On this chapter of The Queerest Things I Watched Last Week, 9-1-1 gave us an amazing episode all about Hen’s origin story, and Randall’s oldest daughter may have come out to Kate on This is Us.
- 9-1-1 – Season 2 Episode 9 “Hen Begins” [Live]
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This week we were blessed with a very special episode — Hen’s origin story!
The show rewound the clock around 8-9 years, because they mention the economic meltdown of ’08. When we first see Hen she walks into a fancy sales dinner.
Not only is it shocking to see Hen in that wig, it’s also shocking to find out she used to be a Pharma Rep! Hen is there to sell antidepressants to two executive dudes, however, she only wants to sell the product and not herself.
I can totally imagine Root or Shaw doing that exact thing.
Hen quits in the next scene, and then later pays a visit to her life coach so she can help her figure out what to do next. The life coach says a few times, “you have a fire within” (yes, yes we get it), she wants to protect the vulnerable and when you’re quiet and listen to your inner voice, all will be revealed.
Then the very next moment, life coach falls over, Hen calls 911, performs CPR on her, and as the paramedics leave, one of them tells her she probably saved her life. This show is anything but subtle.
Back at home, Hen is all excited and telling her girlfriend…Eva, not Karen, about it. She feels she has finally found her purpose in life and it’s to save lives.
Eva is skeptical about the Firefighter Paramedic career plan. She doesn’t think it’s the most inclusive of workplaces.
Hen, even with that wig they’re gonna know.
Hen tells Eva that she wants this more than anything, and needs her to want this for her too. Eva says, “If you want it I want it.”
I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I think Hen and Eva have more chemistry than Hen and Karen.
Hear me out before you @ me! We have only seen Hen and Ren with a lack of passion, in a relationship crisis or Hen trying to convince Karen that she still loves her. We haven’t seen regular happy relationship Hen and Ren where they’re getting along and into each other. Hen and Eva on the other hand, we’ve seen with a lot of passion. Even if it’s negative they seem to be drawn to each other more strongly.
Also, can we talk timeline for a minute? This is at the most, 9 years ago and in this flashback they don’t seem to have a kid around and Eva is not pregnant. Eva also doesn’t seem to be at the height of her addiction. If she got accidentally knocked up while at rehab, that must have happened after this point in time, but when would that be exactly? Denny doesn’t seem too young. Maybe 5-6 at the youngest? If that is the case, then Eva goes downhill, enters rehab and gets pregnant within 3 years. What happened and what landed her in prison?
Back to our story. Hen has a training to be a paramedic firefighter montage set to The Runaways Cherry Bomb and loses the wig in the process.
I love the fact that the wig-burning scene is one of the only ones that had actual fire in it this entire series.
Hen graduates from the Firefighter Paramedic academy and shows up to her first day of work at “The 188,” aka the firehouse we are all familiar with. However, the Captain and all the guys working there are unfamiliar to us except for Howie.
The Captain also appears to be one of the sexist assholes Eva warned Hen about.
Hen is trying to be one of the guys, but the work environment remains hostile.
Telling your coworkers you like KStew is practically marching into work with a rainbow flag.
Captain Asshole is trying to make life miserable for Hen by not letting up on his misogynistic diatribes. Howie is the only person at the station who is standing up for her.
During a rescue we do get to see Hen and Athena’s friend meet-cute.
Athena invites Hen out for drinks and introduces her to her posse of diverse officers and firefighters. They hang out, drink and talk and Hen seems to be happy to have found some of her people.
The next day she marches into work and makes this speech.
That speech as amazing, but it did nothing for Captain Asshole.
At a rescue, Hen disobeys Captain A’s orders not look for a second crashed car Hen suspects to be somewhere beyond the site of the accident they are attending to. Howie risks getting in trouble and goes with her. They do wind up discovering a second car and successfully rescue a kid from it.
Even though Hen’s actions saved the day, she gets called into the Captain’s office when they get back to the station. She is sure she’s getting fired, but when she enters the office she is met by the Commander and a new Captain.
It turns out Hen’s colleagues had her back, many of them filed complaints against Captain Asshole and now he’s out of a job.
The episode ends with a Shondaland-like Hen voiceover.
I absolutely loved getting Hen’s backstory and learning Howie was such a good ally — I even tolerated his non-stop dad jokes. Thanks, Ryan Murphy, for a great episode!
- This is Us – Season 3 Episode 8 “18,615” [Live]
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On this very special Thanksgiving episode, Randal takes his family to serve food at a homeless shelter to support his political campaign, but his oldest daughter Tess stays at home because she says she’s not feeling well. Kate and Toby hang with Tess at their house and cook Thanksgiving dinner.
Well, it turns out Tess got her first period and Kate has a cool Aunt talk with her about period and relationship stuff.
Wow, Tess kind of came out to Kate.
Later, Tess tells Kate not to tell her parents.
I wonder if she is going to tell them next episode. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes.
This week there is nothing new coming up, but we are just two weeks away from the Arroverse Crossover and I am so excited!
