9-1-1 Review: Future Tense (Season 4 Episode 3)

Maddie has a secret on 9-1-1 Season 4 Episode 3, “Future Tense,” and she’s all about keeping it. We know it’s there to protect Buck, but why?

This shroud of mystery surrounding the episode is a bold move for the show and the right one. For the first time in a while, I am going into the next episode with questions that don’t have clear answers.

We haven’t had a mystery like this on the show since Season 1 with Bobby’s backstory. Of course, it’s fitting that Buck would be the next one to have more questions than answers.

Of all the characters on the show, we know him the least. He is the only one who hasn’t gotten an episode devoted to his backstory. 

Whatever this secret is, Maddie hasn’t told anyone about it until she tells Chim. It’s clearly something she doesn’t trust anyone else to know. 

It might also be the answer to the age-old question about their parents and why neither Buckley sibling has a relationship with them. It’s always seemed about more than just “they were distant” or “they weren’t terrible people, just not good parents.”

Buck has never been shy about admitting Bobby is more a dad to him than his own father. If this secret could harm Buck more than help him then it definitely can’t be good.

Some of the signs point to Buck possibly being adopted, but I think it’s more than that. After all, being adopted isn’t necessarily a secret you would keep to protect someone. 

Unless the adoption is just a small part of the whole secret. It’s going to be a big revelation for Buck this season and frankly, something his character needs.

After four seasons, a few of these characters have stagnated and seem to be going nowhere. Buck and Maddie are toward the top of that list because they haven’t seen any growth or change in quite some time — apart from Maddie being pregnant.

It will be cool if the writers paired the Buckley family revealed with Buck’s backstory being rolled out. It would work hand in hand with how they’ve handled the previous backstory episodes, which have made for 9-1-1‘s most successful episodes.

This can also lead to further exploration of the Buckley siblings as a unit. Sure, Maddie has been on the show since Season 2, but there haven’t really been any scenes or stories that explore the nature of Maddie and Buck’s bond. 

Other than the Buckley family secret, this episode is easily forgettable. A problem that the show continues to fall into. 

It’s been four seasons and the show still can’t consistently work out how to balance the character development with the emergencies. We shouldn’t have to wait this long for the subject of Maddie and Buck’s family to even be approached. 

Once again, Hen deserves just as much attention as the rest of the characters. Her journey through med school shouldn’t feel like an afterthought on the episode. 

Sure, she probably has an equal number of scenes to Maddie and Buck regarding their family, but for some reason, her scenes don’t seem to carry the same level of “oomph.”

The only scene that has emotional depth is her conversation with Athena on her back porch. Instead, the emotional connection and depth should be felt in every single one of her scenes. 

The writers should give us reason to care about her battle of wits with Sydney, the fellow med student. As it stands the girl still comes off as obnoxious and Hen still doesn’t seem that invested in connecting with her.

In a way, we feel removed from Hen’s medical school scenes, and maybe that is a ploy to help us get inside Hen’s state of mind. Overall, it just comes off as, “why should I care?”

Minor Emergencies:

• Eddie being paranoid about smart technology is a mood. As is Buck and Christopher teasing him about it.
• Goat Yoga is sacred and cute. Why does 9-1-1 have to go and ruin it with worm parasites?
• Hen is going to kill it as a doctor. I hate that the world has taught her to second guess her own talents.
• I really love all the healthy talk about therapy and its merits in this episode. Buck, Bobby, Athena, and May are validated for their use of the service to help them feel better.

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

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