‘9-1-1’ Recap: Season 5, Episode 15 “FOMO”

Lindsey
7 Min Read
Jack Zeman/FOX

This week’s episode of 9-1-1 focuses on the concept of FOMO, the fear of missing out. As the 118 responds to various calls that fall within this theme, Maddie frets over the time she missed with Jee-Yun, Karen feels wistful for the things she didn’t do when she was younger, and May contemplates her future.

The secret life of an influencer

The episode opens with a girl, Selene, who is showing off what appears to be her new house in a livestream for her followers. However, when she’s showing off the sauna, the house begins to shake from the construction that’s taking place on the property. She falls and is immediately knocked out as she hits her head. Her followers dutifully begin flooding the 9-1-1 call center with reports, though nobody actually knows where she is. Eddie and May team up in order to put the clues together, and they’re able to find her parents, who had no idea about their daughter’s secret life as a luxury influencer. Her name isn’t even Selene! The 118 prowls through the neighborhood with nothing but a description of a car to go on, but they eventually find her. Back at the call center, May tries to explain the concept of FOMO to a clueless Eddie.

Wise words from Evan Buckley

Maddie drops Jee-Yun off at Chimney’s place, and she comes across a pile of photos that Chimney had printed out from his adventures with their daughter while she was gone. He was trying to document everything for Maddie, but seeing how many milestones she missed makes her upset. She visits Buck, and she tells him that she’s afraid of repeating what he went through during his childhood with all of the secrets and problems in their family. Buck reassures her, reminding her that Jee-Yun isn’t the first kid that she raised … he was.

There are plenty of other moments that Maddie will get to enjoy with Jee-Yun, though. Near the end of the episode, when Chimney gets home from work, he and Maddie both get to witness their daughter feeding herself for the very first time. Chimney is quick to pull out his phone to record it, but Maddie tells him that he doesn’t need to, because they’re both there to see it.

USC awaits

Athena is at May’s apartment, and her daughter asks her if she ever wonders what her life would be like if she didn’t become a police officer. May tells her that she heard from USC, and she’s running out of time for her deferral. She needs to decide what she wants to do, or she’ll lose her place there. She likes her job at the call center, but she’s not ready to give up on the idea of attending USC.

Karen’s FOMO is revealed

Hen and Karen’s night out for dinner may have been a bust (which ended with their car getting broken into and Karen’s purse and wallet being stolen), but Karen seems to be on a mission. As they get ready for bed, Karen brings up another idea for something fun that they can go do. Concerned about Karen’s sudden obsession with getting out and trying new things, Hen asks her what’s going on. Karen explains that her co-workers make her feel old. They’re all much younger, and they go out almost every night. They’re making the most of their lives. Meanwhile, Karen feels like she didn’t get to have fun like that when she was their age, and she thinks she missed out on a key part of life.

Later in the episode, Hen receives a fraud alert on her phone. They cancelled all of Karen’s stolen credit cards, but they forgot about Hen’s card that was in her wallet as well. Rather than calling it a night, Karen hops out of bed, and they go to the club where the card was last used. They manage to get ahold of the woman’s ID from the bartender as they request to close the tab that’s under Hen’s card, and they walk around the club in search of the thief. They eventually find her, and the cops come to arrest her. Afterward, rather than going back home to bed, Karen and Hen decide to stick around and have a bit of fun.

Live your life for yourself (and nobody else)

The influencer releases a video from her hospital bed, announcing that she’s turned over a new leaf. She tells her followers her real name, Rebecca, and she encourages them to live their lives for themselves and nobody else. May and Eddie watch the video together, and she tells him that she wonders whether or not she’s been living her life for herself. She started working at the call center after her mom almost died, because she wanted to look out for her. However, before that, there was a specific person May wanted to be, and she feels like she’s losing that now. Eddie’s progress in therapy has clearly been rubbing off on him, because he offers May some supportive words of advice.

9-1-1 airs on FOX on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Stay tuned for our continued coverage on the series, including episodic recaps and more!

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By Lindsey
Lindsey joined the Nerds and Beyond team in 2018. If she's not writing or out and about with her camera, she's probably watching anime, nerding out over Star Wars, reading manga, and definitely forgetting to water her plants. And waiting for the Genshin loading screen to pop up. Contact: lindsey@nerdsandbeyond.com
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