TL;DR: Athena Grant goes to space and finds herself among the stars. “Reentry” is 9-1-1 at its emotional and cinematic peak, powered by Angela Bassett’s once-in-a-generation performance. If this is what Season 9 has in store, Houston, we have absolutely no problems.
9-1-1 Season 9
There are TV episodes, and then there are events that make you stand up, clutch your remote, and whisper, “Angela Bassett is not acting — she’s conjuring.” 9-1-1 Season 9, Episode 4 (“Reentry”) belongs firmly in that latter category. This is the show firing on all cylinders — emotionally, visually, thematically — and Bassett once again proves she’s the gravitational force holding the entire 9-1-1 universe together. Quite literally this time, since she spends half the episode floating in space, gasping for air, and still somehow managing to deliver a monologue that could win a Peabody.
We open on a crisis aboard the International Space Station — a malfunctioning escape pod that traps its crew in orbit, because of course 9-1-1 decided to take its emergencies interstellar this year. Hen (Aisha Hinds) volunteers for the high-risk repair mission, but Athena (Angela Bassett) steps in, in full command mode. It’s not just bravery; it’s a death wish thinly veiled as duty. Bobby’s death still looms over her, a black hole of grief she hasn’t escaped.
So when she rockets into the void, it’s not just a spacewalk — it’s a metaphysical one. The script splits Athena across three timelines: present-day Athena in orbit, post-Emmett Athena (played beautifully by Pepi Sonuga-Rogers) trying to reopen her heart, and a pre-space-interview Athena who refuses to see herself as a hero because, as she puts it, “I just survived.”
These layers weave together into one of the most introspective hours of 9-1-1 ever produced. It’s less about action, more about oxygen — what it takes to breathe again when grief has been pressing down on your chest for years.
When 9-1-1 does flashbacks, they tend to be emotional sucker punches disguised as origin stories. But here, they’re used like therapy sessions through time. Young Athena is reeling from the death of Emmett, her first love and fallen partner. Her fellow officer McCluskey (Karl Makinen) tries to nudge her toward life beyond duty, and she resists until fate forces her hand — both metaphorically and, later, physically, when she’s shot in the line of duty.
The parallels between past and present are clever without being heavy-handed. Space Athena’s oxygen runs out just as Past Athena’s partner bleeds out beside her. One fights to breathe; the other fights not to feel. Both are women who define strength as endurance until they finally realize survival isn’t the same as living.
And then comes the conversation. Not with another character, but with herself. In one of the most surreal and powerful sequences 9-1-1 has ever attempted, Athena meets her younger self during her final breaths in space. The younger Athena offers release: let go, stop fighting, rest. But the present Athena — older, scarred, wiser — pushes back with a simple truth: love makes the pain worth it. It’s the kind of existential one-two punch that stops you mid-bite of popcorn. Bassett and Sonuga-Rogers deliver performances so in sync, it feels like one soul talking through two bodies.
Let’s not mince words: Angela Bassett doesn’t act; she ascends. Watching her float, eyes wide with panic and revelation, you can almost forget she’s on a green screen. There’s a weight to every breath, every tear, every whispered, “I’m not done yet.” Even from a purely technical standpoint, this is a masterclass in physical performance — controlling breath, posture, and micro-expressions to simulate the chaos of zero gravity while conveying a lifetime of loss.
And this is where 9-1-1 reminds everyone that it’s not just a procedural. It’s a show about people who run toward catastrophe but can’t always outrun their own. The writers could have easily turned this into a gimmicky space survival episode, but instead, they crafted a story about emotional reentry — Athena coming back to Earth not just physically, but spiritually.
For a show that thrives on disaster porn, “Reentry” ends with startling serenity. The ISS emergency resolves cleanly, the crew makes it home, and Athena finally returns to her family. The episode closes on a deceptively quiet note: Athena sitting with May and Harry, apologizing for her emotional absence since Bobby’s death. It’s pure, grounded human drama — no fire trucks, no sirens, just a mother reconnecting with her kids.
Of course, because this is 9-1-1, the writers can’t resist setting up the next gut-punch. Harry, bless his naive heart, announces he wants to become a firefighter. You can almost hear Bobby’s ghost sigh from the beyond. But even here, Athena’s reaction isn’t anger — it’s fear mixed with reluctant pride. She’s been where he’s headed. And now, finally, she might be ready to guide him rather than hold him back.
Meanwhile, Hen returns home to Karen and the kids, Tricia finally dumps Tripp (good riddance), and even the near-divorced couple from last week’s chaos reconcile. It’s 9-1-1 doing what it does best: tying a bow around catastrophe with just enough mess left over to keep things human.
What makes “Reentry” special isn’t just the emotional gut punch — it’s the ambition. The episode takes a character we’ve followed for nine seasons and puts her in a literal vacuum, asking: Who are you when the noise stops? When the grief echoes louder than the sirens? When there’s nothing left to save but yourself?
The answer, it turns out, is Athena Grant. And through Bassett’s performance, the show reminds us that heroism isn’t about surviving the fall — it’s about choosing to come back to Earth after.
Angela Bassett delivers a career-defining performance (yes, again) in 9-1-1 Season 9, Episode 4. The writing, direction, and emotional scope make “Reentry” not just the best Athena episode, but one of the best episodes in the show’s entire run. It’s big, bold, and unapologetically heartfelt — a cosmic therapy session disguised as a rescue mission.
