Gerrard Leads the 118 to Save a Twisted Cheerleader in ‘9-1-1’ Season 8 Sneak Peek [Exclusive]
Season 8 of 9-1-1 is well underway and has already pitted the 118 against some unprecedented challenges, from handling a “bee-nado” of over 22 million killer bees to Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) playing the hero by performing an emergency landing with an airliner packed with passengers. The emergencies aren’t about to slow down heading into Episode 4, titled “No Place Like Home,” either. Collider is once again partnering with ABC to share an exclusive sneak peek at tonight’s big disaster as Captain Gerrard (Brian Thompson) leads the team onto a high school football field. A nasty collision between football players and a cheerleader leaves the responders with a gnarly injury to handle that might turn a few stomachs – or torsos altogether.
As they walk onto the field in the clip, Gerrard breaks the ice by asking Buck (Oliver Stark) if he’s “ever played any pigskin” in high school, to which the officer reveals he was once a tight end, not unlike a certain other Ryan Murphy star, Travis Kelce.
The football talk comes to an abrupt end as the school’s physical trainer approaches and explains that what they’re about to see goes beyond typical EMT duties. Everyone is left stunned for a moment as they come up on Weston, the cheerleader whose gruesome collision has left his lower half twisted 180 degrees in the complete opposite direction to his torso. The situation is dire as his bones are heard cracking when he tries to look up at the officers and the arteries in the pelvis could be in danger. Although most of the 118 have never seen anything like this outside of medical textbooks, Eddie’s (Ryan Guzman) experience in Afghanistan has exposed him to such injuries, earning him the honor of taking the lead from Gerrard while “tight end” performs triage.
While the twisted cheerleading injury is the crux of Episode 4, there’s more drama to be had. Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen (Tracie Thoms) are still fighting to get their foster license back, and they may finally be close to getting it restored. Just when they begin to see light at the end of the tunnel, however, yet another obstacle presents itself that throws their efforts into jeopardy once more. The bizarre emergencies keep on coming too, as the team is tasked with responding to a distress call only to find a woman terrorized by a 400-pound tiger! It’s one of the team’s most challenging obstacles yet, showing that Season 8 isn’t ready to stop raising the stakes and getting weird with them along the way.
‘9-1-1’ Season 8 Looks to Bounce Back From a Shortened Season 7
It hasn’t taken long for 9-1-1 to come out swinging following its truncated seventh season during the dual Hollywood strikes. Though the transition hasn’t been entirely smooth with the tyrannical Gerrard still at the helm while the team remains without Peter Krause‘s Bobby Nash, the new season is still setting up plenty of heartfelt storylines and wild twists for the 118 to experience. Hinds’s Hen is sure to be a big focus in this season as she not only clashes with Councilwoman Ortiz but is kept on her toes by Gerrard, whom she does not have the best rapport with. Her and Karen’s stability is threatened, and their personal story is only one of many to keep an eye on as the season continues to unfold.
9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 4, “No Place Like Home,” airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Check out our exclusive sneak peek in the player above.
