9-1-1: FLASHBACK
The first season of 9-1-1 isn’t as highly praised as other seasons but on a rewatch I think there are some pretty solid episodes. For today’s edition of 911: Flashback, I will be focusing on the season 1, seventh episode “Full Moon (Creepy AF)” which originally aired on February 28. 2018. The episode was written by Adam Penn and directed by Maggie Kiley. So, without further ado, let’s get creepy AF!
Quick Recap
I forget how much VO is used in the earlier episodes. At the top of the episode, we get some narration from Hen Wilson who talks about the effects of the moon. Regarding the moon she says, “It is said to increase fertility, create chaos and cause people to do things they would never normally do”. Hen’s assertion serves as the thesis for this episode as we will see quite a bit of births, chaotic situations, and a few of our mains act out of characters. We next see Hen and Karen getting ready for bed. Karen has got the fever and requires some sexual healing, but Hen is in no mood to play doctor. She wants to rest up in preparation for tomorrow’s full moon. Karen worries her and Hen are experiencing LBD (Lesbian Bed Death something she implies all lesbian couples succumb to eventually. Hen assures Karen she is getting everything she needs but Karen tells her she’s been in relationships that have been more like sisterhoods and wonders that if her and Hen aren’t having sex, are they even a couple. Look, I’m not a lesbian nor have I ever navigated a lesbian relationship, but I think Karen’s views on relationships in general are a bit myopic. Does she realize asexual people exist? Anywho, Karen thinks her and Hen’s relationship is boring AF.
We move from Henren to Buck who is back at work after nearly choking to death on Valentine’s Day. Buck is on the phone with Abby and the two are talking about the full moon. Buck believes a full moon will bring out the freaks but Abby, being the Dana Scully to his Fox Mulder, doesn’t believe all the full moon hype. After their conversation, Abby gets a call from a woman named Nora (played by Jenny O’Hara) who says there’s a man standing outside her house. She starts to panic which causes a medical emergency. Hen, Chimney and Athena arrive at the woman’s house. While Hen and Chimney tend to Nora, Athena around the house for any signs of an intruder. Hen notices there are footprints inside the house and discovers that when standing in front of the window, the glass door behind her creates an optical illusion. The man who Nora saw standing outside her house was inside. Creepy AF!
Over at dispatch, Abby gets a call from a woman reporting an intruder in her home. Abby hears the woman get killed over the phone which is traumatizing to say the least. This is directly followed by one of the brighter moments of an otherwise dark episode. Bobby and Buck head over to a yoga studio where a woman who is six months pregnant is stuck in Locust Pose. While they both tend to the woman, three other women go into labor. Bobby and Buck end up delivering two of the babies, but the third woman’s baby is breached so she is taken to the hospital. Buck cites the full moon as the reason why all three women have gone into labor at the same time but like Abby, Bobby is a non-believer. This scene was funny AF!
We head back over to dispatch where we see Sue Blevins consoling Abby. Detective Andy Marks (played by Colby French) meets with Abby and asks to listen to the call. He tells her they’ve arrested the estranged ex-husband of the woman who was murdered but Abby is not convinced they have the right person. Detective Marks downplays Abby’s concern and assures her the ex-husband is the one responsible. When he leaves, Abby listens to the call again and listens to another call where the victim called in previously. She picks up on how the woman responded to her ex-husband versus how she responded to the intruder. The woman seemed annoyed by her ex-husband but genuinely fearful of the intruder further proving the person who killed her was not her ex-husband. Again, creepy AF!
We then get the trio of Athena, Hen, and Chimney responding to a disturbance involving a crazed man eating another man’s face. Athena tries to get the man to stop but he charges at her and Hen. Athena uses her taser, but the man is unphased. He then starts advancing towards Athena and Hen, resulting in Athena using multiple bullets to dispatch him. Athena hates that she’s killed someone, but Hen assures her she has her back. While Athena gives her statement to a couple of detectives, Hen gets a call from her ex, Eva (played by Abby Brammell) who informs Hen she is out of prison. Eva asks Hen to come over to her hotel room, but Hen sees Athena approaching and tells her she has to go. Athena, knowing her friend, tells Hen that was not Karen on the phone. Athena asks if everything is good at home, but Hen is evasive and tells her she appreciates her concern, but her and Karen are solid. Hen is delusional AF!
