9-1-1 Review: Awful People (Season 2 Episode 5)

9-1-1 Season 2 Episode 5, “Awful People,” reminds us all that people can be good, awful, or anywhere in between.

However, the real focus of the episode is Maddie and why we care. It’s been said in previous reviews that Abby left a huge hole in the cast when she left.

It’s been coming for a while, but 9-1-1 seems to have finally chosen to give us reasons to care about Maddie. She has heart and she can MacGyver the crap out of anything, which makes her shine in a world filled with many stars.

Many fans were understandably upset when Connie Britton left at the end of Season 1. Now, her replacement, Jennifer Love Hewitt, has to step in and win those fans back.

In all honesty, Hewitt is a better move for the show than keeping Britton would have been. Bringing in Hewitt adds a vivaciousness that the show was lacking in Season 1. In a way, she does a better job of bridging the gaps between all the subgroups.

It’s not just that she is Buck’s sister. Maddie also brings everyone together through her desire to do the best job she can as a dispatcher.

This includes, but is not limited to, going on a ride along with the police. It allows her to see the emergencies in action and find a newfound appreciation for the work that she does.

This also brings together everyone around her because they unite to help her or inform her of the ins and outs of saving lives. It’s an equally beneficial, symbiotic relationship.

Everyone needs everyone else.

Athena: Our lives are shaped, not just by our experiences but by our relationships.

This togetherness amongst the police, fire department, and 9-1-1 dispatch is a major step up from last season. Now that everyone is working hand in hand, the stories flow more smoothly. The show is no longer choppy and disjointed.

Expanding on the call center is the best move 9-1-1 could’ve ever made because it allows for opportunities to arise where these teams can work together and save a few lives.

We get to see the goodness of the world working together to create a stronger, safer tomorrow. It makes audiences care more about what is going on in the background, beyond the emergencies.

More importantly, Maddie’s passion wouldn’t be as strongly recognized in “Awful People” if not for her toe to toe battles with Christine Estabrook’s Gloria. By putting these two vastly different characters side by side 9-1-1 highlights the part of Maddie we are meant to care about, her heart.

The two are night and day when it comes to how they approach emergency calls. Gloria has a few more years on her and unfortunately, that has made her more jaded. She has lost that spark of love and compassion that Maddie still possesses and so, her being there brings that part of Maddie into a more concentrated focus.

Unfortunately, Gloria is a personification of what can actually happen to people who get burned out on a job that they once loved. Lives can be put in harm’s way, quite literally, if a person becomes complacent at their job.

Gloria is a cautionary tale. She’s a word to the wise about reigniting your passion from time to time in order to avoid what happens to her.

While heart and passion are great to have, sometimes you need to let what other’s do and say just roll off you.

Athena: If I let them get to me I wouldn’t make it past breakfast.

There is a time to be affected and a time to just roll with the punches. Finding that balance is important.

As long as Maddie continues to lean on Athena and the firefighter gang, she will become a stronger female role model. She can’t go wrong with leaning on the ones she trusts and cares about to get her through the day.

After all, 9-1-1 is one big family and family sticks together. Let’s just hope the show can continue to grow and flourish in their elaborate storytelling; weaving together one big cloth that tells the whole story instead of pieces of it here and there.

By bringing Hen’s indiscretion from last season back into the mix, they are showing us that they are fully capable of doing just that.

The stereotypical, overused cheating storyline of last season wasn’t 9-1-1‘s finest hour. However, by having the issue resurface in the form of a custodial parent battle the writers remind us there are many layers to Hen’s story and that it is far from over.

Faith in the writers is something that we didn’t have too much of last season, but five episodes in and that faith is more than just restored. It is rebuilt.

By making the overused trope into an LGBT family issue, the show gives us reason to care a bit more. It’s now something that doesn’t get authentically explored very often.

Unfortunately, that is where the greatness stops, once again. The conclusion gets rushed in order to tie the episode up with a neat little bow.

Perturbed is putting it lightly because this battle for custody could have spanned more than just one episode. Instead, the writers choose to create this conflict with the emergence of Nathaniel.

Only, to have him give the control entirely back over to Hen and Karen. There should be a bit more fight. More conflict.

9-1-1 could’ve had Hen and Karen’s relationship tested once more by this court battle. Neither woman wants to lose Theo but, there is clearly still some unresolved distrust in regards to Karen.

What a perfect mix for some good old-fashioned family discord. But, maybe that conflict resolution at the end was just a red herring and more strife is on the horizon.

The only thing one can hope is that 9-1-1 will continue to tweak their methods until they find the perfect balance. With each new episode, they are getting closer, but not quite there.

Further Thoughts:

• “Actual diarrhea of the mouth. Outstanding!” Chim delivers the funniest deadpanned moment of the episode.
• So nice to see the return of last season’s “porch pirate.” Clearly, she didn’t learn her lesson well enough the last time and needed a bit more Karma to round out her life.
• Despite my criticisms it is nice to see Hen in conflict over her family and Eva. Especially when she battled with her conscience over calling 9-1-1 when Eva OD’d.

What did you think of this episode of 9-1-1? Share your thoughts in the comments below! Catch up on our review of 9-1-1 Season 2 Episode 4, “Stuck” right here.

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9-1-1 airs Mondays at 9/8c on FOX.

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