S05.E01: Panic

[DanaK]

Quote

A series of ransomware threats leads to an overabundance of emergencies for the 118, including a medevac helicopter crash at a hospital and an air-traffic control tower system failure. Meanwhile Athena must revisit her traumatic attack when the case of the realtor serial rapist goes to trial, Eddie suffers a health scare and Maddie's postpartum depression worsens in the all-new "Panic" Season Five premiere episode of 9-1-1 airing Monday, Sept. 20 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (NIN-501) (TV-14 D, L, S, V)

 

[HerkyJerky]

OMG!😳

[ShortyMac]

This episode was crazy! 

[Jeopardy15]

What the hell was that ending?????

[tvgoddess]

Now that was a damn freaking season premiere!! That ending, I did not see all of it coming. I was scared that something might happen to Lou but I was not expecting the lawyer. That totally came out of left field for me. Well done, Show. Poor Lou! I loved the entire hour. Stressful as all get out, especially that part with ATC. I could never have that job. Then again, I couldn't be a 911 operator either. Kudos to the real life people that do these jobs. That is too much stress for someone like me who panics in every situation.

I'll have more to say, but I'm just so glad this show is back. I missed it and these characters. And so impressed with this opening. Very engaging and engrossing throughout. 

[Irlandesa]

Hello, my name is Irlandesa and I've watched too much TV in my lifetime because that ending?  Not a bit shocking to me.

I guessed that the lawyer was more of a fan of her client than she let on when she was fired.  And when his back was to the lawyer and putting the perp in the car, I knew that cop was going to get killed.

How did I know this?  Well, it has been done a few times before and I've clearly seen those few times.

Err.  "I'm surprised to see you again. How are you feeling?" In front of coworkers.  Yeah, doc, you're not supposed to do that.

[Gramto6]

Well, I had to deal with kittens dealing with a raccoon eating their food on the porch so missed the ending. Last bit I saw was the guy had the lawyer by the face.... what happened at the end? 

[tvgoddess]

6 minutes ago, Gramto6 said:

Well, I had to deal with kittens dealing with a raccoon eating their food on the porch so missed the ending. Last bit I saw was the guy had the lawyer by the face.... what happened at the end? 

Lou caught the rapist. Then after he put him in the car, the lawyer came up behind him and slit his throat. 

[Demian]

Still waiting for the justification of the giraffe.  (Especially how gigantic that giraffe appeared.)  Yes, I know they had a throwaway line about how the Los Angeles Zoo was also affected by the monster hack -- that also took down Boston, Austin, and all of the other cities I didn't pay attention to because this show is just going to ignore them once they've mentioned them.

I just rolled my eyes at animal cages getting sprung once a Russian-directed hack takes place -- but...how are animal cages triggered open by a fricking software attack?  Answer me THAT, 9-1-1!

This show is so stupid, and I fucking love it anyway.

[Gramto6]

2 minutes ago, tvgoddess said:

Lou caught the rapist. Then after he put him in the car, the lawyer came up behind him and slit his throat. 

Thank you! Things were thumping in the night on my porch and I had to make sure the kitties were OK, which they were.

[Bulldog]

Welcome back show!

I love that this show is educational as well as entertaining.  Tonight I learned that the appropriate course of action if you believe a jetliner is barreling towards you is to hide under your desk.  Although I do wonder why nobody else wondered why they couldn't see this jet that was supposedly right on top of them. 

8 minutes ago, Demian said:

but...how are animal cages triggered open by a fricking software attack?  Answer me THAT, 9-1-1!

I haven't been to a zoo in ages, but I assume that the cages are now opened via a keypad that the zookeeper enters a code to access.   If computers and traffic lights and hospital equipment can be hacked, seems that simple keypad would be a piece of cake. 

[Demian]

Hee!  I wish

8 minutes ago, Bulldog said:

I assume that the cages are now opened via a keypad that the zookeeper enters a code to access.

Well, thanks, I guess.  I live near a minor zoo, and they absolutely do not do that.

This show is still fun, mainly because it's completely batshit.

[judyri]

57 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

"I'm surprised to see you again. How are you feeling?" In front of coworkers.  Yeah, doc, you're not supposed to do that

Yeah, totally violated all known HIPPA violations I can think of

[preeya]

[jewel21]

Holy crap, I did not see that ending coming! The lawyer was oddly subdued during her kidnapping but I thought at first that it might be shock. Not that she's completely batshit crazy!