Abby plays both calls for Detective Marks, but he seems undeterred. I really like how Abby stands up for herself and refuses to let him just write her off. After he leaves, Abby calls Athena who is on desk duty until further notice and enlists her assistance regarding the murdered woman. Athena pulls up a complaint filed by the woman on her ex-husband and the witness was someone who shares the same name as Nora. Abby puts together that the witness is Nora’s daughter. Abby calls the daughter under the guise of checking on her mother. Abby brings up the victim, whose name is Katheleen Blake, and Nora Jr. tells her that Kathleen saved her life. Nora Jr. tells Abby that Katheleen runs a support group for survivors of domestic violence. She also says that Katheleen is the one who gave her the courage to finally leave her abusive husband. Abby asks for Nora Jr.’s address and tells her that she believes Kathleen was attacked by Nora Jr.’s ex-husband. Just then, Nora Jr. goes to look outside and sees her ex looking exactly how he did when he was inside her mother’s house. Abby dispatches the police to Nora Jr.’s address but they are not quick enough. The ex-husband makes it inside the house, but Nora Jr. is not the woman she was when they were married. She makes quick work of him with a baseball bat and lets Abby know she and her mother are okay. Nora Jr. is badass AF!
We get one final emergency involving a couple. Bobby and Buck arrive at the couple’s home where they discover Connor (played by Pete Ploszek) is experiencing severe pain in his abdomen. Paul (played by Sean Maher from Firefly) thinks his husband is being overly dramatic but Connor assures him his pain is very real. In the ambulance, Buck notices what looks like a string hanging out of Connor’s boxers. Turns out it’s a tapeworm brought on by Connor eating way too much sushi. Buck, having once tended bar at a surf beach in South America, knows a lot about tapeworms and tells Bobby and the couple that he has to be very careful removing the tapeworm because if he breaks it, it will crawl back inside Connor and regenerate. This is my favorite scene of the episode, maybe even my favorite scene of the series. The banter between Buck and Bobby and the couple is absolutely hilarious and a nice way to break the tension after the conclusion of Abby’s heavy storyline. Buck manages to get the tapeworm out without breaking it and puts it in a bag. He then hands it over to Connor and says, “Congratulations, Connor. It’s a boy.” Disgusting AF!
At the end of the episode, Detective Marks apologizes to Abby and thanks her for helping solve Kathleen’s murder. Athena finds out the face-eater from the park wasn’t on any kind of substance. Hen goes over to Eva’s hotel room and the two of them have sex. I guess she didn’t need her rest. And then, Buck and Abby have sex for the first time. The final scene is Hen sitting on the beach looking very remorseful for her actions.
Observations
How did that girl get into the claw machine in the first place?
Buck is good with kids as evidenced by his immediate report with the girl trapped inside the claw machine.
Buck is basically Wikipedia. They play him as a himbo, especially in the earlier seasons, but he’s honestly one of the smartest characters on the show.
Buck still has his tracheotomy scar, and Chimney still has a scar from the piece of rebar that went through his skull. Score one for continuity!
In future episodes we see Chimney and Hen work side by side with Bobby, Buck and eventually Eddie but in this episode, we see our paramedics working separately from our firefighters.
Buck tells Bobby he’s dated like 50 yoga instructors, and you know what, I believe him. Although, I think Buck is one of those people who conflates sleeping with someone with dating.
We get a Terry sighting this episode! I really like the character, and I wish we got to see more of him.
This episode marks the first appearance of Detective Andy Marks. I have written about his second appearance in the “Fight or Flight” episode from season two.
Poor Athena has been placed on desk duty twice this season. At least this time she wasn’t antagonizing a teenager.
