9-1-1 Review: Parenthood (Season 4 Episode 10)

Thanks to 9-1-1 Season 4 Episode 10, “Parenthood,” this show just keeps winning. A well-balanced split between personal and professional stories manages to pull out another fantastic episode.

Everything hits the way it should between the emotions, the memorability, and the depth of each moment. It’s all focused on the bonds of a family — biological and found — which has always been a strong spot for this show.

Maddie and Chim are brand new parents who are at their wit’s end trying to juggle returning to work, Albert’s care, and taking care of Jee-Yun. This makes for the more lighthearted moments of this emotionally raw episode.

It’s nice to have their happiness sprinkled in amongst the sadness of everything else. Their struggles are real and relatable. The best part is they face each challenge with a smile and a positive attitude.

You see that pride on Chim’s face every time he talks about his new daughter. His pride turns to understanding when they take the call with the dying mother and her daughter.

Honestly, 9-1-1 has always struggled a bit to ensure that the emotion of the personal lives of these first responders equals out to that of the calls they make. However, “Parenthood” gets us where we really feel it at the most unexpected moment.

Hen: And sometimes family is what you make it.

Set to the perfect backdrop of “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac, a montage marking the relationship between a daughter and her mother stirs up so many personal feelings for all viewers — especially me.

The writing nails exactly what it feels like to be a caretaker for a loved one, have them pass on, and then be left wondering what to do next.

It’s something that so many can relate to, which brings this show back into our hearts on that personal level that has been lacking a bit in recent seasons. That emotional draw reminds us of why we fell in love with this show in the first place.

It sets us up to be ready to receive the flashback to those early episodes when May attempted suicide and Athena finds her. Without that story of the mother and her daughter to precede it, our hearts may not have been open and ready for the anguish these scenes remind us of.

The relationship between May and Athena has always been back and forth, just like any teen daughter and her mother’s relationship is. However, lately, it seems more negative than positive and they kept missing each other during the emotional moments in their lives. 

May needs this wake-up call, from both her dad and the 9-1-1 call of her emergency, to fully appreciate what her mother is going through. Maybe now, Athena and May can start to mend their bridges and work towards finding a solid spot in the middle. 

There are moments that Athena is still grieving for the daughter she almost lost. Thankfully, “Parenthood,” opens May’s eyes to that struggle within her mom.

If Athena and her daughter coming back together is bittersweet, then Karen and Hen losing their foster daughter is utterly heartbreaking. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone does it.

It takes a very special heart to open up their home to foster children knowing full well the child may soon leave the home. Nia is a perfect example of what a special heart can do for such a child. 

Karen and Hen have so much love in their heart that when they lost their baby I was worried they’d never come back from it. However, they did and they have now taken in Nia.

Honestly, watching them say goodbye to her at the start of the episode gives me pause once more. Fortunately, Karen and Hen are two of the most stable characters on the entire show so I really needn’t have worried.

We are just as happy as Hen is when Karen talks about Nia and her biological mother. It’s wonderful to see that these two can see the good they are putting out into the world and still discuss wanting to go through that pain again.

It shows just how strong they are together that they can face this crisis as one and come to a solution for their pain that is both positive and productive. Karen and Hen are going to be great as foster parents — it’s the perfect journey for them.

Parenthood is never an easy journey, but 9-1-1 does a fantastic job of highlighting those ups and downs with humor, grace, love, and unity. After all, the 118 is a found family and sometimes that makes all the difference in the world. 

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

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