9-1-1 Recap: Mister Cellophane

This is a story about a boy named Unlucky. Well, actually his name is Archie, and for some reason, he’s essentially the co-lead of this episode. That’s no shade to Kevin L. Johnson from Ozark, who does a nice enough job with the role — it’s just an odd thing about an odd episode that feels a little like wheel-spinning en route to the impending two-parter. At least there’s some forward momentum, and the whole thing is more entertaining than last week’s extended rideshare excursion.

The theme of “Invisible” is, of course, being invisible (nothing about this is particularly subtle). The episode opens with our new lead, Archie, getting fired from his job at the Cluck ’n’ Pluck, which seems like a terrible place to work but a delightful name for a chicken restaurant. When Archie gets home, he finds himself trapped in the storage compartment under his bed — I could explain this, but as with every situation Archie finds himself in, it’s best to just go with it — right before his girlfriend, Vicky, arrives to cheat on him. As Archie’s watch calls 9-1-1, Vicky’s cries of ecstasy suggest that there’s someone in need of assistance. The 118 arrives, interrupting the lovemaking and rescuing Archie, who is (physically) unscathed. It’s sort of unclear how Vicky and her lover didn’t hear him screaming before they got down to business, but as Archie explains, “I’m the kind of guy who just blends into the furniture.” (Cellophane should have been his name. You get it.)

Hen is not faring much better in terms of being noticed: It’s her birthday, and everyone appears to have forgotten. At first, I was convinced this was a plan cooked up by Karen and the kids — pretending to forget a birthday is a classic TV trope, after all — but once Hen noted that she hates surprises, I figured this was true negligence. And it’s not just her wife and kids either. When Hen’s mom FaceTimes her, it turns out to be a mid-rucking butt-dial. At the firehouse, Hen is initially thrilled to hear Bobby announce “Hen Day,” but he actually means “HEN Day,” with HEN being an acronym for the newly arrived “high-efficiency nozzles.” While the tone here is so farcical I briefly wondered if this was a dream sequence, I was also tickled by how excited the firefighters were about testing out their new nozzles. (Get your mind out of the gutter.)

Meanwhile, Archie continues to flop his way from one near-death experience to the next. This time, he’s changing a tire when he loses a nut (mind out of gutter!) and tries to retrieve it under a truck. Would you believe the driver doesn’t see him and starts to drive away, leaving Archie trapped by a wheel in the undercarriage? When the 118 arrives at this sadly nozzle-free rescue, only Hen recognizes Archie, and she immediately starts projecting. The two invisibles bond a bit as Archie is rescued. He tells Hen that nobody ever sees him, and I know we’re just underlining the themes, but I don’t know if that truck driver could have seen Archie in the mirror if he’d tried. When Archie reveals that his name was never called at the hospital post-bed incident, Hen snaps. “Archie, you’re not invisible — you’re making yourself disappear and that’s your fault,” she says. “It’s okay to take up space in this world instead of making yourself smaller.” It’s a pretty good speech until it suddenly becomes about Hen’s birthday (see, projecting), though that does at least clue the 118 into the fact that they’ve made a huge mistake. Also, Ravi is able to locate Archie’s missing nut.

When Buck calls Eddie to ask what Hen’s favorite pie is, Eddie realizes Buck forgot it was her birthday. Eddie knew because he’s Facebook friends with Hen (“how old are you?” Buck asks), and he can’t believe everyone else dropped the ball. Neither can Hen, for that matter. Back at home, Karen — who has received an urgent call from Chimney — apologizes profusely, but her last-minute gift doesn’t make up for the fact that the most organized woman in the world forgot her own wife’s birthday. (I do love that Tracie Thoms plays such a Joanne-from-Rent-coded character.) Hen’s kids arrive with their own apologies, as does her mom. “I’m old,” Toni explains, and fair enough. I really relate to Hen’s hurt here; yes, birthdays are ultimately sort of meaningless, but it doesn’t feel great to know that you’ve slipped all your loved ones’ minds. “It’s very embarrassing to have something that’s so silly hurt so much,” she says before retreating to her room with the fancy gift basket Bobby sent.

