"Karma's a Bitch" is the eighth episode of the first season of 9-1-1. It was written by Kristen Reidel and directed by Barbara Brown. It aired on March 7, 2018.
Synopsis[]
What goes around comes around for an unremorseful widower, an arrogant fitness club owner and an unsuspecting thief. Meanwhile, Bobby gets a surprising phone call from his doctor after donating at Chimney's blood drive, and Athena confronts Michael after having a heart-to-heart with their kids.[2]
Full Synopsis[]
At the beginning, Danford was struck by a bullet, calls 9-1-1, and the 118 responds. Bobby starts recalling to Buck regarding another call at the exact location a year prior, on a rainy day, before Buck joined them. Danford's wife, Sarah, had committed suicide by hanging on the tree due to domestic violence. Chimney manages to saw off the branch, though Hen and Bobby were unable to save her. The crew spot signs of injury on her arms and deduce the cause, though Danford denies and walks away soon after, leaving the crew behind.
After Sarah's death, the tree she died on was mysteriously plagued with a lethal fungal infection, which Danford attributes to the bullet Sarah fired to him in an argument earlier. The arborist was surprised at the state of degradation and informs him the tree is unsalvageable - it should have been destroyed months earlier. He offers to provide a cost estimate, though Danford declines and takes matter into his own hands. He tapes some explosives on the tree and detonates them with a hunting rifle at range. The blast brings down half of it, and as speculated by Bobby on-scene, it also launches the bullet lodged inside back at Danford. After Hen fails to resuscitate him from the ensuing hemorrhaging, she remarks "Karma's a bitch".
Back at Station 118, Chimney was organizing a blood drive, mentioning 90% of the blood here comes from volunteers, and many attended, including off-duty personnel. Chimney wants Bobby to also participate, as they are only two pints away from the objective, though Bobby tells them he dislikes needles, even bringing up two disastrous experiences, before walking away. Undeterred, Chimney intercepts Bobby, adding that he required 10 pints of blood during his surgery to compensate for the spontaneous hemorrhaging. He wished to repay the city, and likewise, the remaining crew members were all concerned with Chimney's well-being. Bobby seems to relent and is coaxed off-screen as Hen, Chimney and Buck walk off, with Chimney announcing to prepare another needle.
After watching Harry and May being driven to school by seperate vehicles, Athena walks away from Michael into the house. They enter an argument when Michael wants to take their kids out and meet Glenn, his lover, which agitates Athena for the sake of Harry and May. Michael again fails to convince Athena to accept his outing, and she leaves for work.
Bobby, Hen, Chimney and Buck respond to a call made by former Metro Fitness employee Carrie, who claims the owner Barry was stuck in a tanning bed. She leads the team to the exact location, where Barry is being grilled. Bobby was unable to deactivate the machine until Hen pulls out the power cord. Carrie tells Hen that Barry may have been there for hours. Chimney is surprised to find Barry barely alive, and assumes he might have suffered a stroke, even though Carrie objects, though he proceeds with the defilbtrator anyway. Bobby learns from Carrie that steroids might have been in use which could have praralyzed him from simply getting out. As Hen tries to execute compressions, some of the flesh sticks to her gloves, and Chimney declares Barry dead. Horrified, Carrie then starts explaining yesterday's events when Hen gets confused.
Barry was intending to keep his dog, Mindy, inside his pickup truck on a hot summer day, to avoid noise complaints at his home. Carrie believes the dog might die of heatstroke even if the window was left open. Barry refuses to take Mindy elsewhere, so Carrie goes inside and snatches some weights. Another employee briefs Barry on the malfunctioning tanning machine, which he dismisses. He then fires Carrie after she smashes the window. As the coroners remove Barry's corpse, Hen tries to repeat "Karma's a bitch" but is cut off by Chimney. Bobby gets a call from a medical facility about to discuss his blood donation and they insist his attendence in person, as they appear to find an unusual property which they refuse to disclose on the phone.
At the church, Bobby shows the priest his handbook with a list of people he saved to redeem his asron killing 148 people five years ago, now having 68 names, declaring he would be safe to die after he fills it. The priest reminds him the church is against suicide, and proclaims he believes in God's justice rather than karma proposed by Bobby. Then Bobby reveals his assumption that the plasma analysis turned out to be negative, suspecting he may not live long until he repays his sin, while terrified at how he will remain uneasy until he completes his deeds.
An unnamed woman injures herself stealing packages with a vehicle and dials 9-1-1, which causes Chimney and Hen to arrive. Soon after, Athena responds to an associated police call and identifies her as the "Porch Pirate" after Hen recovers a driver's license. When she advises the culprit to confess so the other two can continue the work, the suspect claims she just likes stealing (kleptomania) but not keeping the items. They load her onto the ambulance, and Athena starts complaining to Hen about Michael's plans. Though Hen tries to reason with her, Athena cites she appears to be suffering the most whereas Michael seems to take advantage of the whole situation in an impending family fragmentation. Hen voices her concerns as well until Chimney interrupts them, requesting Hen to attend the transport as he can't stand the suspect's rambling picking at his potential procedures. Athena then leaves the scene.
At Cedar, Chimney accompanies Bobby as he organied the blood drive in the first place, promising to back Bobby unconditionally. Bobby wants the doctor to speak right away, whose initial explaination of the rhesus disease (which causes blood compatibility issues between a female and her infant's blood cells, easily killing the fetus) confuses him. It turns out Bobby's blood shares similar properties to that of James Harrison, an Australian man whose plasma can easily counter said condition. He is given a form to a rare donor's program, and after the doctor leaves, Chimney makes fun of Bobby's terror to needles yet again, claiming he should confront it.