[t7686]

[Lady Calypso]

Wow, so the first time you actually have a character die/in danger of actually dying and it sticking, it's with Athena's almost-partner?!?! No thanks, I would like to go back to this show NOT killing off recurring/main characters, thanks! A throat slice seems fairly definite, but we'll see. Maybe there's still hope?

Otherwise...a lot went on in this episode, in terms of the hacking plot being set up. Eddie's panic attack being set off in the store was a fairly good way to set up his arc for the next few episodes. I'm gonna laugh, though, if it actually has nothing to do with him getting shot and everything to do with Ana being mistaken as Christopher's mother. And, of course Buck isn't happy to learn second-hand about that incident. 

Not a whole lot of Maddie, but we do see her PPD not getting better. Hopefully she can figure out how to deal with it with her therapist. 

Athena's plot was strong, besides the goddamn ending, which just made me sad. 

The cases were interesting enough.  

[Court]

I thought there was something up with the lawyer but I didn't expect THAT! Poor Lou. 

[Bulldog]

3 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

A throat slice seems fairly definite, but we'll see. Maybe there's still hope?

Well, Chimney did survive a piece of rebar going thru his skull.  So you never know. 

[Maverick]

 When he was telling the lawyer how bad her advice was, I kept expecting them to both laugh and admit it was part of their plan.   I completely expected her to be in on it with him.   So I wasn't really shocked when she took down the cop.  But I was confused because if they were working together, why keep up the act in the house?   Are we supposed to assume they weren't working together and after spending time preparing his defense she only just at that moment decided to throw her life away and become a murderer for this creep?   I know there are women that fall for criminals but the Stepford Wives demeanor of his fan club was a little over the top.   And the lawyer just decided to go Bonnie and Clyde...because she got all hot and bothered when he threatened to kill her?   I think someone has issues.  

[Clanstarling]

10 hours ago, tvgoddess said:

Stressful as all get out, especially that part with ATC. I could never have that job.

As a person who just booked plane tickets for next year, that stressed me out too. I don't like to think about how complicated the job is for the people who have my life in their hands.

10 hours ago, Demian said:

Still waiting for the justification of the giraffe.  (Especially how gigantic that giraffe appeared.)  Yes, I know they had a throwaway line about how the Los Angeles Zoo was also affected by the monster hack -- that also took down Boston, Austin, and all of the other cities I didn't pay attention to because this show is just going to ignore them once they've mentioned them.

My understanding of that line was that they were mentioning similar attacks HAD happened to those cities, not that they were currently under attack. I don't remember which cities were recently in the news for that reason, but I think these are two of them.

10 hours ago, Bulldog said:

I love that this show is educational as well as entertaining.  Tonight I learned that the appropriate course of action if you believe a jetliner is barreling towards you is to hide under your desk.  Although I do wonder why nobody else wondered why they couldn't see this jet that was supposedly right on top of them.

They said the cloud cover was at 500 feet or something, so they couldn't see it until it was right on them.

[tvgoddess]

3 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

They said the cloud cover was at 500 feet or something, so they couldn't see it until it was right on them.

Right, they said zero visibility. 

Not sure they mentioned Austin as one of the cities, but they definitely mentioned Atlanta. I know because I perked right up at the mention of mine. [I always do when it's mentioned in movies or TV - Speed: "Howard Payne, Atlanta PD Bombsquad. That's our scumbag!" and as one of the nuked cities in Jericho, hooray!]

[KeithJ]

I like this show but pretty much everything in this episode was just way over the top.

I can understand some animals getting out from the zoo but every single one?  And then they all pretty much congregate in the exact same place?  I would bet that some animals wouldn't even care if their cages were open and they would just stay in their habitats.

The murder's fan club was just too much.  Nobody really acts like that.  And, wouldn't the police need search warrants to enter each of their homes?  I don't think "he might be here" is valid enough to enter without a warrant.

The defense attorney at the end with the complete 180?  Maybe they were working together all along but she did seem genuinely scared when he showed up and, why fire her?  She could have easily made any argument he did.

[Racj82]

I think I will be calling that creep Bed Tundy from now on. That seems to be what they are going for with him.