We get a glimmer of bisexual Buck this episode. He really hits it off with Connor and the two bond over what type of rice they like and their workout regiments. Buck is also very at ease around the gay couple which you wouldn’t exactly expect out of someone like him.
Connie Britton is an attractive woman, but I wonder why they play down her looks. In this episode she’s giving Rachael Leigh Cook in She’s All That with the glasses and frumpy attire. It feels weird that the show seems to think that she’s the lucky one getting to hook up with Oliver Stark when it’s the other way around.
This episode is a reminder of why the character of Abby didn’t work for the show. Other than Buck and occasionally Athena, Abby feels very isolated from the overall cast. I think the writers made the right choice by making her replacement related to one of the main characters from the jump.
Hen cheating on Karen is one of the reasons why I believe most viewers have trouble watching season one episodes. Every one of our main characters are so different from how they are portrayed in season two and going forward. Seriously, in what universe would anyone choose Eva over Karen?
Funny Moments
Moment #1: Hen talks with Athena after the cannibal bath salts attack.
Hen: “Everything all right?”
Athena: “Yeah, well, it is for now. I mean, so far, no one’s questioning whether or not it was justified. Hell, I wasn’t gonna let that monster eat my face.”
Moment #2: Buck and Bobby are speaking with Connor and Paul.
Buck: “You guys eat a lot of sushi?”
Paul: “He does – about four or five times a week.”
Connor: “I try to go carb- and fat-free as often as possible.”
Buck: “Ah, same here. You guys ever try brown rice pasta? You know, it’s not that bad.”
Connor: “You know, it’s a little gummy for my taste.”
Buck: “I see that.”
Connor: “Hey, what’s your body fat percentage?”
Buck: “I swing between, like, 50…”
Bobby: “Okay, can we finish the most interesting conversation of all time later?”
Moment #3: Buck removes a tapeworm from Connor’s butt.
Bobby: “We’re almost to the hospital – they’re gonna remove that with the proper instruments, put him on some albendazole, and then we call it a night.”
Connor: “No, please no. I can’t take those drugs. They’re toxic. They put me on Flagyl for diverticulitis once, and it gave me severe heartburn and turned my pee burnt sienna.”
Buck: “I’m sorry, burnt sienna?”
Connor: “It was brown! Okay? It was dark brown.”
911 Lore
Hen used to date Eva but somewhere along the way the latter got put in prison; Hen’s indiscretion will have a lasting impact on her relationship with Karen.
In this episode, we see the shift from Buck being a total fuckboy to someone who actually values women beyond what they can offer him sexually.
This is the first instance of showing how first responders have certain superstitions regarding the job, and it won’t be the last.
This is the first time we see Buck be intimate with a woman without a firetruck being involved.
Sue and Terry have been here from the very beginning but where is Josh? I know Bryan Safi came onto the show during its second season but in later episodes he talks about knowing Abby and has been at the dispatch center for over a decade.
As I mentioned earlier, season one is not highly regarded by the fandom, but I don’t think you could just go without watching this season. We learn so much about our main characters and knowing where these characters are coming from will help you appreciate their evolutions in future seasons. This episode is also a reminder that Abby Clark was a complex character. She’s so much more than the woman who broke Evan Buckley’s heart. I really wish we got her for one more season. I wonder if she and Maddie would’ve gotten along. At least we will get some closure with the character a couple of seasons from now. Overall, this episode was enjoyable from beginning to end. I loved the scenes featuring Bobby and Buck the most. I like seeing Bobby be a little less tightly-wound. Bobby unburdening himself a few episodes ago really took a lot of pressure off him. I also enjoyed the main storyline involving the stalker. That particular plot reminded me of American Horror Story which both Connie Britton and Angela Bassett were a part of. My least favorite part of the episode was Hen cheating on Karen. Again, knowing where things go in future seasons, I just can’t picture the Hen from future seasons risking her marriage for someone like Eva. I think the writers are trying to show that these characters, while lovable, are flawed human beings. I think they could’ve demonstrated that without Hen doing one of the worst things ever. I really had fun talking about this episode and I look forward to talking about more season one episodes. Until next time ..
