9-1-1 may have just aired one of its most shocking episodes yet — Bobby’s (Peter Krause) mother is alive?! The show actually addressed the Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) of it onscreen? — but there’s still plenty to come.
After all, there’s the matter of how Eddie’s doing now that he’s in Texas, trying to reconnect with his son, and how Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) will do as she continues to recover after her latest kidnapping. Plus, the 118 is going to be in danger again! Read on for scoop on what’s ahead from Stark, Aisha Hinds, and executive producer Tim Minear.
How’s Eddie doing in Texas?
In the midseason finale, Eddie made the decision to move to Texas to be closer to his son, who moved in with his parents after catching his father with the doppelgänger of his late mother. Then, in Episode 9, he decided to sublet his house and Buck gave up his loft to do so. At the end of Episode 10, Eddie left for Texas.
The next couple of episodes will address how Eddie’s doing in Texas, what he’s doing for work, and his complicated relationships with his son and his parents. That’s all part of “the drama of what’s happening with him trying to reconcile with this kid. And also he spent a lot of money on putting a down payment out on a house. So yeah, he needs a job,” Minear tells TV Insider.
When Episode 12 begins, Chris is still living with his grandparents. “Eddie is very much kind of on the outside of that family unit that’s solidified in his absence. So he’s got to find his way back into that and maybe try to lure his kid back in a way. And that’s going to get dealt with in the next couple of episodes,” the EP previews.
Eddie’s relationship with his parents has been complicated for his entire run on the show, especially when it comes to Chris’ care. “It’s tricky for him because his parents are taking care of his son. They were there kind of when he needed him, but I think Eddie’s relationship with his parents is the same as it’s always been, which is a little bit fraught,” says Minear. “His mother in particular is a little bit controlling and he kind of has to navigate that. We’re going to service that story I think in a really good way coming up.”
Disney/Christopher Willard
Are Buck and Eddie staying in touch?
Eddie will remain in contact with everyone, though, “like when he was here, he talks to Buck more than anyone,” says Minear. While Buck didn’t want to bother Eddie while he was first moving in and “I don’t want my drama to be a thing that I bother him with, once they’re both kind of settled, they’re back to regular communication and still helping each other with their problems.”
Adds Stark, “He’s going to be there for Eddie. We’re going to see more of their long-distance communications over the next couple of episodes, some FaceTime calls, which are always fun to do, some intercut stuff there. So we get to play into that a little bit, but we’re not really going to see Buck feeling too abandoned in the immediate future.”
And they’re being “very honest” with each other. “We’re focusing a little bit more on Eddie’s dilemma in the next couple of episodes, but Buck is there to support him, and look, when things get rough for Eddie in El Paso, Buck doesn’t take the opportunity to say, you should come back here. He actually tells him, you need to stay there and work this out,” Minear teases. “So Buck is maturing a little bit, too, which is nice.”
Stark echoes that: “I think he’s come to terms with and accepted that Eddie is doing the right thing. Buck has taken himself out of the equation and is making the right decision for his friend. He’s gone back to Texas to be with his son, to rekindle that relationship, and it’s kind of a case of, ‘Don’t come back here until you finished your job.’”
How’s Maddie’s recovery after her latest kidnapping?
As Hewitt shared, Maddie’s going to have a bit of PTSD. “I think she will fear calls. I think that she will fear being alone. There will be some real PTSD and I think that Chimney will also obviously suffer some PTSD worrying about her, obviously,” she said.
Minear echoes that, revealing that Episode 12 will see the fallout of what it’s like for her to go back to the call center, which was so tied into what happened to her. (It began with a call she received.)
“Right now she’s kind of healing,” the EP says. “It’s been over a month, sort of a time jump here. You could tell her hair is longer. She’s coping by resting up, but once she has to face going back to work, it’s going to be a challenge.”
Disney/Christopher Willard
The 118 in danger!
Episodes 14 and 15 are a two-parter that Minear describes as “part action adventure and medical thriller. I think they’re going to be fantastic.” As for who’s specifically in danger from the 118, “practically everyone,” he warns.
And these are some of the episodes coming up that “are more about the family getting even tighter in some ways,” he teases. “What’s going to lead to that is a common cause, disasters, having to band together to survive, you know the usual.”
Stark reveals that Buck will be separated from the rest of the 118 then. “It’s really fun for me to get to play Buck being the one not in danger for once. And Buck is somebody who obviously doesn’t do a great job at controlling his emotions sometimes, so him seeing the rest of the 118 put in danger activates his kind of fight or flight mode, and it’s very much, I guess, some extra of both,” he reveals. “He wants to fight and flight to the rescue. So yeah, they’re really, I think, epic episodes. I think the scale of them is something that we’ve really been trying to hit on the show for a long time, go really big and make it really dramatic and action-packed, and I’m really excited for all the hard work that’s gone into it.”
Hen’s feeling invisible?
Before that is Episode 13, titled “Invisible.” Minear previews, “The cases sort of revolve around that idea. Hen is also weirdly feeling a little invisible, which you wouldn’t think Hen would feel invisible, but she is.”
That episode is directed by one of Hinds’ “faves,” Brenna Malloy, whom the star-turned-director calls “a North Star for me.” Hinds, who directed Episode 11, watched Malloy shadow and then direct over 30 episodes of television.
“She comes back and she continues to direct with us, and she just commands the space with such beautiful confidence, but not like any sense of cockiness at all where she can be because she has done this so many times,” Hinds tells us. “She takes the time to be so prepared with the work that she comes with and plans, but she just has such a graciousness and such a joy and a love for what she does, and it comes across in the way that she directs. She was so supportive the night before I was about to start my first day. She sent me a beautiful email that I read over and over as I was going through my directing process because it just gave me some beautiful pointers and words of wisdom and encouragement to keep me on the path and keep my head in the game in a way that was motivating.”
She continues, “So yeah, here we are now, I go from being the director, supposed to have all the answers for everybody, and now all of a sudden, I’m invisible. And so it’s a special moment for Hen and everyone just doesn’t even realize how special it is for her.”
9-1-1, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC