911 just beautifully corrected Season 8's mistakes to the joy of fans!

911 just did a beautiful job resetting the series! Here’s a quick way to fix the early mistakes of Season 8!

Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for 911 Season 8 Episode 4

Season 8 of 911 has been off to a rough start. It started with Bobby quitting just before a near-death experience made him want to return in the season 7 finale. Sadly, his resignation was seemingly final. Even worse, his replacement was none other than Gerrard, the horrible captain who made Hen’s life miserable when she was a rookie. He was soon running the 118 like a tyrant. 

Hen herself was a mess as she and wife Karen had lost custody of their foster daughter Mara. That was because of the wicked Councilwoman Ortiz who wrongly blamed Hen for failing to save her son at a car crash (ignoring her son had refused treatment on the scene and the accident was his fault in the first place). Also, Eddie was still feeling down as his son Christopher was living with his grandparents in Texas, not happy seeing his dad kissing a woman who looked like Christopher’s late mom. 

The three-part season premiere revolved around disasters like a “Bee-nado” and Athena trying to save a crashing airplane with a witness on board to bust a dangerous crook. Bobby had been working as a consultant on a firefighter TV show (allowing the series to mock itself a bit) and bonding with the lead actor. 

So fans were not happy about all these changes…and in the course of one hour, it got fixed in a near-perfect way. 

How did 911 right itself?

The hour started with Buck feeling out of place as, after saving Gerrard’s life, the older man had taken Buck under his wing, with Buck hating it. That was made worse when Gerrard wanted Buck to choose what "dead weight" to cut from the firehouse.

Hen and Karen tried to get themselves reinstated as foster parents but the judge was a friend of Ortiz, who was now running for mayor. In a private talk, Ortiz revealed she’d gotten Gerrard assigned to the 118 in the first place just to get at Hen. She also used her son’s death to make firefighters wear body cams in the field. 

Each member of the team came to Bobby, begging him to come back with him unsure. In the end, not only did he agree but Bobby came up with an utterly beautiful plan to solve things. First, he met Gerrard on the TV show set, making himself sound like a “boss” on the show, knowing that would hit Gerrard’s ego. He then laid out how Gerrard was only being used by Ortiz. 

Gerrard met Ortiz, saying that if she really wanted to hurt Hen, she’d go after her true family. At a council meeting, Ortiz proposed shutting down the 118 firehouse for “budgetary reasons”. She brushed off Hen’s speech to sway her so Hen hoisted Ortiz by her own petard. She played the video from the body cam Gerrard had been wearing in that meeting, where Ortiz proudly boated to using her power and manipulating judges and agencies for a personal vendetta. 

Naturally, Ortiz’s political career was dead, Gerrard decided to take up the consultant spot on the TV show and the episode ended with Bobby welcomed back to the 118 while Hen and Karen got Mara back too.

Now, this does leave Eddie and Christopher up in the air. Still, it’s amazing that in one episode, 911 corrected itself, getting the family of the 118 back together with foes vanquished and starting Season 8 in a better way.

911 Season 8 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.