S08.E02: When the Boeing Gets Tough...

[Snazzy Daisy]

Quote

Athena is tasked with safely delivering a prisoner to testify on a high-profile case.

Meanwhile, a light plane is hit by a swarm of bees and sent careening into a passenger plane.

Air Date: Oct 03, 2024

 

[fastiller]

Showrunners: this is a great title.  Poor Boeing! [/s]

[Snazzy Daisy]

 

 

[Chaos Theory]

 

“9-1-1  what’s your emergency?”

“Yeah uh…about that…does anyone in dispatch know how to land a 747?”

 

By this point Bobby and Athena should be able to travel just about anywhere and anyway they want first class for free.

of course Athena is going to land the plane and of course kid is going to help heR.

I really liked the moments of all the bit players helping out each other and we get a meet cute with girl with dog and panic man.  
 

BOBBY ANSWER YOUR PHONE!

The team Captain speech made me remember that is us how Yellowjackets began.   I can’t wait for season 3.

Love that Bobby is not the least bit surprised Athena is flying the plane.  “What else would she be doing.”

 

Edited October 4 by Chaos Theory

[michelec]

That was the most ridiculous episode of this show ever...and I loved every minute of it. They jam packed in every disaster movie character cliche they could and then some. Can't wait for next week.

[BooksRule]

What does it say about me that I was worried most about the poor doggo on the plane?  I was so afraid that he (she?) was going to get sucked out through that hole.

[possibilities]

I actually needed the commercial breaks to calm myself down, that's how much this got to me. Nobody does absurdity like this show. 

[DanaK]

These cliffhangers for this 3 part premiere are crazy

[Pepper the Cat]

I  just want the dog to survive. Everyone else can go. As long as the dog lives I’m good.

yes, I am a bad person

[kwnyc]

Oh, what fun! I will note however, that the kid who knows everything about airplanes was also a plot point in Quantum Leap, the reboot.

Here's hoping Captain Asshole must retire due to his head injury.

The 118 members doing triage on the passengers was fantastic. Fasciotomies are really disgusting.

Poor lady pilot, sucked out of the cockpit. And the co-pilot regaining consciousness only to have a heart attack, what a bait and switch! 

Can't wait for next week!

 

[agathapenny]

This episode was so much fun...see how good this is without stupid villains? Plenty of drama and emotion still in a much less annoying way.

The actor with a man-crush on Bobby is hilarious. And now he's going to a potential plane crash with Buck and Bobby, lol.

3 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I really liked the moments of all the bit players helping out each other and we get a meet cute with girl with dog and panic man. 

Yeah, that's one of the things this show does better than any other — give really good characterization and plot to guest stars. It really helps to bring the emotion to the show and raise the stakes, and lets them explore more plot lines with these vignettes.

[dancingdreamer]

Bobby wasn't  a bit surprised  Athena  was flying  the plane, actually  neither were we. Of course the kid was the copilot, I really trusted him to steer Athena in the right direction.  Loved the couple that had the ED pills and a nebulizer (  perks  of being geriatric) lol.

Good news, the copilot  is awake,  bad news, they think  he had a heart attack.  Can't  wait for next week.

[baldryanr]

10 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

By this point Bobby and Athena should be able to travel just about anywhere and anyway they want first class for free

Are you kidding?  They're disaster magnets who should never be allowed to take any form of mass transportation.

[lianau]

2 hours ago, baldryanr said:

Are you kidding?  They're disaster magnets who should never be allowed to take any form of mass transportation.

Exactly, you see one of them you run as fast as you can into the other direction.

[shapeshifter]

10 hours ago, kwnyc said:

Poor lady pilot, sucked out of the cockpit.

Are we taking bets on how she gets rescued? 

[preeya]

13 hours ago, michelec said:

That was the most ridiculous episode of this show ever...and I loved every minute of it. They jam packed in every disaster movie character cliche they could and then some. Can't wait for next week.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar should have been a passenger on the plane, and someone should have been named Shirley.

