9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 10 Review: A Frustratingly Predictable Maddie Storyline Is Almost Redeemed By That Final Buddie Scene

This article contains spoilers for 9-1-1 season 8, episode 10, "Voices"Until the closing scene of this episode, 9-1-1 had plausible deniability. The scene of Buck (Oliver Stark) searching for Eddie (Ryan Guzman) after a devastating break-up might have merely been an affirmation of their friendship, the better to illustrate how much Buck will miss him when he's gone. Certain word choices, like Buck apologizing for “outing” Eddie in front of everyone, might genuinely be unintentional. But there is nothing unintentional about the Buddie farewell scene in "Voices."

Before we get there, we have to deal with the aftermath of Detective Braeburn (Abigail Spencer) abducting Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) at the end of the previous episode. As predicted, nearly every trace of nuance and almost all intriguing character notes have been excised in favor of a variation on a main character in peril that could have played out in just about any network crime drama. It definitely plays out without any of the thoughtfulness and moral unease that "Sob Stories" weaved in so well.

Maddie's Abduction Unfolds Exactly As You Would Expect

9-1-1 Sidesteps More Interesting Possibilities

"Voices" kicks off with Howard (Kenneth Choi) and Buck returning from their night out with the 118, quickly realizing that Maddie is nowhere to be found. With panic beginning to set in for Howard, 9-1-1 then reveals that Detective Braeburn has been keeping Maddie in a dusty basement. The dispatcher wakes up briefly from her chloroform-induced slumber to see that Braeburn suffers from what looks to be a split-personality disorder. The detective is seen talking to herself, with one side of her personality being submissive and more reluctant to harm Maddie. That's the voice Maddie heard on the phone last week.

The dominant personality, a more unhinged version of Braeburn, wants to get the whole thing over with. "Voices" never really puts more thought into its central villain than this simplistic setup. Braeburn is worried that, because of the amount of research Maddie put into the case, her dark secret will eventually be exposed. Braeburn's motive for kidnapping young girls is never fully fleshed out. It's revealed she survived horrific circumstances as a child, becoming a runaway herself, and is now carrying out her own twisted sense of justice.

Maddie, strangely, never asks Braeburn why she started to go down this dark path and what she hoped to accomplish. She tries at first, but it's quickly forgotten. The episode forgets Richard Bullock too, waving away the fact that Braeburn killed him to cover for her crimes. "Voices" could have been a true continuation of "Sob Stories", with Maddie leaning on her empathy and difficult experiences as a way of earning Braeburn's trust. Besides a fleeting scene where Maddie attempts this tactic, most of the episode is bifurcated between Maddie attempting to escape when Braeburn isn't around and Braeburn's attempts to do damage control.

That could have been interesting, too. Athena (Angela Bassett) is informed that Maddie is missing fairly early, opening up an opportunity for "Voices" to unfold like a cat-and-mouse thriller. Braeburn could have slipped up, raising Athena's suspicions, and the hour could have been about the two women lying in each other's faces as they try to shore up their respective game plans. It would have been a clever inversion of their dynamic, considering how Athena seemed a little starstruck to meet Braeburn at first.

Instead, with the help of Detective Rick Romero (returning guest star Danny Nucci), Athena only begins to suspect Braeburn when she learns the detective was a runaway. It can be tricky to maintain the tension when we know more than the characters, since we're waiting for the story to catch up to where we are. It also feels wildly implausible that Braeburn, who seems about ready to self-destruct during her interactions with Maddie, doesn't crack or make a mistake at any other time.I'm not looking for realism from a franchise that rose to prominence on the back of otherworldly emergencies. Maddie telling a 9-1-1 caller to kill themselves, with vigor and intensity, in a room filled with witnesses, seems like the sort of thing that should at least get her reprimanded. It still might. Either way, that didn't bother me too much last week because Hewitt absolutely sells it. It's harder to swallow the implausibility and the narrative choices when so much of what's unfolding onscreen isn't compelling.

Howard's Old Fears Resurface

The Abduction Could Still Have Long-Term Ramifications

There are a few grace notes in the otherwise disappointing resolution to Maddie's kidnapping. I love that, even though he doesn't want to, and even as he wills himself to consider positive outcomes, Howard can't help thinking Maddie is struggling with prepartum depression and has kept hidden for fear of being judged. It feels very authentic that the fear would still exist in Howard, even allowing that they've moved on and he continually reassures Maddie. I hope, and suspect, that 9-1-1 will revisit this thread and that the couple will be a little more open about the challenges they face with a second child.

It's also pretty cool when Braeburn briefly lets her mask fall a bit when she first meets Howard. She closes the office door, walks up to him, and calmly asks about the time Maddie attempted to drown herself in season 5. She's obviously thinking of how to get rid of her abductee by making it look like a suicide. "Voices", in general, needed to amp up Braeburn's madness by about a thousand or tell an emotionally complex story about a remorseful villain. The episode straddles a disappointing middle ground, rarely trying to surprise or subvert.

