Jennifer Love Hewitt Teases Maddie’s Harrowing Kidnapped Storyline in ‘9-1-1’

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 9.

Summary

• Maddie’s attempt to stall a kidnapper results in a shocking twist with Detective Brayburn.
• The twist leads to Maddie being abducted, showcasing her resilience and protective instincts.
• Hewitt talks to Collider about the intense storyline, highlighting the dynamic between the characters.

After an almost four-month break, 9-1-1 is officially back and Season 8, Episode 9 kicks things off with an abducted persons case that ends on a shocking cliffhanger. In “Sob Stories,” Maddie Han (Jennifer Love Hewitt) takes a call from a kidnapper that quickly spirals into something more. In trying to stall the kidnapper while the police reach their location, Maddie lies to the caller only for the person on the other end of the line to call out the lie when it turns out that Maddie is playing for more time so that the police can track the caller down. Unable to track the caller down, Athena (Angela Bassett) takes Maddie to meet Detective Amber Brayburn (Abigail Spencer), a missing persons specialist who has been after this kidnapper for a long time.

Brayburn identifies the kidnapper as Richard Bullock, and they suspect him of being a serial killer. When Richard calls Maddie again, she tries once more to stall him. Except this time, she does not lie. Instead, she tries to appeal to his empathy, but when that doesn’t work, Richard threatens Jee-yun. Turning on him, Maddie makes an impulsive decision in suggesting that Richard kill himself. The cops arrive just after he shoots himself, saving the victim, but Maddie is now plagued with guilt over what happened. But just as she thinks it’s all over, we learn in the final moments that the kidnapper was never Richard Bullock — it’s actually Detective Brayburn.

Jennifer Love Hewitt on Maddie’s State of Mind After That 9-1-1 Call

“This moment really scared me, as an actor, but also as Maddie.”

After realizing that her words influenced Richard to kill himself, Maddie quickly spirals down a path of self-doubt. It’s a traumatic moment that leads her to doubt the decisions she’s made. It’s only thanks to her colleagues and friends that she can slowly start moving forward. Looking back at the scene, Hewitt says that this scene was an impactful one. “This moment really scared me, as an actor, but also as Maddie, because it’s one of those things where ultimately I feel like Maddie makes a last-minute decision to do something heroic for all future young people going forward, because of this guy’s background and what he’s capable of.”

And it isn’t until the killer mentions her daughter Jee-yun that we see Maddie’s reaction change. This was a pivotal point for Hewitt as well.

“For me, the only thing I added to that scene on the day, with the director and with Tim [Minear], is I just said, I feel like it’s really super important, that he gets personal, and I think that because he gets personal, hopefully, the audience will understand, that trigger for Maddie. And at that point, all bets are off, you know? I think, motherhood is something that Maddie has fought desperately hard for, as we’ve seen on the show.”

Of course, as we know from earlier in the season, Maddie is pregnant with her second child and Hewitt notes that this makes her more protective. Instinctively, when her child is threatened, her reaction is something that came in the moment and wasn’t premeditated. She says:

“I think in that moment, it isn’t a well thought out thing. I think it is a last minute, last ditch effort to protect all going forward and when I read it, and when I had to play it, I was like, ‘Oh my God, do I bounce back from this?’ Like, does the audience forgive me for this? And then I think the answer is yes, because it continues on and you see what happens in Episode 10. And I think in Episode 10, you realize that there was no other choice in that moment but to do that and honestly it didn’t help her very much.”

How Will Maddie Deal With That Major Plot Twist and Her Kidnapping?

“This show is not meant to be comfortable.”

When Brayburn reveals herself at the end of the episode, she does so by appearing in Chim (Kenneth Choi) and Maddie’s house and attacking Maddie. Knocking Maddie out, it’s clear that Maddie will be in danger now that she is the one abducted. Long-time viewers of 9-1-1 unfortunately know that this is not even the first time Maddie has been kidnapped. The first event came in Season 2 when her abusive ex-husband, Doug (Brian Hallisay), kidnapped her after he stabbed Chimney in a near-fatal attack.

Hewitt praised showrunner, Tim Minear, for the twists and turns the series offers for viewers, saying, “I think that Tim Minear is a genius, let me just say that, because I think that when this show gets you comfortable, he reminds you, that this show is not meant to be comfortable.” She continues with a laugh, “And I think for Maddie, in sort of joking off-camera way, I think Maddie has really bad instincts on people. She is not a person that reads the room well, with Doug and this person.” Hewitt points out that after Richard kills himself, she truly believes it is over and that all the has to deal with is the aftermath.

“I don’t think that she believes for any moment that it’s coming for her in that way. And then I think in Episode 10, you know, for us, the next thing that we kind of wanted to play is how do we make this episode feel different than when Maddie was captured last time by Doug, and I think the only way to do that was to turn up everything 100 notches, and we do,” Hewitt explains. And it’s hard to imagine it being more intense than Maddie’s first kidnapping.

In that episode, Maddie is taken out to a cabin and restrained by Doug. She fights and barely manages to escape him before running at a full sprint through the snow, eventually fighting with Doug and killing him. But Hewitt notes that she wanted Maddie to learn something from being kidnapped by Doug. “She is tougher and stronger than ever before, even in her weakness, and even when seemingly somebody else is winning the race. So, I think that hopefully people will see that in Episode 10, and I’m really excited about it. But yeah, it’s kind of a really crazy thing.”

Jennifer Love Hewitt Describes Maddie Is Her Truest Self When She’s Fighting

“Everything that Maddie fights for in Episode 10 is Jee, and that baby, and Chimney.”

It can be painful to see Maddie go through so much, after all, out of all of the characters and first responders on the show, Maddie is easily one of the most empathetic and emotional. However, Hewitt finds that Maddie is more true to herself in these moments.

“Everything that Maddie fights for in Episode 10 is Jee, and that baby, and Chimney, it’s hard. I think the audience doesn’t love that these things happen to Maddie, but the truth is these episodes are the most who Maddie is. Maddie is a woman who was put on this planet to fight over and over and over and over again. That’s who she is, and it is fun for me as an actor to play, but, I feel like when Maddie is at her happiest — it sounds really terrible to say — but when Maddie’s at her happiest, like I love her, but it doesn’t feel like her to me. When Maddie’s in peril and she’s fighting and she’s that like, she’s just that fighter, just like that feral-like fighter person that she is, that is Maddie.”

Hewitt also praised her scene partner Spencer, who plays the villainous Detective Brayburn, saying:

“I’m so glad that it was her. We had the strangest and best time ever torturing each other and being together in these episodes and it’s really cool. I think it’s cool it’s women fighting it out this time, and women with trauma and pain that they can’t get rid of causing them to do bad things. It’s really fun. It’s really fun. I hope the audience just has awful fun with it, but it’s awful. I mean, it’s awful. I was about to say, ‘What is wrong with me?’ But it’s good awful. It’ll be fun awful, I think, hopefully.”

While I had some reservations about this arc being even more intense than the arc with Doug kidnapping Maddie, Hewitt was quick to reassure me that it was “100 times” more turned up. With another thrilling episode ahead, Hewitt says, “You’re not even ready. It’s crazy.”

New episodes of 9-1-1 premiere on Thursdays on ABC, and new episodes stream on Hulu the next day.