Awful People

"Awful People"
Episode Information
Season 2
Episode 5
Airdate	October 15, 2018
Viewers	5.88 million
Written by	Kristen Reidel
Directed by	Kevin Hooks
Episode Chronology
Preceded by	"Stuck"
Followed by	"Dosed"

"Awful People" is the fifth episode of the second season of 9-1-1, and the fifteenth episode overall. It aired on October 15, 2018.

Synopsis

Wanting to see the faces behind the 911 calls, Maddie goes on a ride-along with Athena, while dealing with a seemingly "perfect" dispatcher at the call center. Meanwhile, Hen must figure out how to save her family from permanently falling apart, and the first responders deal with emergencies both in a military funeral and a movie theater.

Full Synopsis

Lorraine Collins, the "Porch Pirate" caught by Athena in ”Karma's a Bitch“, is now faking incidents to claim insurance payments, using various unwary targets to her advantage, such as running into a driver after he checked for obstructions, and slipping on her own ketchup at a restaurant. Lorraine spots her next victim, Maisie, and retries behind the vehicle but was hit by a moving van before Maisie could even move. Since she can't see anything in her mirror, Maisie runs over Lorraine and dials 9-1-1 after discovery.

The 118 crew respond, and when Maisie panics due to the vehicle blocking them, Bobby assures her reaction was appropriate before the team takes over. Lorraine complains and vows to extract insurance off the two vehicles involved, confusing Buck, and Eddie mentions one of them is literally next to her. As Hen, Chimney, and Athena approach, they all recognize her. When carting her to the ambulance, Athena reveals Lorraine having sued a homeowner, and Chimney expresses surprise at how they prefer out of court settlements. Athena threatens Lorraine she has witnesses and access to security footage that would deny an insurance claim. Hen muses at the claim that Lorraine can even sue the municipal government or them. As the ambulance's doors are closed, Athena laments "awful woman".

Maddie answers a rude caller at the dispatch center who refuses to follow her instructions to check the victim, only demanding an ambulance before hanging up. When she storms off, Gloria Wagner shows up and offers her a cupcake in the break room. Maddie is surprised as she herself can barely make or procure quality food, and Gloria whispers the location to her. She also correctly predicts Maddie having taken many terrible calls, as it is common for dispatchers to encounter these. Maddie takes a seat, then claims it is different from her experience as an ER Nurse, given she is physically present, and people yell, not with intentions but out of agonizing pain. Gloria claims to have been on the job for 20 years, believing these nasty words could harm anyone, and they can't control what others offer them, only their own reactions. When Maddie tells her she wants to physically witness incidents behind emergency calls, Gloria suggests she could accompany a first responder's unit. Josh, who comes in just as Gloria walks out, praises her to Maddie. Meanwhile, it is revealed Gloria wasn't processing calls as a normal dispatcher would have and continually taunts or drives off callers.

Maddie schedules to meet with Athena at work, where Athena tells of Maddie's arrival mentioned by Bobby, the fact she is dating Bobby and her hostile confrontation with Buck on their first encounter, although they have made amends since then. They discuss Los Angeles' traffic and the earthquake before the head to a police vehicle. On their way, Athena brings up a merit of being a police sergeant - she does not work with a partner, and either patrols or responds, which Maddie draws a connection with. Maddie mentions of her courage to escape Doug, commented by Athena, who drives the vehicle to a scene after taking a report, presuming the disturbance occurring at a military funeral, surprising Maddie.

