This week’s episode of 9-1-1 sees Buck discovering a new talent post lightning strike, Denny’s secret meetings with his father is revealed, and Maddie and Chimney ask Athena for help when a suspicious neighbor starts poking around.
Cases of the Week
The 118 arrive on the scene of a cycle class where the instructor has passed out in the middle of the class. They suspect dehydration but one attendee tells them he’s been hydrating with his “taut tummy tea” the whole class, several attendees have. As the instructor wakes up the woman who spoke sways and also passes out. Several cyclists begin dropping and Buck grabs the container of tummy tea and quickly does some mental calculations that they have been over consuming B3 causing the issue. Bobby calls for backup to deal with all the patients now on the ground as everyone marvels at Buck’s sudden math skills.
Firecuts
Two teens skip school and head to the mall to get fire cuts by a stylist who uses fire rather than scissors to cut hair. The first teen, Sherry, is a little jumpy when it comes to the flames and the stylist drops the torch into the trash, igniting the whole thing. The salon sprinklers go off and Sherry begins screaming as the water hits her skin. The 118 arrive to find Sherry on the floor from her allergic reaction to water causing serious injury to her hands and face. Her mother arrives just as they are treating Sherry and she rides with her daughter to the hospital.
A Unique Injury
Dispatch receives a cryptic call from a husband regarding an embarrassing injury to his wife. The 118 arrive to find the woman in pain. The man begrudgingly explains they were having intimate time and he’d purchased a “for her” pleasure toy but it somehow came off. Hen listens to the woman’s abdomen and determines it might have moved to her bladder. The woman is in extreme pain every time she moves so they carefully load her up and take her to the ambulance. She’s less than happy with the way their evening has gone.
You’re A (Math) Wizard, Buck
While on the case at the gym, everyone notices that Buck is able to do some very impressive math in his head. Everyone at the firehouse begins quizzing him and he makes some quick cash off the sudden ability to do complex mental math. Later while Eddie and Chris visit, Eddie does some googling and learns that some people have new mental abilities post traumatic incidents such as lightning strikes and concludes that must be why Buck is suddenly a math wizard. His searches also note that these gifts sometimes disappear after a few weeks. Eddie seems to get a bright idea for those mental math skills and takes Buck to a secret but low stakes poker game with some higher ups including the fire chief.
As they suspected, Buck is able to flawlessly count cards and quickly begins racking up stacks of chips. Slowly, others at the table begin to bow out as Buck takes them for all their worth until it’s just Buck and the fire chief. She makes a mention of how people after lightning strikes can sometimes have abilities but Buck brushes it off and keeps playing. Finally, she bows out too and asks Buck how he wants his earnings. Eddie meant it when he said this was low stakes poker, and the winnings are dolled out in cuts of meat. Buck won’t be needing to shop for quite some time.
Later, Buck and Chris make cookies for his class together but the recipe is in metic. Buck is able to do that mental math conversion as well before he decides to just google a new recipes. It’s a fun bonding moment between the two as Chris is constantly impressed by Buck’s sudden skills with math.
Don’t Be Suspicious
Maddie is running late to work when she suddenly hears a knock at the door. Outside she finds a woman, Carol, who says she’s a neighbor from the house with the pink mailbox and wanted to welcome Maddie to the neighborhood with muffins. Carol barges her way in the door and notices Jee’s toys. She makes a point to say her son and Jee are close in age and they should set up a play date. Maddie hints repeatedly that the she needs to get going but Carol keeps looking around until she finally gives Maddie her number and leaves.
Chimney cleans the dish from Carol that evening as Maddie tells him about her odd conversation. She decides Carol must just be lonely and walks the dish back to the house that very moment only to discover a completely different Carol lives there. Whoever the woman is, she was impersonating Carol and now both Maddie and Chimney are more than a little concerned. They have Bobby and Athena over for dinner and hatch a plan together.
Maddie invites Carol and her son for that play date and chats with her briefly to say that Jee is “napping”. She leaves to check on her but Carol begins poking around the house when Maddie is out of the room. She finds their mail stash and starts taking several envelopes that weren’t addressed to Maddie and Chimney. Of course, Athena and several LAPD officers are there with cameras to catch the woman’s every action. They discover that she was just released from prison for coupon grifting. She’d picked up the same con again, but thought their house was still abandoned so had payments mailed to their address. She was trying to recover the money, but instead she’ll be headed right back to prison!
Denny’s Secrets Come to Light
Hen is at the hospital at the end of a call when Karen calls her to let her know she’s been informed that Denny hasn’t been taking the bus home for months now. They are unsure where he is or has been going when Denny happens to walk through the ER doors with an officer. Hen is relieved but confused as the officer tells her Denny is fine but “her husband” will need surgery. When she asks the officer to clarify, she said she just assumed because Denny said the man was his father. Things begin to click into place for Hen.
At home, Karen and Hen both confront Denny about his lies. He’s been seeing his father after school for months behind their backs and they are furious about the betrayal. Denny however is also mad that he could be dying at the hospital and neither of them care. After Denny goes on hunger strike the next day, they call in Toni to talk to him. She gets Denny to eat and he opens up that he just wanted to get to know Nathaniel. She explains that they are upset and disappointed but are mostly scared for him.
After things calm down, Hen and Karen agree that they don’t want to take this away from Denny and Toni agrees he has a right to know his father. The head to the hospital once Nathaniel is awake and he instantly apologizes for going behind their back. He says Denny is a special kid and is just happy to have known him for that little time. However, they tell him that he’s going to be allowed to keep seeing Denny though there will be hard ground rules and he is going to have to earn their trust. After Nathaniel agrees, Toni takes Denny in to see him while Hen and Karen watch from outside the room. The wonder allowed if they are ready for this.
9-1-1 airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on FOX! Be sure to check out the rest of our 9-1-1 coverage here, including episodic recaps and more!
