Effectively, nicely, nicely. It really occurred. 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11, “Holy Mom of God,” brings some issues into focus when Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr) returns whereas Buck (Oliver Stark) struggles together with his transfer. First-time director Aisha Hinds, who performs Hen Wilson, delivers a improbable first displaying behind the digicam. And extra Bobby (Peter Krause) lore provides one other peek into his childhood that was arrange throughout 9-1-1 Season 7.
“Holy Mom of God” is palms down one of many extra cinematic episodes of the present, bar none. From the megachurch chaos to the excessive ladder rescue, 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11 virtually operates on a excessive stakes finale sort vibe. But even the smaller, extra intimate scenes additionally pop on display screen. Paired with director of pictures Andrew Mitchell, this episode has a really cinematic really feel to it, not simply within the grand scale emergencies however in the way in which the characters transfer and circulate throughout the display screen. Nothing feels static; there’s electrical energy to the story’s motion that hasn’t been current as of late.
The first emergency includes carbon monoxide poisoning at a megachurch, the place a religion healer named Anne is preaching. This lady, performed by Leslie Ann Warren, is Bobby’s mom. 9-1-1 Season 7 launched extra backstory for Bobby concerning a tough childhood with an alcoholic father. His mom and brother haven’t performed a major function in that story till now.
This Bobby-centric plot allowed for a stand-out Peter Krause efficiency and a sneak peek into Bobby and Athena’s ((*8*)) home construct. Nevertheless, it did really feel like a pile-on of trauma for Bobby and didn’t essentially present a passable conclusion. Anne collapses throughout one in every of her sermons after just a few heated arguments with Bobby. On the hospital, it’s revealed that Anne has stage 4 most cancers. There’s no actual indication that Anne is sticking round Los Angeles, although, making a few of these emotional breakthroughs a bit low-cost, particularly contemplating the standing of Bobby’s mom and brother had been beforehand unknown till this episode.
9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11 delivers character-pushed drama.
Buck’s lingering disappointment about his greatest buddy shifting continues as he struggles to unpack and even sleep in his home now that Eddie has left. He spends numerous nights on Maddie’s (Jennifer Love Hewitt) sofa. A brief scene between the 2 reveals a nonetheless therapeutic scar on Maddie’s neck left over from the kidnapping, however a while has positively handed. Nonetheless, she’s glad she has Chimney ((*11*)) and Buck round to maintain her firm. But she does counsel to Buck that he must make new buddies.
Enter Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody). Poor, poor, Ravi, who’s additionally lastly again after manner an excessive amount of time away. Buck tries to recreate the friendship he had with Eddie by way of Ravi, however Ravi sees proper by way of Buck. Nonetheless, he agrees to exit for drinks.
Pisharody is again in wonderful kind as Ravi, the occasional 118 A-shift member who’s been round since 9-1-1 Season 4. He’s clearly not having it with Buck this whole episode and finds an answer to flee his co-employee’s woes. Whereas Pisharody doesn’t have a lot to do within the episode, his comedic timing and annoyance with the 118 show Ravi wants extra display screen time away from Buck and a backstory. Convey on, Ravi-centric episodes, please.
Ravi’s resolution to flee a social state of affairs he didn’t need to be in with Buck kinds when he spots none apart from Tommy Kinard on the similar bar. After their heartbreaking breakup in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6, Tommy and Buck are reunited by Ravi in a really “he’s your drawback now” hand-off. This reunion has been a very long time coming regardless of the breakup solely taking place 5 episodes in the past. But Buck’s pining within the type of baking as a distraction from calling Tommy has stored this thread alive and nicely.
Ferrigno Jr and Stark flip up the chemistry to max 100 for this reunion. As soon as Tommy sits on the desk, their catch-up rapidly turns flirty and cuts to them making out and stumbling by way of the darkened hallways of Buck’s new home, crashing into partitions and doorways, laughing. It’s a stage of intimacy not but proven between them regardless of two kiss scenes in 9-1-1 Season 7. The chemistry continues the next day within the kitchen, the place Tommy makes Buck breakfast and suggests getting again collectively. These exchanges are stuffed with flirtatious moments, however as quickly as the true questions begin being requested, it’s 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 over again.
Buck grapples with individuals’s assumptions.