Airport instructor: Can you fly this plane, and land it?
Athena: Surely you can’t be serious
Airport Instructor: I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley.

[iMonrey]

13 hours ago, BooksRule said:

What does it say about me that I was worried most about the poor doggo on the plane?  I was so afraid that he (she?) was going to get sucked out through that hole.

It says you're like me. All I care about is that the dog is OK. And I guess the lady who owns him, otherwise doggy will be sad. 

Bobby on the set of a TV show advising them about reality is VERY meta. As is the director telling him "this isn't reality, it's TV." Cut to Athena flying a 747.

That said, these two episodes felt like 9-1-1 back to form. Last season was such a dramatic downer, I hope they continue the course correction.

[lianau]

30 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

It says you're like me. All I care about is that the dog is OK. And I guess the lady who owns him, otherwise doggy will be sad. 

 

I'm also very worried for Athena's young copilot and his dad. 

[fastiller]

1 hour ago, preeya said:

Kareem Abdul Jabbar should have been a passenger on the plane, and someone should have been named Shirley.

Airport instructor: Can you fly this plane, and land it?
Athena: Surely you can’t be serious
Airport Instructor: I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley.

 

With Julie Hagerty as a flight attendant and Robert Hays as a passenger!!!

'Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue'

[tennisgurl]

Now this is the 911 that I love! We have ridiculous disasters that only our heroes can solve, we have an eccentric cast of supporting characters, we have a cute dog, we have a possible redemption quest,  we have tension, we have comedy, we have an adorable kid with a dead mom, we have the one guy who could have fixed everything down, its incredible. 

I love that the whole station did a victory dance when Asshole Captain was taken away with a head injury, the brass really need to read the room and retire the guy. Hopefully he's gone for good and we can put last season's weird obsession with lame villains behind us. 

Bobby wasn't even remotely surprised that Athena is flying a crashing plane, I love it. The second he saw Buck he knew exactly what was happening, just a typical day for them, they really cant go anywhere without some huge disaster happening that they have to solve. 

I appreciate how much personality they manage to give the supporting cast in these episodes, the actors do a lot to make them feel real even for a short time in these crazy circumstances. I especially liked the older couple who's meds kept saving the day and the dog girl and anxious guy who have just has a very odd meet cute.  

I'm really glad they played this episode now and not two weeks ago when I was about to take a flight from Chicago to London, I'm already a nervous flyer and I don't need to add "freak bee attack" to my list of things to worry about. 

I kept waiting for someone to come into the cockpit to tell Athena "Good luck, we're all counting on you." 

[fastiller]

13 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

1. Bobby wasn't even remotely surprised that Athena is flying a crashing plane, I love it. The second he saw Buck he knew exactly what was happening, just a typical day for them, they really cant go anywhere without some huge disaster happening that they have to solve. 

2. I appreciate how much personality they manage to give the supporting cast in these episodes, the actors do a lot to make them feel real even for a short time in these crazy circumstances. I especially liked the older couple who's meds kept saving the day and the dog girl and anxious guy who have just has a very odd meet cute.  

3 I kept waiting for someone to come into the cockpit to tell Athena "Good luck, we're all counting on you." 

1. typical day: they're really like Tom Hanks.  (Never travel with Tom Hanks.  You'll get stranded on a deserted island or you'll be taken hostage or you'll end up splashing down in the Hudson)

2. YES!!! This show does such a good job with the stories of the rescue of the week people.  Really economical script work & acting & directing.

3. 🤣😆🤣

[I Want My MBTV]

17 hours ago, kwnyc said:

Here's hoping Captain Asshole must retire due to his head injury.

I think either his injury is going to be worse than first thought or they're going to find some underlying condition they didn't know he had - either way forcing him to retire and then Bobby is going to come back.  It's clear he is completely over being a consultant where it seems they don't want him to actually speak. I  expect the band to be back together by the end of the three parter.

While it did really stress me out I really enjoyed this episode.  It's amazing how while it's exactly the same show/premise the OG is so much better than Lone Star.   

