RECAP: 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8 — “Wannabes”

As far as midseason finales go, 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8, titled “Wannabes,” is underwhelming. There are certainly moving moments and shocking decisions, but the episode falls short of closing out the first half of 9-1-1 Season 8. 

In this episode, Athena’s (Angela Bassett) story revolves around a grocery cart cop who gets beat up in the back of the store parking lot. The cart cop, a young adult named Graham, harasses people in the parking lot for not putting their grocery carts away in the corrals. His persistence eventually gets him beaten up badly enough to end up in the hospital. 

This takes up a lot of screen time in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8, and at first, it was pretty silly. However, going grocery shopping immediately after watching this episode and running into carts just out and about in the parking lot was a little surreal, so this gets a pass for bringing to light a very annoying thing that definitely happens. If there’s one good thing to take away from this episode, remember to put your grocery carts away. 

Coming off an episode in which Athena agrees to mentor new officers, watching her guide Graham in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8 into a more useful form of justice—getting an actual job—was a nice nod to the last episode. 

Since ‘Hotshots’ was first introduced as a concept in this show, 9-1-1 took its time going full meta. But the opening sequence of this midseason finale goes all in on showcasing this in-universe firefighter drama called ‘Hotshots.’ The intense lighting and dramatic music sell ‘Hotshots’ as a heavily fictionalized prime-time drama, and the apparent pokes at what has to be actual network notes are fun. 

However, going all in on ‘Hotshots’ means 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8 features a lot of Brad (Callum Blue). While this isn’t inherently an issue, it is an odd choice, considering main characters like Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chimney (Kenneth Choi) have barely gotten to do anything this first half of the season. Eddie (Ryan Guzman), too, feels underutilized, though Brad’s story leads to some movement in Eddie’s arc. 

Brad’s enthusiasm about shadowing Bobby (Peter Krause) causes him to get a little too involved in an emergency. Bobby goes toe-to-toe with him back at the 118, calling him out for wanting to be the hero too much when real people’s lives are at stake. Brad gets regulated to chores (why is he getting more screen time at the 118 than anyone else again?), which leads to a heart-to-heart with Eddie. But we’ll get to Eddie later.

Brad finally gets his hero moment in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8 when his celebrity status actually helps on a call—trigger warning for mentions of suicide. A man named Craig stands on the ledge of a bridge, threatening to jump. A crowd has gathered to watch. Brad hangs back, quelled into inaction by Bobby. That is until the crowd notices the star of the hit prime-time drama ‘Hotshots.’ Photographs and autographs commence.

Meanwhile, Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie try to talk Craig down. But Craig notices Brad, as well. It’s Brad’s time to shine. To get through his divorce, Craig binge-watched ‘Hotshots.’ Brad connects with him over their bad luck with women and their shared love of ‘Hotshots.’ For Craig, Captain Race Banner is his comfort character. When Brad tells him that Race is in a coma and unlikely to return, it spurs Craig to negotiate Race’s return. Brad agrees, as long as Craig doesn’t jump. 

It’s a little silly for such a serious topic, but there’s truth in it as well. Like Abed says in the series finale of Community, “It’s TV, it’s comfort.” But TV is also allowed to have its bad days. However, even with those bad days, television should be a comfort. Still, this part of the episode rings really hollow for a bit centered around suicide. 

We finally get to see Chris (Gavin McHugh) again. Eddie and Chris’s conversations seem to have grown past one-word answers from Chris, although it is clear how much Chris loves his time in Texas. He’s involved in school activities and planning to join more. It’s great to hear him be so excited, but watching Eddie realize how much he’s missing — and how much he’s not told — is heartbreaking.

Eddie tells Chris he knows Brad — Chris is a fan of ‘Hotshots’ — and offers to get him a signed poster he could hang in his room. When Chris excitedly agrees and asks when Eddie will ship it to him in Texas, it is probably the moment Eddie realizes Chris isn’t coming home soon. 

During the heart-to-heart with Brad, Eddie asks him to autograph a poster for his son. In this exchange, we learn more about Brad. We already know he’s not the best person — his blow-up at a waitress in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 7 was proof enough. But his ego reaches far back to when he left his family for a pilot on The CW and never returned.

His estrangement from his kid doesn’t quite mirror Eddie’s situation. Chris chose to leave, and Eddie should respect that decision. But, like Brad, Eddie hasn’t done much to fix things with Chris. He’s passively been trying to connect with Chris over FaceTime. As far as we know, that’s how their conversations have been going. Any attempt at a true reconciliation hasn’t happened yet. 

That’s partly what Eddie’s talk with the priest was about in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6. The longer Eddie wallows in self-pity over his part in Chris’ departure, the more he will miss Chris’ life. So he found a moment of joy to get him back on his feet. He put on his mask first; now it’s time to get to work. 

Turns out that work means moving to Texas. This development isn’t solidified by the end of 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8. It does make sense for Eddie, though. If Chris is enjoying his life in Texas, Eddie can’t rip him away from it. Moving to be closer but still respecting Chris’ boundaries seems like the right move.

But what does that mean for the character on 9-1-1 moving forward? It’s left open-ended for now. Eddie’s taking Zoom tours of houses, but nothing’s set in stone. Following Eddie to Texas would be ideal — this reconciliation is just starting. We should get to see it unfold. And there’s still the Shannon of it all. The fallout from the Hitchcock-inspired soap drama of 9-1-1 Season 7 hasn’t adequately addressed Eddie’s grief. 

But the move probably won’t be immediate if it happens. There’s still half a season to go in Spring 2025. Buck, who still is baking bread and not calling Tommy in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8, might be about to lose someone else in his life, and we’ll need to see the fallout of that. 

9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8 doesn’t have a mid-season vibe to it. It ends with Buck, Chimney, and Eddie guest starring in an episode of ‘Hotshots’ where Brad keeps his promise to Craig and wakes Race up from his coma. But besides Eddie potentially moving, there’s nothing juicy enough to send us off on a five-month hiatus. Bobby and Athena’s house situation hasn’t been discussed since Episode 4. Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen (Tracie Thoms) haven’t been around since 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 5. While they got a lot of focus during the Ortiz storyline, Hen hasn’t had much to do in recent episodes. 

Since his breakup with Tommy in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6, Buck’s been baking and not calling Tommy. Full disclosure: I expected this to be wrapped up in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8. There seems to be a door still open here — Buck’s obvious want to call Tommy feels like he has unresolved issues with how things ended (we do, too.) However, the implication in interviews that it’s over between Buck and Tommy is confusing. Either kill it dead or just say the idea is to leave it open-ended. Whatever the case, having Buck taking no action in the wake of this breakup so far, especially heading into hiatus, is a little frustrating. 

This first half of 9-1-1 Season 8 has been inconsistent, but there have been some gems. 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8 didn’t quite bring things home, though. We’ll pick things back up in March when the rest of the season returns. For now, take comfort in your favorite television. 

9-1-1 returns to ABC on March 6, 2025