9-1-1 season 8 episode 7, “Hotshots,” is not an unserious, silly episode but instead forces both the viewers and characters to question things they thought they knew.
The episode begins at a jewelry shop that’s being robbed by several people with guns in masks—except, wait, it’s a sting! Everyone in there is a cop, including Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) herself, in a leopard-print jacket that really, really takes over the screen.
While Athena chastises herself for missing out on getting Flash Rob–which is an insane name for an online personality who encourages people to rob banks, by the way–he runs. She chases him, pulling a hamstring along the way.
Elsewhere, Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chim (Kenneth Choi) join Buck (Oliver Stark) for dinner, where they learn that Buck has turned to baking as a coping mechanism instead of texting Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) whenever he wants to. He’s made several loaves of bread, baked Alaska, and even baked brie, Maddie’s favorite…
Except when she’s pregnant, of course.
Maddie denies wine earlier, claiming that her trainer wants her to lay off the booze, but Buck is far from stupid when it comes to his sister, and he figures out pretty quickly that she’s pregnant. While Maddie tries to tell Buck they didn’t tell him because it was so early, Chim is more to the point, stating that he’s a blabbermouth, which isn’t wrong.
After Buck tells them he’s so excited for them and that this is the best news, they have a small group hug that is so ooey-gooey it could’ve rivaled a chocolate chip cookie straight from the oven.
Hangin’ Out
Over on the Hotshots set, a stunt gone wrong requires the 118 to help a stuntman who’s passed out. He’s hanging from a truck’s ladder, a la one Evan Buckley in season six.
Eddie (Ryan Guzman) and Buck wake him up and get him to the ground safely, but not before Vincent Gerrard (Brian Thompson) greets them and then promptly runs away to get Brad (Callum Blue) a latte.
Brad, of course, is ecstatic to see Bobby (Peter Krause) and is relatable. As he hugs Bobby tightly, we’re still unsure how to feel about Brad. Do we like him? Hate him? Trust him? We’ll see, I suppose.
After Athena pulls her hamstring and limps around without a crutch, she meets with her boss, Elaine (Claudia Christian). She informs Athena that she’ll have a probationary officer working with her from now on.
Athena is, of course, resistant, but Officer Sparks (Zach Tinker) was top of his class at the academy. He’s incredibly eager to work with the sergeant who’s led the station in arrests for 104 (count ‘em!) consecutive months. As much as she protests, Elaine doesn’t give her much of an option. She’s a mentor now.
At the firehouse, Bobby lets Buck make lunch. Eddie and Hen (Aisha Hinds) interrogate Buck over why he’s suddenly so into baking. After Buck sees Tommy typing in their chat, Eddie and Hen take his phone and play keep-away until Fire Chief Simpson (Richard Brooks) confronts them.
Good news, though! He’s not there to berate the 118 (for once). He’s here because Brad has all but demanded that Bobby return to the Hotshots set and abandon his firehouse. The Chief is inclined to agree because they give so much money to the department. Thus, an idea is born: make Gerrard nice so Bobby doesn’t have to work on a television set.
If You See Something, Say Something
Athena and Sparks are on their first outing; Athena is teaching him to be aware of his surroundings at all times. He’s diligently taking notes, but by taking notes, he’s missing out on his surroundings.
Athena asks him why he’s in this profession. Sparks tells her he wants to become a cop because his father abused him and his mother. He’s never seen his father as scared as the night the neighbors called the cops on him. He realized that night how much power cops have and acted on it–an immediate red flag for Athena.
She tells Hen as much as they drink together (and Athena rests her injured leg). Hen tries to say to her that it’s completely normal and expected to have some wear and tear, but Athena thinks she’s just jabbing at her age.
In the end, Hen implores Athena to “get over yourself, and then follow your instinct.” And thank goodness she did, but more on that later!
On day one of the “teach Gerrard to be nicer” plan, Bobby heads to the Hotshots set. He tries to encourage Gerrard to learn people’s names, jobs, and associations. In a surprising turn of events, after Brad brushes Gerrard off, Gerrard cries to Bobby about loving this job and hoping that Brad doesn’t take it away.
I would’ve loved to see the part where Bobby tells Buck about Gerrard crying. Classic.
Athena gets to work the next day, and Sparks surprises her by telling her that he’s found some seemingly helpful information about Flash Rob. With this info, they head for the trucking company that seems to be featured in the videos.
After the supervisor points out Flash Rob/Caleb (Colin Ford), he runs for his truck, and Sparks jumps onto the back of his vehicle as he drives away. Athena quickly follows behind, orders roadblocks to be put up, and tries to get Sparks out of the car.
Shockingly, he refuses, instead climbing atop the truck until he can dive in from the side. This forces Flash Rob/Caleb to stop, and Sparks can arrest him. He gets applause from the officers waiting at the roadblock (I’m not joking). And then thanks, Athena, for the assist (I’m still not kidding).
As Athena tells Elaine that she thinks he’s a time bomb, he overhears and accuses her of only saying this because he’s younger and faster than her. Athena tells Elaine to believe them when people show you who they are and exits the room, demanding that Sparks no longer work with her.
Street Fighter Bobby Nash
Maddie and Chim, looking for a date night, utilize Uncle Buck for the night and drop Jee off to bake with her favorite uncle. There’s a cute albeit small scene between Buck and Jee, and this breakup has somehow turned into a good thing.
Brad and Bobby go to dinner–courtesy of the LAFD, according to Bobby–and it’s a nightmare from beginning to end. Brad demands an intricate drink, and when it’s delivered wrong by a very kind waitress, he insults her to the point of her crying.
While people are filming on their cell phones, Bobby demands that Brad apologize to the waitress. Brad gets right up in Bobby’s face and asks, “Or what?” and Bobby doesn’t miss a beat before saying, “I’m gonna kick your limey ass!”
Talented, brilliant, incredible, show-stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, and completely never done before.
As we near the end of the episode, Officer Sparks and his new mentor, Officer Vargas (Ross Gallo), are making a routine stop that turns into a 911 call as this person is a “sovereign citizen.”
She claims she doesn’t need a license plate, and while Officer Vargas agrees, he explains that he needs paperwork from her to complete the process. Sparks asks if he can try to talk her down. As she gets more disobedient, he smashes her window open. He then attempts to drag her out of the car while her daughter is in the backseat.
Tick, Tick… Boom
After she refuses to exit the vehicle, Sparks shouts, “Taser!”. And, you guessed it, he removes his gun from his holster and shoots her. Athena immediately jumps into action. With her quick thinking and med kit, she can get the woman to breathe again before the ambulance shows up.
Athena, at the deposition, and with a crutch, wishes him luck and tells him to tell the truth. Then, she asks Elaine if she’ll assign her a new probie. She has the wisdom to teach some of the younger generations what she knows without necessarily having to give anything up.
Back at the firehouse, Bobby interrupts Buck, Hen, and Eddie, who are watching the now-viral video of Bobby threatening Brad. He wanes about not wanting to work with Brad. Then, Brad shows up behind him and tells him his character on Hotshots has been put into a coma.
Brad explains that Bobby threatening him “blasted the entitlement out of me like a truth enema” and that he needs to study Bobby at the firehouse by shadowing him.
The alarm goes off; Brad enters the firetruck and fin. Until next week!
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