Not a pilot nor do I play one on tv but I would think all those holes in the plane would have sucked out more people than just the poor pilot.  Everything else was super realistic - LOL!

[txhorns79]

I'll admit that if the show was just Athena being forced to land doomed airplanes each week, I would watch that.  Angela Bassett sells the ridiculousness of the show to the point where she should have her own special Emmy.

I did roll my eyes at Bobby calling cut on the filming of the scene at the show he is advising.  I remember reading an interview with a doctor who I believe served as an advisor for either ER or Grey's Anatomy.  They might show the actors how to mime a procedure, help explain to them what is going on in a medical scene or correctly pronounce medical terms.  That's mostly it.              

Edited October 4 by txhorns79

[iMonrey]

Wait, what did I miss here? Athena was picking up that guy somewhere in Arizona, right? And they caught a flight to Hawaii via LAX, and planned to get off at LAX, right? So why were they already over the ocean and having to turn the plane around? Did the accident cause them to overshoot LAX?

[Crashcourse]

The captain is an asshole, but I thought it was a dick move for Hen to be leading a dance party because he's injured (or dead?).  

[possibilities]

Maybe more people weren't sucked out the gaping hole because they had seatbelts on when it happened? Though, I figured the entire plane would fall out of the sky or crack into a million pieces, so I'm not the right person to assess realism vs tv contrivance on this issue. I just chalk the entire episode up to Ridiculous But Fun Fiction.

I love Angela Bassett.

 

[lianau]

32 minutes ago, possibilities said:

Maybe more people weren't sucked out the gaping hole because they had seatbelts on when it happened? Though, I figured the entire plane would fall out of the sky or crack into a million pieces, so I'm not the right person to assess realism vs tv contrivance on this issue. I just chalk the entire episode up to Ridiculous But Fun Fiction.

I love Angela Bassett.

 

look up Aloha Airlines Flight  243. Planes are surprisingly sturdy.

[shapeshifter]

42 minutes ago, lianau said:

look up Aloha Airlines Flight  243. Planes are surprisingly sturdy.

Aloha Airlines Flight 243

Quote

…The only fatality was that of 58-year-old flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing, who was swept out of the airplane while standing near the fifth-row seats; her body was never found.[3]: 5  Lansing was a veteran flight attendant of 37 years at the time of the accident. Eight other people suffered serious injuries.[3]: 5  All of the passengers had been seated and wearing their seat belts during the depressurization.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243#Accident
ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR8903.pdf

I'm still hoping this show's missing copilot is found at sea and rescued.
Why else have them be over the ocean since:

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Wait, what did I miss here? Athena was picking up that guy somewhere in Arizona, right? And they caught a flight to Hawaii via LAX, and planned to get off at LAX, right? So why were they already over the ocean and having to turn the plane around? Did the accident cause them to overshoot LAX?

Edited October 4 by shapeshifter

[Snazzy Daisy]

An emotionally exhausting episode!

The pilot being sucked out of the cockpit is wild and scary AF, gone in 2 seconds. 😳

If I were Athena in that situation, I wouldn’t be able to focus on the flight instructor’s every words. 😣

Despite all the chaos, this episode has done a good job introducing us to some passengers and developing the connections between them.

Quote

“What’s the blanket for?”

“Modesty.”

Ahh Hen, always so thoughtful! 

Bobby is displeased with all the inaccuracies in that firefighters’ show. Is this based on a true story? 😅

One thing — does Maddie really have an authority to simply assign and deploy the 118 paramedics & firefighters like that? She doesn’t go through the proper channel, she calls Chim. I know they need to give 118 something to do but…

 

[Dani-Ellie]

You know, I honestly don’t care that realism went out the hole in the plane with the bee cloud. That was a ridiculously fun hour of television.

[fastiller]

45 minutes ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

. One thing — does Maddie really have an authority to simply assign and deploy the 118 paramedics & firefighters like that? She doesn’t go through the proper channel, she calls Chim. I know they need to give 118 something to do but…

 

 

Maybe she got permission off-camera?

