RECAP: ‘9-1-1’ Season 9 Episode 6 — “Family History”

The first part of 9-1-1 Season 9 might have been short, but it’s been a good ride so far. The opening space emergency may have taken up a lot of time, but it allows for an interesting and engaging exploration of Athena’s grief over Bobby. At the same time, we got to see the 118 in action without their captain of eight years, but the new dynamics have been fun to watch.

9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 6, titled “Family History,” has a lot of great ideas and moments, but they also feel a bit disconnected from each other. As the episode that closes out Season 9a, it was a little lacking in some areas. 

9-1-1 is no stranger to ripping plot lines right out of headlines, but they really missed the mark when it comes to the case they replicated in 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 6. Latching onto the popularity of the Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, 9-1-1 tackles a very similar story when a teenager’s mother becomes the main suspect in a cyberbullying case.

The ripped-from-the-headlines execution in 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 6 is shaky.

Athena (Angela Bassett) responds to a call for a teenage suicide attempt by overdose, harkening back to May’s (Corinne Massiah) attempt and overdose in 9-1-1 Season 1. The case allows Athena and May to talk about that event years later, when they are slightly removed from the high emotions of that day. But that’s all this referential case is good for.

In 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 6, the teenager at the other end of that 911 call received threats through text messages, much like the teenager in the Netflix documentary. However, its execution is lazy, hitting all the beats from Unknown Number but in a truncated manner. Even the way Athena solves the case is the same as in the documentary. Considering this part of the episode was based on a real case of a mother cyberbullying her own kid, 9-1-1‘s attempt at replication is pretty lazy. 

It’s always nice to see Buck (Oliver Stark) in a mentor role. Last episode, Buck was once more relegated to a punching bag, though there were still significant moments of introspection. In 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 6, Harry (Elijah M. Cooper) arrives at Buck’s door to ask for help with training for the firefighter test that will get him into the academy. Because of his rocky relationship with his mother, Harry doesn’t want Athena to know about it until he passes the exam. 

Buck and Harry have a great, flipped dynamic in this series.

Buck and Harry have a great dynamic. It’s one we haven’t really seen before, but it’s a nice change of pace. Buck and Harry are a great example of how well a dynamics switch-up can work. Despite not having many scenes together in previous seasons, they both had a connection to Bobby, which allows them to share their grief for him in a way that honors him. 

A lot of Buck’s advice and support is straight from the Bobby playbook. Watching him grow into a person who can pass down that advice to someone else is a highlight of this season so far. 

It’s been six episodes of Chimney (Kenneth Choi) in the role of interim captain, and now it’s time to pick someone to take over the 118. However, Chimney didn’t throw his hat in the ring, still unsure how the team will view him as a captain once the dynamics officially change. And while this tension is great to acknowledge, it would have worked much better if we had gotten to see it.

Hen is experiencing symptoms that have her really concerned.

The space episodes were great, but they didn’t allow much time for exploring those shifting dynamics. 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 6 finally starts to really delve into it, but it leaves its most interesting deliberations off-screen. Chimney makes one attempt to talk to the team, who laugh at his awkwardness. But then Chimney reveals he just had dinner with the chief to discuss him officially taking the captain position. 

The jump from point A to point B with Chimney is disappointing, even if that captain’s ceremony was really emotional. Chimney’s history at the 118 is long and storied; his rise to captaincy should have been the same. 

Something’s brewing for Hen (Aisha Hinds), and it doesn’t look good. A tragic death at a health spa leads Hen to question whether the symptoms she’s been experiencing are a genetic disorder. While Hen’s storyline in 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 6 wasn’t the primary one, it was really effective.

That hard landing onto her floor and subsequent cut to nighttime was incredibly visceral. Her immediate denial of what happened creates some great tension that will lead us into the back half of 9-1-1 Season 9 when it returns in January. 

Shifting dynamics in the 118 have Chimney worried.

This season, so far, has had many missed opportunities and a lack of follow-through, which is still at the root of some of 9-1-1‘s issues. For instance, Buck moving out of his loft, the place he lived in for seven seasons of this show, was a big deal. Not really seeing him fully immersed in his new place, despite being all moved in, is disappointing. 

And for a show that just killed off its main character, the lack of focus on the 118 being a cohesive unit is weird, especially considering Chimney’s worry about shifting dynamics and if they would resent him for taking Bobby’s place. But it has only been six episodes. Here’s hoping the back half of 9-1-1 Season 9 can better balance the ensemble. 

9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 6 took a lot of good ideas and kind of nailed it one moment for each story, but lost momentum in the rest.

9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 6 is streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu, with new episodes every Thursday on ABC and available on Disney+ and Hulu the next day.

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