Talk about a cliffhanger!
9-1-1 Season 6 Episode 10 leaves on the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers, as Buck finds himself in danger and the 118 rushes to save him. It’s a gripping ending for a beautiful episode of the FOX hit series.
Coming off such an emotional ride, we got to break it all down with Executive Producer Kristen Reidel, who took us through the hour and previewed what’s the come for the remainder of this season. Dig in and enjoy this fantastic chat!
We just spoke back in November, and you were telling me that the first episode was going to go off on a cliffhanger, and I had no idea what to expect, and it does go off on a pretty huge cliffhanger.
Yeah, I think it’s probably one of the biggest we’ve ever done, aside from Tsunami.
The whole scene, I think my heart was in my throat. Can you talk to me about how that decision came about to have Buck struck by lightning and how everything came about to have that be how you guys came back for the rest of the season?
So very early in the season, we’d been talking about this sort of Buck-centric season-long story, sort of his journey to figure out who he is and who he wants to be. And so it was very early on that Carlos Coto gave me a very simple pitch which was: Buck dies.
And so we knew all season that at some point, Buck was going to have a death or near-death experience as part of this path. And the question was sort of how you do it.
When we were talking about what our opener would be for the back half, we were right in the middle of having lightning storms here in LA. And it just seemed like an interesting kind of way in where you have a day, and it’s not raining, you’re not expecting it, and then boom.
And that’s when we realized that that was what needed to happen to Buck. Buck needed to be to get struck by lightning. That needed to be how he died.
What can you tell us about what the immediate fallout will be from this, not just for Buck but for everybody who cares about Buck?
I mean, look, Buck will have some serious injuries because of it. You get hit by lightning; there’s heart issues. There’s lung issues. There’s all sorts of things. And so he’s a little touch-and-go coming out of the end of this episode.
And then for our people, I think for everybody in the 118, it’s terrifying because it’s Buck, right? He’s like everybody’s kid brother, and he’s such a beloved part of the 118. And so I think everybody’s struggling with Buck being in the hospital and injured and also just kind of the randomness of it.
I think for Chimney especially, he could have just as easily been the guy on the ladder, right? He’s the only one not on the hospital bed because Buck says, “No, no, I got it.”
I think for most people, but especially for first responders, you always understand that at any moment, something terrible can happen. But when it actually happens in front of your face, it’s different. And so I think it just kind of changes his perspective a little bit on what’s important to him and the situation with his dad and all of that.
I think it just makes him look at his own life and where he’s focusing his energy a little bit more closely.
Before the accident, Buck has this great moment in the truck where he’s talking to Bobby and Eddie about the time he spent at Maddie and Chimney’s with his parents and the Hans. And it was nice to hear him talk about how he was feeling regarding his family.
So, can you tell me about that moment for Buck and what that meant to him to have those family moments?
Yeah, that sort of idealized family around-the-table thing is something that Buck has always wanted and never had. The classic Norman Rockwell, right? It just seems like everybody’s happy and together, and they’re all pulling for each other. And Buck’s experience has never been that.
And so, at that moment, it just feels like, “Man, this is great. I wish we could have had a whole lifetime of this.” And so, he’s actually at a really good place when he gets hit by lightning.
The Buckleys come back during this hour, and Chimney’s father as well. And it creates a lot of emotional turbulence, I would say, for both Maddie and Chimney. Why did you feel it was the right time for all three of them to return?
Well, the truth is, we wanted to bring back the Buckleys. Because the last time that we saw them, things were a little not great. They’ve spoken on the show about Buck and his parents trying to do some therapy. And so we just wanted to revisit those parents and see how that relationship with their children has progressed.
But it also felt like last time, we had a giant family secret. And we didn’t really have that this time. So, what was the complication that would impact their return?
And the complication just seems like it needed to be the other set of parents. Because parents meeting the parents, it can be very fraught. And so it just seemed like a fun way to have conflict, as opposed to a life-and-death conflict.
I didn’t know how the Buckleys were going to respond to anything. As much as Maddie was on edge, I was like, “Ooh, I wonder how they’re going to respond to certain things.” But they seem to surprise their children a lot.
Can you speak to what’s been happening with them or what place they’re at when they’re with their children this time?
I think that last time, especially at the end of Buck Begins, I feel like we got the sense that they had some regrets. That they wish they didn’t have the relationships with their children that they did have at that time.