[sempervivum]

2 hours ago, KeithJ said:

The murder's fan club was just too much.  Nobody really acts like that.

One of the reasons I bailed on 'The Following', despite my love of Kevin Bacon.

[iMonrey]

This show never does anything small, does it?

And of course they have to go and kill off Sasha Roiz, because we can't have nice things.

[MrPissyPuppy]

14 hours ago, Bulldog said:

I haven't been to a zoo in ages, but I assume that the cages are now opened via a keypad that the zookeeper enters a code to access.   If computers and traffic lights and hospital equipment can be hacked, seems that simple keypad would be a piece of cake. 

There are a bunch of documentary style zoo shows (The Zoo with versions in NYC & San Diego, Secrets of the Zoo in Australia, NC, Secret Life of the Zoo in England, Mega Zoo & The Aquarium (NC or SC)  on right now & they all seem to use basic locks, keys and levers for access/control.   Basic stuff seems like less likely to malfunction and if it does, you can generally just cut the lock.   Also, only a certain number of keys given out rather than a bunch of randos figuring out the numbers for a keypad. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by MrPissyPuppy

[tennisgurl]

Its like the writers go into every season premier saying "so how can we top last year in terms of craziness?" and this year they really outdid themselves. Circus animals on the loose! Planes almost crashing into control towers! Rapists and their psycho fangirls on the loose! I give the show a lot of credit, they really know how to up the ante and create some really dramatic television, even when it goes ridiculously over the top. I was so worried that something would happen to Lou as they were lingering on him with the rapist, but I so did not see the lawyer coming. Did the rapist not even know that she was a fangirl? What an absolute ride, I can always count on this show to bring the batshit. 

Poor Lou, I guess we had to kill some character after so many near misses, but why did it have to be Sasha Roiz? Why? I guess he could survive, but a slit throat looks pretty bad. Of course, Chim survived rebar to the skull, so stranger things have certainly happened in the 911 verse. Crossing my fingers! 

Can doctors just mention that they know a patient in front of other people like that? Isn't that a huge violation of privacy? What the hell, Eddie's doctor? This did of course lead to Buck finding out that something is up with his bestie, as his "Eddie needs help" senses are tingling already. It would be hilarious if Eddie's panic attacks are actually not so much about the shooter and more about meeting his new girlfriends family. 

Its a wonder more people who do these high stress jobs don't all start passing out from heart attack after heart attack like the people at the control tower. Great having this show back, in all its glory.

[marceline]

36 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Can doctors just mention that they know a patient in front of other people like that? Isn't that a huge violation of privacy? What the hell, Eddie's doctor? This did of course lead to Buck finding out that something is up with his bestie, as his "Eddie needs help" senses are tingling already. It would be hilarious if Eddie's panic attacks are actually not so much about the shooter and more about meeting his new girlfriends family. 

I think that's exactly what the trigger was. It's telling that his panic attack started right after the sales clerk mistook Ana for Christopher's mother.

As for Buck, Eddie made him Christopher's guardian in case something happens. He better be prepared to have Buck hovering over him for at least until Christopher's 18th birthday. Christopher has TWO daddies now. 🙂

As for the ending... 9-1-1 is back y'all. I've missed the crazy.

Edited September 21, 2021 by marceline

[possibilities]

This week on 911, a cross-over with Invasion of the Body Snatchers! That's the only explanation of the lawyer's behavior.

I liked this show a lot in previous seasons but this episode was too much for me. I didn't react that way to the bus that pierced a skyscraper, or the tsunami, or the train disaster, but I dunno... this was just too much for me.

I don't mind them showing the chaos and vulnerability that a hack like this would cause. I actually think that's a good idea. But something about the way they did it, and piled on with the court case (which was even more insulting to the process than most TV, which is saying a lot), AND Eddie's panic attacks and the cardiologist basically outing him, AND the post-partum depression story... it was just too much. They also seem to have the biggest budget in all of television! 

I get that they wanted to do a big disaster for the season opener, and also follow up on previous stories. But I just didn't think it worked.

[tennisgurl]

Next season, I swear the 911 gang will be fighting aliens...

[nokat]

What the everloving hell is wrong with these women who stan killers? Stand in line while he stabs you 50 times.