[Kel Varnsen]

22 hours ago, kwnyc said:

Poor lady pilot, sucked out of the cockpit. And the co-pilot regaining consciousness only to have a heart attack, what a bait and switch! 

Hopefully at that altitude you would lose consciousness pretty quickly. Otherwise that would be horrible.

10 hours ago, preeya said:

Kareem Abdul Jabbar should have been a passenger on the plane, and someone should have been named Shirley.

When the co-pilot was being dragged out of the cockpit that was the first thing I thought of. I hope someone says "good luck, we're all counting on you" to Athena next episode.

4 hours ago, I Want My MBTV said:

I think either his injury is going to be worse than first thought or they're going to find some underlying condition they didn't know he had 

With this ridiculous show I expect that the traumatic brain injury is going to lead to a huge shift in his personality where he becomes nice, and the rest of the LAFD just sort of go with it. Or his has amnesia and forgets why he hates the 118.

[agathapenny]

6 hours ago, I Want My MBTV said:

I think either his injury is going to be worse than first thought or they're going to find some underlying condition they didn't know he had - either way forcing him to retire and then Bobby is going to come back.  It's clear he is completely over being a consultant where it seems they don't want him to actually speak. I  expect the band to be back together by the end of the three parter.

From your lips to the showrunners' ears, seriously. Gerrard just slows down the action (they have to constantly work around him) and makes the time spent at the station a downer.

6 hours ago, I Want My MBTV said:

While it did really stress me out I really enjoyed this episode.  It's amazing how while it's exactly the same show/premise the OG is so much better than Lone Star.   

So far I've been disappointed in the train disaster. Surprisingly little dramatic tension. Something about the pacing or the stories is off.

[Calvada]

I don't mean to be a killjoy, but as acting captain, I think my first priority would be cleaning up the pool of blood on the floor.  

The feds have zero authority to take any local law enforcement officer's badge.  They can prosecute them for an alleged violation of federal law, such as a civil rights offense, but they cannot take some officer's badge just because they are angry.  Why is Athena's boss acting all deferential to these guys?  In reality she and all her superiors, up to and including the Chief of Police, would be telling these Assistant U.S. Attorneys to buzz off.  However, the word they would use would not be "buzz!"

[agathapenny]

40 minutes ago, Calvada said:

The feds have zero authority to take any local law enforcement officer's badge.  They can prosecute them for an alleged violation of federal law, such as a civil rights offense, but they cannot take some officer's badge just because they are angry.  Why is Athena's boss acting all deferential to these guys?  In reality she and all her superiors, up to and including the Chief of Police, would be telling these Assistant U.S. Attorneys to buzz off.  However, the word they would use would not be "buzz!"

I don't think Elaine was legitimately intimidated by the feds, she was just being cagey because of what Athena's already been through transporting the prisoner, including a run-in with another law enforcement officer who turned out to be a bad guy. So I think she's playing it close to the vest and placating them for the time being until she hears from Athena. That was my take on that scene, anyway.

[txhorns79]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I'm still hoping this show's missing copilot is found at sea and rescued.
Why else have them be over the ocean since:

Wasn't she sucked through the hole just as the plane was beginning its descent?  She's not being rescued.  She's dead. 

[marceline]

8 hours ago, Calvada said:

They can prosecute them for an alleged violation of federal law, such as a civil rights offense, but they cannot take some officer's badge just because they are angry.  Why is Athena's boss acting all deferential to these guys?  In reality she and all her superiors, up to and including the Chief of Police, would be telling these Assistant U.S. Attorneys to buzz off.  However, the word they would use would not be "buzz!"

I think she's suspicious. Remember, she knows that some fake cop tried to kidnap Dennis and that's the reason they're on the plane to begin with. She knows somebody in the Feds can't be trusted and her first thought is concern for Athena.

Quote

The feds have zero authority to take any local law enforcement officer's badge.  