Stopping exactly at what she expected to see, Athena advises Maddie to remain in the squad car, where angry protestors are slandering a military funeral. An uncle of the deceased soldier demands the authorities to do something. Athena responds that unfortunately, as much as she is aware of their existence, the constitution protects them as long as they remain behind that fence. Dismayed, the man cites his nephew literally died serving said protestors. Regardless, Athena assures him the authorities will keep the protestors away in accordance with the law. A racist protestor on a powered scooter refuses, despite Athena threatening arrest, twice, but before anything else could be done, he collapses and forces Athena to dial for reinforcements. Athena reports to Bobby that she isn't really sure of the symptoms, and Bobby, who finds a colostomy bag, determines it might be leaking, and they need medical intervention immediately. He refuses assistance from Hen, instead demanding Bobby, who, as a mere EMT, is unauthorized for these tasks. Chimney dismisses the man's claims as he could die if they do not extract any of the refuse from him. Bobby specifies they can't administer first aid by force, and when the protestor turns down Eddie, he considers on dialing an all-white unit but is suddenly cut short when the man aspirates and becomes unconscious as the waste pours from his mouth, to Chimney's disgust, though they proceed anyway. Eddie realized they can't deal with the suffocation on site, so Hen proposes carting him off in the ambulance and a few of the crew leave while Bobby and Buck remain. Maddie praises Bobby, who's happy to encounter her in person. When Bobby claims Buck's description about himself may be exaggerated, Maddie corrects the reference to Athena, who mentions incidents like these are common fare as well but she doesn't let the insults get in her way, because if she did, she might as well as forget about working. Despite the macabre case, Athena still insists on having lunch, amusing Bobby and Buck as the other two enter the patrol vehicle. The firefighters depart soon after.

Walking off the vehicle, Athena and Maddie briefly chat on how Buck's relationship with Abby was much more durable than expected, except now Abby's mostly absent. Athena pulls Maddie back when she finds their venue of choice suspiciously empty with food on the table, possibly after an attack. Warning Maddie to remain outside, Athena draws her weapon and ventures deeper within, although the authorities' calls elicit no response. She discovers overturned cooking and active utensils, blood stains as well as Thao Van Lanh, the injured owner, who claims there was an armed robbery. Athena dials for reinforcements. When dispatch reports they will be there in ten minutes, Athena summons Maddie for first aid, who takes down the appropriate equipment from a wall and gets Athena to fetch plastic wrap along with tape. After sealing his wound, Maddie can't find a pulse and initiates CPR, while Athena raises his legs with a nearby bucket. The man eventually comes to his senses, and was surprised at the imminent arrival of authorities. The two are led to a shocking revelation that some fraudulent 9-1-1 operator hung up on him.

Maddie holds her claim, as without Athena and her intervention, Thao Van Lanh would have been killed. Josh commends on Maddie for her actions, but reminds her there may be multiple probable causes, such as a service-end issue or caller panic, which does occur frequently in real emergencies and can cut off calls. He relents when Maddie appears unconvinced and they investigate the call, where they are likewise terrified at how Gloria nonchalantly hung up from him for not providing a specific address or pronouncing clearly. Josh then determines Maddie was right all along.

Michael, Hen and Karen are having a picnic, while Denny and Harry are playing around with Hen's pet dog Paisley. Michael tells them he's pretty happy about Athena's romance with Bobby. He then tells of a joke from Harry - Whereas Michael is the architect who supervises building construction, Bobby is a firefighter whose missions occur concurrently with a building's destruction, amusing Hen and Karen. Michael continues to tell of Bobby positively, but it complicates things, as he now acts also like a surrogate father to May and Harry. Karen reminds Michael that as much as Bobby could be a parent, Michael is still their father. Eva Mathis makes an unexpected appearance, and while the trio get their kids away, Eva threatens Hen and Karen that while she signed away all of Denny's parental rights, Denny's biological father, Nathaniel Greene, was not even aware he had a son, meaning now he has the right to seize Denny from them if he wished. As Nathaniel stands in the background, Hen was surprised, since Eva never mentioned Denny's father, and Kare doesn't buy her speech either. Eva taunts them on her apparent victory and walks away, causing Hen and Karen to panic.