[ajsnaves]

Here I am, emjoying the crazy, when this turns into Not Law and Order.  I am a criminal defense attorney, so I generally don’t watch cop or law shows.  It angers up the blood too much.  I am willing to look past the attempt to stop him from representing himself (eventhogh he has the constitutional right to do so) and the sloppy motion practice. (That sort of motion would have been filed months ago, and there is no chance it would not have been heard. And the DA would have been the one questioning Athena first, and there would probably been briefing and all that.) I will not look past them having him in a suit just cus he is acting as his own lawyer.  If there is no jury, they guy would have been in orange, and shackled.  He can ask his questions from counsel table like the rest of us.  That us all just too unbelievable for me.

Now bring me more giraffes wandering down Hollywood Blvd.  I want to see Buck riding one before this is all done damnit! And if not Buck, Christoper.  While wearing his new suit.

[Clanstarling]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

And of course they have to go and kill off Sasha Roiz, because we can't have nice things.

I think I might have said "No, not Sasha!" he's been a favorite of mine since I saw him in the underappreciated Caprica.

[Kel Varnsen]

22 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Hello, my name is Irlandesa and I've watched too much TV in my lifetime because that ending?  Not a bit shocking to me.

Me too. As soon as Athena asked about the lawyer and they spent way too much time loading the guy into the car I knew something bad was about to go down 

 

21 hours ago, Bulldog said:

love that this show is educational as well as entertaining.  Tonight I learned that the appropriate course of action if you believe a jetliner is barreling towards you is to hide under your desk. 

That was pretty funny. Because the desk will save you. Although I didn't really understand why the helicopter crashed. It was night but you could still see the building. And if they couldn't see why not just go land somewhere else.

[possibilities]

I knew something bad was going to happen, but I didn't think the lawyer would do it, or that she'd do it in such a gruesome way. 

A bullet, maybe. From one of the stalker fans who maybe followed Their Hero, or was tracking the efforts to find him, perhaps. But a knife to the throat? From the lawyer who had seemed so afraid just moments before? I thought I'd watched a lot of tv, but I didn't see that particular move coming.

[Bulldog]

The city should hire the hacking expert they just used over on The Resident.  She solved their problem in just one episode. 

[nokat]

1 minute ago, Bulldog said:

The city should hire the hacking expert they just used over on The Resident.  She solved their problem in just one episode. 

I think it happened on Grey's Anatomy too.

[Mediocre Gatsby]

I saw this late, so everything has been said. So I'll just praise News Anchor Woman for appropriating Die Hard's comment about Los Angeles joining the "fraternity of cities" experiencing terrorism. 

[tvgoddess]

6 hours ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

I saw this late, so everything has been said. So I'll just praise News Anchor Woman for appropriating Die Hard's comment about Los Angeles joining the "fraternity of cities" experiencing terrorism. 

And on that note, I do like Buck and Taylor together and think they're sexy but I'm still worried that he's more into her than vice versa. He's such a puppy, and she's...not. Hopefully she doesn't break his heart but que sera sera.

I tried to hold my breath when Drowning Lady went under and forget it. I'm a goner.

[rove4]

13 hours ago, possibilities said:

I knew something bad was going to happen, but I didn't think the lawyer would do it, or that she'd do it in such a gruesome way. 

A bullet, maybe. From one of the stalker fans who maybe followed Their Hero, or was tracking the efforts to find him, perhaps. But a knife to the throat? From the lawyer who had seemed so afraid just moments before? I thought I'd watched a lot of tv, but I didn't see that particular move coming.

Same here.  I figured one of the courtroom fangirls would be the one to take out Lou so the lawyer reveal surprised me.  I can only guess that she fell for his "charm" while representing him, that the firing was real and she felt bad for disappointing/failing him. Her killing Lou was her extremely misguided way of getting back into his good graces.  

[shapeshifter]

This is the time of year many viewers like me have to weed our shows, so kudos to the 9-1-1 writers for this episode.
However, the seeming season-long arc of the serial assaulter with a cult following is too Criminal Minds for me, and could result in me tuning out altogether.
The only other part that was too much for me was Maddie's on-going post-partum eyebrows. 

