[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 6 Episode 15 “Death and Taxes.”]
Well, the good news is Chimney (Kenneth Choi) and Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) are finally going to talk about getting married on 9-1-1. The bad news: They might not be on the same page.
It’s time for taxes, and when Maddie gets a notice she’s being audited, the first thought is it’s random. But then Chimney gets the same letter. At the IRS, they find out there are a couple problems with both of their returns: They both claimed head of household and Jee-Yun as a dependent. (Maddie and Chimney then volunteer other possible issues: She didn’t claim money she borrowed from her parents, he donated an old car to charity, and they claimed medical expenses from when their daughter was in the hospital.) They won’t be going to debtors’ prison (this isn’t a Dickens novel, both Maddie and the IRS agent tell Chimney), but they do have to refile correctly and decide who the head of the household is.
Luckily for them, the 118 responded to a call earlier at an accountant’s office, and Chimney and Maddie bring him in to help them refile. He tells them if they file together, they can save $14,000. All they have to do next year before they file is one thing: get married.
At work, Josh (Bryan Safi) can’t believe they just went about their business like nothing happened after that. Maddie explains that it felt awkward, so she snuck out this morning. She doesn’t think she can be the one to bring it up because it’ll make it seem like she’s pressuring him. But broaching the subject isn’t the same, Josh points out, checking that she does want to marry Chimney. Maddie admits she doesn’t know; part of her never wanted to marry anyone again. She knows Chimney’s amazing, but they’re committed to each other and raising their daughter, so she doesn’t know why they need to get married.
What she doesn’t know is that Chimney is at home, looking up engagement rings…
Choi previously teased to TV Insider this “inciting incident” that “triggers something in Chimney and Maddie that’s going to force their hand. Chimney and Maddie sort of really love to sit in this kind of ambivalent state, right? Because of her traumas, because of his traumas, in their own lives and in their own relationships. … There will probably be a lot of indecision, which lends to a lot of conflict. So I can’t say what happens, but I think it’s going to be a very interesting last few episodes of the season for Chimney and Maddie.”
The other half of the episode title comes in the form of the 118 responding to a call at a “living funeral” for Marie; a car crashes into it, and among the injured are Marie and her death doula, Natalia (Annelise Cepero). She helps people accept death, she explains as Buck (Oliver Stark) bandages her hand. He shares that he died for a few minutes after being struck by lightning, and she asks him if he wants to grab a coffee so she can hear more. He accepts.
As Buck explains over coffee, seeing how into it Natalia is, when he died, he woke up in a world that was both everything and nothing he ever wanted it to be. And when he can tell that doesn’t make any sense, he begins to explain about his coma dream.
Jack Zeman/ FOX
Later, while at Marie’s grave (she died of cancer), Buck tells Eddie (Ryan Guzman) about seeing Natalia. Eddie reminds him that dating someone he rescued never ends well. (Buck knows.) Buck insists this is different and shares that she asked about the lightning strike. There’s something different about her, he says. He feels like she sees him, for who he is and what he’s been through, and she might even see more of him than he sees in himself. Eddie can tell that Buck hasn’t been the same since it happened, and Buck admits he doesn’t know how to act, though he feels like he has to be the same person he was for everyone else.
Eddie assures him he doesn’t have to be anything for anyone, but what’s changed in Buck? When he woke up in the hospital, he felt like he’d gotten away with something, Buck explains. His life could’ve ended, but it didn’t, and he doesn’t think he’s going to get that lucky again. So from now on, he’s looking at every moment as a gift.
But will his future include Natalia? Or is he still figuring things out post-lightning strike death?
9-1-1, Mondays, 8/7c, Fox