RECAP: ‘9-1-1’ Season 9 Episode 13 — “Mother’s Boy”

9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 12 was a return to form for the long-running procedural show precisely because it kept things simple. The character dynamics and themes matched the calls really well, and there was an energy that hadn’t been present as of late. So, of course, 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 13, “Mother’s Boy,” does a 180, and we’re right back to that Criminal Minds-type of show that 9-1-1 can’t always pull off.

It’s not like 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 13 is bad, at least aesthetically. It’s got that dark, gritty vibe that fits the criminal proceedings, and the sparse use of light creates the perfect atmosphere for an abduction scenario. However, it’s a convoluted premise with a twist that comes out of nowhere without good justification.

On their way back to Los Angeles from Nashville, Eddie (Ryan Guzman) and Buck (Oliver Stark) decide to hop in a car and drive cross-country instead of waiting for a new flight so they can make it to Hen’s birthday party in time. Cue the Supernatural-esque road trip montage complete with “Carry On My Wayward Son” as the soundtrack. Because nothing emphasizes brothers more than a homage to one of the most iconic brother duos on procedural television.

Things get a little Supernatural-esque in 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 13. 

The Supernatural beats continue in 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 13 when Buck and Eddie walk into a diner, fight about something innocuous like food, get mistaken for a couple, get in a car crash, and then one of them goes missing. Beyond the demons and ghosts, all we needed was Eddie ordering a pie to complete the Supernatural immersion.

Before we get to the abduction, though, let’s rewind to the diner. The fight between Eddie and Buck is just another example of a weird escalation that keeps happening in their scenes. From the kitchen fight in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 17 to this one, their fights have little to no justification, just there to drum up some drama without any grounding element to them.

The kitchen fight had at least Bobby’s ghost to anchor it a bit, but it still felt out of place. It would be nice if 9-1-1 could tie some of these fights together, especially since they seem to happen so frequently. But alas, this diner fight is mostly there to present a red herring.

Buck and Eddie find themselves in an unlikely scenario. 

Buck and Eddie are in the middle of nowhere, so the diner they walk into is full of white, red neck-types. Their fight makes everyone think they’re a couple, and a few homophobic remarks get thrown around, though racism also played a part here, considering the remarks were pointed toward Eddie.

This causes a fight to break out, and Buck and Eddie promptly leave. Back on the road and still lost, a large truck starts following them, and eventually runs them off the road, leading to a bad car crash.

Eddie wakes up in a hospital, but the doctors say there wasn’t anyone else in the car with Eddie when paramedics arrived on the scene. Sam – er, sorry – Buck has disappeared without a trace. Spooky.

The storyline’s intent is unclear throughout. 

But “The Benders” and “All Hell Breaks Loose Part 1”, this is not. And it’s not a few racist, homophobic guys, either, but the nice waitress named Bonnie and the older gentleman named Earl who broke the fight up (hello again, Jeff Kober). But this twist doesn’t hold a lot of weight as it tries to draw parallels between Bonnie’s grief for her comatose son and Buck’s grief about Bobby. There’s not a lot of time to get to know Bonnie, for one, and the scene between Buck and his father in 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 12 was a much better take on Buck’s relationship with and grief for Bobby.

Not to mention, there’s a missed opportunity to bring back the idea that Buck was born to save his brother, Daniel. In a way, Bonnie’s abduction of Buck because he looks like her son is just another version of that, but it goes unspoken about after all is said and done.

It’s also not entirely clear what Bonnie’s intentions were with Buck. Did she just want him to be her son because her real son was never going to recover? But then why was she about to kill him? It’s just not a very strong premise.

9-1-1 needs to get back to what it does best. 

Considering 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 13 is all about the abduction, there’s not a lot for the rest of the characters to do. Athena, Chimney, and Maddie all help over the phone from L.A. while Eddie escapes a hospital while dodging an indifferent sheriff. The sheriff’s indifference is another red herring, an obstacle that gives Eddie something drastic to do, like jumping out of a hospital window. The motivations in this episode lack conviction, even among minor characters like the sheriff.

9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 13 also marks the second time Hen’s birthday goes uncelebrated. In Season 8, everyone except Athena and Eddie forgot her birthday, resulting in one of the show’s worst episodes. This time, Hen’s birthday happens off-screen, since she and Karen took a vacation without telling anyone, despite the surprise party the rest were planning. Good for them, though!

9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 13 looks great, but it doesn’t pack any lasting emotional weight. Let’s get back to our regular scheduled programming, please.

9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 13 is streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu, with new episodes every Thursday on ABC, and is available on Disney+ and Hulu the next day.

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