Maddie steps out of the elevator after having her lunch and is intercepted by Josh, who doesn't think it is a good moment to return. Josh directs her view into a room where Sue, Gloria and other officials are, mentioning Gloria is actually fired for interfering perhaps with thousands of emergency calls in the last 8 months. Josh speculates her divorce with Stan fueled it, revealing Stan was all alive and Gloria hated him anyway, bringing up an example of a 9-1-1 dispatcher in Houston, who was jailed 18 months for the same charge. Josh makes his escape as a vengeful Gloria angrily storms out and calls out to Maddie for her betrayal. Maddie retorts that it didn't matter when Gloria decided to refuse assistance, to which Gloria claims they are awfully ungrateful and selfish. She swears revenge as the authorities take her away, and Sue informs Maddie half of Gloria's calls lasted under 45 seconds. The remaining dispatchers then head off to work.

Hen, Karen, Denny and Paisley return home, where Karen is shocked to learn that Nathaniel Greene indeed is Denny's biological father, meaning he'd take Denny whenever he wanted, and they stand little chance if he ever does try. Hen believes Athena could find some dirt on Nathaniel to discredit him, but Karen just goes on regarding how corrupt Eva was. blaming Hen for her involvement. Hen tries to apologize, but Karen excuses herself. Denny becomes curious, and Hen assures him Karen was merely upset, but not at what Denny did. Hen promises Denny she could resolve this much like how she rescues people at work and hugs him.

Maddie complains about how Gloria is now harassing her endlessly to Buck due to the LAPD rummaging for evidence, forcing her to keep the phone off, much to his amusement. When she turns it on again, Gloria's spam messages continue, to her dismay. Buck wants to confront Gloria, but Maddie doesn't want anymore trouble she warranted for, and laments she can't destroy another phone like when she got threatened by Doug.

Hen conducts espionage on her personal vehicle, trying to catch Eva in the act. She spots Eva buying drugs and tails to a room, watching from her vantage point. She gets an unexpected call from Karen, who apologizes for insulting Hen out of fear, and they reconcile. Hen claims to be emptying her full-blown rage outside, and Karen begs her to return. Hen gives a brief assurance, and hangs up. She gets off the car and decides to confront Eva, only to find Eva dying of overdose after peeking in the window after hearing some glass shattering sounds. Hen kicks the door open. For a moment, Hen hesitates dialing 9-1-1 as it effectively reduces her chances of keeping Denny, but eventually makes up her mind and summons emergency services. Medical assistance does arrive, and Hen mocks on how Eva assumed Hen loved her, citing no feelings to her. Hen also reveals she reported this to Eva's parole officer, effectively sending Eva back to confinement. When Eva tries to reason, Hen coldly responds that her lifesaving career never runs out of awful people before leaving.

Athena arrives at Carthay Urgent Care after some 118 units upon receiving a report of a suspected perpetrator wanted by authorities, having burns from oil in his face. Hospital staff doesn't really believe he grilled his face and the wounds aren't caused by an immediate incident. When they find Davis, the suspect, possibly missing, Athena intervenes and finds the room empty before hearing some glass shatter. Investigating the source, Athena draws her weapon and finds Davis unconscious with pill bottles emptied on the ground. She confiscates his weapon and dials for reinforcements. On her way out, Athena dials Maddie, mentioning Thao Van Lanh now recovering while the suspect was caught by her. Maddie thanks Athena for allowing some company, and Athena cites it does allow Maddie to see scenarios of what she really helps to resolve behind that desk. Maddie also praises Athena for maintaining composure on cases, and Athena ends the call after commending Maddie. Immediately after, Gloria starts taunting Maddie over the phone again. Maddie fails to reason with Gloria and turns off her phone, only for Gloria to harass her via 9-1-1, which she can no longer deal with easily. When Gloria impersonates the authorities, Maddie reminds her it is a criminal act to occupy emergency resources and to pose as them. Gloria ignores her and begins insulting Maddie until her vehicle crashes while dodging a cat. Severely injured by concussions and with the airbags deployed, Gloria can no longer hear Maddie as her phone is on the vehicle's floor, although Maddie does overhear the collision. Unable to open the door, Gloria assumes Maddie hung up, while Sue patches in. Both Sue and Maddie realize their words are falling upon deaf ears, meaning the dispatch center must now ping various cell towers to pinpoint the location, and to make it worse, Maddie can't find any reports in that isolated area. Though eventually localizing the vicinity, Maddie dials for aerial recon anyway. Gloria laments that she can't call anyone, and Maddie, now the only person able to help her, seemingly took this personally as retribution. She starts discussing on dead-end calls, where a dispatcher, due to varying circumstances, can only overhear disastrous consequences. The morning Stan's divorce papers came to Gloria, she took a case where a caller was attacked by an armed intruder. Knowing there is nothing she can do to save the caller and not wanting to hear a gruesome death, Gloria ended the call, relieved that she doesn't have to bear the guilt anymore. Since then, she continued this until Maddie got her fired, but as of now, she no longer wishes for trouble and considers an apology until a fire engine turns up, revealing assistance was merely on its way to the scene and Maddie had been there the whole time. Gloria breaks down, and tears start flowing in Maddie's eyes.

