9-1-1 Season 5 returned after a brief hiatus and it did not disappoint. We’ve had our fair share of wacky storylines in this series, and this week lives up to that standard. The episode kicks off with the 118 heading to a state prison where riots have broken.
The inmates began revolting (total Orange Is the New Black vibes!) after two of them got hold of a knife and began stabbing guards. Before we knew it, there was bloodshed all over the place and fires breaking out all over the prison.
The 118 showed up while the riot was in progress and did their thing but on the way out they found two inmates covered in blood. One of them went with Eddie (Ryan Guzman) and Buck (Oliver Stark) to be transported to the hospital while Bobby (Peter Krause) and Hen (Aisha Hinds) took the other to the prison’s infirmary for treatment.
What follows is a plot twist that shakes up the core of the episode–more on that below in our 9-1-1 Season 5, Episode 6 recap!
911 Season 5 Episode 6 recap: The inmate plot twist
As it turns out, the inmates that were “injured” were actually just guards. The real inmates stole their clothing and were the ones that were escorted out by Buck and Eddie. Before they knew it, Buck and Eddie found themselves in the middle of a hostage situation.
They eventually wound up at the hospital, upon their request that the inmates surprisingly listened to. Buck rolls one of the inmates in on a gurney but by then Athena (Angela Bassett) has figured out what the escape plan was.
This inmate is arrested, but the other one, Mitchell (Mark Pellegrino), is still in the ambulance with Eddie. And that is when we learn the story of why he wanted to break out in the first place. Apparently, his son has been in the hospital with heart failure and he’s been waiting to get a new heart. Mitchell’s plan was to coerce surgeons into doing a transplant surgery so his son could have his heart. He had been trying to get the state to agree to execution so he donate his heart, but when that met resistance because it’s against the law for inmates to be organ donors, he opted for this.
911 Season 5 Episode 6 recap: Eddie’s promise
Eddie eventually convinces Mitchell to get out of the ambulance with a promise that he will try and get his son a heart. He’ll ask Buck’s girlfriend, Taylor (Megan West), to do a story about Mitchell’s son Nolan which would hopefully get the governor to let the heart donation happen.
Mitchell’s end of the bargain was that he’d go back to prison, but he changed his mind last minute and shot himself in the head. Buck heard the gunshots and ran outside thinking Eddie may have gotten hurt, but saw that it was Mitchell that was on the ground.
Even though Mitchell was dead, Eddie tried to keep his heart going with CPR. As long as his heart was alive they could use it for Mitchell’s son, or at least that was the hope anyway. It was a hit or miss there for a little but Athena came up with the idea to get Mitchell a commutation (reduces the charge but does not imply innocence or remove the charge).
It all happens so fast, but in the end, Mitchell’s son gets his heart just as he wanted.
