911 TV Series Episode – The New Abnormal
Overview: When the Hollywood Reservoir dam breaks, Bobby and the 118 race into action to save passengers on a city bus that has crashed into a building several stories in the air. Maddie must first locate, and then rescue, a trapped cyclist, and Athena helps an agoraphobic woman evacuate her home. Meanwhile, the team adjusts to life as first responders during the pandemic. Bobby worries if Athena is ready for field duty since recovering from her physical and psychological injuries; Chimney takes extreme precautions around a pregnant Maddie; and May begins a surprising new job.
Air date: 01/18/2021
Directed by: David Grossman
Guest Stars: Bryan Safi as Josh Russo, Claudia Christian as Elaine Maynard, La Monde Byrd as David Hale, Lilli Birdsell as Sylvai Mays, Nikki DeLoach as Janell Hansen, Oliver Vaquer as Steve Hansen, Charlie Bodin as Keith Willits, Annie Chang as Ashley Ryerson, Ty Parker as Connor “C.J.” Jared.
After months of them hyping the return of the series, I was ready for it to get going. Now to be honest, hype does not always help something as it sets a high expectation. In this episode’s case, it already made me not think highly of the episode. The Hollywood sign going down due to a dam failure seemed a little beyond reality. The story is about a series of smaller quakes that have happened. Then a bigger one hits and all kinds of challenges happen. These are made worse when a dam breaks, causing a washout and landslides. The flooding is so intense that it put a bus through a higher floor of an office building. If the force of the water was so strong it could sweep a bus off a highway and shoot it into the middle of a high rise office building, it would have done all kinds of damage to the building. It just didn’t make a lot of sense. The rescue workers drove right up with no issues. When that happens, it kind of ruins the credibility the episode has going forward from that point.
Overall, I was not feeling very encouraged by the promotion of this episode. My fears were very valid, as the episode really was a let-down. Things get worse as these events are what sets up the next episode, so now I know we are not done with this. Let’s hope they find a better formula in the next episode, otherwise this could be a long season.