Until the closing scene of this episode, 9-1-1 had plausible deniability. The scene of Buck (Oliver Stark) searching for Eddie (Ryan Guzman) after a devastating break-up might have merely been an affirmation of their friendship, the better to illustrate how much Buck will miss him when he’s gone. Certain word choices, like Buck apologizing for “outing” Eddie in front of everyone, might genuinely be unintentional. But there is nothing unintentional about the Buddie farewell scene in “Voices.” Before we get there, we have to deal with the aftermath of Detective Braeburn (Abigail Spencer) abducting Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) at the end of the previous episode. As predicted, nearly every trace of nuance and almost all intriguing character notes have been excised in favor of a variation on a main character in peril that could have played out in just about any network crime drama. It definitely plays out without any of the thoughtfulness and moral unease that “Sob Stories” weaved in so well. Maddie’s Abduction Unfolds Exactly As You Would Expect
9-1-1 Sidesteps More Interesting Possibilities
“Voices” kicks off with Howard (Kenneth Choi) and Buck returning from their night out with the 118, quickly realizing that Maddie is nowhere to be found. With panic beginning to set in for Howard, 9-1-1 then reveals that Detective Braeburn has been keeping Maddie in a dusty basement. The dispatcher wakes up briefly from her chloroform-induced slumber to see that Braeburn suffers from what looks to be a split-personality disorder. The detective is seen talking to herself, with one side of her personality being submissive and more reluctant to harm Maddie. That’s the voice Maddie heard on the phone last week.
The dominant personality, a more unhinged version of Braeburn, wants to get the whole thing over with. “Voices” never really puts more thought into its central villain than this simplistic setup. Braeburn is worried that, because of the amount of research Maddie put into the case, her dark secret will eventually be exposed. Braeburn’s motive for kidnapping young girls is never fully fleshed out. It’s revealed she survived horrific circumstances as a child, becoming a runaway herself, and is now carrying out her own twisted sense of justice. “Voices” could have been a true continuation of “Sob Stories”, with Maddie leaning on her empathy and difficult experiences as a way of earning Braeburn’s trust.
Maddie, strangely, never asks Braeburn why she started to go down this dark path and what she hoped to accomplish. She tries at first, but it’s quickly forgotten. The episode forgets Richard Bullock too, waving away the fact that Braeburn killed him to cover for her crimes. “Voices” could have been a true continuation of “Sob Stories”, with Maddie leaning on her empathy and difficult experiences as a way of earning Braeburn’s trust. Besides a fleeting scene where Maddie attempts this tactic, most of the episode is bifurcated between Maddie attempting to escape when Braeburn isn’t around and Braeburn’s attempts to do damage control. That could have been interesting, too. Athena (Angela Bassett) is informed that Maddie is missing fairly early, opening up an opportunity for “Voices” to unfold like a cat-and-mouse thriller. Braeburn could have slipped up, raising Athena’s suspicions, and the hour could have been about the two women lying in each other’s faces as they try to shore up their respective game plans. It would have been a clever inversion of their dynamic, considering how Athena seemed a little starstruck to meet Braeburn at first.
Instead, with the help of Detective Rick Romero (returning guest star Danny Nucci), Athena only begins to suspect Braeburn when she learns the detective was a runaway. It can be tricky to maintain the tension when we know more than the characters, since we’re waiting for the story to catch up to where we are. It also feels wildly implausible that Braeburn, who seems about ready to self-destruct during her interactions with Maddie, doesn’t crack or make a mistake at any other time.
I’m not looking for realism from a franchise that rose to prominence on the back of otherworldly emergencies. Maddie telling a 9-1-1 caller to kill themselves, with vigor and intensity, in a room filled with witnesses, seems like the sort of thing that should at least get her reprimanded. It still might. Either way, that didn’t bother me too much last week because Hewitt absolutely sells it. It’s harder to swallow the implausibility and the narrative choices when so much of what’s unfolding onscreen isn’t compelling.