The zoo animals struck me as a throw back to the 1995 movie Twelve Monkeys.
I did wonder if the zoo animals were suggested as a way to avoid a crowd scene on the set during Covid shooting. 
Twelve Monkeys with the loose zoo animals included crazy Brad Pitt, but here, instead, we get hot sliced Sasha Roiz.
Poor Sasha, and just when I was musing about how nice it was that for once he wasn't a villain. 
But I should have been tipped off by Lou/Sasha's Chekhovian warning to Athena to not go after the super criminal alone. And Lou wasn't even wearing a red shirt, was he?

 

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by shapeshifter

[auntiemel]

I'm only halfway through the episode, but I hope Eddie realizes--or has it pointed out to him--that his son, who idolizes him, is watching him every second for cues about what it means to be a man. He's picking up the message that accepting help for medical conditions is weakness. When Christopher has to accept help for medical conditions, how is he going to internalize that message? How is that going to make him feel about himself as a man?

I know that's the opposite of what Eddie would want his son to feel about himself, but he might not realize that kids can only pick up so much about how they should feel about themselves from how their parents feel about them. A huge amount of their self image is shaped by how their parents feel about themselves.

[UnknownK]

On 9/21/2021 at 2:42 PM, marceline said:

I think that's exactly what the trigger was. It's telling that his panic attack started right after the sales clerk mistook Ana for Christopher's mother.

As for Buck, Eddie made him Christopher's guardian in case something happens. He better be prepared to have Buck hovering over him for at least until Christopher's 18th birthday. Christopher has TWO daddies now. 🙂

As for the ending... 9-1-1 is back y'all. I've missed the crazy.

I think it started the second Ana said she wasn't the kids mother, just a friend of the family. He is bouncing between thinking they are getting serious meeting her family to not serious because he is just a friend in front of others. Some of it has to do with his wife dying, him almost dying, and how all this affects his son.

[Raja]

22 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

 

That was pretty funny. Because the desk will save you. Although I didn't really understand why the helicopter crashed. It was night but you could still see the building. And if they couldn't see why not just go land somewhere else.

I think the flight controls got hacked like the electric car was earlier. 

[UnknownK]

The lights for the whole city went out and the backup generator for the hospital didn't even kick on so the whole city was dark. Helicopters trying to land on skyscrapers will have a hell of as time without night vision goggles and they needed to land at that hospital because of the heart that needed transplanting ASAP.

[Andyourlittledog2]

On 9/21/2021 at 5:14 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

That was pretty funny. Because the desk will save you. Although I didn't really understand why the helicopter crashed. It was night but you could still see the building. And if they couldn't see why not just go land somewhere else.

That confused me at first also but it wasn't the lights that really were the primary problem, it was that the controls on the copter were going screwy (computerized controls part of the hack). We saw a few cars go out of control in a similar was I think. When the pilot could actually bring it down it was on the edge which I think had to do with lights. So two things at work here.

At least this pilot didn't have the city of LA enduring a tsunami or earthquake which practically destroys major parts of the area and then next week all fixed like nothing happened.  Yeah, that leaning skyscraper and entire beach community don't just magically go back to normal in a few days but good try show.

I concur on the animal cages. I watch all kinds of modern zoo shows and they are to a one manually operated with locks and gears and shifting pole thingies and never ever just open automatically even so. They are sooooo careful to keep animals locked up and try to avoid any human error. Occasionally an animal gets out through error or miscalculation of the fence size or something but not wholesale due to electrical malfunction and hacks. Manual locks all the way.

ETA: I thought at first the ATC were clutching their hearts and passing out because those folks had pacemakers or AFIB implants or something that were malfunctioning. But probably not because of the high stress job, they would probably be weeded out if they had those.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Andyourlittledog2

[nokat]

16 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

I concur on the animal cages. I watch all kinds of modern zoo shows and they are to a one manually operated with locks and gears and shifting pole thingies and never ever just open automatically even so

I love to watch the zoo shows too. There are so many safety measures to protect the animals and the zookeepers.

[LaylaGirl]

On 9/20/2021 at 8:28 PM, Bulldog said:

Tonight I learned that the appropriate course of action if you believe a jetliner is barreling towards you is to hide under your desk. 

Well, it works for a nuclear attack, so I suppose it would also work for an airliner. Shout out to all of those old enough to remember, "duck and cover" drills in school.

[possibilities]

Duck and Cover-- the original security theater.