We’re less than two months away from the premiere of 9-1-1 season 9, and things for the 118 and co. are still very much up in the air.
After a somewhat controversial second half, season 8 left a lot of character storylines firmly in the ‘dot, dot, dot’ zone: Athena (Angela Bassett) started to move on after Bobby’s death; Eddie (Ryan Guzman) and Christopher (Gavin McHugh) moved back to LA for good; Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chimney (Kenneth Choi) welcomed their new baby, Robert Nash Han, just as Chim was also seemingly primed for the fire captain job; Hen (Aisha Hinds) decided to focus on family after Mara’s official adoption; and Buck (Oliver Stark) once again began looking for a place of his own after moving out of Diaz house.
In the spirit of new beginnings, here’s a list of things we really want to see in 9-1-1 season 9…
Athena’s healing journey
Athena has never had a smooth ride when it comes to romance. Her first love, Emmett, was murdered while they were engaged, her second husband, Michael, was secretly gay, and her third husband, Bobby, well…
Athena struggled with her grief – as well as her anger at the circumstances surrounding Bobby’s death – across the last few episodes. Come season 9, we’d love to see Athena continue to heal. But don’t get us wrong, that does not mean we want her exploring other romantic options just yet. Bathena forever.
Athena is grieving after the sudden death of her husband, Bobby Nash. (ABC)
Buddie going canon
Some may say we’re delusional, but with everything that happened between Buck and Eddie in season 8 it really feels like the show is actually inching towards a Buddie romance once and for all. And we’ll take anything at this point. A kiss, a love confession, a mere feelings realisation… we’re not fussy.
For years, the show has featured little moments that have felt more romantic than strictly-platonic-bro-vibes between the two, but season 8’s Buck and Eddie hijinks have been a hell of a lot more than just crumbs. This might be it, friends. We can feel it in our bones.
Buck and Eddie have always had a very romantic friendship. (ABC/Canva)
Anirudh Pisharody on the main cast
9-1-1 fans celebrated last week when it was announced that cast members Corinne Massiah and Elijah M. Cooper, who play Athena’s kids May and Harry, had officially been promoted to series regulars for season 9. But there’s one other face we’d also love to see on that list.
Anirudh Pisharody (Never Have I Ever) has been making viewers laugh, weep and salivate as 118 firefighter Ravi Panikkar since season 4, and we think it’s about time he too was finally bumped from recurring to main. Are Ravi love interests, Pannikar family appearances and a “Ravi Begins” episode really too much to ask?
Fans have been manifesting Ravi Main for years. (ABC)
Buck giving a dog a forever home
The first half of season 8b offered a bounty of fun storylines and silly treats before things took a depressing turn in “Lab Rats”. One of those treats was Buck rescuing and bonding with Blaze the Beagle. Blaze (real name Bingo) might have gone back to his original family in the end, but we think the time has finally come for Buck to fill that dog-shaped hole in his life. And with not just any dog: we specifically want the animal in question to be played by Oliver Stark’s real-life dog Bear.
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During a conversation on Unconditional Podcast, Stark revealed that he originally tried to get Bear cast as Blaze, but the Anatolian Shepherd was too big for the role. Somebody get that pupper an agent, stat.
An opening emergency to rival the GOAT
From blackouts and bee-nados to cruise ships capsizing, 9-1-1 really goes big or goes home with each new season’s opening emergency. But the pinnacle was the tsunami arc of season 3, and nothing has ever come close since.
It would take a hell of a lot to recreate the magic of the Santa Monica pier being smashed to smithereens, Maddie saving a building full of people from the dispatch centre, and Buck slowly bleeding out while searching for Christopher on the streets of LA, but we have our fingers crossed for season 9’s mysterious opening emergency anyway.
Buck and Christopher tugged on heartstrings in the best opening disaster of all time. (FOX)
An arc for Hen to really sink her teeth into
Lesbian firefighter Hen has always held a very special place in our hearts, but recently her character arcs have either been side-lined or revolved around her balancing work with being a wife and mother.
Hen passing up the vacant captain spot at the 118 to spend more time with Karen, Denny and Mara hopefully means that the whole work-life balance issue has resolved itself, so fingers crossed that her season 9 arc will bring something fresh and meaty to the table.
We love the Wilsons, but it’s time Hen got a fresh new storyline. (ABC)
Another Christmas episode
Please, for the love of all that is merry and bright, deliver unto us another damn Christmas episode. 9-1-1 does them so well, but we haven’t seen hide nor hair of Santa since season 5.
Optimistically, we’re thinking one could actually be on the cards this year – season 9 is set to premiere a little later than usual (9 October), meaning the mid-season finale might very well line up with the holiday season.
This year, we’re asking Santa for a 9-1-1 Christmas episode. (FOX)
The elusive musical episode
Speculating about the feasibility of a rumoured musical episode is a rite of passage for fans of any long-running cult network show. We think it’s about time that 9-1-1 joined the ranks of the shows that have actually done it.
Even some of the cast want it to happen. Speaking to PinkNews, Josh Russo actor Bryan Safi said: “I would loooove it! It would be so fun. I would be all in on something like that. The great thing about me is, even if I don’t have the most amazing voice, I think I do, so there would be no stopping me.”
In this house, we’re pro-9-1-1 doing a musical episode. (FOX)
More fillers (we’re not kidding)
‘All filler, no killer’ aren’t always words to live by. Sure, 9-1-1 filler episodes have fallen flat in the past, but some of the show’s most fun, weird and endearing episodes have been fillers. “Jinx”, anyone? “Ocean’s 9-1-1”? Freaking “Treasure Hunt”?
After the depressing events of season 8b, we’ll need something cheerful and inconsequential to carry us through to the next phase of the 118.
Fillers can be good too, we swear! (FOX)
A bottle episode that eats
Many fans have been gunning for a bottle episode for a while and, honestly, we can see it working too. Confining an episode to just one location, like the fire station on a no-call day or inside a building during a catastrophic emergency, would be a fantastic opportunity to really get the characters talking to each other.
There were many points where season 8 felt like it was going too hard on the disasters and emergencies to the point where it was stunting some of the character development. Many of the show’s greatest moments have come down to both silly and emotionally charged conversations between the gang. Make them talk!
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