9-1-1 Review: The Searchers (Season 3 Episode 3)

After two weeks of heartbreaking devastation 9-1-1 Season 3 Episode 3, “The Searchers,” rounds out the tsunami story arc with a resounding feeling of hope and joy. After the roller coaster it’s been putting us through since the season opener, this resolution is truly what we all deserve. 

While the overall message of this episode is one of hope and joy and being found, that doesn’t mean our hearts aren’t put through the wringer along the way — here’s looking at Buck’s journey to find Christopher.

Nothing is more heart-wrenching than the sound of Buck’s voice getting weaker and weaker each time we hear Buck scream out Christopher’s name. Or seeing him search high and low to find a small child amidst all the rubble, never once daring to think he could be in the black bags of the makeshift morgue.

The most monumental moment of the whole episode comes in the last ten minutes, when Buck finally calls Maddie for help and gets discovered by Eddie in the process. Watching these two best friends battle their own separate emotions over the reality that Christopher may be truly gone shatters our hearts into a million pieces. 

I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to tell my best friend that their child, who I was responsible for, is now missing — and possibly dead. My heart goes out to Buck at this moment and continues to beat for him as he obviously struggles with his guilt.

The look of relief on both Eddie’s and Buck’s faces when Christopher is discovered proves once and for all that 9-1-1 has just the right formula for reaching their audience’s most vulnerable emotions.

Time and time again they know just what it takes to reach us all on a visceral level, whether it be through words, actions, or body language. They all come together to create the best moments of the show — the moments that define it.

This episode — combined with the emotional impact of its predecessors, 9-1-1 Season 3 Episode 1, “Kids Today,” and 9-1-1 Season 3 Episode 2, “Sink or Swim,” — really nails the exact level of characterization and story depth which create the magic that makes this show hard to beat. Moment after moment, we are made to care about each and every minute detail and plotline. 

Not only that, the episode ties in details from earlier ones that we may have found to be insignificant at the time but ended up weighing heavily in the overall story. Moments like the girl with the drone and the artist on the pier or the EMT crew that Buck saw when he and Christopher were playing carnival games. 

All of these moments, no matter how small they are, play into the bigger picture of how this tragedy runs its course. While the EMT crew — newcomer Bosko — ends their story on a positive note with all of their unit surviving, the girl, Charlie, and her artist friend, Reggie, are not so lucky. 

We get the opportunity to feel for each of these characters because 9-1-1 decides that their stories matter even if we only get to live in their lives for the briefest of moments. Not many shows can handle that many minor storylines and still create a cohesive unit that wins over and over in the emotion department.

One thing I will say about the Bosko story is that I hope her time spent with Eddie doesn’t end with this episode. Going with the episode’s overall theme of hope and new beginnings, I hope this is a sign that Eddie may have a new chapter on the horizon for himself — one that includes the equally tough Bosko.

Speaking of Eddie, Christopher, and new beginnings, it goes without saying that the best arc of the whole episode is Buck’s redemption/forgiveness with regards to the Diaz family. As mentioned above, Buck is feeling an enormous load of guilt over losing Christopher in the storm. 

When Eddie shows up at Buck’s apartment in those final moments — as Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph” plays in the background — our hearts are teetering on an edge because we aren’t sure how everything is going to play out.

It’s a beautiful thing to witness Buck tell his best friend that he shouldn’t be trusted with Christopher only to have Eddie counter his argument with a statement of complete trust in Buck over anyone else.

This disaster could have created a moment where Eddie pulls his son closer and refuses to let go. However, he chooses the opposite option: He chooses to not let fear and worry dictate his son’s life experience. If there is ever an award for the greatest, most well-grounded dad in LA, it would clearly go to Eddie.

Eddie: You saved him. That’s how he remembers it. Now it’s his turn to do the same for you.

This man has seen his son through some of the worst things the world has to offer — an earthquake, his mother coming back into his life, his mother’s subsequent death, and now this — with poise and hope.

I am here for Eddie and Christopher becoming Buck’s family and life raft through his dark period. Buck needs all the wins he can get and the Diaz’s are definitely a win for him.

It’ll be interesting to watch 9-1-1 groom and cultivate the bond between Christopher and Buck as they move forward and heal each other. I have complete faith in the writers doing this arc its due diligence — after all, they have gotten progressively better at creating lasting character arcs throughout an entire season instead of just a couple of episodes. 

Which brings me to another character arc that I hope continues: Maddie Buckley’s.

Since her introduction in Season 2, we have gotten to see Maddie grow and flourish in her new life in LA. 

The tsunami brought out the best in her — between her attention to detail, her quick thinking, and her outstanding heart. Maddie is the character to watch this season, alongside her brother. And who knows? Maybe she too will help in the healing of Buck. 

With Buck’s final sentiment, we are left knowing that no matter what, the tsunami didn’t break any of these characters. If anything, it is going to make them ten times stronger than they were before. 

Buck: A few choice words could be the life raft you need to get home. To be seen. To be found. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for?

As Season 3 continues, it is my hope that the fantastic writing and attention to detail also continue. I’d hate to see it wash out to sea with the Santa Monica Pier.

Sometimes 9-1-1 struggles with ensuring that its single-episode arcs create the same emotional and visual effects as its multiple-episode arcs do. However, from what we’ve seen so far, Season 3 is going to blow all the other seasons out of the water — no pun intended. 

Other Moments of Note:

• Christopher looking for Buck the whole time that Buck is looking for him created a waterfall effect in my eyes, to put it mildly.
• The divorce paper signing at the beginning of the episode is the nicest I’ve ever seen — which makes it that much more heartbreaking
• Once again, Hen wins an episode with her one-liner: “Tell me you did not steal these mail trucks just so you could say that line.”
• Eddie Diaz reacting in 2.5 seconds to that child’s secondary drowning — damn, we constantly underestimate this guy!
• The best moment of the episode goes to the guys “looting” houses to rescue lost/abandoned pets just to reunite them with their owners. *heart eyes*

What did you think of this episode of 9-1-1? Share your thoughts in the comments below! 

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9-1-1 airs Mondays at 8/7c on FOX.

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