An hour that gives us a May-centric storyline will always get at least four stars out of me!
The inclusion of May and Harry as regular characters for 9-1-1 Season 9 was super exciting when the news was announced, but with so many characters and conflicting storylines, we haven’t gotten nearly enough May.
That is, until now.
May has always been such a wonderful character, but the show has struggled at times this season to incorporate her beyond stories that focus on her as a sister or a daughter, which are important parts of her, but not all she is.
The brief introduction of a May and Ravi romance will likely pay off later down the line, once more of their dynamic is established, but we haven’t had a chance to see what May is doing with her life or what motivates her outside of these relationships.
She’s finishing up school, but what are her aspirations now? What is driving her choices at this stage? Would a return to dispatch interest her, or is she seeking a new direction?
We haven’t explored any of that, but 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 14 introduced us to Lawyer May, and I’ll be honest, I had mixed feelings about it.
May could do anything she put her mind to, but there seemed to be something missing when she was role-playing her upcoming interview with Athena, and even when she was talking to Gabby herself, played by the always fabulous Tasha Smith.
She was saying all the right things and giving straightforward, well-rounded answers that sounded fine, but they lacked real feeling. She was selling herself, sure, but there wasn’t a ton of passion behind it.
One of the things that I was finding hard to understand was why she wanted to be a lawyer in the first place, and evidently, Gabby was wondering the same thing when they took that ride over to the hospital.
And let’s be real, not every job you go out to do you need to be head over heels in love with and oozing passion out of your every pore. But becoming a lawyer is more than just your average job.
May was thrown pretty much right into the deep end when she accompanied Gabby to that hospital and smack in the middle of that tense standoff.
There was a lot happening in a very small space, with heightened emotions, and May could have sat back and observed, but she swiftly got caught up in everything and made a pretty rash decision.
Smashing that blood sample on the ground came from a good place, as in she thought she was doing the right thing for someone who was unable to speak for themselves, much like Ian was doing.
In that moment, she saw herself as protecting the patient’s rights, which is exactly how she later justified her actions to Gabby.
However, Gabby raised a compelling counterpoint, asserting that effective advocacy, especially in a legal context, does require some emotional distance.
What that patient needed in that moment was some rationality, and what they needed the most was their lawyer there, continuing to fight for them the right way, not effectively sidelined by the consequences of their impulsivity.
Two things can often be true, and this felt like one of those instances where you could clearly see why May felt so compelled to act, but also recognize that it ultimately wasn’t what should have happened in that situation.
Even so, I assumed that May would still want to pursue law, even after Gabby dressed her down a little bit.
One of my favorite little things on the show is when Athena and Hen link up for a glass of wine and a well-stocked charcuterie board. And adding May and Gabby to the mix was a nice little addition this time.
We’ve seen Athena and Hen live through the moments that helped define them and ultimately pushed them to devote their lives to serving the public, but it’s also important to note that not everyone has a profound moment that shepherds them into their career path.
Sometimes, you discover when you’re younger that you like drawing and crafting things, so you parlay that into graphic design.
Or you realize in college that you’re really great with numbers, and your undeclared major quickly becomes a degree in finance and later a career as an accountant.
Or, if life circumstances mean you have to take any job you can, regardless of what you may truly want, you grin and bear it, and life keeps moving along.
Everyone has a different path, and as Athena said, everyone has their own origin story and May’s living that out. She’s in the process of figuring out her motivations and path, and there’s nothing wrong with not having it all figured out at any age, because we’re evolving, life is constantly changing, and we’re all just doing the best we can.
I’ve had visions of May doing something in medicine, especially after she stepped up to help triage patients during 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 3. I assumed they would have her back in dispatch at some point, but the idea of her becoming a nurse and then the show also having a bridge to the hospital would be a really neat addition to the series.
This series loves a time jump, so I am expecting Nurse May by mid 9-1-1 Season 10.
Elsewhere during this hour, Maddie found herself thrust into a lead role at dispatch after Sue had a stroke, and my number one question as this story played out was: Does Sue OWN dispatch?
How was she able to just give Maddie her job like that? Doesn’t she have a boss somewhere?
Maddie’s so good at her job as a dispatcher, and I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I agree with Sue’s assertion that the role wasn’t a good fit for Josh.
Josh does seem to care a lot, but I’d argue that no one cares more on that floor than Maddie. She pours everything into those calls, and she takes so much of it onto herself.
On the flip side, I’d argue that, based on what we’ve seen over the years, Josh keeps a lot more distance. And I never got the impression that he wouldn’t be able to delegate work, but maybe none of this really matters, and they just needed a reason to make Maddie the boss at dispatch for now.