In Barnsdale Zoo, Sean Coopertino, a dentist known for his illegal hunting and collection of rare animal specimens (among them the head of Ellie the lion), throws pinecones at a tiger to agitate it, so his nephew Adam can snap frontal images of the creature, ignoring a tourist's pleas to stop. Getting the desirable image, Sean leaves with his accomplices and heads off to the toilet whist the others depart. As he finishes, the tiger leaps from confinement and scares everyone else away while approaching him. He dials 9-1-1, and Abby advises him not to move as the tiger could catch up anyway. However, Sean decides to run and vault over a fenced area into a flamingo flock, which temporarily gets the tiger off his trail, though it attempts to reach him regardless.
Bobby, Chimney, Buck and Hen arrive at the zoo and follow a staff member, Carl, who explain they will prioritize tranquilizing the aggressive tiger, and Bobby learns the creature vaulted outside via clever use of terrain. Athena leads the crew to the handler whose left arm was severely injured while trying to stop the feline. The team attend to his arm and he informs them the tiger, Kobe, was acquianted with him in youth and therefore merely attacked out of confusion instead of trying to kill him. Abby updates the responders with Sean's current location at the giraffe enclosure and Athena pursues the new objective, whist Hen gives Bobby some background information. Abby assures Sean help is on the way, but just as he assumes Kobe was gone, the tiger appears behind and attacks.
Athena follows another team of staff members on their patrol vehicles. A sharpshooter finds the tiger, and they spot Sean's corpse. On Carl's orders, the sharpshooter opens fire and the tiger collapses to the tranquilizer dart. The scene was secured by police tape, and the staff transport Kobe away. Athena suspects the tiger might be euthanized until Hen brings her attentions to coroners sorting out Sean's corpse. Hen believes the tiger would not be killed and they depart as a tiger's growling is heard.
Athena returns home and comes face-to-face with Harry and May since they would not accompany Michael downstairs. They both point out that while Michael being gay isn't the problem, they are tired of faking their acceptance their parents' fragmenting marriage, and advise Athena to also be truthful.
Chimney attempts to enlighten Bobby with the fame and glory for his rare plasma, though Bobby doesn't take these kindly. He snaps when Chimney keeps nudging about saving kids, yelling that he could never save his own family, part of the 148 people he killed. He laments how God wishes to keep him alive as retribution instead of allowing him to join his deceased family. He angrily storms out.
Athena meets Hen again at a crime scene where Hen is using cola to wash away blood after the responders finish their tasks. They discuss how the perpetrator, who had just robbed the store, was immediately killed by a dump truck accidentially ramming him. Hen then brings up that she slept with her ex-wife Eva, and Athena advises Hen to inform Karen, as their marriage was failing as well and it would end up worse otherwise. The two embrace each other, and Athena heads to her patrol car.
Returning home late at night, Athena finally brings up her intentions to divorce Michael. She starts crying, admitting her animosity had been growing ever since his outing, and she wants this to occur before she becomes hateful. Michael also learns May and Harry have agreed on it, as well, and he apolgizes. Athena restates that she does not actually despise him, and they hug.
Hen returns home only to find Eva has sued her and Karen for Denny's custody, during which she became aware of the affair as well. Karen angrily berates Hen for fracturing their family and storms off.
Athena encounters Aaron Chester Brooks while having a drink at a bar and they discuss Athena's recent separation with Michael. They are both amused by Athena's own humor when she decides to run a background check on Aaron.
A summon from Chinmey confuses Bobby as he arrives at a hospital, where they find with Steven, who begged Chimney to meet with Bobby. Steven tells him that Bobby's blood managed to save Asha, a baby, who would otherwise be killed, and he embraces Bobby for saving lives. Steven leaves, and Chimney advises Bobby that the rare plasma wasn't a curse, but rather a blessing which furthers his objectives of lifesaving anyhow, encouraging him to dismiss his suicidal thoughts. They also laugh at how Bobby will have to donate once every 8 weeks and how God was actually teasing Bobby, rather than punishing him. The two remain amused as they stare into the ward.
Cast[]
Starring[]
Guest Starring[]
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Co-Starring[]
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Trivia[]
- The first case depicted in the episode is a reference to an archetype of a supposed hoax. Most iterations involve a shot being fired at a tree, only for the projectile to be launched out later on, killing its intended target.
- Athena Grant asks Michael Grant for a divorce and meets Aaron at a bar.
- Henrietta Wilson tells Athena and later her wife, Karen Wilson that she slept with Eva Mathis on the night of the full moon. This happened in "Full Moon (Creepy AF)". Eva uses Hen's unfaithfulness in her marriage to sue for custody.
- Chimney mentions that he needed 10 pints of blood during his surgery to remove the rebar from his head due to the hemorrhaging, which was why he started the blood drive, aware that most of the blood comes from volunteers.
Soundtrack[]
| Song | Artist | Timestamp* | Storyline |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Karma Chameleon" | Culture Club | At fire station, Chimney hosts a blood donation drive. | |
| "Round and Round" | Ratt | (Flashback) The gym owner leaves his dog in the car. | |
| "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) - Remastered 2010" | John Lennon, The Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono | Bobby discusses with the priest. | |
| "You Oughta Know" | Alanis Morissette | A tiger chases the dentist at the zoo. (Flashback) The dentist is harassed over the illegal hunting trip. | |
| "Dedication" | Dream System 8 | Athena, sitting in the bar, gets a drink delivered from a man. | |
| "Some Kind of Love" | The Killers | Bobby and Chimney watch the baby in the ward. |
*Timestamps are rounded to the minute.
Multimedia[]
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