9-1-1 season 2, episode 11 recap: New Beginnings

9-1-1 wastes no time getting back into its action-packed, edge-of-the-seat drama with a frightening twist we didn’t see coming.

9-1-1 returns after a four-month hiatus and I have to say I am so happy it’s back. There’s so much to love about this show, and with Ryan Murphy leading it, it’s no shocker it is so darn good. We last left our merry band of firefighters and 9-1-1 dispatchers during the holidays. Maddie and Chimney were growing closer, Bobby and Athena just got engaged, and Eddie and Buck were as hot as ever.

Going into this episode, “New Beginnings”, the madness kicks off almost immediately as a woman prepares to undergo plastic surgery. As she counts backward to zero and wakes back up, something seems to be off–like really off. All the medical staff is passed out, and the lady’s face is…falling off. Yes, falling off! Due to a burst anesthesia pipe, everyone passes out and doesn’t quite finish operating on the woman. How gnarly was the moment her face sort of just fell off?!

The crazy only continues when a mother and daughter arguing about college is soon interrupted by an accident on the freeway. Unfortunately, the truck that crashes right in front of them has something dangerous in it, something dangerous like a SHARK. The shark was being taken to be released into the wild but an accident causes it to fall out of the truck while its jaw is clenched tightly around one of the workers.

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Luckily, the team shows up in time to save the man, his arm, and have the shark released into the water. That was one hell of a scene, though, and a reminder why 9-1-1 is just so freaking amazing. It’s hard to believe that these two situations are just scratching the surface of what this episode has to offer.

Starting with Maddie first, she definitely seems to be on the up and up with life. She’s killing it at work and was Dispatcher of the Month, things with Chimney are going slow but she even takes control of that and asks him out, and Buck is teaching her how to defend herself. And before we get to the part of the episode that proves this was a good idea, I must talk about how Maddie and Athena help a young boy capture his kidnapper.

At the time the boy makes the 9-1-1 call, he doesn’t do it for logical reasons but it turns out it was the best thing he could have ever done. After calling 9-1-1 and his father getting on the phone to say nothing is wrong, Athena heads over to the home for a welfare check. Things seem off but nothing is standing out at the moment, so Athena decides to keep a close eye on the father and the kid. Inside the house, we see the father open up a hidden door in the wall where inside a young little boy is sitting.

After sifting through the man’s garbage, the authorities learn that the fingerprints of the young boy who called 9-1-1 don’t match his name, but rather match a child’s that was reported lost about seven years prior. And it seems like this man has kidnapped again!

Once the older boy realizes that his “father” has kidnapped the child after seeing a news report about him, he makes a run for it and calls 9-1-1. Thanks to Maddie, he’s able to connect with Athena just as his “father”  tracks him down, and just when the man thinks he’s about to get away, Athena shows up to take him down.

The boys are reunited with their parents, and while the youngest one remembers his parents and is happy to be back with them, it’s not quite the same deal for the other one. He’s been gone from home since he was 6 and is now 13, so when his parents arrive, it’s a bit of an adjustment that Athena promises will all work out.

In other parts of 9-1-1, Athena may be killing it at work, but things at home get a bit complicated when her parents come to visit. Her dad is pretty chill but her mother, on the other hand, is a tough cookie to handle. Things get awkward when she gets pretty hostile against Bobby, but Athena does not stand for it–and neither does Bobby when she starts attacking Athena. It doesn’t seem like her mom is on board with Athena’s plans to get married, but hey, can’t she see Athena’s happy?!

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And then we get to the devastating part of 9-1-1, and honestly, I was freaking out. Of course, just as Maddie is finding some stability and happiness in her life, things go to crap. As she’s waiting for Chimney to show up for their date, she gets a call from her lawyer saying that she was unable to track down Doug (Maddie’s ex), and he hasn’t been seen for months. Well, that’s because Doug has been hanging around town and striking up a friendship with Chimney (which he cleverly orchestrates).

While Maddie is on the phone and she buzzes Chimney in, a dark figure follows closely behind him just as the doors start to shut down. Before we can process what is going on, Doug reveals himself to Chimney, stabs him multiple times, and walks right into Maddie’s house. She turns around assuming its Chimney, only to learn Doug has found her. There’s no time to do anything or react because he strikes her—and the scene goes black.

9-1-1 airs every Monday on Fox at 9 PM EST!