Maddie can do the job, of course, she can, and I love the parallels between both her and Chim stepping into new roles they’re unsure of and trying to figure their way through them.
But I do wonder if ultimately this is what Maddie really wants.
Hopefully, Sue gets well and can return, because it’s weird to think that’s the end of Maddie’s time as a dispatcher. It just doesn’t feel right.
Something else that doesn’t feel right? Buck.
My goodness, Buck is going through it, and even if you knew it was coming, that didn’t make it hurt any less.
So often on 9-1-1, the characters go through gut-wrenching, traumatic experiences, and we may get a little fallout, but it’s back to business as usual quickly.
And look, I get it. This is a fictional television series; the storylines have to evolve, time has to pass, and the show must go on.
But what happened to Buck during 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 13 was not only physically traumatic, but emotionally gutting. There were very real moments when Buck thought he was going to die in New Mexico or potentially have to assimilate to Bonnie’s demands to keep Eddie safe.
He went through so much that day, and Eddie was right to be concerned about him and to make sure he was talking to someone about what happened, because it would be perfectly okay not to be okay after that.
I had a feeling Buck wasn’t as okay as he claimed to be when he ran off as soon as he realized Eddie knew he skipped his therapy.
If there’s anyone Buck can’t get much past, it’s Eddie. He was looking at him with fresh eyes, and the eyes of someone who knows you well enough to see past what you’re saying and instead recognize what you’re feeling.
Buck’s insistence that he wanted to do things his way was something that Eddie came to eventually accept because he cares so deeply for Buck, and I think he wanted to believe that Buck was being honest with both him and himself.
If someone you care for seems okay and tells you they’re okay, you want to believe they are.
When we got our first glance of what Buck was hiding, when he didn’t answer the door for Eddie and Christopher, it was legitimately heartbreaking because you could see how he was carefully crafting this persona so that no one would realize anything was wrong, while letting himself succumb to his pain in the sanctuary of his home.
Buck at work was on point, focused, and doing all the right things. But it’s obvious he’s going through the motions there, and pasting on the face of the Buck everyone knows and loves and not this Buck, the one who went through a distressing ordeal and will forever be changed by that.
When Eddie said he was worried he lost the man he knew in New Mexico, he had no idea how true that was.
This was a busy episode, so we didn’t actually get to see much of Buck’s low moments or what he was doing to get himself “right” to go to work or to entertain Eddie and Christopher for dinner.
Based on how quickly he grabbed his medications after they left, one could assume that he’s becoming somewhat reliant on medications to help with whatever he’s dealing with, whether that be anxiety, depression, flashbacks, or maybe a combination of different things.
When I spoke to Oliver Stark after the 9-1-1/9-1-1: Nashville crossover, regarding the end of the season for Buck, he shared, “Buck has a really trying end of the season. Kind of starting next week from episode 13, he’s really going to be put through it and have to deal with some new things, and the repercussions are not going to be something he moves past particularly quickly.
“So, he’s got a tough little road coming up. Then, as we move towards the end of the season, some big changes for him and some big questions to be answered, and some decisions to be made in terms of what his life might look like going forward.”
Given Buck’s current state, the road ahead looks even tougher. The key question now: Will Eddie push harder, or will Buck finally open up to someone and truly confront his pain?
If there’s someone to recognize that all is not well, it’s Eddie. He knows Buck too well not to keep paying attention and to see beyond the surface-level “fine” as things progress.
And that quiet awareness that comes with years of knowing and seeing someone so clearly might be the very thing that Buck can’t outrun.
Loose Ends
- The Flynn and Tia house saga went on too long, but watching their relationship deteriorate was sad. The house was just a microcosm of the bigger issues within their relationship and how incompatible they were. Watching that house burn down was cathartic for all of us.
- Fun fact: I once saw a House Hunters episode where a couple was buying a new house and had broken up years earlier while renovating a house together. They, of course, purchased another fixer-upper, and I often wonder if they made sure not to make the same mistakes a second time!
- Josh quitting in the hospital, but then nothing came of it, was so dramatic, but so in line with this show. So many people are quitting and getting fired, and then absolutely nothing is sticking.
- I love it when the whole dispatch crew is in an episode. All we needed was a glimpse of Terry and not just a name drop.
- Macarons aren’t good, I’m so sorry. But I love how much care Buck put into making them for his little Buckley-Diaz family.
We are in the home stretch now! Only a few more hours this season, and outside of Buck, there are things happening, but also not happening?
I’m curious where we’re headed over the next few hours, and, more importantly, what you guys are thinking.
I love to hear your thoughts, so make sure to leave them below!
You can watch 9-1-1 on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.
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