9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 14 ‘Sick Day‘ is a very typical first part of a two-parter in that there’s a lot of setup, and the episode ends with a lot of characters in danger. But in the grand scheme of the big swings this show has taken, this hour also does a pretty good job in allowing the actors—particularly the main ones involved in the emergency, a chance to showcase how good at they are at emotional beats that come not just with playing first responders, but with being in danger.
Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi, Peter Krause and Anirudh Pisharody on the one hand and Oliver Stark and Angela Bassett on the other, play both sides of the danger/worried dynamics to perfection, and the show does a very good job of managing stakes and upping the suspense so that by the end of the hour, we’re left not just wanting, but needing to know what happens in the next hour, titled ‘Lab Rats’. We will, of course, have to wait one week, and the fact that the wait feels like torture is a testament to a very well-crafted and directed hour, particularly considering there aren’t actually any answers to be found here.
We don’t know how this ends. And though because of the nature of procedural TV, we can take a pretty decent guess at where we go from here big-picture-wise, the fact that we can’t actually guess the little details of the plot to come is a pretty good thing for the show, all things considered. We want this show to take big swings and surprise us. The best twists are the ones that, when they happen, make us go ‘Oh, yes, that makes sense, but we actually didn’t see it coming’ or ‘We didn’t expect it to come this way.’ So, bring it on, 9-1-1. We’ll be waiting.
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WE DON’T SPEAK ENOUGH ABOUT THE FOUND FAMILY
Sometimes, we focus on the individual dynamics within this show, and 9-1-1 has done a very good job with those, and we lose sight of how well the show has developed this team as a family. 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 14 ‘Sick Day’ reminds us of that by throwing almost everyone into mortal danger, and we shouldn’t need mortal danger to remind us of how much we love people, but that’s sometimes the way of life. We remember how much we care in the moments when we fear we’re going to lose the people we care about.
Often, we feel the need to put the relationships with the people we care about into boxes that explain what people mean to us. Buck and Chimney are like brothers. Bobby and Buck are like father and son. Hen and Chimney are best friends. But love doesn’t always fit in boxes, and it doesn’t need to. We can care about people without the box. And though those boxes give comfort, we don’t need them to explain our relationships to others. If anything, we should only use them to explain our relationships to ourselves.
The 118 is a family. That’s the important part. Whatever that family looks like doesn’t truly matter; what matters is that they are. And that, like any family, they will fight for each other, in whatever way they can.
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ATHENA & BUCK
9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 14 ‘Sick Day’ puts Athena and Buck on the outside of a very terrifying situation, and we see them react in a way that’s actually very similar, even if in the beginning, it feels like they’re reacting in totally opposite ways. It’s just that Athena is more used to controlling her emotions from the get-go, while Buck has to fight to do so. But when he needs to be centered because that’s what his team needs from him, that’s exactly what he does.
But make no mistake about it, they’re both terrified. And they both know that the people they love, the people who love them, need them to be on their A game if they’re going to get out of there. So that’s what Athena and Buck do. They focus. They bring their A game. There was never going to be any other choice. Not when their family needs them.
And this is just the beginning. It feels like they’re not doing much. And things are likely to get worse before they can get better, particularly because storytelling-wise, that’s what makes sense. But they’re doing what they can out there, helping coordinate, and somehow, I have a feeling they’ll end up being crucial for us to get out of this one. Even if we’re probably going to be put through the ringer first. This is 9-1-1, after all.
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EMMYS, ALL AROUND
I’m likely preaching to the choir here, but 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 14 ‘Sick Day’ feels like the kind of episode that reinforces that a show like this one deserves much more credit than it gets, in all aspects, but particularly in the acting department. We know already what a powerhouse Angela Bassett is, and Athena absolutely proves it in this hour, but what do we have to say about Peter, Aisha, Kenneth, and Anirudh inside and Oliver matching the Angela Bassett beat for beat outside?
An episode such as this one is hard to sell, in general, particularly on a show like 9-1-1 that so often plays on the absurd. LA had a tsunami! Bobby and Athena’s cruise ship literally went Poseidon. There was a Beenado. Serious this show is not. And yet 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 14 ‘Sick Day’ is delivered with poignancy and restraint, with the end result of being an hour that feels not just like we could lose anyone, but like we probably will.
That’s a testament to the writing and the directing, yes, but it’s mostly a testament to a cast that knows how to deliver the absurd and borderline funny and the serious and heartfelt, even while some of them are wearing heavy masks. And that’s a cast that should be recognized way beyond what they usually are.
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Things I think I think:
- As a Latina, I promise we would have done the cake thing with literally everyone we know there, even if WE already knew. Just so everyone could have taken pictures of Jee.
- Could IT be worse, though? Who’s gonna tell her she’s not having a sister?!
- At least Bobby’s saying Ravi now.
- Ravi was never going to be able to live with himself. So glad Bobby got that baby out.
- Buck almost going back for Bobby made my heart grow three sizes. There’s a big emergency near the end of the episode, but the episode starts out establishing the importance of this found family.
- I love seeing May and Harry! Having a little trouble processing the ‘house has no place for them’ thing as a Latina, but I guess I’m just going to smile and nod here.
- Look at Buck being a good friend! And he is right, too. One mistake does not make Ravi a bad firefighter.
- You know how you see some actors and you’re like, villain? Yeah, sorry Bridget Regan.
- The masks make everything so confusing and add to the sense of anxiety, which A+.
- Chimney making the joke we all wanted to make!
- Ravi not wanting to leave anyone behind again someone give him a hug or at least save him please.
- Buck calling the 118 AM I CRYING OR WHAT
- “I still have my face.”
- Hahaha remember when we were like Chimney hasn’t been hurt in a while.
- I DON’T WANT CHIMNEY HURT.
- And Hen’s got a collapsed lung?!
- I hate everything.
- So this is a diiisaster. If he’s infected and he cuts into Hen, he could make it give it to her.
- Who’s more nervous, Chim, Ravi, Athena, or Buck? Or, I guess, Bobby?
- Now Chim’s sick. Fun times. Have I mentioned I hate this episode or?
- Yeah, it was Chim’s turn but…
- I love Chimney so much. I hate seeing him hurt. I hate Maddie’s pain. They’re going to have a baby! And I don’t want anyone to have to tell Jee that daddy’s not coming home.
- Okay, but is anyone imagining Eddie watching the news or…?
- “They’re heroes, and we are thankful for their sacrifice.”
- Buck and Athena are like okay, how do we go rogue. Because we ARE going rogue.
- “You didn’t think I was coming here to ask for permission, did you?”
- Stand down, Rav. I’ll do it. BOBBY IS THE LEADER WE DESERVE.
- RAVI! HE SAID COME AND GET ME. Please tell me Ravi will stay with this team when Eddie comes back.
- Never thought we could love Ravi more, here we are.
- But of course, it couldn’t be that easy.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 14 ‘Sick Day’? Share with us in the comments below! Check out our Tales From the 118 podcast if you also want to listen to our reviews. On Apple Podcasts and Spotify! Plus, if you want to leave your own rating/comment about the show, you can do so in our 9-1-1 hub!
9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.
I have been watching 911 since day one. I watch it religiously and the characters are great. And I do like the over the top jeopardy stories. That all said – they would not fire a rogue scientist let her walk out alone and say hand in your badge on the way out. She would have been escorted out. Should have handled that better.