911: “Haunted”

Everyone’s “Haunted” by the past this week on 9-1-1, with a running theme of people who have left the lives of those they love.

After Maddie takes a mysterious call, Buck is convinced that a ghost was involved. But Buck is still dealing with the memory of Abby, and he’s trying to decide if it’s time for him to move on.

Photo by Jack Zeman / FOX.

Hen gets a call out of the blue about her father, and now she’s got to make decisions about his end of life care. He disappeared when she was young, but going through his house, Hen learns that he’s been keeping up with her life. After a tragic accident injures a police horse, Hen puts him to sleep, and this seems to help her make a decision about her father. After taking the chance to tell him about her feelings growing up without him, she lets him go.

Diaz is trying to get Christopher into a new school, but this brings his ex back into his life. Their marriage fell apart when he was in Afghanistan, and then she left to care for a sick mother and never returned. She wants back in Christopher’s life, but Diaz isn’t so sure she’s ready. She changes his mind when she tells him about how she has struggled with guilt about Christopher’s disabilities and how overwhelmed she was as a mother. It looks like they’re going to try to work things out, and I for one am glad to see some new blood in the show, rather than trying to make it work pairing him up with an existing character.

A call to an injured man turns up a skeleton from years before, which sends Athena into detective mode. When Athena finally tracks down the man’s wife. The man had been an ex-con, so everyone told her he had run out on her. The wife’s relief is compounded when we learn that there was a son, and now we know that his father didn’t run out on him.

This week was another tear-jerker, with lots of complicated emotions. Nuanced relationships and feelings is something I think this show handles well, and I love seeing more of the personal connections and struggles of the characters each week.

9-1-1- airs Mondays at 9/8c on Fox