And so when they come back, I feel like in every scene, they are trying so hard and trying so desperately to make it good, to not be critical, to not start conflict. They feel like they’ve been given a second chance, and they don’t want to screw it up.
So they’re working overtime to be like, “No, everything is great. I love that backsplash.” And then when they get into it with the Hans, you can feel a little bit of how they really feel like the sperm donor thing is kind of dumb. But at the end of the day, they want a good relationship with their kids and with their grandkids.
And so it’s like, how do we have that? How do we be better so that we can continue to build this relationship?
You touched on this a bit earlier in your other answer with Chimney. One of my favorite scenes of the episode was that conversation between Chimney and Hen in the ambulance on the way to that apartment fire when they talked about Chimney and his father.
And it takes on even greater relevance, I think, in light of what soon happens to Buck. So, how will this visit with his father continue to play out after everything that’s happened at the end of the episode?
To me, that actually was a really important scene for a couple of reasons. The most important thing for me was Hen, who also had a very not good relationship with her father, who was mostly absent for most of her life.
And it was this idea of you need to talk to your father, not to forgive him or say it’s okay, but you need to find some peace for yourself. That holding onto the anger and the resentment and the hurt and all of that is hurting you, right? Because I don’t think that Chimney owes his dad anything, but I think Chimney owes Chimney something.
I think Chimney owes himself a kind of healing. And sometimes, just telling someone what they did to you or how they made you feel is actually a breakthrough. It allows you to kind of release it. And that’s sort of what Hen is saying to Chimney. It goes back to the thing that we were just talking about of you never know what’s going to happen.
Hen didn’t know that the last time she would see her father, he would be unconscious in a hospital bed. And she never got a chance to say, “Hey, you screwed up.” And so it’s just that general idea of say what you need to say while you can say it.
Changing course a little bit here over to Hen. It’s pretty clear that during the time jump, Denny and his father have gotten closer. Can you talk about that relationship and where we’ll see this story heading for the Wilsons?
Yes. So Denny has kept it a secret, and Nathaniel has gone along with that. And so, at some point in the near future, Hen and Karen will make that discovery, and they’re going to feel some way about that. That is probably not positive for Denny or his father.
And so I think that that’s a tough one for Hen and Karen to navigate because that man is Denny’s father, and he has developed an attachment to him. So, it’s going to get a little thorny there.
Then, Bobby, we knew that he was going to go into investigation mode, and we knew that Athena and May were going to help, but it seems like they’ve been at this for a while, and there are some frustrations going on there.
Can you preview for us how the investigation will play out and how Bobby will continue to cope with Wendall’s death?
Yeah, I mean, I think for all of them, there is a real frustration. I think that that’s where going into the rehab facility undercover came from, was just this feeling of, “Man, we’ve been at it for months.”
And they have not found the thing that would expose these people. It just felt like they were hitting dead end after a dead end.
But I think May meeting Tamara will turn out to be an important piece of the puzzle, and it will allow Bobby to finally make some progress in finding out what happened to Wendall that night that he died.
May did have a little bit of a breakthrough there, and hopefully, it’ll eventually bring Bobby some peace with everything.
Yeah. Because I think Bobby, there’s a real question in his mind about, “How did Wendall OD? How did this man who was such a pillar for me go down that path?” And so obviously, it’s also, “It’s my friend. It’s my mentor, and I really love this man.” But there’s also that underlying question of how does he get here?
And that’s the mystery that Bobby’s trying to solve. And he will solve it.
Eddie was kind of quiet in this hour, but I imagine it won’t stay that way. What can we expect to see from him coming up?
We’ve got some fun stuff planned for Eddie. He’s going to, I think, finally be ready to step back out into the dating world. And there’s going to be a little bit of a trial and error with that. So, we can have some fun.
Because he really did kind of jump from mourning Shannon into a full-blown relationship with Ana, and he didn’t take a lot of time to play the field. So, I think we’ll see him go out on a date or two and maybe try and find someone who could recapture that feeling that he once had.
We’ve still got a lot of season six yet to go. Are there any upcoming stories or episodes you’re excited for the audience to see that you can tell us about?
Yes. One of our big things is the return of Ravi. He’ll be back with us in the middle of the season. And I think, obviously, we have Bobby-Wendall coming up, as well as some fun stuff with Maddie and Chimney.
***This interview has been edited for length and clarity.***
You can watch 9-1-1 online right here on TV Fanatic and on Mondays at 8/7c on FOX.
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
