9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 9 Review: Ashes, Ashes

Not since the early seasons has 9-1-1 kept us on the edge of our seats with fear and anxiety for a full hour straight. 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 9, “Ashes, Ashes,” does exactly that, and as devastating as the result is, the ride is some of the best storytelling this show has ever seen.

As it jumps from thread to thread, viewers are slammed again and again with intense emotional curveballs that have us crying and begging for more (even if it hurts). Whether it’s Hen’s past coming back to haunt her in a domino effect of events or Eddie’s repressed hurt over the death of Shannon, we find ourselves wondering when the pain will end.

So, let’s break down each of these journeys before we nail down the biggest one of them all — Bobby’s full-circle reckoning.

Hen’s Mistakes Could Cost Her Everything

Over the past 7 seasons, 9-1-1 hasn’t shied away from hitting Hen where it hurts, when she least expects it. From cheating to custody issues to failed family expansion attempts, she has seen it all in her personal life.

However, the show always seems to brush over those moments in her professional life where she has a misstep or two. Some of these missteps are completely memorable—e.g., 9-1-1 Season 3 Episode 8, “Malfunction,” when Hen hits the girl with the ambulance.

Unfortunately, most of her mistakes get brushed under the rug after a single episode, never to be brought back up again. However, now she’s made one that isn’t going away, and it could cost her everything she holds dear in her heart. 

I personally find that storyline with Hen and Ortiz’s son completely out of character for her, but maybe that’s the point. The one time Hen actively goes against who she really is, it’s going to bite her in the behind.

The writing for Hen’s plot on this episode is so well done that we know from the moment Councilwoman Ortiz is introduced to Mara that everything is going to fall like a house of cards. When it’s revealed that their adoption hearing was taken completely off the docket, viewers are lulled in a sense of security because how could anything worse possibly happen?

That’s the beauty of people in power, though. The right amount of influence and money can mean the laws surrounding foster licensing are overlooked to achieve a goal.

Councilwoman Ortiz has just cut Hen off at the knees, and she knows it. But, what she doesn’t realize, nor does she seem to care that in her revenge for her own beloved son, she’s destroying another child’s life unnecessarily.

Going into the finale, and possibly next season, this outcome is going to have devastating effects on Hen and her relationship with her wife and son.

Eddie’s Losing Grip on His Mental Health

Ever since 9-1-1 Season 2 Episode 17, “Careful What You Wish For,” Eddie has bottled up his emotions regarding the death of his estranged wife, Shannon. He’s been shown in therapy a couple of times over the course of the series, but nothing has really shown a lasting impact.

Now, Eddie is emotionally cheating on Marisol with a woman who’s a dead-ringer for Shannon. His best friend, Buck, is expressing concern about his mental state —and Eddie agrees.

This breakdown in Eddie’s decision-making is proof positive that all those emotions—positive and negative—about Shannon haven’t gone away; they’ve just been bubbling under the surface, festering.

Once again, the writers are taking threads from past seasons that viewers thought would never be dealt with and are showing they’ve been playing a long game. We got a glimpse that Eddie hasn’t ever truly dealt with things during 9-1-1 Season 5 Episode 13, “Fear-o-phobia.” 

But never to the point that he’s willing to spend time with Kim to get what he seeks from his unfinished business with his dead wife. Then, when she shows up at his place and allows him to speak to her as if she is Shannon, the floodgates open.

Eddie could’ve probably recovered nicely on his own after a therapeutic dumping session with Kim, but then Marisol and Christopher come home. Chris seeing a woman who looks exactly like his mom hugging his dad is going to bring up some complicated feelings.

Meanwhile, Marisol will not be happy that Eddie has not been honest with her about any of this. Moving forward, Eddie will have to reckon with himself and his relationships in order to truly recover.

Bobby’s Big Goodbye?

Now, to the parts of this episode we really want to talk about: Bobby, his past, and his feelings of finality. Since the start of the season there have been little hints here and there that Bobby’s feelings from Season 1 are starting to resurface.

Only, this time, there is a slightly different vibe to them. As any fan remembers, during 9-1-1 Season 1 Episode 5, “Point of Origin,” Bobby reveals to the priest that he has a little black book with 148 lines in it—one life saved for each of the people he killed, and upon reaching 148, he would kill himself.

Now, he is revealing this to his wife and admitting that for a very long time, he believed that once he hit that magic number, he wouldn’t exist anymore. She’s concerned for him and his mental state, as we all are at this point, but he tries to convey that he threw the book away the night of their first date.

What isn’t explicitly stated but has been eluded to all season long is that Bobby is feeling his life coming to a close in some way. Whether he believes he’s going to die soon or not isn’t clear, but it’s obvious that he’s closing the book on some big parts of himself.

During the cruise ship disaster he states to Athena he used to think he couldn’t have the life they’ve built together. Then, while he’s trying to make amends with Amir, he’s having flashbacks to his own father.

Finally, it culminates with “Ashes, Ashes,” where he tells the department head he’s retiring but doesn’t inform his team. Instead, he goes around giving nuggets of wisdom, little truths that each of them always needed to experience or hear.

The most impactful of them all is the moment with Buck, where he tells the young man that he’s not the impulsive firefighter he once was and that he’s proud of the man he’s become. It feels like a final moment, and the lighting behind Buck’s head simply adds to the ethereal quality of it all.

What really kicks us about those final moments of the episode is that Bobby is finally able to make amends to himself. He pulls his wife out of the fire, only to experience cardiac arrest himself.

It’s a moment that will be talked about for weeks, possibly even years to come. Peter Krause has been especially phenomenal with Bobby’s journey this season, and I really hope it’s not goodbye, though it certainly feels that way.

 

What did you think of this episode of 9-1-1? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.

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