6 Times ‘9-1-1’ Went Completely Off the Rails
3. When Athena and Bobby’s honeymoon turned into The Poseidon Adventure
Back on Earth, but equally unrealistic, was the Season 7 premiere arc (do you see the pattern?), which took clear inspiration from the classic Poseidon Adventure scripts. While trying to catch a single break in their hectic existences and enjoy their honeymoon, Bobby and Athena quickly find themselves back in first responder mode when pirates hijack their cruise ship and later set off an explosion that ultimately causes it to capsize.
As if that’s not enough, while all of this is going on, nobody else is particularly concerned about the fact that the ship has disappeared from radar, as a massive stormfront has moved in and scrambled communications. It’s only at the persistence of Hen and the rest of the 118 that the cavalry is eventually called in.
4. The tsunami
Continuing with the pattern, we have the three-episode Seaon 3 premiere arc, which follows our favorite, intrepid firefighters, paramedics, police officers and dispatchers as a tsunami wipes out the Santa Monica pier with next to no warning, leaving Buck trapped in the flood waters with Eddie’s young son Christopher and the rest of his colleagues struggling to make their way through the decimated area to offer their assistance.
Perhaps even more outrageous is the fact that life goes on as normal following the episode, with minimal mention of the resulting damage to LA County.
5. A shark attack on the freeway
An apparent embellishment of a real-life incident, this episode from Season 2 found a tiger shark thrown from a tractor-trailer in another freak traffic accident. Somehow, it managed to find a victim to attack in the chaos, latching onto the length of one of its keeper’s arms after it was thrown from its jack-knifed trailer.
After using the literal jaws of life to pry its teeth out of the man’s flesh, they strapped it up to the part of the ladder overhanging the roof of their truck and drove it back to the sea, effectively freeing Willy.
6. When a length of rebar pierced Chimney through his forehead
It may not be the sci-fi scene of viewers’ dreams, but we’d be remiss not to mention the very early-on, jaw-dropping moment in the third-ever episode of 9-1-1 that found Chimney pierced straight through the forehead with a lengthy piece of rebar, which left him with absolutely no long-term deficits. Talk about unbelievable!