Season eight of “9-1-1” began just three weeks ago and finished the three-episode season premiere on Thursday, Oct. 10. Beginning with a thrilling sequence of a small jet flying into a larger passenger plane after being caught in a swarm of 22 million killer bees, season eight does not appear to be playing it safe.
Continuing where season seven left off, the members of Station 118 deal with new management, damaged family situations and even more extreme saves.
While there are many characters for the viewers to watch, the first three episodes mainly follow Athena Grant (Angela Bassett), a police sergeant for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) who is trapped on a pilotless plane with no way of landing it. The show also brought up moments from Athena’s past that were already explored in excess in earlier seasons. I am not the biggest fan of her character but the show still managed to portray a storyline that I found interesting despite the risk of it feeling redundant.
Much of the opening three episodes contained serious moments, leaving the audience to wonder just how the crew will survive the killer bees, the crashing plane and other impossible situations they manage to find themselves in. Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) is a consultant for a firefighter show, “Hotshots,” which acts as a parallel for Station 118.
A British character named “Brad” (Callum Blue) plays an American firefighter on “Hotshots” who happens to be a character that greatly resembles a member of the 118, Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark). There’s a moment in episode three where Buck meets Brad and comments that he “never would have guessed” that he had a British accent. The funny part about this — Oliver Stark is British!
This isn’t the only parallel between “9-1-1” and “Hotshots,” however. Much of the show in the past has been judged for seeming unrealistic, which I agree with, but while working on set, Bobby comments on how the characters do not seem to follow LAPD regulations, to which the producers respond that it is just a TV show.
After the frankly disappointing ending to season seven of “9-1-1,” season eight continues the themes that fans enjoyed in seasons one through six. The camera quality and angles, the microphone quality and the overall composition of the show have improved greatly compared to last season.
Other changes included in the show are the physical features of the main characters. In season seven, Buck said that he was “free” after first recognizing his queer identity. Since this moment, he has continued to let his curly hair be free, rather than be gelled into place without movement. Another character that has changed is Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman), who has grown a mustache. I believe that this was done for Eddie to mirror Captain Gerrard (Brian Thompson) who also has a mustache, as a way to show how Eddie, especially with his military background, understands how to stay on the good side of those in charge of him.
This being said, I do wish that there was a more definitive ending to the killer bee aspect of the three-episode premiere. The topic seemed to just switch to the plane without the audience finding out how the Los Angeles population dealt with the remaining millions of bees.
Otherwise, this season would be considered one of my favorite seasons thus far. While much of the storyline has been resolved, even if it was not completely explained, one that has not been completely addressed is the terror that is Vincent Gerrard as the captain of the 118. With the next episode coming out tonight, Oct. 17, I cannot wait to see what the crew at Station 118 will encounter next!
4/5 stars
rcassio@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @911onabc, Instagram
