9-1-1 Season 8 Finale Repeats A Divisive Trick That Season 9 Needs To Retire

The main firefighters— Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark), Henrietta “Hen” Wilson (Aisha Hinds), Howard “Chimney” Han (Kenneth Choi), Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman), and Ravi Panikkar (Anirudh Pisharody)— each have ongoing storylines that the 9-1-1 season 8 finale will hopefully resolve. Yet, how the first-responder drama solves the ensemble cast’s problems is another concern entirely. Season 8 included some of 9-1-1’s most gruesome injuries, not to mention its first main character death. Yet, before the aftermath had even cleared, 9-1-1 continued introducing additional conflicts for the 118 that preemptively set up the season finale’s main objectives.

9-1-1 Season 8’s Finale Will Conclude A Two-Episode Arc

Athena's Cliffhanger Sets Up The Final Emergency Of The Season

9-1-1 season 8’s finale will directly follow the events of “Don’t Drink the Water,” creating one continuous storyline across the two episodes. Every plot that was integral to 9-1-1 season 8, episode 17 will presumably return in the finale: Athena and Chimney will have to confront their tension head-on, Eddie will have to choose between moving home or pursuing the job in El Paso, and Hen will have to decide once and for all whether she’ll accept the captaincy. Naturally, the building collapse will also take up the bulk of 9-1-1 season 8’s finale.

9-1-1 Included Multiple Other Two-Part Events In Season 8

From The Midseason Return To The Infamous Contagion Saga

More recently, 9-1-1 season 8, episodes 14 and 15 were connected under the umbrella name of 9-1-1: Contagion. The first episode in the two-part arc introduced 9-1-1’s evil scientist, Moira Blake (Bridget Regan), and laid the groundwork for the CCHF super-strain to loom overhead as an omnipresent threat after the LAFD is accidentally quarantined in the research lab. The narrative of “Sick Day” continues into “Lab Rats” seamlessly, as Buck and Athena apprehend Moira and deliver the antidote to save Chimney’s life. After the smoke seems to clear, Bobby’s death in 9-1-1 acts as the two-part event’s dramatic twist ending.

Overusing The Two-Part Structure In 9-1-1 Season 8 Made It Less Effective

Cliffhangers Started To Feel Like A Crutch

Breaking the season up into distinct segments overwhelmingly contributed to the biggest concern of 9-1-1's showrunner, Tim Minear: raising the stakes. Whereas near-death experiences in 9-1-1 were previously few and far between, 9-1-1 season 8 overloaded the characters with personal crises. If the procedural had stuck to its formula and balanced character development with wacky medical emergencies, 9-1-1 could have retained its ability to use near-misses and extreme disasters as rare but impactful tools. Instead, 9-1-1 season 8 felt like a never-ending stream of drama and danger— intriguing in small doses, but draining when over-utilized.

What 9-1-1 Season 9 Can Do To Replace Its Two-Part Events

There Are Other Episode Types To Explore

9-1-1’s found family aspect has been pivotal to many character arcs and overarching narratives, like Eddie moving to Texas and Maddie’s second pregnancy. Yet, the found family at the center of it all has rarely been acknowledged in recent seasons of 9-1-1. Rather than jam-packing the season with as many twists and turns as possible, 9-1-1 season 9 should consider a more nuanced approach and start treating its cast as a true ensemble again. By retiring the two-episode structure that forces most of the cast to the sidelines, 9-1-1 season 9 can include everyone in the episodic narratives.