9-1-1 Season 9, Episode 9 ‘Fighting Back‘ starts with a pretty entertaining little montage that sets the stage for an episode that isn’t nearly as light as the first few minutes make it seem it will. Because Hen is still struggling, and it’s been a while. It all seemed like it was going to be easy. Or not easy, but doable.
Because Hen has people. She’s always had people. And those people have not deserted her. She’s just decided they’re better off without her, and that she’s better off alone. She’s given up fighting. And yet the people around her haven’t.
That’s the important part. Sometimes life hits you hard. Sometimes it feels like you can’t get up, can’t take another step, can’t possibly do the next thing or the one after that. But those next steps are always easier when you have a shoulder or five to lean on. You just gotta choose to try. Choose to fight back. And Hen has now done that. Her family will meet her halfway.
MORE: Our review of last week’s Hen-centric hour
FIGHTING BACK
‘Fighting Back’ gives us two versions of Hen. The one from the montage is the one we wanted to see from the beginning. The one who leans on her family. The one that’s open and honest. The one who’s not letting her disease dictate her life, but instead is doing all she can to get better. Then, there’s the other one. The scared one. The one that’s in pain. The one who wants to give up.
That Hen makes sense. Just like the Hen that wants to give up, the one that feels like it’s all too hard, the one that feels like the world is being unfair. And the one that doesn’t remember how strong she is. The problem, if anything, is that both versions of Hen only serve to underscore how OOC she was acting before. And that’s hard to forget, even if we kinda get our Hen back at the end of the episode.
Because this isn’t easy, no. It’s not seamless. There are struggles. And then there’s family, holding you up. Helping you remember that you’ve fought before and you can fight again. That’s the good part. But even through that, there’s not enough thought given to why Hen made the decisions she made, which just makes them more baffling. Sure, she said part of it was grief, but do we really see that? Has she dealt with it? Before, the show wasn’t showing or telling us what’s going on with Hen. Now it’s telling us. It’s just still not showing us.
This is, in many ways, a great storyline for Aisha Hinds, one that allows her to flex her acting muscles in a way she doesn’t usually get to do. And we’re at the hard part of the journey, but we believe Hen can fight through this. That she can look at life and say, “You will not beat me.” That’s something we want to see. We just wish the storyline that took us here made a little more sense, or that the reasons why she made the decisions she made were actually addressed.
MORE: Is Eddie Diaz gay? The question is valid.
I WANT YOU TO QUIT
We’ve gotten precious little of Harry Grant in the last few episodes, and considering Elijah M. Cooper has now been upped to series regular, we kinda expected to see more of him. Of course, it makes sense that we haven’t seen Harry as much; it’s not like 9-1-1 has time to spend half the episode at the academy, particularly when Hen is keeping secrets from everyone. But now, secrets are out in the open, and we have time to check in with Harry.
In a way, it kinda hurts that this storyline is taking place in a world without Bobby. It’s not a bad storyline; I don’t hate Harry becoming a firefighter. I don’t even hate the growing pains. And I think once he’s fully integrated with the 118, the dynamics will be fun. But that doesn’t make it less sad that we were robbed of the possibility of seeing Harry make this same decision and have Bobby waiting for him at the 118.
But just like Hen, Harry is not alone. He’s got his mom, and he’s got his sister, and as much as he wants to do this thing… perhaps this concussion is exactly the thing that’s going to give him perspective. Being a firefighter is a very dangerous job. A fulfilling one, yes, but dangerous. And if he wants to do it, he’s gotta make sure he understands that, completely. He has to make sure he is doing it for the right reasons and that he isn’t going into it with fear every day.
It’s hard to blame Athena for coddling Harry. She just lost her husband, and she doesn’t want to lose her son. But she’s gotta trust that this is what Harry wants to do, and that he’s taken this lesson to heart. She’s gotta trust him like she trusted Bobby, even if in the end, Bobby didn’t come home. Because that’s the only way Harry can do this job and make it through the hard days. And, almost as importantly, she’s gotta remember Harry is not alone. Just like Bobby wasn’t.
Harry will go on. And he’ll be more careful and more focused next time, because now he knows his mom trusts him. That whether she worries or not, as mothers do, she believes in him even more. That’s a valuable lesson. I would have just loved for it to be one he shared with Bobby, too.
MORE: Remember when 9-1-1 killed Bobby Nash because “realism”? We’re still mad.
Things I think I think:
- Mara and Denny are so grown-up now.
- And Hen’s mom!
- Buck is enjoying cooking for Hen.
- SAMBA with Eddie. OMG. Need 57 fics now.
- I love how everyone’s helping.
- Ravi would get ideas from TikTok.
- As close as we’ll probably ever get to Ryan dancing again.
- I’m so happy to see Chris that I already love this episode.
- Look, this is the most 9-1-1 has felt like 9-1-1 in like a year.
- Another long time jump, yay! What year is it in the 9-1-1 universe?
- How did Chimney even think about this?
- “Hen would have loved this.”
- Look, Harry is a nepo baby.
- LOL, “that’s the TBI talking.”
- I’m so glad to see May, but she needs a plot of her own.
- “You are her child.”
- SARDINE LOAF?
- “Keep showing up.” Eddieeeee.
- I mean, he’s right.
- Athena with good advice.
- “Sometimes you just need to fight back.”
- Lol, Buck’s fear of Athena remains adorable.
- But his relationship with Harry has been a highlight of the season
- “You probably don’t have that voice.”
- Athena’s conversation with Harry is so real. And it’s about normal parental fears.
- “You let me worry about what I worry about.”
- Hen at Harry’s graduation, I’m not crying, you’re crying.
- “You will clock into another family.”
- NEPO BABY.
- “All that work we put in to help raise you,” lol Hen.
- I miss Bobby.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of 9-1-1 Season 9, Episode 9 ‘Fighting Back’? 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.
