9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 16 Review: Where There’s Smoke

While 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 16, “Where There’s Smoke,” doesn’t quite hold our attention in the first half, the second half tries its best to makes up for it. What seems like a run-of-the-mill fire call, turns into something much more sinister when it is revealed that immigrants have been locked up within the walls of the apartment building.

In today’s current political climate, this show deciding to go this route is extremely bold. That said, the writing for this episode overall could have been stronger.

And unfortunately, the episode, as monumental as the subject matter is, does very little to dissuade the feeling of disjointedness that has haunted the narrative all season. But, more on that later.

The Buck Elephant in the Room

Before we dive into the bulk of this episode, lets take a look at one of the smaller elements that is carried over from the previous episode. While it is true that Buck stopped himself and reported his behavior to Chim, there still seems to be a lack of care and consideration for how to tell addiction stories.

Yes, it is nice, as some fans have pointed out, that Buck’s addiction issues were treated with care and kindness instead of judgement. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that 9-1-1 looked at an addiction and said, we can wrap this up in a single focus episode and some throwaway lines in the next.

It isn’t well-done and it feels completely disingenuous. It feels as though the writers wanted to give Buck a deeper, more intimate connection to Bobby in the lead up to the anniversary of his passing.

Therefore, bringing up a struggle with pills but not addressing the underlying causes or how Buck is actually coping makes the single focus episode feel less serious. After all, he goes from vulnerable and asking for help in one episode to walking around chipper and totally under control in the next.

9-1-1 used to be a show I loved to praise for its focus on first responder mental health. Now, in a season that should be centered on mental health due to the loss of Bobby, we get none. Truly, I think we’ve seen a therapist one time in the whole season.

Buck’s journey deserves a mental health focus because who was checking on him when he was running around checking on everyone else? That’s right, no one. Now, he’s come forward with a pill addiction and the writers think one episode is enough to truly explore that without actually looking at the why behind it.

Now, at the end of “Where There’s Smoke,” Buck is back at work and on shift as if nothing happened. Excuse me, but I think Buck deserves more and we as the viewers deserve better.

Chim’s Leadership Called Into Question

Now, let’s look at the bigger picture of this episode, Chim’s fallout with the investigative panel. Honestly, this particular line of storytelling has been slowly building up since the season started.

Back at the start of 9-1-1 Season 9, people weren’t sure Chim should become the captain because could anyone really fill Bobby’s shoes? Chim himself wasn’t sure of his abilities to lead the team.

Then, Chim took charge and made tough decisions during his probationary period and people criticized him for them. After that, Chim took the initiative and said, “you know what, I am the captain this house needs.”

That should’ve been the end of the doubts about Chim as the captain, but unfortunately, other things started happening within his team. Things that he should’ve handled better or sooner, depending on who you talk to. 

Either way, these little moments throughout the season have definitely led us to this moment. Unfortunately, just because the writing has been on the wall doesn’t mean the escalation of it makes any sense.

If we are being completely honest, the whole investigative panel situation felt forced. The urgency just isn’t there. For a fire that had multiple documented “false alarms,” throughout the day the panel calling into question Chim’s leadership seems a bit over-the-top.

Yes, he said some things that could be misconstrued and yes by the fifth call the residents as well as the team were a bit strung out. But, they had no way of knowing that it would turn into an actual fire.

It does highlight the ridiculousness of bureaucracy at times by showing how much time is wasted on questioning the first responders. No one, except for the building manager, who went back inside the fire, died. So, why are they acting like this situation was a breakdown in leadership?

Finding the True Culprit of the Fire

Another part of the episode that only adds to the disconnected feeling of the whole season is the introduction of the immigrant plotline. Yes, it is extremely bold of the writers to put a story like this out there. However, it doesn’t connect as strongly with the episode overall due to a lack of background information.

9-1-1 really said, hey we want to do a story on the horrors that immigrants currently face in this country. So, let’s have the firefighters investigate the fire and find a group of individuals in a secret room.

The only problem with this is that they failed to establish a motivation behind why this building, why this manager. We don’t have a chance to see anyone else helping the manager with the harboring of these individuals.

Another major issue with this comes from the lack of information as to what they planned to do with these individuals. This isn’t the end of the season, which means there is time for this information to come to light. 

However, a strong case can be made for a lack of connection to these people leads to a disconnect with the viewers. We can feel awful that they are being held in this way, but beyond that why should we care about this plot point?

It is clear that the weird vibes we got from the detective with Athena’s case during 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 15, “Pick Your Poison,” aren’t misplaced. But, how he’s connected to these people still isn’t established. 

If this plot were revealed earlier in the season maybe I’d personally feel more favorably about it. It would have time to grow and be cultivated properly. Something tells me that we aren’t going to get a satisfactory answer as to why these people and what they were being locked up for.

Much like so many of 9-1-1‘s biggest plot moments this season, it will probably be hastily wrapped up in a little bow with most of the attention being on the perpetrators not the victims themselves. For this to truly be a bold statement about immigration in this country the show needs to center the plot on them.

However, by not having our canonically Spanish-speaking first responder, Eddie Diaz, not communicate directly with them when they were discovered, the show is already showing us that these individuals are just a means to an end.

It’s a huge disservice to Eddie that we don’t allow him to use his knowledge of their language to speak to them. To alleviate their fears and help the police with any information they can truly provide.

Sure, it seems there is some police corruption on the horizon which could be exciting. But, if 9-1-1 really wants to end the season on a memorable note they should focus more acutely on the plight of these individuals who are being threatened with deportation after days of neglect and poor treatment.

 

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

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