9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 10 Review: Handle With Care

After a solid episode last week, 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 10, “Handle With Care,” brings us back into disjointed storytelling and uneven writing. For a show that has been on the air as long as this one has, being this inconsistent after a major casting shakeup is disappointing.

Fans might still be tuning into this show, but for how much longer? The further we distance ourselves from the death of Bobby Nash the less the excuse of “growing pains” can fly.

We’ve reached a point where character moves that make zero sense are taking over the narrative of this show and that isn’t a good thing. It was bad enough when the problem was Hen, but now we have Eddie doing it, too? It’s too much.

Chim Has Cold Feet About Harry

One of the few things that actually made sense this episode is Chim’s insecurities and fears about Harry Grant joining the 118. That’s understandable considering he is Bobby’s stepson and Athena’s biological son. 

Chim has two very strong reasons to be terrified of messing things up to the point Harry either gets hurt or killed. It starts with the nightmares, but those escalate to the point of relegating him to menial tasks to keep him bubble wrapped.

It’s a natural progression that makes sense.

We can’t fault this newly minted captain for falling into the same trap his original captain had which was benching the probie. Granted, Chim’s reasoning is less prejudicial than Gerard’s, but the impact on Harry is the same.

The 9-1-1 writers giving Chim a moment to clear the air with Harry and apologize for his behavior is a breath of fresh air. It shows just how much Chim has grown into his position and how he is willing to hear reason when Hen presents it to him point blank.

I think Chim being vulnerable and honest with Harry about his own probie experiences will help to guide their bond as Captain and Probationary Firefighter moving forward. It certainly gave Harry some confidence back to hear Chim apologize and then back it up by letting him come on a call.

Sometimes the only thing to break a person of their fears is to face it head on. Chim does that and as a result he gets to witness Harry not only succeed, but to prove he has promise at the 118.

Eddie and Hen Are Called into Court

Calling Eddie and Hen into court for the case against Abigail’s parents makes sense. They were both directly involved in not only saving Abigail’s life but also discovering what caused her condition. 

It’s an interesting reprieve from what 9-1-1 typically covers on the show. In fact, I want to say in the entire run, they have never shown the paramedics or firefighters asked to be witnesses in a court case, unless you count Hen against the council woman.

It’s an interesting twist to the narrative, but I’m not sure the purpose for putting a specific focus on two particular questions for each of them. For Hen it was the one about parenting and for Eddie it was about his anger. 

The show spending more time on those particular moments of testimony could be interesting, if the scenes around them had set up the reason why a bit better. As such, we are left scratching our heads trying to make heads or tails of why these court moments are in the episode at all.

Sure, Abigail approaches them right after and talks to them, but overall the court stuff isn’t necessary because it doesn’t do anything to establish Abigail’s state of mind. 

That information comes later in scenes with Eddie directly.

Eddie Seems Off and So Is Abigail

Okay, so for the second time in less than a year, 9-1-1 has decided to have a character with a past trauma of containment against her will kidnapping someone important to the 118. First there was Maddie’s kidnapping, and now Abigail has taken Christopher from his school.

Before I really dive into why none of that narratively makes sense, let’s back up and breakdown all of Abigail’s odd behaviors throughout the episode.

First and foremost, I have no idea what the writers are trying to do with Abigail’s reaction to Alex wanting to help versus the rest of the firehouse offering her words of comfort and guidance. It is instantaneous too.

The minute Alex shows up, Abigail is all shifty and closed off. If it’s a trauma response, wouldn’t she have that toward anyone who isn’t Eddie, who she clearly attached herself to the day he rescued her?

It just all feels really inconsistent and not well explored. Not only that, what is the purpose of making her seem creepy at every turn. Can’t we have a young girl who is traumatized without seeming to push a odd romantic vibe?

Left and right, Abigail is making comments to Eddie about his age, being a good dad, complimenting everything he does, assuming he was going to let her stay with him, and showing up at his house in the first place. Girl, how do you know where he lives?

On top of that, she seems territorial about Eddie beyond a point that would raise red flags in an average person. Eddie is trained to recognize trouble in all situations.

So, why is he turning a blind eye to her weird attachment to him? Why did he let her into his home and introduce her to his son?

I thought we were past Eddie making dumb decisions when he lost out on almost a year of his son’s life because Christopher moved to Texas. Now, he’s letting him be around an unstable, traumatized teen that he knows next to nothing about?

The writing just doesn’t make sense. It also doesn’t make sense that paranoid and prone to conspiracies Buck didn’t comment on the odd vibe. He clocked it, based on his brief shift in facial expression toward her when she was acting weird and possessive of Eddie at the firehouse.

Now, let’s also look at the Christopher of it all. Here is a kid who’s always been taught to be wary of strangers and to only trust a select group of people. 

He is fifteen and yet, Abigail shows up to pick him up from school and Christopher just goes with her? I’m sorry, that boy should’ve been asking to call his dad first to confirm. That’s the Christopher we’ve always known, not this kid who seems to have no environmental awareness.

Either way, the addition of Abigail in Eddie and Christopher’s lives could be an interesting challenge, if the writing gave us a clearer picture to the trajectory it will inspire. What exactly is Eddie going to learn from all of this?

Stray Thoughts

• The emergencies this week were interesting. Especially the young boy with the pain response condition and the overbearing son with his elderly father.
• Chim’s nightmares playing out in the call he finally allows Harry to go on, oh 9-1-1 you are diabolical.
• Chim mentioning Kevin hit me harder than I expected.
• Athena and May gifting Harry Bobby’s knife plus a new knife for himself, my heart aches.

 

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9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.

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