9-1-1 Season 9 midseason premiere focuses on Hen’s secret medical issue

Collider says the midseason premiere of 9-1-1 Season 9, titled "Secrets," picks up three months after the midseason finale and centers on Hen (Aisha Hinds) still experiencing an unexplained medical issue she has kept hidden.

The episode shows Hen seeking regular spa-like treatments despite her medical background and hiding symptoms from Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and Karen (Tracie Thoms); Athena offers similar advice but Hen cannot bring herself to tell Chimney. Hen nearly loses consciousness while rescuing a seven-year-old in a burning building, collapses and is hospitalized without a diagnosis, and Chimney fires her after saying she endangered the team. A separate subplot follows Buck (Oliver Stark), Eddie (Ryan Guzman) and Ravi, beginning with a chastity-belt injury call that leads Buck to try to set Eddie up; Buck ends up meeting a woman and a man who turn out to be a married swinging couple, and the episode explicitly clarifies on-screen that Buck is attracted to both men and women while the show still has not used the term "bisexual."

The review calls the episode "fun and entertaining" and says it plants seeds for several future arcs — including a possible chronic-illness storyline for Hen and a Buck–Eddie romantic thread — but notes uncertainty about the show's commitment to following through. 9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8:00 P.M. EST on ABC.

Key Topics

Culture, Hen, Aisha Hinds, Chimney, Buck, Chronic Illness