11 Most Traumatic Episodes of ‘9-1-1,’ Ranked
If there’s a common theme throughout the eight seasons (so far) of 9-1-1, it’s simple: trauma.
As dramatic and intense as some of the calls on the Fox-turned-ABC drama can get, that usually has nothing on when the first responders are at the center of the danger. If you know the show well, all it takes is an episode title (such as “Fight or Flight” or “Bobby Begins Again”) or a word (lightning) or an image (Oliver Stark‘s Buck dangling from the ladder, Peter Krause‘s Bobby listening over the radio as Angela Bassett‘s Athena fights for her life) to know exactly what someone’s referring to.
Below, we’ve ranked the most traumatic episodes of 9-1-1. Let us know which ones make your list in the comments section.
9-1-1, Returns, Thursday, March 6, 2025, 8/7c, ABC
11. "This Life We Choose" (Season 2 Episode 18)
The good news? We at least get Bobby and Athena’s wedding in this episode. But before that? Well, it’s one nerve-wracking moment after another. There’s a serial bomber sending packages around the city—including to Athena’s!—and it all culminates in one that topples the 118’s truck onto Buck’s leg. While he’s pinned there, the rest of the 118 must wait until they have an opening to get to him—the bomber has a grudge against Bobby—and then it takes them plus civilians to lift it off him. And all the while, Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) can only watch the news coverage of her brother from the dispatch center.
10. "May Day" (Season 5 Episode 16)
When the two words of the episode title have to be called and one of the members of the 118 is down (and pinned beneath a ceiling!), you know it’s a tough episode. What’s even worse: the events leading up to it. After a fire breaks out at dispatch, Bobby rushes in upon realizing that his stepdaughter May (Corinne Massiah) is still inside—trapped by the flames. With Eddie (Ryan Guzman) suiting up once again after leaving behind the 118 for the “safer” career at dispatch and the shocking ending, it’s a nonstop, action-packed episode.
9. "Eddie Begins" (Season 3 Episode 15)
The visuals of the well collapsing on top of Eddie, Buck trying to dig him out with his hands, and Eddie underwater with that montage are so striking every time. When a boy is stuck in a well, it’s Eddie who goes down to save him—all while remembering his son Christopher’s birth and his subsequent time away in Afghanistan as an army medic.
8. "Desperate Measures" (Season 5 Episode 3)
Not only does serial rapist Jeffery (Noah Bean) manage to get into Athena’s house—let’s not forget their previous interactions, coming up on this list—but he also kidnaps Harry (Marcanthonee Reis) and seals him in in a wall. How can this not be on the list after we watch Athena rush to save her son?
7. "Worst Day Ever" (Season 1 Episode 4)
It’s really the first major emergency for the 118—a plane burning on the water—and tough rescues all around, with Buck disregarding Bobby’s orders to save a victim. Then comes the heartbreak of what happened to Bobby’s family and Buck and Hen (Aisha Hinds) finding him.
6. "Bobby Begins Again" (Season 2 Episode 16)
Watching Bobby lose his family—and his inadvertent role in the tragedy—is devastating. Enough said.
5. "Powerless" (Season 3 Episode 17)
Listen, we’re still not over Criminal Minds having us watch Hotch (Thomas Gibson) listen as Foyet (C. Thomas Howell) killed Haley (Meredith Monroe) over the phone. So to have 9-1-1 do something similar, with Bobby unable to do more than listen over the radio as Athena fights for her life against Jeffery? Easily one of the hardest moments to watch of the show.
4. "The Searchers" (Season 3 Episode 3)
There’s a reason the tsunami tops our list ranking the major premiere and finale disasters of the show: It just doesn’t stop. And in the conclusion of the three-parter, Buck is desperate to find Eddie’s son, Christopher, after he loses him in the chaos. Buck standing there, bloody, on the phone with his sister, wondering how he’s going to break that news to Eddie before the fortunate reunion? Painful.
3. "Hero Complex" (Season 5 Episode 17)
Hen and Chimney’s (Kenneth Choi) investigation into paramedic Jonah (Brad Durfee), who’s been causing people’s deaths in his attempt to push them just to the edge, then save them for the glory, puts them in serious danger when he kidnaps them. But that’s not the worst part. Then, Jonah stops and restarts Chimney’s heart—more than once—while his ride-or-die Hen can only watch.
2. "In a Flash" (Season 6 Episode 10)
The call with the baby would have this episode at least under consideration for this list (though alone, it wouldn’t make the cut), but what follows easily secures it a spot (and high up!). Buck is struck by lightning while up on the ladder during a rescue, and the visual of him hanging there while the others are frozen in shock before rushing to his aid is perhaps the most memorable of the show. As executive producer Kristen Reidel told us at the time, the pitch for it was simple: “Buck dies.”
1. "Fight or Flight" (Season 2 Episode 13)
No other episode can top this list, and it’s impossible to think of one that ever will. Maddie’s abusive ex-husband Doug (Brian Hallisay) finds her, leaves Chimney (whom he’d befriended under a false identity) bleeding out, and kidnaps her. Maddie’s fight for her life, while thinking Chimney’s dead? Chilling, heartbreaking, and the image of her lying in the snow when it’s over is one that will never be forgotten.
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