At Athena's house, Hen was annoyed when they can't get any dirt on Nathaniel, who seemed to be a perfectly average citizen. Athena reveals seven years ago, Nathaniel went in rehab after multiple DUI charges due to grieving for his dead wife turning him alcoholic, where he presumably met Eva, but it's all history. Hen refuses to believe if Eva could seek retribution by all means, but Athena reminds her Eva is powerless in confinement. Hen informs Athena she almost refused to save Eva, but Athena praises Hen for doing it anyway, despite all the trouble she's in. When Hen still fears Nathaniel's rights and Karen's wrath, Athena reminds Hen Nathaniel merely wants a visitation. It is obvious for everyone to see how the couple loved Denny, and so would this Nathaniel Greene, who had since taken a career that likewise deals with children at risk, and therefore might as well as share Hen and Karen's sentiments. As Hen raises even more concerns, Athena blocks that claim and continues narrating on how Hen must believe in people - There could always be nasty people, but not necessarily everyone, and shouldn't be categorized as hostile since they're the total opposite. They just needed a chance for others to see how they actually are, and it could be an awesome surprise from a good person. People are shaped by their experiences, and interactions between each other. The better they are, the better everything else seems to them. Eva is thrown into a transport with other inmates by guards. The 118 cart away Dave as Athena prepares her part in a hospital. Gloria is pulled out of the wreck by 118 crew. Sue commends Maddie for resolving the incident in spite of Gloria's insults, who responds with Athena's quote. Nathaniel recognizes Hen and Karen's love for Denny, wishing to keep things that way for Denny's sake before offering full support for their decision. At yet another crew dinner, Hen announces to everyone Athena ended up correctly predicting the outcome. Bobby ends it by adding he usually just defers from arguing with Athena at all.

Cast

Starring Angela Bassett as Athena Grant Peter Krause as Robert Nash Jennifer Love Hewitt as Maddie Buckley Oliver Stark as Evan Buckley Aisha Hinds as Henrietta Wilson Kenneth Choi as Howard Han Ryan Guzman as Edmundo Diaz Rockmond Dunbar as Michael Grant Corinne Massiah as May Grant (credit only) Marcanthonee Jon Reis as Harry Grant (no lines)

Guest Starring Tracie Thoms as Karen Wilson Abby Brammell as Eva Mathis Bryan Safi as Josh Russo Debra Christofferson as Sue Blevins Christine Estabrook as Gloria Wagner Jennifer Aspen as Lorraine Collins Troy Winbush as Nathaniel Greene Mark Espinoza as Uncle at Funeral Lyle Kanouse as Man in Scooter Co-Starring Matty Castano as Call Center Officer Jordan David as Mr. Davis Jonathan Grebe as Paramedic Peter Boon Koh as Thao Van Lanh Declan Pratt as Denny Wilson Caeden Rush as 9 Year Old Protester Irene Roseen as Maisie Pooja Shah as Priya Mitra Joe Souza as Man

Trivia

• The episode "Stuck", which was the previous episode, was supposed to air as the fifth episode and "Awful People" to air as the fourth episode.
• The movie theater scene that was cut from this episode was later used in the season four episode "Jinx".
• Athena makes a reference to Nathaniel Hawthrone's The Scarlet Letter after she catches Davis and calls Maddie.

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