This week’s installment of 9-1-1 shows us Hen’s fight to stay in medical school, Athena’s investigation into a dangerous string of home invasions, and Maddie’s sense of trust be violated at her work. Also, Hoover the dog invades several homes himself.
Magda the Immaculate … and Annoying
Chimney and Maddie have hired a nanny to help them with Jee-yun, and it’s a struggle relinquishing control for both of them, understandably. Magda (who prefers to be called a Household Manager, thankyouverymuch) does her best to make sure Jee-yun’s environment is as germ-free as possible. And this includes demanding that no one wear shoes indoors, not allowing Jee-yun to go anywhere that is heavily trafficked by lots of people (which includes just about everywhere), and spending hours deep cleaning the kitchen.
At first, Chimney and Maddie assume they’re just being typical overprotective parents of their first child, having a very difficult time watching Magda leave with their daughter. But as time passes, they realize that they have begun tip-toeing around in their own house, hoping not to upset the level of cleanliness that Magda has instituted. At one point, Chimney and Maddie have dinner together in the bathtub of their locked bathroom, so they won’t cross paths with Magda. By the end of the episode, Maddie has made the decision to send Magda home … permanently. Chimney is clearly relieved, and the family of three celebrate with a blanket picnic on the living room floor.
Home Invasions
A woman is home alone asleep, when a loud noise from downstairs wakes her up. She believes her house is being burglarized, so she calls 9-1-1. Josh gets her information and dispatches the police, and he instructs her to stay where she is. But the woman, Sharlo, is adamant that she needs to leave the house. Josh pleads with her to stay in the bedroom so she won’t cross paths with the intruders, but Sharlo runs downstairs into the kitchen in a panic. Josh hears Sharlo encounter something that makes her scream, and the call is disconnected.
The 118 arrive on scene and find Sharlo unresponsive but alive. She eventually wakes up and tells them that she encountered not a human, but a monster. Buck searches the house to try to figure out what happened, and he eventually detains the suspect — a raccoon with a sweet tooth who is hiding out in the pantry.
The next day, Maddie receives a call from a man who says his house is being broken into. Unfortunately, the intruders realize that someone is home and rush to find who is there. Maddie hears the horrifying events unfold over the phone: the man who called for help is discovered by the intruders and is shot. The line disconnects.
We learn later that the man will survive and is doing well. But everyone is surprised to learn that this home invasion took place at the same home where the raccoon was apprehended; Sharlo’s husband Samir is the man who was shot!
At the police station, Romero tells Athena that he believes the home invasions are all connected, but he’s not sure how. As they pore over the case files, Athena notices a common thread: all homes are in affluent zip codes, and all cases involve a 9-1-1 call. Every home invasion took place when the homeowners were sure not to be there, because they were in the hospital after making a call for medical assistance. And knowing each 9-1-1 dispatcher is going to ask lots of questions on each call, including security passcodes, they realize that someone at the dispatch center must be informing the intruders when a house will lie empty.
At the dispatch center, Maddie helps Athena and Romero by reviewing the 9-1-1 calls of all the homes that have been burglarized. She sees nothing that ties them together, but she then realizes that, whenever a 9-1-1 call is accessed in their system, a note is made about who pulls the call. Maddie tells them that the same person accessed all of the calls that involve the burgled homes. And that person was her.
This confuses everyone at the dispatch center, until Noah approaches Maddie in the breakroom. Maddie is noticeably upset, and she tells Noah that there is a good chance that she’ll be fired, because her credentials were used to access those files. It doesn’t matter that she’s actually innocent; the fact that she lost her password and allowed someone else to use her login information is reason enough for her to lose her job. Noah tells her that isn’t right or fair. Maddie just says that she wishes she knew who had access to her password.
In a shocking twist, Noah comes clean to Maddie and admits that he is the one who’s been using her credentials and passing along the information to the intruders. He explains that his stepfather owes money to some bad people, and he had no other way to raise enough money in time. So he learns that a home is going to be empty because the owner is in the hospital, and he passes along the address and security entry information to the intruders, who steal expensive jewelry.
As soon as Noah ends his confession, Maddie shows him that she had been wearing a mic. Athena and her squad enter the breakroom to arrest Noah. He tells them that the intruders are on their way to another home right now. Athena and Romero rush to the location and are able to arrest them as soon as they break in to the house. As they put the intruders in the back of a squad car, we see Noah being led out through the dispatch center in handcuffs.
We Were Hoovered
May comes home for a brief break from school. And while she’s there, she meets her newest family member, Hoover. May seems surprised that Athena allowed this, considering she’s allergic to dogs. While Athena reaches for a tissue before her next sneezing attack, Bobby says that he thought she just had a cold. May then begins to sneeze, and Bobby quickly realizes that he can’t put them through this anymore and has to find a new place for Hoover as soon as possible.
While Hen and Karen are having breakfast, Bobby knocks on their door and explains the situation to Hen. Before Hen can dissent, Denny sees Hoover and immediately falls in love. Hen knows she can’t get rid of Hoover now.
But on the morning of Hen’s practical exam, Karen goes downstairs to make breakfast. She suddenly screams, which leads Hen to rush downstairs to see what’s going on. She encounters their living room filled with shredded pillows, torn furniture, and trash strewn about. Hen wonders if they’ve been burglarized. Karen points to the baseboards, which have been heavily chewed, and says, “We weren’t burgled. We were Hoovered.”
Hoover’s next stop is at Eddie’s. He gladly takes the dog from Hen, knowing Christopher will love having a pet. But we later hear Christopher yelling in the kitchen. When Eddie runs in, the floor is covered in trash, cereal, flour… everything that is in a kitchen is on the floor. “I thought Hen was exaggerating…” Eddie says to himself.
Next, Eddie knocks on Chimney and Maddie’s door. He starts to explain the situation, but Magda interrupts and tells everyone that dogs are very unsanitary and he has no place in their home. She shuts the door on Eddie.
At Buck’s place, Hoover barks so loudly and incessantly that Buck’s landlord has no trouble reminding him that dogs are not allowed, and that Hoover must leave immediately.
Fortunately, Hoover ultimately finds a home. At the end of the episode, we learn that Athena has sent Hoover to live with Sharlo and Samir, the home invasion victims from earlier in the episode. Hoover will provide a sense of security for Sharlo while her husband is away on business trips, and Hoover will have plenty of opportunities to protect them all from sweet-toothed raccoons.
A Celebration and a Teary Realization
Hen has been given a second chance at her medical school exams that she bombed earlier. Her supervising professor invited Hen to follow her on her hospital rounds, and Hen’s performance would decide whether or not she would be moved on to her third year of medical school.
At the surprise of just about no one (certainly not me), Hen performs beautifully. She offers medical advice and diagnoses with each patient she visits, and she does so correctly. Hen performs so well, in fact, that she is invited to look in on a surgery that she herself helped determine was needed.
Later, Bobby and Athena host a barbeque at their house to celebrate Hen passing her practical exam with flying colors. All of the 118 are there, and the champagne is flowing. Toasts are made, and Hen is overcome with emotion and memories of her times with each firehouse member. But the toasts sound a lot like goodbyes, with everyone telling Hen that they will miss her around the firehouse. It’s understandable that, once Hen becomes a full-fledged doctor, she won’t be able to work at the 118 anymore. But this scene shows the weight of that realization hitting everyone like a ton of bricks. Hopefully, Dr. Henrietta Wilson won’t ever be far from the 118, and we’ll get to see her on our screens in future seasons.
9-1-1 airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on FOX. Check out all of our other 9-1-1 coverage here.