That's part of why I think we'll find out they're fake or compromised. They were way too heavy-handed.

[shapeshifter]

40 minutes ago, marceline said:

I think she's suspicious. Remember, she knows that some fake cop tried to kidnap Dennis and that's the reason they're on the plane to begin with. She knows somebody in the Feds can't be trusted and her first thought is concern for Athena.

That's part of why I think we'll find out they're fake or compromised. They were way too heavy-handed.

That's what I thought too, based on the dialog delivery and acting.

Edited October 5 by shapeshifter

[Giuseppe]

19 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Wait, what did I miss here? Athena was picking up that guy somewhere in Arizona, right? And they caught a flight to Hawaii via LAX, and planned to get off at LAX, right? So why were they already over the ocean and having to turn the plane around? Did the accident cause them to overshoot LAX?

They were on initial descent into LA when the accident happened. I for one was wondering how in the world they were going to still have them land in LA when they had obviously flown past the airport at the time ATC started instructing Athena on how to land, so I was glad to hear them basically say yeah, we gotta turn you around now.

ETA what I couldn't understand was how the two Feds (is that who they were?) who were scheduled to pick up Athena and the prisoner didn't know about the accident. They were saying to Athena's boss that they never got off the plane...but nobody did because it hadn't landed yet!! Why weren't they asking about the status of the flight, and how did they not know? The accident would've been all over the news at that point.

Edited October 5 by Giuseppe

[NJRadioGuy]

How I felt watching this episode...

On 10/4/2024 at 10:03 AM, shapeshifter said:

Are we taking bets on how she gets rescued? 

True story, in 1990, there was a British Airways captain who was almost completely outside the airplane for 20 minutes, with the First Officer hanging on to his legs. BA 5390. He survived and made a full recovery. But all the way out? Ummm. No. She's flown up the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex captain.

12 hours ago, Giuseppe said:

They were on initial descent into LA when the accident happened. I for one was wondering how in the world they were going to still have them land in LA when they had obviously flown past the airport at the time ATC started instructing Athena on how to land, so I was glad to hear them basically say yeah, we gotta turn you around now.

Very real, even in normal day to day flying. Airplanes have to land into the wind, and if the wind is blowing from land toward the ocean (as it almost always does at night in LA), arriving aircraft are vectored to the approach over the water. In this case, with a passenger flying, it would make even more sense to do so (dump fuel, getting comfortable attempting to maneuver, etc). And at the risk of being morbid, if things go horribly wrong there isn't flaming wreckage showering down over L.A....which the 118 would invariably have to put out all by themselves.

Until the autopilot disconnected it would have been relatively easy to land the airplane. As they showed at first, approach control gives headings, speeds, and altitudes, and the AP does the rest. Plenty of videos of folks doing it in the simulator. Over the numbers, disconnect the AP, cut the power and flare gently...presuming the gear extends and locks (part 3??), reverse thrust and brake. Not horribly difficult. BUT. Without the autopilot? HAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, good luck with that. The kid would have a better shot at it, to be honest. 

"Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"

Also, cellphones generally don't work more than about 2000-3000' above ground.

Please, please let someone in the Tower say "Athena, that's got to be the lousiest landing in the history of this airport, but I for one want to buy you a drink and shake your hand." Or some variation of that. 

[iMonrey]

23 hours ago, Giuseppe said:

They were on initial descent into LA when the accident happened. I for one was wondering how in the world they were going to still have them land in LA when they had obviously flown past the airport at the time ATC started instructing Athena on how to land, so I was glad to hear them basically say yeah, we gotta turn you around now.

That being the case, given the amount of time they've been in the air since turning around, they would surely have overshot LAX by now and be somewhere in the middle of California. They're going to have to turn around again!

[NJRadioGuy]

1 minute ago, iMonrey said:

That being the case, given the amount of time they've been in the air since turning around, they would surely have overshot LAX by now and be somewhere in the middle of California. They're going to have to turn around again!

