‘9-1-1’ Should Have Stretched Out This Gruesome and Thrilling Storyline

Season 8’s mid-season 2-part premiere for 9-1-1 came through with a whopper of a storyline, one that starts with "Sob Stories," in which Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) talks a serial killer into killing himself, saving his hostage from becoming another of his victims. Then, she’s kidnapped by the woman who actually killed the man, and it’s crazy. It’s the detective, Amber Braeburn (Abigail Spencer), who has been helping on the case, who is the real killer. Or at least her split personality, Peter, is.

Part 2, "Voices," is taut and nerve-wracking, with Maddie chained up in Amber's basement, trying desperately to get out of the situation alive. She tries appealing to the Amber personality, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Amber is deftly throwing the police off her scent, including Maddie's husband, Chimney (Kenneth Choi). It isn't looking good for Maddie, Jayna (Chloe Csengery), the kidnapping victim from the last episode that Amber has rekidnapped, or Chimney, who has inadvertently put himself in danger by entering Amber's home. Then... bang, it's over, with Amber killed by Athena (Angela Bassett), who figured out the truth about Amber just in time. And with her death, the opportunity for 9-1-1 to have a truly fascinating narrative throughout the season dies with her.

Abigail Spencer Is One Reason Why Detective Amber Braeburn Should Have Stuck Around '9-1-1'

In other words, 9-1-1 should have stretched the gruesome and thrilling storyline out. Instead, what they opted for was a quick plot twist with the highly questionable decision to give the antagonist a mental disorder – Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) – that is played out as the damaging stereotype it often is. The fact it works as well as it does is a testament to just how good Abigail Spencer is in the role, and that's the first missed opportunity.

Spencer is a talented actress and completely sold everyone, including viewers at home, that she was who she said she was, a police detective who had been on the hunt for a serial killer for years. Amber helped in the investigation and helped Maddie realize that her actions assisted save an unknown number of potential victims in the future. So when the twist hits, you truly never see it coming, and Spencer makes Amber absolutely chilling to the end. For her storyline to end so abruptly denies us the opportunity to see just how long the ruse could have gone on.

'9-1-1' Misses Out on a Murderous Game of Chess by Killing Off Detective Amber Braeburn

There was certainly no need for Braeburn to have DID. In the previously cited Collider, author Erin Konrad makes the argument that female serial killers are rare enough that her character would have been more compelling without it. Arguably, the show itself would have been better if Braeburn was simply a clever, psychopathic serial killer hiding in plain sight. Out-Dextering Dexter, if you will (yes, the irony of replacing one stereotyped mental disorder for another isn't lost, but somehow not as egregious). The death of Richard Bullock threw everyone off, so Braeburn had already succeeded in taking the suspicion off of her, not that there was any, to begin with in the first place. The entirety of the front half of the premiere would easily have been explained away as Braeburn disguising her own voice while making "Richard's" calls into 9-1-1.

Likewise, kidnapping Maddie wasn't necessary either (in fact, isn't it about time to let Chimney and Maddie have a break?). Braeburn could simply have been set up as the season's big bad, and it would have been interesting to see just how long she could keep the ruse alive. She'd be in on the investigations into her own crimes, continuing to keep the suspicion off of herself throughout. It would infuriate Athena, who would have met her intellectual match in a murderous game of chess, all the while playing the teammate fighting the good fight, bringing out the best in Bassett and Spencer. And as impressive as that episode ending reveal was, think just how much more effective it would have been if that "aha" moment didn't happen for the viewer until a few episodes down the road.

'9-1-1's Detective Amber Braeburn Could Have Been the Most Memorable Villain in a Series That's Had Its Share of Great Villains

9-1-1, by not running with the narrative, also missed out on what could have been the series' best, most memorable villain. Again, even with only two episodes, Spencer made the character unforgettable, and as alluded to earlier, a female serial killer is such a rarity that it would have made the run truly unique. As it is, Braeburn joins a notorious list of other memorable antagonists that have graced the series over the years.

Arguably, the most notorious has to be Jeffrey Hudson (Noah Bean), the serial rapist who began his run in Season 3. He made things personal, first by attacking Athena, then, after having escaped custody, kidnapping her son Harry (Marcanthonee Jon Reis) and sealing him inside the wall of an abandoned house. Hudson taunted Athena, and, after being cornered at a metro station, forced her into shooting him by threatening to kill Bobby (Peter Krause). His final words, with the chilling intent to torment Athena, were simply, "It wasn't loaded," referring to the gun he had pointed at Bobby and then dying before disclosing where Harry was (SPOILER: they found him).

Maddie's abusive ex-husband Doug Kendall (Brian Hallisay) places a very close second and holds the distinction of being the villainous character who's appeared the most often on the series: alive in Season 2 and in flashbacks and/or hallucinations ever since most recently in Season 7. He befriended Chimney in order to track down Maddie, then, enraged by Chimney's plans to take Maddie on a date, he stabs Chimney multiple times before kidnapping Maddie (note: another reason we didn't need Maddie kidnapped – been there, done that). It would be Maddie that puts an end to Doug, stabbing him repeatedly after recovering the knife Doug dropped.

The Froot Loops award, though, goes to Jonah Greenway (Bryce Durfee), whose reveal as a serial killer back in Season 5 stands as Braeburn's toughest competition for the series' best plot twist. Greenway came in as a fill-in paramedic during Chimney's absence, partnered with Hen (Aisha Hinds), and slowly gained her trust as well as a welcome to the 118. Only the unexpected death of a dispatcher left alone with Greenway, roused Hen's suspicion, and for a good reason: following a heroic effort in bringing a classmate back to life as a 13-year-old, Greenway developed a hero complex, getting off on the euphoric feeling of resuscitating people. Being a paramedic allowed him access to people he could kill and bring back to life – and he didn't have a perfect record.

Upon learning that Hen had reported her suspicions, he kidnapped – again with the kidnapping – both Hen and Chimney, forcing Hen to watch as Chimney was repeatedly pulled back from the brink of death. Hen stalled him long enough, though, for a conscious Chimney to stun him with a defibrillator, allowing them to take Greenway into custody. Braeburn could have joined the ranks of such memorable villains, but sadly 9-1-1 decided to rush through this storyline leaving her just a footnote in an already packed season.