward to discovering how this will end.
Meanwhile, Buck (Oliver Stark) is having a hard time dealing with his new boss. Captain Gerrard (Brian Thompson) is a difficult person, unpleasant and hard on his subordinates, but Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and Hen (Aisha Hinds) have already dealt with him in the past and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) faced worse in the army, so they are all used to it. But Buck is not — and while they deal with the accident that started it all and set the bees free, the free-spirited Buck comes toe to toe with the abusive Gerrard.
This happens during the incident involving a mother and her daughter, both allergic to bees, trapped in their car and surrounded by millions of those deadly animals. And I must say that scene is one my favorite things about this episode, as it’s this classic emergency moment that gets everyone involved: we have Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Josh (Bryan Safi) dealing with the accident from the dispatcher station taking care of the victims while Buck and Eddie try to get them out of the car. Meanwhile, Hen and Chimney take care of a man who has something stuck inside his throat, and Buck finds a way to release mom and child despite Gerrard's orders. Classic Buck, classic emergency, classic 9-1-1.
“Buzzkill” – 9-1-1. Pictured: Aisha Hinds as Hen, Kenneth Choi as Chimney, Ryan Guzman as Eddie, Oliver Stark as Buck. Photo: Christopher Willard/ABC © 2024 Disney. All rights reserved.
We also discover new things about Mara (Askyler Bell), who seems to be well-adapted to her new home with the Buckley-Han. Is this going to bring trouble in the future? I fear so. Another child who seems to be just as well-adapted is Christopher (Gavin McHugh), who seems to be having the time of his life away from Eddie. In this case, the trouble is already here, and honestly, I’m very excited about the moment this season will deal with all the chaotic things Eddie did in season 7. By the way, Bobby (Peter Krause) is also dealing with his past choices, now having to work as a technical advisor on Hotshots, an action TV show. A job he seems to not enjoy that much. This poor man is suffering. Someone release him from this and put him back as the 118 Captain.
The episode ends on two big cliffhangers, by the way. The first one, Gerrard suffers an accident in the station, and while Buck tries to save his life, the old-new captain is severely injured by the end of the episode. The second one: remember that plane crash that I mentioned earlier? So. Athena’s on one of the planes with Dennis, taking him safely to LA. Except that now things are anything but safe. Poor Athena. I’d say she deserves some vacation but we all know how that ended the last time.
Finally, I’d like to end this review by writing about the moment that made me laugh the most: Eddie running from the bees. What was that? I was smiling so much during that whole thing, this show is so unhinged when it wants to be. And I love it. Overall, this was a pretty consistent season premiere, with solid writing and acting and some really fun sequences, and I’d grade it high in my tier list of 9-1-1 premieres.
Now tell me your thoughts! What do you think about Buzzkill? How would you grade this premiere when compared to others? Feel free to leave a comment with your impressions/theories, and thanks for reading!
