The season 5 finale of 9-1-1 is here, and par for the course, there’s never a dull moment with the 118. As Buck and Taylor reach the end of the road, Bobby struggles with the Jonah situation, Toni and Clive have an announcement, and Hen and Karen are in for a surprise.
Tea with a kick
We open with a group of people on a retreat who become angry when they learn there are hallucinogenic mushrooms in the tea that they’ve been served. The instructor ends up running off of a cliff, and by the time the 118 arrives on the scene, everyone is high as a kite. Buck appears to be put out when Bobby volunteers himself to go down for the rope rescue, as it’s normally something the younger man would be assigned to. Due to the weight of the firetruck, the ground begins to crumble beneath it while Captain Nash and Lucy begin their descent. The truck goes careening over the side of the mountain, but nobody is hurt.
The Taylor problem
Back at the station, Buck is panicking because Chief Alonzo interrogated him in his office, asking where Taylor gets her information from and if he’s one of her sources. He apologizes to Bobby for letting him down, because Taylor promised him that she wouldn’t run the story. Later, Buck gives Eddie a hand patching the holes in the wall in his bedroom, and he laments over being the guy that always needs to fix everything. Buck admits that he needed to get out of the house because he and Taylor are still avoiding each other. Eddie warns him that he can’t keep his anger and resentment bottled up.
Misunderstandings over lunch
Chimney and Maddie go out for lunch to have a chat, but their wires seem to have gotten crossed along the way. He mistakenly assumes that Maddie wants to tell him she’s ready to date other people, but in reality, she simply intends to announce that she’s ready to go back to work. When Chimney gets home afterward, he finds Albert (who has quit his job at the fire department) stressing over a career aptitude test.
Maddie reports for her first day back on duty at the (temporary) dispatch center, and she texts Chimney after completing her first call. This raises more than a few eyebrows amongst the rest of the 118, who are with him in the firetruck, especially when Buck’s text from Maddie arrives second. Everyone then proceeds to start bothering Buck about his own relationship problems, and Bobby accidentally learns about what happened with Lucy in the process.
Toni and Clive are getting married
As the Wilson family sits at the dinner table, Hen’s mother Toni, and her partner Clive announce that they’re getting married. Toni asks her if they can get married right there in the backyard, and Hen is thrilled, but Karen … not so much. Her wife stands up and walks away. Hen finds Karen in the other room, and she explains that she’s angry because Toni skipped out on their wedding, which was also in their backyard. Hen has forgiven her at this point, but Karen is still furious on her behalf because she saw how hurt she was. Karen goes to speak with Toni, and the two share a tearful embrace.
Memories lost
9-1-1 has a knack for giving audiences emergencies with heartfelt stories, and today’s episode was no exemption. The 118 is called to the scene of an accident where a pregnant woman and her husband were hit by a truck when they were pulling out of their driveway on their way to the hospital. They’re transported in separate ambulances, and while the woman and the baby appear to be okay, Chimney is concerned about the man’s state of mind. He doesn’t know what year it is … and he doesn’t remember his wife. He doesn’t even know that he’s going to be a father. He’s lost his memory. Later, at the hospital, his wife comes to find him and reassures him that they’ll get through this together. She settles down beside his bed and tells him the story of how they met.
The inevitable breakup
After all of their time spent avoiding each other, Taylor is surprised to find Buck sitting on the stairs of the loft waiting for her when she gets home. She tells him that she’s sorry that he was upset about her story, but she neglects to actually apologize for her actions. If she didn’t break the news, someone else would have. She reminds Buck that he knew who she was when they started dating. Buck thought he could learn to live with it, but he’s realized that he can’t. (Evan Buckley, you’ve come such a long way since season 1.) And so finally, Buck and Taylor call it quits.
Eddie pays Bobby a visit
Eddie pulls May (who has finally decided she’s going to school after all!) aside at work to ask her how Bobby is doing, and she tells him about how oddly he was behaving when she arrived at the house the other evening to find him standing in the kitchen with a broken glass. Taking matters into his own hands and once again showing off the great strides he’s taken through therapy, Eddie goes to see Bobby, and the two have a heart-to-heart. Eddie implores him to understand that what happened with Jonah wasn’t his fault. If he’s going to keep blaming himself for it, he also needs to give himself credit for all of the people he’s saved, too. After Eddie leaves, Bobby dumps the bottle of alcohol that he brought home down the sink.
A (surprise) wedding
Hen and Karen are confused when Buck, Eddie, and Chimney all show up for the wedding. However, it appears that Toni was hard at work behind the scenes making alternative plans for the day. She tells them that she decided to delay her and Clive’s wedding. Instead, Hen and Karen will be renewing their vows, and this time she’ll be there to witness it.
The episode ends on a lighthearted, happy note all around as we see a montage of each of our main characters: Maddie and Chimney grab lunch (again), Eddie and Chris share a father-son moment, Taylor amicably returns her apartment key to Buck, and Bobby surprises Athena by telling her that they’re going on a cruise. And in the final moments, we pan to Station 118 as the team gets ready to head out on a call … and Eddie Diaz comes sliding down the fire pole.
While this wraps things up for season 5 of 9-1-1, more fires, emergencies, and drama are still on the way. 9-1-1 was renewed for a sixth season today, and its spin-off series 9-1-1: Lone Star was also renewed for season 4. Catch back up on all of our 9-1-1 coverage here, including episodic recaps and more.
