‘9-1-1’s Tsunami Episode Is the B-Grade Disaster Epic You Need to Watch

Look, the rest of 2019 television had a good run, but you simply cannot beat 9-1-1. Last night (September 30) Fox’s first responder drama destroyed the Santa Monica Pier and killed countless people via a freaking tsunami. And for disaster lovers everywhere, it was awesome.

This week’s episode, appropriately titled “Sink or Swim,” started with two totally relatable character conundrums. Athena’s (Angela Basset) daughter needed something interesting to write about for her college admissions essay, and a bummed out Buck (Oliver Stark) needed a reminder that he’s good at his job (i.e., saving people). So what better way to eliminate these insecurities than to destroy Los Angeles with thousands of gallons of water? Truly, we do not deserve this show.

In between oh-so-many deaths and stressful 9-1-1 calls, these two characters get what they want. Athena’s daughter saves a woman from bleeding out, which is fodder enough to get a teenager into any college she wants. And Buck goes into firefighter overdrive, flinging himself through the water and saving roughly a dozen people while hardly breaking a sweat. But let’s back up because this show just unleashed a freaking TSUNAMI in its second episode:

9-1-1 is ridiculous on practically every front. This is the show that had one of its main characters take a pipe to the head and report back to work good as new a couple episodes later. But its tsunami more than delivered, blessing the world with 42 minutes of B-grade disaster movie graphics and near-death experiences. We’re talking the Pacific Park ferris wheel halfway submerged underwater, streets completely flooded, and some jerk — the only unpleasant person in this episode — being electrocuted to death by stepping into a pool of water near a downed power line. At this point 9-1-1 has turned pointedly killing jerks into an art.

But that doesn’t mean things are completely fine in the world of these heroes. In the final moments of “Sink or Swim,” Buck’s longtime buddy, the eight-year-old Christopher (Gavin McHugh), falls back into the water. Buck immediately panics and dives back in, knowing that Chris can’t swim very well with his cerebral palsy. But there’s an even bigger threat on the horizon. That deadly wave that wiped out the pier? It’s coming back for Round 2.

Knowing how hesitant this series is to kill off its main characters who should have all died repeatedly, Chris should be fine. But we won’t know for sure until we see next week’s episode,  9-1-1: The Wavening Strikes Back. We can’t wait until four episodes from now when this devastating natural disaster will become just another crazy story for our fearless survivors. Or even better, never talk about it ever again.

New episodes of 9-1-1 premiere on Fox Mondays at 8/7c.

Where to stream 9-1-1