‘9-1-1’: Did Hen & Karen Make the Right Decision About Denny’s Father? (RECAP)

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 6 Episode 13, “Mixed Feelings.”]

The latest 9-1-1 had so many moments that we loved: Chimney (Kenneth Choi) talking to Denny (Declan Pratt); Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) playing poker with some familiar faces to test out the former’s new cognitive abilities; Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chimney having Athena (Angela Bassett) and Bobby (Peter Krause) over for a dinner that should become a weekly event. But most importantly, Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen (Tracie Thoms) found out their son has been spending time with his birth father Nathaniel (Troy Winbush) in the worst way possible.

Denny nearly slips up about Nathaniel in the aforementioned conversation with Chimney about fathers. The kid takes from that discussion that the first responder did what he needed to for himself when it came to his own dad. Chimney’s bestie probably wouldn’t be 100 percent on board with that if she overheard. But it’s not until later that Hen learns what’s been going on, when, after dropping off a victim from a call at the hospital, she sees her son being brought in — just after Karen tells her he wasn’t on the bus home. Denny’s fine; her husband, however, isn’t, the paramedic with him informs her. The EMT had assumed when he’d said the man brought in was his father.

With that, Hen and Karen have to sit Denny down for an important talk. Denny just wanted to meet his dad, he tells his moms, and he doesn’t think it’s such a big deal. They have to explain to him that he was being irresponsible, and they make boundaries to protect him. While Denny might not see it that way, his father is technically a stranger. He has to trust that, as his parents, they know what’s best. But Denny’s angry with them, despite being the one who lied, something that Karen admits she can understand since she once was mad at her parents when she lied about a test grade to go to a party. And she also points out that the blame also falls on Nathaniel; as the adult, he should’ve known better and come to them.

Hen’s mother, Toni (Marsha Warfield), stops by to talk to Denny and explains that his moms were scared of him getting hurt and losing him. There’s nothing wrong with him wanting to know his father, but he does have to go about it the right way. Toni’s also the one to tell Hen and Karen that while they might be ready for Denny to have a relationship with his dad, he is, and that’s what matters.

And so Hen and Karen go to see Nathaniel in the hospital. He knows he was being selfish, but it felt good to have a son, and he let that feeling cloud his judgment. But going forward, the women tell him they have to set serious ground rules. He has to earn their trust back, and if he crosses the line again, it’s done permanently. He agrees, and the episode ends with Hen and Karen watching Toni bring Denny in to see his dad in the hospital room. But Hen admits she’s not even a little ready yet. Are they right to trust Nathaniel won’t mess up again?

Jack Zeman/ FOX

Elsewhere in the episode, during the first call, the 118 realizes that Buck can do math in his head post-lightning strike. Eddie’s son Christopher (Gavin McHugh) testing him then confirms it’s not just a one-time thing. In fact, as Eddie finds, reading online, you can get new cognitive abilities after serious injuries to the central nervous system. After Buck and Eddie take advantage of that to make some money from their coworkers, it’s time to put his new skills to use, then maybe hit Vegas.

Eddie takes Buck to what he says is a “low stakes” poker game. The other players at the table: Julie “Rosie” Rosen (Gilli Messer, first seen in Season 5’s “Ghost Stories”); Chief Miranda Williams (Romi Dias, introduced in Season 2’s “7.1”); and Captain Jeshan Mehta (Ronobir Lahiri, first seen in Season 4’s “Buck Begins”). Williams remarks that Buck was dead for three minutes, Eddie corrects her with three minutes and 17 seconds, and we can’t help but wonder if those at the poker table usually sit around and talk about the 118’s wild calls and near-death experiences when no one from that house is there.

Buck does win (while brushing off questions about people struck by lightning developing special skills), and at the end of the night, his earnings come in the form of steaks … and no invitation back until his superpower wears off. Unfortunately for Buck, that’s not happening before he starts worrying about how many of his partners haven’t been satisfied (on a call during which a man says he read that 80 percent aren’t).

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Plus, Maddie meets a neighbor … or so she thinks. A woman stops by with muffins, pushes to make plans for a playdate for their kids, then turns out not to be who she says she is; when the dispatcher brings back her dish, another woman lives there with the same name. Chimney fills in Bobby, which leads to the captain and his wife coming by for dinner and the four of them trying to get to the bottom of the mystery.

With Athena’s help, Maddie sets a trap for the woman, and it turns out that she was using her address to sell coupons online. Since she’d been arrested before for fraud, she couldn’t have coupons sent to her home, so she had them mailed to Maddie and Chimney’s. She’d even borrowed her sister’s son to pose as hers for a “playdate” with Jee-Yun. Anyone else want to see Athena, Bobby, Maddie, and Chimney solving a crime together at least once a season now?

9-1-1, Mondays, 8/7c, Fox