The second installment of 9-1-1‘s two-part spring premiere is filled with heavy action and heavy emotion.
From Maddie fighting to come home after being abducted and Chimney grappling with her disappearance to Buck and Eddie sharing a heartfelt goodbye and everything that happens in between, this episode is a lot to unpack.
Here’s a recap of every heart-stopping moment in “Voices”.
Maddie Fights for Her Life
Last week’s episode ended with a major cliffhanger. The case Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) had been working on with Athena (Angela Bassett) was seemingly brought to a tragic end, with the serial killer who had been calling her at dispatch taking his own life. She came home to her daughter, Jee-Yun, and all was well. That is, until she was abducted from her kitchen by Amber Braeburn (Abigail Spencer), the detective who had been on the case with them.
This episode picks up close to where the last one left off. Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and Buck (Oliver Stark) return to the Han residence after a farewell dinner for Eddie (Ryan Guzman), to find Jee-Yun alone and Maddie gone. Buck notices Maddie’s wedding ring left by the sink, quickly noticing something is not right. Perplexed, Chimney attempts to call his wife, only to realize her phone has been left behind as well.
Maddie awakens chained up in a basement. Mind still hazy, she hears Amber seemingly having a conversation with herself, which turns into an argument. Once Amber realizes she’s conscious, she promptly uses chloroform to knock her back out. A bit later on, Amber wakes Maddie up again. She explains that she volunteered to take on Maddie’s case so she could lead her astray, but quickly realized how persistent she was. Maddie begins to realize that Richard Bullock, the man she once believed was the killer, was a red herring placed by Amber and that she killed him herself. After getting a call from Athena, she leaves Maddie alone in the basement once again.
While Amber is gone, Maddie manages to break free from the restraints around her wrists. She attempts to escape from the chain around her ankle but is interrupted by her captor’s return. When she comes back down the stairs, Amber reveals that she knows Maddie is pregnant. Revealing to Maddie that she’s been talking to Chimney, Amber also tells her that she’s aware of her past struggle with postpartum depression and the fact that she attempted to drown herself. She then threatens Maddie with a lethal dose of fentanyl before Maddie asks if she can write a goodbye note to her daughter, so she doesn’t think she left because of her.
Amber obliges, and once Maddie is finished with her note she starts to take notice of what Amber may be dealing with inside her own mind. She begins talking to herself again, and it is clear that there are two different personalities at war with each other in Amber’s head. One voice is demanding that the other kills Maddie, and in a desperate attempt to placate them, Maddie tries to connect with the voice she had talked with on the phone previously. She says she is glad to be there so she can help. The second voice, Peter he claims to be called, doesn’t fully believe her, bringing up the fact that she tried to convince him to kill himself. Despite this, Maddie manages to get Amber to leave for the time being.
Amber shows up at the hospital room of her last victim, Jayna. Tricking her into thinking she is taking her home, she abducts her again and brings her back to Maddie. While she is gone, Maddie breaks free again and discovers that Amber herself had once been the victim of a brutal kidnapping when she was a teenager. Once she returns, she tells Maddie to try and talk her out of killing Jayna, giving her a chance to redeem herself through her eyes. Maddie reveals that she knows about Amber’s past, and she tries to get through to her by explaining that none of this is her fault, telling her to fight the voices in her head and that she’s just sick. Maddie’s words don’t get through to her, but before Amber can kill Jayna, an unsuspecting Chimney shows up and rings her doorbell.
When Amber threatens Chimney, Maddie tackles her before she can get up the stairs. The two of them engage in a very physical brawl, but as Maddie takes a moment to catch her breath, Amber reaches up and slits her throat. She goes upstairs to speak with Chimney, leaving a gravely injured and shocked Maddie in the basement.
Chimney Holds Out Hope
While Maddie struggles to get free, Chimney spends this episode worried sick over his wife’s disappearance. Once he and Buck realize she’s missing, they call Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Eddie to help with the search. After calling multiple hospitals and dispatch, they came up with nothing. Hen and Buck tell him to file a missing persons report, but Chimney is hesitant. Bringing up her past struggles with postpartum depression, the group begins to suspect the possibility that she left of her own accord again. Hen calls Athena anyway, and everybody is in on the investigation.
Chimney and Bobby (Peter Krause) head down to Athena’s station to meet her and Amber. Chimney fills out the form for a missing persons report but admits to Athena and Bobby that he didn’t include the fact that Maddie is pregnant. They get him to fill Amber in, and she presses him for information. He ends up explaining Maddie’s past, which she uses to start convincing him that she really did just run away, leading him in the wrong direction. She also tells him what happened with the case Maddie had been working on, getting it into his head that it could have affected Maddie so much that she left because of it. After her conversation with Chimney, Amber gives him her phone number so he can reach her.
After the station, Chimney comes home to Hen and Karen (Tracie Thoms), who have been watching Jee along with their own kids. When they ask how it went with Amber, he tells them she believes Maddie simply ran away. He seems somewhat convinced of this, too, putting Jee to bed after the others leave and shedding some devastating tears. That is, until Hen returns to his door with Mara, her daughter, and reveals a shocking detail about the night Maddie disappeared. Mara tells Chimney that Jee-Yun said she heard Maddie talking to another voice before she disappeared. Chimney puts the pieces together and realizes somebody else was in the house when Maddie went missing.
