Don't Drink the Water

This is exactly what I want from an episode of 9-1-1.

Filled with joy, humour, grief and emotion, this was a VAST improvement over the previous dreadful episode. Credit to the acting and especially the writing of Molly Green and James Leffler, it feels like they truly understand these characters and what they mean to each other and honestly they should take over when big decisions need to be made. Loved seeing the characters, especially Maddie and Eddie talk about the impact Bobby has had on them, Hen and Karen's interactions and Buck and Eddie stealing the show with their undeniable chemistry.

If the finale is anything like the penultimate episode, we are in for a treat and i cannot wait to see how 911 closes out a tumultuous season 8.

This episode genuinely felt like 9-1-1 again. They balanced personal storylines with the emergencies perfectly. Let the personal stories take front and center and then let the crazy emergencies add to it. This is what 9-1-1 was meant to be! I've been watching for years and truly, this episode is such a return to form for them. Hope this is continued into the finale. Still weird that this show can have such good episodes and then you get something like 8:16. Like how can this episode be so well done and the episode that is saying "goodbye" to Bobby so poorly done. Anyways, great episode. Definitely one of the best of the season and the direction was so well done.

They finally got the ratio of the screentime right, and also showed us what the past episodes were missing: the family ties of the 118.

What I didn't like was that how unrealistic it was that Athena is acting like shes didn't just lose the greatest love of her life and now she's back on the job all perfectly normal. Idk of they'll justify it as her coping mechanism but it just doesn't sit right with me.

The only thing they need to do next is bring Bobby back. At this point, I don't care what supernatural shxt they need to do to bring him back - I'll gladly eat it up and move along. Just. Bring him back.

The stark contrast from the last two episodes (especially the last episode) to this one is crazy.

The last two episodes had focus in all the wrong places, sloppy writing, characters feeling so out of character, poor directing choices, unnecessary action and side plots, and more.

This episode felt like it had a strong balance of the ensemble cast that was lacking previously, the focus on side characters did not overstay their welcome, all of the main characters had memorable moments that felt in-character and a part of their own personal larger arcs, etc.

We got to see the importance of their family dynamic (one of the biggest draws of the show, and so horribly lacking in the previous two episodes), and the storylines felt like they had a strong balance between work/calls and their personal lives.

THIS felt more like a classic 9-1-1 episode than anything we've seen in a while. Please bring these writers back, please fire whoever worked on the last two episodes.

The directing in this episode was also a standout. The cut from Buck's memory/daydream to the empty station table, the fight between Buck and Eddie in the kitchen, Eddie receiving the phone call... all so wonderfully shot and directed.

That goes double for the acting this episode. The acting was incredible last week and it was amazing to see that continue this week as well. Oliver Stark and Ryan Guzman especially brought the emotion, matching the performances of Angela Bassett and Kenneth Choi from last week.

This episode compared to the previous two shows perfectly how this show does best not when shoving two-part emergencies at us, or focusing on random side characters, or overdone cop plot lines, or unnecessary action sequences- it does best when it balances the ensemble cast in all their storylines, drives home the found family dynamic, gives us some goofy calls balanced with true emotion, and gives us HEART.

The difference between this week's episode and the last two has astounded me.

After the last few weeks, my expectations for this episode were extremely low but i just got win after win tonight. Characters interacting with multiple people and in different locations, good pacing, good writing, not too much focus on the calls, AND eddie whew haven't smiled like this in a month

this is what happens when you don't spend the entire episode focusing on an emergency and actually remembering who your characters actually are and writing them correctly. Tonight is an example of how an ensemble show should be written. Not choosing to focus on one or two characters but choosing to take time and include every one of them because that right there is what makes 9-1-1 the show that it is.