This review contains spoilers from S2E12 Chimney Begins and E13 Fight or Flight.
Was this a movie or an episode of a television show??
Episode twelve begins chronicling Chimney’s life before he joined the fire department. As Chimney tries to find direction in his life, he saves a life when his friend’s bar catches fire, and there he finds his purpose.
Chimney’s friend Kevin, is actually like a brother, their mothers were best friends. When the bar burns down they both become firefighters. Unfortunately, Kevin lost his life in a fire. This was a sad moment. Chimney does get some wins in this episode but he’s taken several losses since the start of the show.
When Chimney becomes a firefighter he is given all the grunt work. We previously saw an episode where Hen arrives at the station and has to win over the team. At the time you can see that Chimney may have had a similar experience.
Chimney saves the life of one of his fellow firefighters, giving him an in with the guys. He also finds his niche, the medical car.
We are back out of Chimney’s story and in the present for a moment as Buck gets Chimney help has he fights for his life in episode thirteen.
As we go into a flashback of Maddie’s story you can’t help but wonder, where is Maddie and what is Doug doing to her?
Buck figures it all out immediately. No one ever met Chimney’s friend Jason, because Jason is Doug. All of the firefighters rally around Chimney at the hospital.
When Maddie tries to first escape Doug a good Samaritan is killed in the process. Doug could have let him live, he was already wounded, but he killed him, even though cameras had seen his face. At the moment it seems like he is beyond talking down. He is going to do whatever he has to to get Maddie where he wants her.
When Maddie swings the poker, she takes me back to the Jennifer of I Know What You Did Last Summer! Doug keeps trying but Maddie will not stay down!! This scene is very reminiscent of Enough, a movie where Jennifer Lopez must escape her abusive husband. Maddie keeps fighting for her life! I think in that moment she knows there is no other way she’ll live.
There were many moments in these episodes that were a combination of good writing, great directing, and even better acting. I would love to see episode twelve nominated for an Emmy. The scene where Chimney is in the hospital and there is flash between the past and present, pure art. Who do you give credit to, the writing, or directing? The acting in that moment, the way his body jerks as if he is feeling the pain of the present, that scene is it. Chimney and Maddie make it through but these episodes were so climactic, where will they go from here?
9-1-1 airs Mondays on FOX.
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