After this revelation, Chimney attempts to call Amber multiple times, but she doesn’t pick up. Deciding the matter can’t be delayed, he decides to go to her house instead of waiting for her to answer.
Athena Catches On
When Athena calls Amber to help with Maddie’s disappearance, the detective attempts to lead her astray, to the conclusion that Maddie has run away. Athena doesn’t buy into it, not yet suspecting Amber, but telling Bobby it’s too suspicious that Maddie’s gone missing on the same day she helped stop a kidnapper. She begins to suspect that the kidnapper had an accomplice and that they’re responsible for taking Maddie.
She meets up with Detective Rick Romero to review Richard Bullock’s autopsy. It’s revealed that he had high levels of chloroform in his system when he died, and Athena comes to the conclusion that someone drugged him and killed him to make it look like he shot himself – meaning that person is still at large. Athena and Romero then pay a visit to Jayna in the hospital. They ask if she has any recollection of her abductor, and she tells them she doesn’t remember much. When Athena asks if anyone else was with the man who kidnapped her, she says she heard the voice of a woman. Jayna explains that she doesn’t think the woman was another victim because she seemed to be arguing with her captor.
After learning this information, Athena brings in Bullock’s ex-girlfriend for questioning. She tries to get ahold of Amber multiple times before speaking to her but isn’t successful. Romero and Athena reveal to Bullock’s ex that he has died, and they then accuse her of being his accomplice and therefore killing him. She is insistent that she had nothing to do with it, and after giving them a solid alibi, the pair are seemingly thrown back to square one. They comb through confirmed victims, deciding to look for more potential victims that fit their killer’s profile.
When they come across the file of an unnamed teenage girl who was abducted in 2000 and subsequently broke free, they consult Josh (Bryan Safi) at dispatch to try and find the 9-1-1 call she made after the escape to identify her. They come across a call that matches the characteristics they’re looking for, and the caller is revealed to be none other than Amber Braeburn.
Athena shockingly realizes that Amber has been the killer all along. She asks Josh for her address, who admits he’d given it to Chimney right before she showed up.
Maddie Makes It Out
Chimney shows up at Amber’s door, unaware of the revelations made by Athena. She lets him in, indulging in his claim that he believes Maddie’s been taken. As he relays what Jee said, Athena calls him. When he picks up, she asks if he’s with Amber and tells him to stay calm. She explains that she believes Amber is the one who took Maddie, and they she may be a serial killer, before telling him she’s on her way and to get out of her house. He talked to Athena with his back turned away from Amber, replying calmly as instructed.
Once he hangs up, he turns around to find Amber pointing a gun at him. However, right when it seems like she’s about to fire, Maddie (bleeding profusely from her neck due to Amber’s attack) comes from behind and tackles her to the ground. She immediately collapses into Chimney’s arms, who calls 9-1-1 and tries his best to keep her alive. While he does so, Amber manages to get back up and aim for Chimney again, but before she has a chance to shoot, Athena saves the day by taking her out instead.
Everything is a blur as paramedics rush Maddie into an ambulance, Chimney sitting in the back with her. Athena and Romero start to clean up the crime scene, rescuing Jayna from Amber’s basement as well. At the hospital, the 118 waits anxiously for news about Maddie’s condition. Eventually, a doctor comes into the waiting room to bring Chimney to see his wife.
She is revealed to be alive and stable in a tender reunion scene between the two. After the initial relief at seeing one another, she asks Chimney if the baby is going to be okay. He gives her the good news that he is, and we learn the couple is expecting a boy! This episode showcases the fact that Maddie is a fighter, especially when it comes to getting back to the people she loves most.
Eddie Says Goodbye
Although mainly centered around Maddie’s kidnapping, this episode ends with Eddie’s official departure back to his hometown of El Paso, Texas.
Last week, we learned that Buck would be moving into his house while he goes to reconcile with his son, Christopher. It’s official now – Eddie’s gone back to the Lone Star State with nothing but a U-Haul full of furniture and some protein chocolate chip cookies (more on that in a moment).
Throughout this episode, some of the leftover tension from episode 9 makes its way back into Buck and Eddie’s interactions. While the pair drive around to look for Maddie, Buck has a slight exhaustion-fueled meltdown. His distress at everything happening in his life unfolds through a jab at Eddie about his move, but he quickly regrets his words.
The final scene is one that viewers have been dreading, where Eddie finally leaves Los Angeles for Texas. While Buck helps him pack the last of his things, Eddie addresses how tense things have been between them since he announced his move, thanking him for all of his help despite everything. In a touching moment, Eddie explicitly tells Buck that he does matter to him, a callback to the statement he made in the last episode that had Buck spiraling. After gifting Eddie a batch of cookies for the road, they both admit how much they’ll miss each other before sharing a tender hug. Buck sees his best friend off, watching him drive away with a smile that fades the further Eddie goes.
The ending of this episode has us wondering if Eddie will come back, and what that look of uncertainty on Buck’s face says about his potential feelings for him. For now, they’ll be spending their days without each other.
Catch new episodes of 9-1-1 Thursday nights at 8/7c on ABC and the next day on Hulu.
