Image via ABC
Published Mar 19, 2026, 9:01 PM EDT
Jennie Richardson is a TV Features and Lists Writer for Collider, and a graduate student pursuing an MFA in Fiction Writing. In other words, she really loves stories.
Sign in to your Collider account
After the death of Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) last season, all of the remaining 9-1-1 characters have since seemed to have plot armor, so I haven't been worried for their lives this season – even during their most extreme near-death experiences. Last week's episode saw both Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie's (Ryan Guzman) lives put in danger when an older couple drove them off the road, abducted Buck, and tried to kill both of them when Eddie came to save him. Still, I knew that they would be okay, and I wasn't truly worried about Buck – that is, not until now.
9-1-1 Season 9, Episode 14, "DIY" is an episode themed around asking for help. Every issue in this episode is caused when the characters try to handle a problem by themselves, and only those who ask for help are able to get to a better place by the end of it. This episode is split between three main storylines: Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) stepping up at the call center after Sue (Debra Christofferson) has a stroke, May (Corinne Massiah) trying to get an elite law internship, and Eddie trying to get Buck to process his feelings about his abduction in the last episode.
'9-1-1' Season 9, Episode 13 Shows Buck Struggling With Trauma From His Abduction
Image via ABCAt the start of the episode, Chimney (Kenneth Choi) mentions a dinner that he and Maddie had had the previous Tuesday with Sue, Sue's husband, and Buck. Eddie realizes that Buck lied about going to therapy during that time, so he finds him privately to talk. Eddie is concerned that Buck hasn't been to see a therapist since his abduction, but Buck is trying to move past the trauma without properly processing it. The next day, Eddie and Christopher (Gavin McHugh) surprise Buck for dinner with a pizza. Buck doesn't answer the door, and Chris thinks he's not home, but Eddie sees that he's hiding from them. There's nothing Buck loves more than spending time with Eddie and Christopher, so this shows just how much he's struggling.
In a new switch-up for 9-1-1, every call this episode is about the same engaged couple (Bayley Corman and Jake Short), who keep getting injured while fixing up their new house. During one of these calls, this couple is paralleled with Buck and Eddie, who use their situation to passive aggressively argue about how Buck should handle his trauma. Later in the episode, Eddie and Chris schedule an official plan with Buck, where they come over for dinner with takeout again. Buck makes macarons and keeps up a positive attitude, and Eddie really believes he's doing better. He apologizes to Buck and affirms his way of handling things, and Buck apologizes back and assures Eddie that he's alright. When Eddie says, "I was worried the man I knew didn't make it out of New Mexico," though, Buck gets a heartbreaking look on his face.
Related
The dinner goes well, but after Eddie and Chris leave, Buck immediately starts to get a panic attack. He runs to his backpack, which has three prescription pill bottles in it, and then he takes a handful of pills from one of the bottles. This could very well be an anti-anxiety medication that Buck's been prescribed to take as needed, but it seems like 9-1-1 may be setting up an addiction storyline for him. Whether or not Buck was prescribed these pills, he takes more than he likely would've been prescribed (and, oddly, without water), and he keeps them a secret. This could spell a dangerous path for Buck going forward, but if 9-1-1 does go down this road with care and nuance, it could be a really important storyline.
Image via ABCAfter Sue has a stroke at the call center, Maddie and Josh (Bryan Safi) visit her at the hospital while she's recovering. In front of Josh, Sue asks Maddie to take over in her role in her absence. Josh is understandably upset about being passed over for the job by his own mentor in favor of his close friend, whom he trained. He impulsively quits his job, and Maddie is left to run the call center without both Sue and Josh. Chimney encourages Maddie to make the most of the situation, so she tries to be a good boss. She has a hard time adjusting to the position, though, and even unfairly takes over one of Linda's (Chiquita Fuller) calls at one point.
Later, Maddie visits Sue again, and Sue tells Maddie why she chose her over Josh: the job isn't the right one for him, because he cares too much about being liked by everyone around him, and he doesn't know how to ask for help. After how Josh handled Claudette's (Vanessa Estelle Williams) bullying of May in Season 5, this is understandable. Above all, though, this reinforces the episode's theme of the importance of asking for help. The engaged couple faces problems because they try to do everything themselves, and this leads to their breakup and their house burning down. Because Maddie asks for help, though, she gets the promotion. At the end of the episode, Josh even returns to dispatch, and Maddie apologizes to Linda.
'9-1-1' Season 9, Episode 13 Sets Up a New Career Path for May
This episode, May prepares for an interview at a prestigious law firm in her first solo storyline this season. She is hoping to get a law internship for the summer after college, and then to eventually go to law school. This internship is at the law firm of Athena's (Angela Bassett) college friend, Gabby Vaughn (Tasha Smith). Athena wants to call Gabby for May, but May wants to get the internship on her own terms. When May goes in for the interview, Gabby has to leave to tend to an emergency situation. She looked May up and knows who she is, though, so she invites May to come along. In the car, though, May can't give Gabby a good reason as to why she wants to practice law. They get to a hospital, where things have escalated due to a police officer's abuse of power.
After a highway pile-up, an unconscious driver was brought into the hospital. The police officers on the scene showed up to the hospital demanding the blood that the nurse, Ian (Tre McBride), had taken from the driver. The officers have no warrant, but they want to throw their power around and try to find proof of intoxication. May steps in and destroys the blood sample to keep the officers from taking it, but they just arrest her and Ian. Later, Athena bails May out of jail, and it's clear that she's learned from her recent storylines with Harry (Elijah M. Cooper). Athena doesn't understand what May did, but she supports her ability to make her own decisions, especially if May believes in what she's doing.
What May did was brave, and any member of the 118 extended family would have done something similar. As Gabby later points out, though, that isn't an effective way for a lawyer to handle things. May acted too impulsively without being mindful of laws or procedures, and she wasn't able to do anything to help the unconscious driver. Later, Gabby comes over for dinner with Athena, Hen (Aisha Hinds), and May. Gabby and Athena reminisce about college, and then May brings up Gabby's doubts about her future as a lawyer. May finally admits that she feels lost and doesn't know what to do with her life, but everyone there encourages her to take the time to figure it out. At the end of the episode, May meets with Ian and expresses her interest in potentially becoming a nurse.
9-1-1 airs Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
Release Date January 3, 2018
Showrunner Tim Minear
Directors Bradley Buecker, David Grossman, Brenna Malloy, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Jann Turner, Jennifer Lynch, Marita Grabiak, Sarah Boyd, John J. Gray, Barbara Brown, Robert M. Williams Jr., Kristen Reidel, Marcus Stokes, Tasha Smith, Millicent Shelton, Juan Carlos Coto, John Gray, Greg Sirota, Alonso Alvarez, James Wong, Kevin Hooks, Varda Bar-Kar, Shauna Duggins, Sharat Raju
Pros & Cons
- This episode frames everything around the central theme of asking for help, making all of the storylines fit well together.
- This episode gives important character-centered storylines to May, Buck, and Maddie.
- This episode leaves too many major moments for off-screen, like Josh's choice to return to work, and the build-up to the heartbreaking Buck reveal at the end.
English (US) ·