9-1-1 – Past Is Prologue Review/Recap
9-1-1 – Past Is Prologue – this is episode 9 of season 5. Past is Prologue aired Monday, November 29th. This episode is full of budding relationships and what builds them. My analysis for my score is at the bottom.
Warning: This article contains spoilers from Monday night’s episode Past Is Prologue. Read at your own risk!
The episode begins with a very nervous girl taking her road exam who’s having the worst luck when a sinkhole opened up and oil started spewing out; causing the passenger to get injured when the airbags deployed. A pen went through her chest, puncturing her lung. Our nervous driver calls 911 and is put on the line with May (Corinne Massiah) who calls in fire and rescue. Captain Bobby (Peter Krause) is throwing out orders to the 118; before anything can be done Bobby stopped Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) from using the jaws of life; explaining that one spark could cause the whole area to light up.
The team came up with a plan to patch up the hole. They were able to move the car, placing it over the hole, and was able to get in through the car’s sunroof. It wasn’t long after the team got the girls out of the car when the car flipped due to the pressure from the oil.
Awkward Encounter
No child wants to see their parent get their ‘groove’ on; Athena (Angela Bassett) mistakes May for being Bobby and comes out in lingerie and wearing Bobby’s fire jacket. May uses the excuse that she was getting her mail. As she was heading towards the kitchen Bobby peaks from around the corner in just an apron that says ‘kiss the cook’ as it was the only thing he could find to cover up. May quickly got her mail and very quickly left.
During the next shift, Buck was telling the crew about his encounter with his girlfriend Taylor (Megan West); how she used the excuse that she was tired and wanted to sleep in her own bed; Buck automatic thinking that this is the end of the relationship and that this is just the beginning to her disappearing. In his defense though, his girlfriends do just disappear to break up with him, aka Abby and Ally. Bobby gives sound advice, telling Buck that he needs to talk to Taylor.
Cold Case
Athena was called into a robbery that happened in 1987 in a casino; a donation Santa was trying to cash in a poker chip that was dropped into his bucket, a chip that was stolen. Athena wanted to consult with Toni Wilson (Marsha Warfield), who use to work in a casino in Vegas. The robber stole a million chips and no one has seen anything from the robbery until now. Bobby has a theory is that it was an inside job.
The Talk
Buck arrives home and finds Taylor in his apartment looking for her tablet, then informing him that she was flying out for a day or two. Buck immediately stops her and wants to know if they are breaking up. Taylor denies wanting to break up and tells him that it’s her father’s parole hearing. Her mother’s death was first ruled a suicide then later changed with her father arrested for the death of her mother. Buck offered to be there for her, but Taylor turned him down.
Testing the Theory
Bobby was going over the tapes from the robbery that happened in 1987 and it definitely looked like it was an inside job, and just as he was showing it to Athena the VCR ate the tape. So, they decided to test their theory and decided to rob a casino. Bobby was going to be the robber and Athena was going to be security and chase after him. Bobby figured out that there was a double; the robber that came in looks to be about 6 ft tall; but the robber on the way out was notably a lot shorter.
The couple is approached by the manager who used to be a blackjack dealer back in 1987; she gave some serious suspicious vibes. Athena picked up on those vibes as well and figured out that it was the manager and a player at the time who robbed the casino. There was nothing legally she could do, but she did inform the casino owners who then fired the manager.
Here for You
Buck showed up at the prison in Oklahoma for Taylor; she admitted that she couldn’t tell the parole that her father deserved a second chance. He called her a few nasty words. Buck told her he only came for her. Later at Buck’s apartment, Buck tells her he understands complicated family dynamics. Taylor confides in him that she tells other people stories because she hates telling hers.
Relationships
Earlier in the episode, the team went out on a call of a man, Clive (Kim Estes), who was shocked from charging his car; he recognized Hen’s last name, and Hen was shocked to find out he knew her mother, Toni. After questioning her mother who claimed she knew Clive from around the neighborhood. Hen then arranged to have Clive meet up with her and Toni, who had no idea Clive was going to be there.
Later that evening Toni shared that she and Clive were having an affair while she was married to Hen’s father and that the affair ended because Toni found out she was pregnant with Hen. Hen gave her mother Clive’s phones number and told her she was glad somebody loved her before she did. The episode concluded with Toni and Clive finally running away together after all the years that have passed.
My Analysis
The reasoning behind my low review score has a few reasons. One it is an obvious filler episode as we saw nothing brought to the storyline of the plot base of this season; also, that it’s the episode before the highly anticipated Christmas/Holiday episode. We did see another side to Peter, Athena and did learn more about Toni, but that only thing changed character-wise. In terms of Buck’s relationship, we, the audience, know about his issues with relationships and just having them; so, him having doubt or concerns in his relationship with Taylor was nothing new. Finishing this on a positive note, I personally loved how Toni and Clive finally got to run away together after being separated for so long.
