[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 2 “When the Boeing Gets Tough...
”] As showrunner Tim Minear told us , “Bobby’s always [Athena’s] lifeline. She’s always his lifeline.” That is crystal clear in the latest 9-1-1 episode, following the bee-nado causing a smaller plane to collide with the one Athena’s ( Angela Bassett ) on—while Bobby ( Peter Krause ) is stuck on the TV show set as tech advisor (get him back to the 118 ASAP!) with his phone off! The episode follows the same pattern 9-1-1 has in the past: It goes back to before the incident, introducing the soon-to-be victims.
The passengers include, alongside Athena and her fiancé’s killer Dennis Jenkins (Glenn Plummer), an elderly couple, a woman with her dog, and a high school sports team. Leading up to Athena going to speak to the captain (as seen at the end of the premiere), Dennis tells her he’s only going to take the deal for early release with her blessing. After the collision, Athena tries to call in a mayday over the radio, then calls 9-1-1, and Josh ( Bryan Safi ) answers.
He connects her to air traffic control (Sarah Chaney, Tiffany C. Adams, and Jake Green, below, returning from Season 5’s “Panic”); fortunately, the pilot, before losing consciousness, hit the autopilot button. (The captain was sucked out through a hole in the cockpit.
There’s another tear in the back.) “I know that you’re all scared. I won’t tell you not to be because I am, to.