The ‘9-1-1’ Bee-Nado Episodes Were Gloriously Ridiculous Event TV

On ABC’s 9-1-1, the show’s ensemble have dealt with their fair share of natural disasters. As the series has gone on, the writers have escalated the trauma, forcing their team of first responders to tangle with escaped zoo animals and escape a sinking cruise ship. Still, nothing could prepare viewers for what was to come in Season 8, which opens with 22 million killer bees being released upon Los Angeles.

Promotion for Season 8 began in July, with a short video dropping online that began with the sound of the siren and the 9-1-1 series logo. Slowly, the sound of the alarms changed, morphing into the sound of bees buzzing. They quickly came into view as the premiere date became visible, until the bees overtook the screen. At first glance, it felt like a joke that the audience wasn’t in on, but with a second teaser dropping in August claiming “Bee-Nado is coming,” it became apparent that it was real.

This was the first introduction to what might be the most fun piece of event television in years; one that perfectly orchestrates why 9-1-1 is one of the only shows to understand what makes television such a fascinating medium. It’s not often that teasers or trailers don’t give away at least a semblance of what these shows are going to be about, but with these promotional materials, 9-1-1 sets its viewers up for a whirlwind of an event that promised to be more outlandish than all its other hijinks.

Season 8’s first episode titled "Buzzkill" goes through the motions like any other episode of the series, reintroducing us to the 118 crew and picking up where Season 7 left off. But then a truck that is said to be carrying millions of killer bees crashes downtown, threatening the lives of a group attending a perfume party. It’s a fascinating turn of events, and one of 9-1-1’s most outrageous. The show leans into how ridiculous this is, and the writers have a genuine understanding of when they should embrace the comedy of it, and when the potential death of 1,000 bee stings should be taken seriously.

While Bee-Nado is the inciting incident for this three-part premiere event, it doesn’t end with the bees. The bees were merely the cause of a plane disaster that began in the final moments of “Buzzkill,” swarming and overtaking the pilot's view. On this plane is 9-1-1’s own star Athena (Angela Bassett), who is escorting Dennis Jenkins (Glenn Plummer)—who killed her fiancé back in 1991—to L.A. so he can testify in a case in exchange for his freedom. Aptly titled “When the Boeing Gets Tough,” Episode 2 sees Athena scrambling into the cockpit, where she soon discovers that the radio is busted, the pilot has been sucked out of a hole and into the sky, and its copilot has passed out.

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She then calls 9-1-1 on her cellphone, which is somehow still working mid-descent. It quickly becomes clear that Athena must attempt to fly the plane on her own, but thankfully there’s a young aviation-obsessed child on the flight to help guide her way. These antics are what continues to make 9-1-1 such a thrill to watch. There are just enough coincidences that make it unbelievable, but entertainingly so, allowing viewers to laugh while still not being able to take their eyes off the screen.

By forcing its characters into these insane situations, 9-1-1 in turn forces its dedicated audience to become emotionally invested in these ridiculous scenarios. Rather than the crew showing up post-Bee-Nado or as the plane crashes to the ground, the show puts its characters at the center of the dramatics. By doing this, the stakes feel incredibly high, no matter how far-fetched the disaster at hand is. It helps that showrunner Tim Minear obviously understands why this show continues to thrive, going as far as getting Final Destination and Final Destination 3 director James Wong to helm an over the top episode like "Buzzkill.”

With streaming models only allowing their shows 8 to 10 episodes per season, audiences are rushed into storylines that often feel hollow. Up until last season’s limited 10-episode run, 9-1-1 usually broadcasts 14 to 18 episodes per season, making it one of the few series’ to do so in the modern age of TV. Because broadcast series have longer seasons, 9-1-1’s showrunner and writers are encouraged to embrace events like Bee-Nado, and take their time in fleshing out these colossal disasters, instead of having them exist in one episode and be forgotten the next.

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In the dawn of the streaming era, events like 9-1-1’s three-episode premiere are few and far between. Even in the final season of Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” a saga that should have taken place throughout two or three episodes, began and finished in just one. It leaves no room for momentum to build, often taking events like big battles too seriously until there’s nothing thrilling or engaging about them. But 9-1-1 isn’t afraid of being deemed as non-prestige. It seems to even revel in balancing a top-tier performance from an actress of Bassett’s magnitude with the lunacy of the situation she’s been forced into.

Since “Buzzkill” debuted on September 26, the Season 8 premiere has amassed 9.8 million viewers from multi-platform viewing, making this three-part premiere one of the few television events in recent memory to have such a broad reach. 9-1-1 knows how to build momentum around storylines that often see its audience waiting weeks before they come to a solution. It’s the complete opposite of the new model streaming services like Netflix have ushered in, but it's one that understands what makes television such a special and singular medium.

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In its eighth season, it's clear the brains behind 9-1-1 understand how to create moments that the show's thriving online community will continue to talk about for weeks, allowing it to stand out from its peers on network television. It knows when it’s time to release the bees.

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