New ‘9-1-1’ Season 8 Promo Teases a Deadly Second Half to the Contagion Breakout

Over its eight-season run, audiences have seen some pretty gnarly and nail-biting episodes of 9-1-1. The ABC series is constantly keeping viewers on the edge of their seats, but what else would one expect from a production that kicked off its pilot episode with a story about a young mother needing assistance in getting her newborn baby out of a toilet’s plumbing? And those are just the one-off episodes. This season, the series has crossed over into lengthier territory, with a two-parter following Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) after she was kidnapped by a serial killer. But tonight, the series put it all on the line with the episode titled “Sick Day”. We knew it was going to be a brutal one after the teasers rolled out, pointing to the contagion aspect, but next week’s “Lab Rats” promises to be the most gripping 9-1-1 episode to date.

This evening’s episode teed up the drama, as the team responded to an emergency at a research lab. Upon their arrival, they realize things are much worse than was initially thought and, with the chemicals going up in smoke, the job is one big biohazard incident. With several members trapped inside, the rest of the crew has a desperate decision to make — open the door and save their friends, but risk releasing a deadly contagion or let their teammates suffer the consequences. It’s really giving that scene in Alien when they’re debating letting Kane (John Hurt) back onboard, and we all know how that turned out.

The teaser makes it very clear that Chim’s (Kenneth Choi) life will remain in serious jeopardy next week. However, it does also tease that Athena (Angela Bassett) will try to bring the antidote to him — even if it may be too late.

Rounding Out the Season Season 8 On a High Note

When you kick off a new season with a literal Bee-nado, you know you’ve got to go even more wild by the end. With just four installments left in the 18-episode season, the contagion storyline is queueing up a grand finale. And, now that we know the show will return for Season 9, fans can feel safe with the knowledge that things won’t abruptly come to an end. According to cast member Oliver Stark, who plays Buck, viewers have a lot to look forward to with the continuation of the contagion plot in next week’s episode. Speaking with ScreenRant he said,

“15 is a really excellent episode of the show. We shot it as 14, but it will air as 15. I think it’s one of those episodes where you go, “Wow, that’s really great work.” They really put [in] a lot, and I don’t mean for myself, but from the whole cast, and also production-wise. I just think it’s really big and spectacular and one of these episodes, and we’ve had a number of them over the years, where I go, ‘[I] can’t believe that’s for network television. I can’t believe that’s for procedural network television.’ There’s really a lot that goes into it. So I’m really excited for the audience to get to enjoy all the work that went into it.”