Shout-out to Eddie for trying to save the day from a distance, especially when he’s got his own problems. While he’s still thriving as a rideshare driver, Christopher has yet to move in, and the distance Eddie was hoping to repair by moving to El Paso is still there. He tries to make barbacoa for his family, only for his parents and Chris to arrive with Chinese food in tow. (The Chinese food in El Paso can’t be better than Eddie’s barbacoa, come on now.) And before he can surprise Christopher with the Mavericks tickets he bought for a weekend getaway, Eddie learns that Chris has a chess tournament, which his grandfather will be escorting him to — and only one family member is allowed. Given Eddie’s mostly good relationship with his parents, the awkwardness of the situation feels somewhat forced, but we’re dealing with a theme here, and yes, Eddie’s role as Christopher’s father is pretty invisible. Now it’s up to Buck to save the day, telling Eddie that he should just show up at the chess tournament anyway.

When Eddie arrives, Chris is in the middle of a tense game — could Eddie not have timed that better? — and it looks like he’s really going through it. Anxiety unfortunately has a way of bubbling to the surface, and for Chris that becomes very literal as he vomits on the chess board. (Does that mean you forfeit? There must be rules about this.) Eddie runs to help his son, escorting him to the bathroom for a heart-to-heart and some clean-up. It turns out that Christopher hates chess; he was only doing this for his grandparents. While it’s not exactly as stirring as Hen’s speech to Archie, Chris’ words about not knowing how to tell his grandparents are enough for Eddie to realize he has to be assertive and take up space. He was going to ask Christopher if he’d move in with him, but instead he decides to pull the dad card and tell Chris to move in. “You’ll be my dad again?” Chris asks, and though I get where he’s coming from, it isn’t like he’s been welcoming Eddie with open arms here.

But back to the character who really matters: Archie. He’s been living out of his car, which is a big problem when said car gets towed with Archie still inside. Archie is thrown from the vehicle, managing to grab some of his belongings in the process. He’s then knocked over by a group of face-painted sport enthusiasts because they, you guessed it, don’t see him, and at this point, he’s primed for a full breakdown. Hearing Hen’s voice ringing in his head, Archie decides it’s time to stop being invisible and start taking up space. So he does the only logical thing — he grabs a carving knife and takes a bus hostage. It’s all going about as well as a hostage situation can until a nail strip blows out the tires, and Archie ends up accidentally stabbing Jerry, one of the guys who knocked him over. Yes, bumping into Archie was pretty rude, but that’s certainly not a stab-worthy offense.

The 118 arrives on scene once again, and Hen immediately realizes Archie is the hostage-taker. She convinces Bobby to let her intervene, even though that means getting on a bus with a desperate knife-wielding man. Hen is able to tend to Jerry’s wound, and convinces Archie to let him off the bus so he can get medical treatment — then gets Archie to do the same for the rest of the passengers. Archie isn’t a violent man, and Hen knows this. He just wanted to be seen and he listened to the wrong piece of advice. (I take issue with the way Hen’s speech seems to have inspired this violent act. “What radicalized you?” “A firefighter told me to stop being invisible and then started rambling about her birthday.”) Hen channels her inner Na’vi and tells Archie “I see you,” which is all he ever really wanted. She’s finally able to get him off the bus, even though he knows he’ll be arrested. When Archie reaches into his pocket to give her a birthday present (a charming Cluck ‘n’ Pluck keychain), he’s nearly shot by the SWAT team, but Hen is able to knock him down to safety. Perhaps this man should be locked up for his own good.

As the episode ends, Hen sits down for a birthday dinner cooked by Bobby. (Is this all supposed to be the same day? Where does Bobby find the time?) She’s basically forgiven everyone at this point since they’ve all worked so hard to make amends — Buck is actively doing every chore Hen and Karen would rather avoid — and she’s been recognized for her brave and compassionate work in resolving the hostage situation. Surrounded by loved ones, Hen concludes that this might just be her best birthday ever. If that’s true, I think she might need to raise the bar.

Call Log

• My favorite Buck moments are when he displays a childlike level of excitement, so I loved how giddy he was about getting to use the battering ram.

• After last week’s Amazon Prime and PS5 product placement, I’m a little suspicious about the number of times Eddie mentioned the Mavericks and the Mavericks tickets he bought Christopher and the Mavericks game they were supposed to go to together. It just gives one pause!

• I also paused over Eddie’s relationship with his parents, which felt so strained in the episode that I thought we might be heading for a custody-battle story line, and I don’t think I could have taken that. I’m still recovering from the disaster that was Big Little Lies season two. Speaking of parents, it’s always a pleasure to see Marsha Warfield as Hen’s mom, Toni, even if she just showed up here to forget her daughter’s birthday.

• For those who don’t know, rucking is basically walking while carrying a weighted rucksack. My back hurts just thinking about it, but I’m evidently not in as good of shape as a 70-something woman.