9-1-1 Season 9, Episode 5 ‘Día de los Muertos’ is a moving episode that takes on the tall task of depicting a holiday that is very much about reframing the way we see death and hits on almost every note. The hour is framed through the eyes of Eddie Diaz, the only Mexican-American character on the show, as it should. But this isn’t just an episode about Eddie’s grief, which would already be good enough to make this the best episode of Season 9.
Instead, it’s an episode about who Eddie is, what he’s gone through, and what he has or hasn’t processed about those things. Because this hour sees Eddie lose his Abuela, and in that loss, Eddie can finally look back at grief and realize that perhaps he can move forward. He will move forward. For himself, for Abuela, and perhaps, even for Bobby.
‘Día de los Muertos’ is also an episode about how Buck and Eddie’s lives and storylines, even when they’re not sharing a scene, are so intertwined that the two can learn the same thing in very different ways. Because the lesson of the episode, as much for Eddie and Buck as it was for Athena in the opening space emergency, is that grief might perhaps not end. But it transforms. And though you will always feel the loss, someday, you might also be able to feel the joy.
Personally, there’s a little bit of hope in this idea, too. I didn’t want Bobby dead (or Abuela), and I would still love for him to pop up in a government lab somewhere, but the lessons remain because loss is a part of life. The worst part, perhaps, but a part nonetheless. And we all need to learn how to deal with it.
MORE: Is Eddie Diaz gay? The question is valid.
ARE THEY REALLY GONE IF WE STILL HOLD THEM IN OUR HEARTS
Eddie gets a chance to explore his grief in ‘Día de los Muertos’ and a chance to engage with it the way his culture does. And yet, even as a cultural thing, it’s often so hard from the point of grief to accept that this holiday can be about celebration. How can I celebrate something that hurts me? Eddie just lost his abuela. How can I celebrate loss?
That is, in some ways, why it’s typical to wait a year before putting someone in an ofrenda. There’s the normal, everyday grief, and then there’s hopefully the acceptance that the people we lost never really leave us. And that, while we hold them in our hearts, they are never really gone.
But Eddie has never engaged with grief in a healthy way. His parents are the epitome of “conceal, don’t feel, don’t let it show,” and that’s how Eddie has grown up. He bottles everything, good feelings and bad feelings, until it comes out the wrong way, and that has especially been true of loss. And Eddie has suffered loss. In the army. Shannon. Now, Abuela. He’s been close to death himself. He almost lost Buck more than once. And though he’s had his ups and downs in dealing with these things (bring back therapy!), he’s mostly tried to deal by putting stuff in a box and moving on. That has not been great for him, and it also has not been great for his son, Chris.
‘Día de los Muertos’ is about how, sometimes, the best way to heal and move forward is by letting the ghosts in your life out of that box. By greeting them on the streets as they pass. By letting them hurt you, for a little bit, so you can then let yourself remember not just the pain, but the joy. The moments they made you laugh. The things that made you happy. It’s hard, I’m not going to say it’s not. But it feels like a much more fitting way to remember those you’ve loved and lost.
Eddie had a hard time getting here, and just because he took one step forward, it doesn’t mean that he’ll suddenly become the poster child for dealing with things in a healthy way. But he did take a necessary step forward, and that’s all we’ve been asking for him for a while. Not just for him, but for Chris and for their relationship.
MORE: We’ve been saying it’s time for Buddie for a while.
NOT RELIGION, LOVE
Abuela is the voice of reason in ‘Día de los Muertos’ as she tells Eddie that what he’s trying to find in religion is something that he can only truly find in love. In a way, it’s the same thing that Hot Priest said, or at least it builds onto that. Because Eddie has been trying to find answers outside of himself, when all he’s ever needed was to look inwards to find those things. And this is, perhaps, something Eddie will think about harder now that Abuela is not there with him.
It’s fanfiction worthy setup, and I once again say that as a compliment. Because the thing is that there have been a lot of crumbs for Eddie so far. He’s “straight,” but going on dates feels like performing, and he gets anxiety at thinking of a lovely woman being Chris’ mom and a Hot priest is talking about finding joy, and Buck wants to have boy nights with him and Chris for Halloween, and he needs to find love, not religion, but what makes all of these things come together? Well, for me, the answer is clear.
