It seems like it’s been 84 years, but the second half of 9-1-1 Season 8 is finally mere days away.
“Wannabes” left us with everything neat and tidy regarding the main characters and overall story. The 118 was thriving, and Athena and Maddie were also doing well.
There was nothing amiss, but that’s all set to change when the series returns, as evidenced by the promos, which show a potential serial killer on the loose, with Athena on their trail and Maddie caught in the crosshairs.
But what’s happening beyond that is anyone’s guess.
What will we see with Hen and her family after Mara’s return home? Will Bobby and Athena finally get their dream house?
What’s next for Maddie and Chimney and their expanding family?
Just what will Buck and Eddie get up to when the show returns?
We don’t know the answers to that, but we do know what we would like to see in a perfect world, so indulge us as we look ahead to what we’d like to see from the back half of this season.
Bathena Find Their Dream Home & Throw One Hell of a Housewarming Bash
Bobby and Athena’s home search has felt neverending, though it really only started during 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 1.
We’ve seen them tour a house and then opt to build, but there hasn’t been much forward progress beyond that, and we’re as tired of the dull apartment they’re stuck in as they must be.
Now is the time to get Bobby and Athena into a place that they both feel comfortable in, and that reflects them both.
This will be their forever home, and it’s a big deal for the pair, so that should be treated as such.
Once the pair find their home, they must throw the biggest housewarming party they can and invite everyone.
Harry and May need to return to the narrative, but their appearance should be just the tip of the iceberg.
We need a who’s who of 9-1-1 characters, with the usual suspects (the 118 and their families) in tow, but we should also bring in Elaine, Romero, and some of the dispatchers.
Do Josh and Sue know Bobby and Athena well enough to be invited into their home? Does it matter?
Use the house as an excuse to have a bunch of 9-1-1 characters in the same location for the first time and see what kind of fun could ensue.
We rarely get the big scenes between the whole cast, and what better occasion than to have so many characters who have contributed to 9-1-1 in one central location celebrating Bathena, the first couple of 9-1-1?
Give Henren & Family Some Sitcom Silliness
Hen and Karen have endured so much together as a couple; their family has also been put through the wringer.
During 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 5, we almost lost Denny, and since then, we haven’t seen much of the Wilson family, something that must be rectified as the season continues.
While 9-1-1 is a show that lives in drama and chaos, they also know how to lean into the fun and the silly, and that’s what they need to do with the Wilsons.
At some point (hopefully in the distant future), they will be thrust back into something catastrophic because that’s the nature of the series.
However, considering they’ve barely had moments of peace in some time, let them engage in some fun hijinks.
How about having Denny and Mara engage in a prank war at home that spills over to their parents?
We could see Hen and Karen desperately trying to one-up their children, ultimately leaving their house a mess, but with the four crying with laughter, wondering how they would get the flour out of the cushions.
Or Denny and Mara could have a little innocent sibling rivalry over something, with Hen and Karen teaching us the lost art of compromise and how important your siblings are, especially during youth.
They have options to keep things light and loose before the next big bomb is hurtled at their family.
The Wilsons are more than deserving of some happier times.
Madney Enjoying One Another
When Maddie and Chimney were last expecting, it was smack dab in the middle of the pandemic, which meant they were apart for some of it and had various other obstacles to overcome.
The thing about your second pregnancy is that you now have a template from before about what worked and what didn’t work (though no pregnancy is ever exactly the same!).
For Maddie and Chimney, knowing they’re going to start the second half of the season in peril thanks to those crafty promotional teasers, once Maddie is found and safely returned home (which MUST happen!), it’s time to let them enjoy the rest of their pregnancy in a stress-free manner.
Well, as stress-free as 9-1-1 tends to make things.
Their conversations during 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 will likely continue.
Let’s keep them communicating and on the same page so they can navigate everything together as the united front they’ve worked so hard to achieve.
Hopefully, they will enjoy each other, Jee, and the excitement surrounding their pregnancy, and we will see that play out.
Let Madney enjoy every little thing about this exciting time.
Buck Continues to Explore & Grow
Assuming Maddie gets kidnapped and Eddie leaves for Texas, that will be an awful one-two punch for Buck.
Buck’s season 8 thus far has consisted of dealing with horrendous Gerrard at work and getting dumped by Tommy, and it feels like things are about to get a lot worse before they get any better.
It’s not at all clear what Buck’s gameplan is in the wake of everything he went through and is poised to go through when the series returns, but Buck’s been put through a lot, and it would be an excellent time for him to have a bit of a reset.
If Eddie does leave Los Angeles, that will likely tap into Buck’s deep-seated abandonment issues, and it would be a good time to explore that further and have some of those tough conversations with Eddie and others he trusts.
Perhaps Buck gets a hobby after everything and expands his social network, channeling his love for baking into something positive and not just a distraction from his most recent breakup.
When we chatted with Oliver Stark about 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 5, when asked about which character from Buck’s past he’d like to see return, he told us, “I like the idea of Buck putting himself in queer spaces ’cause we’ve not really seen that of him yet.”
“So, I don’t know, maybe he’s in a gay club or something.”
“And with someone like a Lucy Donato or something, like an ex-partner who is now there to help shepherd him and boost his confidence. Yeah, I would love to see maybe something like that.”
Now would be a great time to see Buck in those spaces and to see him continue to grow.
Eddie Takes Texas
Look, we do not believe that Eddie will be leaving 9-1-1, but leaving Los Angeles for Texas is a safe bet because it makes sense at this stage of Eddie’s story.
Eddie has given Christopher space and tried to do right by his son, but he’s also reached a point, as seen in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 8, where he decided he could no longer sit by and watch his son grow up through a screen.
Eddie has punished himself and denied himself joy, but he’s finally starting to come out the other side of that, and moving to Texas feels like the next step on his journey to repair what he feels is broken in his life.
The strain between himself and Christopher has been devastating for him, and his willingness to do whatever it takes to bridge that gap and work on the two of them is at the forefront of his mind, as it should be.
The beginning of the season didn’t dive too heavily into the father-son conflict, but if Eddie moves to Texas, they have all the time in the world that makes that storyline a priority, as it should have been all along.
Alright, folks, 9-1-1 is SO close to returning!
What do you want to see when the show returns?
What do you NOT want to see?
Let us know all your thoughts in the comment section below so we can discuss it!
