Who Is 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 14 Villain, Moira? Bridget Regan’s Evil Scientist Explained

9-1-1’s two-part thriller started with a bang, and its central antagonist is played by a familiar face. The hit ABC procedural follows the lives of emergency responders in LA as they face intense disasters in 9-1-1. Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) leads his small but loyal team of firefighters, including Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark), Howard “Chimney” Han (Kenneth Choi), and Henrietta “Hen” Wilson (Aisha Hinds). The final piece of their dynamic puzzle is typically Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman), but he’s been replaced by the underrated Ravi Panikkar (Anirudh Pisharody) following his sudden move to Texas in 9-1-1 season 8.

While the Eddie plot in 9-1-1 season 8 has gotten plenty of screen-time, the two-part event (known as 9-1-1: Contagion) focuses on something new entirely: the remaining members of LAFD station 118 accidentally trapped in a lab with a deadly virus. Although there have been many gruesome injuries in 9-1-1, there’s something particularly disconcerting about illness-based emergencies, especially ones that play off the collective memory and trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Buck was spared and left to fight for his team’s extraction alongside Sergeant Athena Grant (Angela Bassett), everything may get worse before it gets better.

9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 14’s Villain Explained

Moira Was A Researcher In A Highly-Secure Lab

The high-octane emergency starts, as they often do, with one scorned character: Moira Blake (Bridget Regan), a scientist at the Southern California Institute of Technology. She, along with coworkers Roz (Sadie Kuwano) and Allen (Brian Knoebel), are researching CCHF (Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever)— a risk level 4 pathogen. The other scientists view Moira as a troubled genius, begrudgingly impressed by her work but disturbed by her lack of protocol. After Moira manages to decrease the incubation time to a mere hour and a half in 9-1-1 season 8, episode 14, she reveals to her colleagues that she also developed an antiviral.

Though her antidote could be an invaluable scientific breakthrough, Moira’s findings are disparaged by her boss, Director Francis Banting (Sean T. Krishnan). Rather than praise her discovery, Banting is perturbed by Moira’s wanton disregard for rules and regulations. As she tries to explain, following the restrictive rules “is like running in quicksand.” As Moira sees it, waiting for permission would prohibit any real progress, while her work— though ignoring protocol— could save millions and prevent mass, pathogenic near-death experiences in 9-1-1. Unmoved by her explanation, Director Banting fires Moira, effectively setting off the events of 9-1-1 season 8, episode 14.

What Are Moira’s Motivation & Overall Plan In 9-1-1

She Could Single-Handedly Bring On The End Of The World

While it isn’t explicitly shown, it’s implied that Moira set fire to the lab and stole the remaining antidote vial after incapacitating Allen. She left behind a ticking time bomb of disease, but being fired forced Moira to abandon all reason in 9-1-1 season 8, episode 14. The scientist didn’t care about rules before her boss cut her from the project, so there was nothing tethering her to something as flimsy as the law afterward. Though devastating, the 118’s fate in “Sick Day” is a poetic inverse: the LAFD is locked in with the virus because Moira was locked out.

Given that the episode ends with Moira, nonplussed, walking through a crowded area, there are multiple routes for her to take in 9-1-1 season 8, episode 15. It’s possible Moira doesn’t know the LAFD is trapped and infected, leaving the door open for her to rescue them with the antidote and become an antihero of sorts. The far more likely option is that Moira, enraged by having her work practically stolen from her, is keen to let the deadly CCHF strain loose and use the antiviral on herself. Sadly, her actions may even lead to Bobby’s funeral in 9-1-1.

Who Plays Moira In 9-1-1 Season 8 (& Where You Know The Actor From)

Regan Is A Familiar Face To many

The compelling evil scientist is played by none other than Bridget Regan, an actress with a rich history in network television. Though she’s been acting for nearly 20 years, Regan gained a devoted following through her portrayal of Kahlan Amnell in Legend of the Seeker. After many guest and recurring roles on primetime series like White Collar, Regan’s popularity skyrocketed in 2014 after being cast as Rose/Sin Rostro in Jane the Virgin. Regan even originated the role of Megan Hunt in Grey’s Anatomy, a character which would ironically later be played by Abigail Spencer, 9-1-1’s Detective Amber Braeburn.

Aside from being a complex villain in one of 9-1-1’s best episodes yet this season, Regan is still hard at work on the television scene, currently playing Monica Stevens on The Rookie. However, her work isn’t done on ABC’s first-responder drama, as Moira Rose is set to return for the second half of 9-1-1: Contagion. Whether she devolves into a Poison Ivy-type supervillain or has a heroic change of heart, there’s no doubt Moira Rose is the best antagonist of 9-1-1 season 8, due in no small part to Regan’s indomitable talent.