But before this episode, there was a big obstacle, and that was not really Shannon (who the show seems to believe was dealt with in that Kim storyline, which, huh?), as much as it was the existence of this thing Eddie had not dealt with. Grief was a presence in Eddie’s life and in Eddie’s heart, and it was hard for him to even think about anything else because the veil of grief was still clouding his perception. And he was trying to find peace, the way, perhaps, his parents would have wanted. But Eddie is not his parents; he never has been. And his abuela is the one who helps him see that he doesn’t have to be.
Sure, he lashes out at Buck a little in the meantime, but honestly… that’s probably good. Healthier than trying to throw himself into religion, because Bobby would have. Healthier than hiding all his feelings in a box and pretending they don’t exist. If he lashes out at Buck, is because… well, Buck is the person Eddie is most real with. That doesn’t always come out in the best way, but that doesn’t make it any less important.
How can Eddie find the love that he wants? That he deserves? We’ve been watching this show for 9 seasons, and I think it’s clear he has already found it. Now, he just has to see what’s in front of him.
MORE: Remember when 9-1-1 killed Bobby Nash because “realism”? We’re still mad.
PARALLEL STORIES
It’s very fitting that in an episode about Eddie and his journey to find purpose and connection with Bobby in religion, we have a parallel story about Buck realizing that ever since he lost Bobby, he has been trying to find his own purpose in so many wrong places. Bobby said everyone was going to need him, and Buck has tried to do that, be there for others. He’s been so good to Harry. He’s been there for May. He’s helped look out for Baby Bobby. He’s tried to recreate Bobby’s recipes. He’s done so much and tried to be so much, and that just… doesn’t stop the grief.
The thing is that, in some ways, Buck put Bobby on a pedestal, just like Eddie put Shannon. And the situations are not comparable, because the relationship Buck had with Bobby perhaps deserved it, while the relationship Eddie had with Shannon was deeply flawed. But that doesn’t matter; it’s not about the relationships they each had as much as how they dealt or did not deal with the absence. And perhaps, for Eddie, how that one grief has compounded into every other grief he has not dealt with.
And the message, for both, is that the thing they were trying to find in spirituality can be found in love and kindness. In doing what Bobby would have done by helping a stranger. In the family they’ve built. In the 118. In the family, they have. And in each other, yes. Some things don’t have to be fixed; they just have to be carried. And it would be great for them to remember that it’s easier when you carry them together, as a family.
MORE: In case you missed it, read our review of the 9-1-1 Season 9 premiere! And here’s Episode 2. Episode 3. And Episode 4.
Things I think I think:
- A+ Eddie voiceover. Truly.
- And one week ago? Do people dress up that early?
- Costume curse?
- “Maybe if you baked less and unpacked more?”
- Maddie is just being a big sister.
- LOL 9-1-1 always using BTS pictures for the show.
- “I think it will be nice, having a piece of him here.” Why am I already crying?
- Aww, he just wants his mom to be proud of him.
- CHRIS!
- “The prayer book was a gift from Captain Nash.”
- He is going to Church.
- “I don’t even know if I’m doing it for me or Bobby.”
- So good he’s not forcing Chris, though.
- A ghost did not bring you the missing ingredient, Buck.
- “These are great, Buck.”
- Buck’s face at Eddie being on his side, lol.
- “You are not Eddie Diaz; he is the opposite of superstitious, remember?”
- “Who hurt you, shapeshifter?” I’m with Chimney here.
- Abuela is literally speaking fanfic here with the thing about looking for love instead of religion.
- “I would hate to hit the wrong patient.” LOL, Eddie.
- Okay, but tetanus can do THAT?
- Eddie confronting those parents works well because he never did confront his parents!
- Look, there’s so much to unpack about Eddie relating to Abigail. I’m running out of “it could mean nothings” here.
- “I’m sorry Buck, but God wasn’t in that room, and Bobby isn’t in your house.”
- Was Eddie a tad mean? Yes! Was Buck a tad insensitive? Yes! I don’t think either of them is really holding it against the other, in the long run.
- “It seemed like you needed it.” Raviii.
- Even the calls have been great this episode.
- Eddie is such a bad actor, I swear.
- Ah, so the sobriety chip changed something. I can see why.
- Chris saw his abuela I’m gonna weep.
- “I was the son of a first responder long before I ever met him.”
- Well, I think you convinced her, Harry.
- “You’re never really alone at all.”
- “Haunting the world with their memory.”
- Remembering.
- BOBBY. I mean, I know it’s not technically accurate, but STILL. Bobby and Abuela, there for Eddie.
- “We should do this every year.”
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of 9-1-1 Season 9, Episode 5 ‘Día de los Muertos’? 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 absolutely loved and adored this episode it was so beautiful.