And that could potentially bring fuel starvation into the equation. Most aircraft have just enough fuel onboard to make it safely to their alternate airport (in case their destination is unavailable) plus a reserve on top of that. Presumably the aircraft would be refueled for the leg to HNL during the layover at LAX. So they'd be "running on fumes" by now.

Also I had to laugh at the title--when the "Boeing gets tough," because Boeings have control yokes, not sidesticks! Just like the jet in "Airplane" having prop sounds. heh.

[Clanstarling]

On 10/5/2024 at 9:26 AM, Giuseppe said:

ETA what I couldn't understand was how the two Feds (is that who they were?) who were scheduled to pick up Athena and the prisoner didn't know about the accident. They were saying to Athena's boss that they never got off the plane...but nobody did because it hadn't landed yet!! Why weren't they asking about the status of the flight, and how did they not know? The accident would've been all over the news at that point.

I think they were scheduled to be on the flight that landed, but missed it because of the bad cop/fed/assassin they put in the trunk. So they booked a flight that was going to (Hawaii??) but had a stop in LA. Athena didn't have any bars on her phone when that happened, and no time to call when she was at the airport (maybe).

Edited October 6 by Clanstarling

[Giuseppe]

That's right, I had forgotten that from the first ep. Thanks for the reminder.

[lianau]

3 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I think they were scheduled to be on the flight that landed, but missed it because of the bad cop/fed/assassin they put in the trunk. So they booked a flight that was going to (Hawaii??) but had a stop in LA. Athena didn't have any bars on her phone when that happened, and no time to call when she was at the airport (maybe).

I thought they intentionally missed that planned flight because of the assassincops.

[shapeshifter]

27 minutes ago, lianau said:

I thought they intentionally missed that planned flight because of the assassincops.

Primarily they missed the flight because of the guy Athena left in the trunk.
Whether or not the 2 so-called Feds are legit is still yet to be determined.…

[KeithJ]

On 10/3/2024 at 8:20 PM, michelec said:

That was the most ridiculous episode of this show ever.

Agreed.

On 10/3/2024 at 8:20 PM, michelec said:

 I loved every minute of it.

Can't agree here.  They are now 2 for 2 on stupid episodes this season (I also hated the premier).  All episodes like this do is turn off fans that are looking for just a semi-normal show.  Not all this ridiculousness that was in the first two episodes and what I'm sure is coming in part 3.

[JenLily]

On 10/4/2024 at 1:36 PM, tennisgurl said:

I'm really glad they played this episode now and not two weeks ago when I was about to take a flight from Chicago to London

I was on a plane when I started watching this episode. About two minutes in, I was like, "Oops. This is a mistake." Kept watching anyway. 😄

On 10/4/2024 at 6:49 PM, Snazzy Daisy said:

If I were Athena in that situation, I wouldn’t be able to focus on the flight instructor’s every words. 

If I were Athena, I wouldn't have had cell service. I can't get reception in certain parts of my house, let alone up in a plane. I want to know who her provider is because AT&T sucks.

[Clanstarling]

3 hours ago, KeithJ said:

Agreed.

Can't agree here.  They are now 2 for 2 on stupid episodes this season (I also hated the premier).  All episodes like this do is turn off fans that are looking for just a semi-normal show.  Not all this ridiculousness that was in the first two episodes and what I'm sure is coming in part 3.

I generally hate these types of season openers (really hated the Poseidon Adventure riff last year). But I am finding this season's far more engrossing and fun. I think because the entire cast has something to do throughout the episodes. And because they've pretty much been non-stop action.

The fun of this show has always been ridiculous situations, at least for me. I'm pleased to see they're returning to them.

Edited October 7 by Clanstarling

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, KeithJ said:

All episodes like this do is turn off fans that are looking for just a semi-normal show.

But . . . 9-1-1 has never been a semi normal show. Ever. I get that someone tuning in for the first time might go "Oh, this is wacky, it's not for me," but anyone who has watched all seven seasons already knows the show is like this.