9-1-1

Season 2 of 9-1-1 definitely found its footing. Season 1 was so shaky I definitely didn’t have much hope for it. But luckily it looks like in season 2 they stabilized their writers room, this absolutely improved the quality of the writing and the viewing experience as a whole. I am fully convinced that Buck is super gay and no one can convince me otherwise. I am in fact not crazy because tumblr has validated all of my feelings. Now if Eddie isn’t gay I will riot because that is insane. Those two have more romantic chemistry with each other then they have ever had with any woman they interact with on screen. The season finale of season 2 was weird and kind of shoehorned in but it did end with our couples getting a happy ending. Maddy and Chim get together and Athena and Bobby get married.

Buck is trying to come back to work but his health issues change and persist. When Bobby tells him that hes going to be regulated to a desk when he gets back, Buck quits. Now obviously we know that he is going to get his job back but it's still wildly upsetting. I love Buck's character with all my heart but he’s really not a very good actor, he’s coasting on his looks. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Angela Bassett on the other hand are incredible and at a wildly different caliber then everyone else in this cast.

Buck is depressed and who is there to force him out of bed? Oh that’s right his boyfriend Eddie. Because they love each other. And then Buck spends the day taking care of Cristopher? LOVE.

The cases still feel a little random, again in other procedurals the cases are meant to be vehicles for character development and these just seem to be arbitrarily placed to foster character interactions? It’s weird. Also they really love their multi-part episodes to the point where there are multiple a season and it's a little excessive. Multipart episodes in procedurals should carry some emotional weight. The Ying/Yang episodes in Psych, the episodes of Castle where they are closer to figuring out who killed Beckett's mom, the serial killer episodes of Bones. They all have a purpose but the multipart episodes in 9-1-1 are random and repetitive and they serve no character purpose.

BUCK AND EDDIE ARE IN LOVE. THIS IS THE HILL I HAVE CHOSEN TO DIE ON. Christopher is also the cutest little baby of all time. His, “I complained once, it didn’t work” is probably the best written line ever.

My Buck is the new fire marshall and that is hilarious. I love that for him. Buck being super jealous of Eddie having a new buddy in the firehouse is super validating.

This whole suing the department thing is actually super valid. Buck’s lawyer is absolutely right, every single one of them has had physical or emotional trauma and it didn’t stop them from doing their jobs but for some reason we are picking on Buck. AFTER he saved a bunch of people and ran on 100% during the Tsunami. Leave the boy alone and let him come back to work. Poor Buck finally gets to come back and Eddie is being an asshole and Bobby needs to get over himself.

The Athena begins episode is heartbreaking. Angela Bassett is so effortlessly incredible. Seriously I want to know what it took to get her to agree to this show because she is so much better than this show. Literally any procedural, I am astonished that they got someone of her caliber to agree to this.

Some of these episode endings are really abrupt. They don’t have a resolve or even a cliffhanger it feels like the episode just ends in the middle without any acknowledgment of that.

OKAY so during the tsunami Athena amputates a fire captain's arm (I recognized him as the dude from Buffy, Riley’s friend in season 4) and then this captain keeps making appearances WITH BOTH ARMS. So what the hell 9-1-1? Did you forget?

Michael is having a hard time as his first Christmas alone approaches. My little Christopher is having a hard time not having his mom around for Christmas, especially considering the men in his life have to work. Michael apparently has cancer…I think the writers think that they are being subversive since we were concerned about Bobby having cancer but that is actually really predictable. Again, because I’ve watched about a million seasons of Grey’s Anatomy.

Chim’s brother arrives and the rest of the fire house does not react appropriately. Look I really really hate “but they’re family” storylines. Family is chosen not assigned. Blood means nothing and people willfully ignorant of that don’t have opinions worth hearing.

Every time Christopher is on screen my baby fever gets 1000X worse. He is the cutest, sweetest child and I love him so much. They built a little harness attached to a skateboard for him and I am gonna cry….he is the most adorable baby.

Taking over the dispatch center? Really? The place where all the cops and firefighters friends are? Actually so so stupid. Also this family recap of a case is crazy, no one does this. They want this show to be an actual crime show so badly but they refuse to adhere to a crime show structure. Their unique idea is so poorly executed. Again this feels like an end of season arc but here we are with three more episodes…

The “begins' ' episodes are cool and all they just aren't necessary. I think the show has finally reached a point in this 3rd season where they are doing better at cycling through which characters they focus on. But the color grading on these flashback episodes is terrible. Also the taking time to do the flashbacks is fine for filler but as far as character development goes these probably should have taken place in season 1, not in 2 and 3. It feels really shoehorned in this late in the series.

The end season arc is Athena working on a case, catching a serial rapist. That’s all well and good but it reinforces the false idea that rape is taken seriously as a crime, and conviction statistics very clearly state otherwise. Again leans too much into the crime/police section of this show when 99% of the show revolves around the firefighters, the cops and dispatchers are really side characters and stories so whenever they are put front and center it feels really odd.

Season 3 definitely seems to lean into character relationships more than the previous two seasons but structurally the show has the same problems. The writers room definitely seems inexperienced which is normally what show runners are for. But Ryan Murphy has lots of experience, the only problem with that is Murphy has no skill or talent whatsoever. So we have a lack of skill overseeing a lack of experience and it's not a great combination. The actual writing, the dialogue and character development is fine. But everything else; the plot points, cases, structure are all really poorly written. As a procedural it's lower tier and I am really only still here because of Angela Bassett and Christopher.