9-1-1-Trapped

By: Danielle de la Torre

Our episode opens with a monologue from Abby (Connie Britton) on how we brave life everyday as we follow the story of a homeless man finding shelter for the rainy LA night. As Abby’s monologue ends the man takes shelter in a garbage can for the night. When he wakes up he is lifted in the trash can and dumped into a garbage truck. He becomes stuck and dials 911 for help because the garbage trucks compacter is about to crush him. Bobby’s team is deployed to a garbage truck heading down the road. Evan (Oliver Stark) pulls in front of the truck to cut him off as the team rushes out of the fire truck. They soon find out that it is the wrong garbage truck and must find the correct one. Athena (Angela Bassett) gets to the correct truck first. As she pulls up the garbage man turns on the compactor. The man screams for help as Athena gets the garbage man to turn off the compactor. Bobby’s team arrives on scene and scales the garbage truck looking for the man. Hen (Aisha Hinds) is the first one into the truck and starts tossing out bags to free the man. With the help from Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and Evan they free the man and quickly attend to him saving his life.

At Abby’s house, Abby talks to Carla (Cocoa Brown) about a date with Evan before getting ready to leave. Abby says goodbye to her mother who doesn’t want her to go before her mother slaps her hard in the face. Abby begins to cry telling Carla that her mother is getting worse. She tries to stay but Carla tells her to go to work.

Athena and Hen have lunch together where Hen confesses to Athena that her ex is suing her for full custody of her son. Athena tells her that she has her back and she should try to make divorce with her wife the last option due to her own personal experience. Hen asks Athena if she is getting a divorce with Michael (Rockmond Dunbar) to which Athena replies that its time for them to do the right thing. She confesses to Hen that she met a guy already in a bar and she is set to go out with him again in a few days. Hen is proud of Athena and they high five in celebration.

We move to a mother and son arguing about school and the future as they step into an elevator. Their fighting continues as the elevator gives and drops several stories. The son injures his shoulder as the mother is knocked unconscious. The son calls for help. Bobby (Peter Krause) and the team arrive on scene as the manager debriefs them about the situation. As he tells Bobby and the rest of the team that the basement is flooded the elevator begins to fill with water. Bobby and the rest of the team oblivious to this set up their plan to rescue the mother and son. Back in the elevator the son helps his mother up and apologizes for all the terrible things he has done. They have a somber moment as they water gets higher. Hen and Evan lower themselves onto the elevator and open it up. They rescue the mom first before Evan tries for the son. The weight of the water pulls the elevator down farther sinking them. They are forced to rush the son out leaving Evan behind. Evan almost drowns before pulling himself up and out of the elevator to safety. Hen tends to the mother who suddenly has an epiphany and tells her son to move out.

Athena and her new man get intimate before things take a turn for the awkward when her man accidently handcuffs both of them to his bed. Athena tells him that the key to get out in her belt that is lying on the floor a few feet away. Panic sets into Athena as she calls Abby for help. She tells Abby to get ahold of Hen so that Hen can help her out. Hen arrives at the house at comes face to face with the situation that Athena is stuck in. After a huge laughing fit from Hen and a selfie of the situation, Hen helps out Athena and then leaves.

Abby drives through beautiful vineyards and arrives to find Evan standing there with flowers for their date. They walks arm in arm as Evan reveals that they will be enjoying truffles and champagne as they board a hot air balloon. They try to start their date before Abby is interrupted by a call from Carla telling her that her mother is having another episode. Abby tries to calm her mother down over the phone but it become apparent to that she must go take care of her mother in person. Abby hangs up and tells Evan that she needs to go.  After a short disappointment Evan understands and Abby leaves.

Evan arrives back at work and Bobby asks him why he is there on his day off. He tells Bobby what happened and explains how Abby is the perfect woman but this is the second time she has blown him off for her mother. He tells Bobby that he doesn’t know if this relationship is for him because of the given situation. He wants to have fun. Bobby gives Evan some advice on relationships and tells him that he should keep Abby company in her situation with her mother.

A man squeezes his way through a compacted space before catching his jacket on something he pulls himself and causing his surroundings to crash down around him. Bobby and his team are deployed to the location. Bobby saws through a piece of the front door and removes it. Piles of paper in bundles fall to the ground as it reveals that the house is full of stuff and there is no way in. The team tries other ways in as Bobby speaks to a neighbor that tells them that the people are cooks who think they are being followed. Evan opens a window to look in and tells Bobby to come look. Evan looks in through the window until a bowling ball booby trap swings out and hits him. He almost falls off his ladder before telling everyone he’s ok. Out of options Bobby is patched through via phone by Abby to the old man inside who tells him his best way inside is through the front tunnel but it is heavily booby trapped. The man tells them that it is the only way in he will talk them through the tunnel but someone just needs to hurry. As they look at the tunnel Chimney is the only one who will fit. Chimney climbs through the tunnel and disarms a trap before making his way to the man. Chimney asks how long he has been living like this. The man tells him that his parents died many years ago and it was just his brother and him. They trapped the house because they wanted to protect it. The man tells Chimney that it is only him and his brother and he wants Chimney to find his brother right away. Chimney agrees and sets off in the maze to find the brother. The team works together to remove items from the house to clearing it just enough to find the brother. The brother has a broken leg that Chimney and Hen tend to. They go to transport the brother before he tells them he can’t leave without his brother. Chimney goes back to get the other brother and they both make it out of the house.

Evan and Abby have breakfast together as Evan asks how her mother is doing. She tells him that she’s getting worse. Abby tries to let Evan off the hook telling him that she doesn’t want to drag him through what she is going through with her mother. Evan tells her that he doesn’t care about a few canceled dates and wants to be there for her. Abby happy with his proclamation leans over the table to kiss him.

Athena and her new man have dinner together and share some laughs before he asks her on a vacation. She declines politely telling him that she is figuring how to be single at her age. She doesn’t want to jump into a relationship and he is too good to be someone’s rebound.

Hen visits her ex again to tell her to stop her insanity and let her live her life with her wife. Her ex tells her that she loves her and that she is different. Hen tells her that she is incapable of loving anyone but herself and she will not let her near her son. She leaves in tears.

Our episode ends with Abby’s monologue about navigating through traps and how they give us purpose. We see the homeless man leave a shelter and go back to sleeping on the streets. The mother and son that were trapped in the elevator arrive at an apartment where the mother hands a box of her sons things to her. The two brothers returns to their home and shut the curtains. Abby’s monologue ends as she wakes up and leaves her room. She comes into the living room to call out for her mother. Her cries become louder as she realizes that her mother has passed. The episode ends as Abby sits by her mother crying and calling out for her mother.