‘9-1-1’ Season 8 Finale Promo: Athena & the 118 Are Trapped After Building Collapse (VIDEO)

Uh, maybe this will help fix what’s broken between Athena (Angela Bassett) and Chimney (Kenneth Choi)? That may be the only good news we can think of when it comes to the 9-1-1 Season 8 finale emergency, glimpsed at the end of the penultimate episode and seen in detail in the promo that aired immediately following.

In Season 8 Episode 17, Athena’s return to work after her husband Bobby’s (Peter Krause) heartbreaking death led to her encountering Graham, a.k.a. Cart Cop, again (he appeared in “Wannabes” earlier this season), and this time, he was going after people in his new building for shirking their laundry. After her second time called to the scene, he was last seen running back to the laundry room, so sure where a missing item of clothing was. Athena, meanwhile, returned to her car only for the building to come down moments later.

Now, the promo for the Season 8 finale, titled “Seismic Shifts,” begins with Athena’s call to 9-1-1 to send everyone. The 118 is, of course, called to the scene, and Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody) wonders how anyone could survive it. “That’s our job,” Buck (Oliver Stark) says.

Chimney finds Athena inside. She found two trapped people, and one is bleeding out. As the situation becomes unstable, Gerrard (Brian Thompson) orders the 118 to evacuate, but Athena and Chimney are trapped, as are Buck and Ravi. Watch the promo above.

Related

Why '9-1-1's First Major Death Was Perfectly Devastating

This is clearly going to be the way that Athena and Chimney start talking again. After Bobby gave Chimney the only dose of the anti-viral, he died; no one knew at the time he’d been infected. She’s been struggling with looking at Chimney and not seeing the man who didn’t survive, her husband.

The logline for the episode reads, “The 118, still reeling from their recent loss, is dispatched to a mass casualty event after a high-rise apartment building collapses. Then, Athena and Chimney have to work together to save a familiar face.”

Earlier this season, showrunner Tim Minear told TV Insider that there would be “a real 9-1-1 emergency finale,” and seeing this now, that’s true. “I think we have a fun conceit in Episode 17, kind of a thing we haven’t really done before, which will then lead to a mass casualty event,” he said. “And even in their grief, they’re first responders, they got to put that aside and work together to save people. So I think what you’ll see in the last three episodes, yes, grief, love, loss, sadness, and rallying and victory.” That quote about working together to save people? It will obviously be true of Athena and Chimney.

What are you hoping to see in the Season 8 finale? Let us know in the comments section below.

9-1-1, Season 8 Finale, Thursday, May 15, 8/7c, ABC