I say rarely because there is one scene that genuinely rises to the level of shocking. Late in "Voices", Braeburn finally begins to unravel. She's recaptured the kidnapped victim from the previous episode, but Athena and Romero are on their way to the detective's home to confront her. Howard is also at Braeburn's door, hoping to share new information, and not yet aware that he's about to walk into the home of the serial killer who has abducted his wife.

Braeburn snaps, slashing Maddie's throat open after a short tussle. It's unsettling to see Maddie instantly try to stop the blood from pouring out, seconds before dropping to the ground. There's never any real doubt that Maddie is going to be okay, physically at least, but the abrupt explosion of violence and the decision to keep Maddie offscreen while Braeburn goes to meet Howard does an effective job of introducing danger into a plot where there was none.

Maddie survives, helped along by plot armor, just in time to stop Braeburn from shooting Howard. Athena then arrives at exactly the right moment to put a bullet in Braeburn and end it all. It's a relatively gory finish from director Jennifer Lynch, as the veteran TV helmer includes a shot of the blood splatter on Braeburn's window pane. "Voices" could have used more of that frantic and chaotic energy, especially in the absence of anything more memorable on the Maddie front.

Maddie is recovering in a hospital bed for her final scene. Howard, who has been spending most of the night with Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen (Traci Thoms), goes in to see his wife. She's meant to be resting her voice after the ordeal she's been through, but Maddie is fully awake and alert. Howard tells her the baby, a boy, is perfectly fine. Maddie tears up, learning that Jee-Yun is going to have a little brother.

Buck & Eddie Get A Meaningful Farewell

If This Isn't A Prelude To Buddie Canon, I'm Not Sure What Is

Because so much of "Voices" focuses on the Maddie and Braeburn angle, other characters have significantly less to do. Karen and Hen bring over their kids to distract Jee-Yun during the difficult night. Bobby (Peter Krause) appears in only a few scenes, doing his best to comfort Howard early on and then waiting with Athena as Maddie recovers in the hospital.

Buck is paired off with Eddie and they spend most of the episode looking for Maddie. It doesn't take long for Buckley to backslide from his grand gesture of taking over Eddie's lease in 9-1-1 season 8, episode 9. In the opening scene of "Voices", before they learn Maddie is missing, Buck jokes that Eddie deserves to pay for an expensive dinner. “That’s what he gets for leaving us,” Buck tells Howard. “I thought you made peace with it?” Howard half-asks, half-reminds.

Buck hasn't made peace with it. Driving around with Eddie in search of Maddie, he recaps everything that's gone wrong for him recently: being dumped by his first boyfriend, his sister missing, and Eddie leaving. “You’re just moving back to Texas, like it’s nothing, like it doesn’t affect anybody else. It does.” He protests from the passenger seat while Eddie drives. Buck starts to apologize for his outburst, at least wanting to explain it, but Eddie cuts him off. Buck's tired. He's been up all night. It's fine, he assures, despite an expression suggesting he might want to slam Buck's face against the windshield.

They're both pretending in the episode's final scene, albeit their efforts are titled in a different direction. Buck is helping Eddie put his last bit of luggage in the moving truck, trying his best to extend the conversation in any which way to keep from saying goodbye to his best friend. Christopher (Gavin McHugh) comes up, with Buck mentioning that he found the kid's favorite shirt. He's baked Eddie chocolate chip protein cookies, which sound pretty delicious, and he's stalling until there's nothing left to do except give a farewell hug.

It is tough to watch the goodbye scene, armed with the knowledge of everything that's happened in 9-1-1, without thinking there's something more at play. It's a clear echo of the goodbye between Abby (Connie Britton) and Buck from the season 1 finale, mirroring the devastated expression that Buck is desperately trying to stave off until he's alone and can let his face fall. It is tough to hear some of the script choices without raising a brow and wondering if there's something else going on.

Eddie: “I know this whole thing between us has been messy and hard. Both of us could have handled it a little bit better. I hope you know… you matter to me.”

The things that are toughest to move past though, the choices that can't be plausibly dismissed and explained away, have nothing to do with the procedural's long history. They are glaring even if this happened to be the first episode of 9-1-1 that you've ever watched. It has nothing to do with what's being said and everything to do with what is wordlessly communicated. It's in how Stark and Guzman make sure their characters break just long enough during the hug, only to recover before they can lock eyes again. It's also in how "Voices" chooses to end.

The final shot of the episode is not of Eddie Diaz looking conflicted, perhaps excited, as he's about to start a new chapter and reunite with his son. It's a lingering shot of Evan Buckley's face as he watches the truck drive away, looking like he's starting to process something more than the absence of a best friend. It's a shot that wordlessly declares this storyline is just beginning. It's the kind of shot, the kind of visual language that would be used for a couple in nearly any other pop culture context. The only difference is this couple might not fully realize it yet.