That is what’s nice concerning the Buck and Tommy relationship, although. They’re caught in a loop of miscommunication and assumptions the place they lash out in anger or shut down earlier than they’ll have a dialog. Buck’s “I don’t should have emotions for everybody I sleep with” was significantly reducing. And as soon as once more, Tommy assumes Buck’s emotions about one thing as an alternative of listening and trusting Buck when he says one thing isn’t true or about what he needs.
This kitchen scene expands on the minute layers of Ferrigno Jr’s efficiency within the breakup scene to disclose an insecure Tommy Kinard. His “you wouldn’t imply to, however you’ll find yourself breaking my coronary heart” line from 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 was about somebody making an attempt to defend themselves from a theoretical damage all wrapped up into one large assumption about another person’s emotions.
Contemplating that Tommy seems to have been fearful about Buck’s emotions for Eddie the entire time blows his whole persona vast open. It’s a fairly astounding and disappointing revelation since Tommy was buddies with Eddie first and shut sufficient to him that he knew Chris (Gavin McHugh). Relaxation in peace, Eddie and Tommy’s friendship from 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 5.
But that is one other thread that’s taken root in Tommy’s character. On the bar, he admits to Buck that he doesn’t know Eddie has moved, even calling him “Diaz” to emphasise additional how a lot he has misplaced contact with Eddie. The 118, too. And he was clearly alone on the bar earlier than Ravi grabbed him up. All through his time on the present as Buck’s love curiosity, Tommy has reiterated repeatedly a way of loneliness he feels, even when he distances himself first.
But since Tommy introduced it into the open, we should additionally focus on the elephant within the room. Although the present continues to be shying away from saying the phrase “bisexual,” 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11 digs additional into Buck’s queer id in a manner that’s surprisingly recent, not only for queer illustration but additionally for permitting Buck his company. A number of episodes in the past, Buck’s much less-than-ultimate response to Eddie shifting veered towards infantile behaviors, however since then, he’s accepted the circumstances. That doesn’t imply he can’t nonetheless be unhappy. As he says to Maddie, “It sucks” when your greatest buddy strikes.
9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11 addresses a ship head-on.
Nevertheless, from the surface, Buck’s abandonment points appear to be he has deeper emotions for Eddie—no less than, they do to Tommy. Regardless of 9-1-1 Season 7 interviews indicating they didn’t need to do the “in love with my straight greatest buddy” trope after Buck got here out as bisexual, it’s nonetheless one thing that needs to be thought-about, if solely to double down on not desirous to take that route.
To take action, the present must deal with the Buck/Eddie ship head-on. This marks the primary time the present has explicitly addressed the favored fanon ship between Buck and Eddie (Ryan Guzman), a transfer that some will say is a very long time coming. The way it’s dealt with in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11 is as delicately as attainable. But it additionally works on a meta-textual stage, as nicely.
When Buck says, “As a lot as everybody appears to need me to be hopelessly pining for my straight greatest buddy, it simply isn’t like that,” Maddie and the viewers ought to take him at his phrase. Many prefer to put phrases in Buck’s mouth on and off display screen. Right here, although, he’s standing tall on his emotions. Enable him that company. Tommy, too, wants to listen to it, however he as soon as once more departs on dangerous phrases with Buck.
Buck admits that he doesn’t need to unpack as a result of meaning Eddie and Chris are gone. Nonetheless, after his speak with Maddie and realizing that utilizing Tommy as a distraction isn’t the most effective cause to get again along with somebody, he can unpack his belongings and really settle into his home, suggesting a near this arc.
As for Tommy and Buck, there are hints that they may not be over but. Whereas Buck ends the episode deciding he must be alone, the “calling Tommy” thread continues to be left open. They broke up when Buck requested Tommy to maneuver in; within the morning after the scene on this episode, Tommy brings up shifting in. “Effectively, I’m not prepared to maneuver in,” he says, the “but” implied.
His suggestion to get again collectively is sensible, contemplating his breakup speech included the phrases, “As a lot as I need to be, I’m not your final.” Buck couldn’t sleep at his new home till Tommy was there. 9-1-1 has been pulling on this Buck and Tommy thread for the previous 5 episodes; in some unspecified time in the future, it’ll unravel.
9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11 continues a robust begin for this again half of the Season. Full of improbable sequences, cinematic scale, participating relationships, and character drama, Aisha Hinds deserves a lot reward as a primary-time director.
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9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11
8.5/10
TL;DR
9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11 continues a robust begin for this again half of the Season. Full of improbable sequences, cinematic scale, participating relationships, and character drama, Aisha Hinds deserves a lot reward as a primary-time director.
