When ABC announced the two-part “Contagion" event, we knew it was going to be an unforgettable 911 event, but we weren’t quite prepared for just how crazy things were going to get for the 118.
The episode began innocently enough with a fun gender reveal at Chimney and Maddie’s place that went awry when the bakery mixed up the cakes, leading Jee-Yun to believe she’s about to get a little sister rather than the little brother Chimney and Maddie know is coming. The gender reveal mishap is the least of the pair’s worries, though, as the action quickly began moving along, and Chimney and Maddie are truly turning out to be the unluckiest 911 couple.
After responding to a bus crash that left Ravi questioning his future after he failed to notice a child in the back of a car, the 118 was called to the scene of a lab fire caused by a disgruntled employee who was fired after breaking protocol with her experiments. While the 118 are able to get the two trapped scientists to safety, an explosion sends the lab into a lockdown, trapping Bobby, Chimney, Ravi, and Hen in the lab with the infectious CCHF virus (Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever).
Not only are the four trapped via the lockdown, but Hen has been injured in the explosion that left them trapped, and Chimney’s face protector has broken, exposing him to the toxin trapped in the lab with them. Chimney seems to be fine at the moment, but Hen has suffered a collapsed lung and is in need of urgent treatment.
As the 118 works to stabilize Hen, outside the lab, the DOD arrives to help with the containment. They begin working on a way to get Bobby, Hen, Chimney, and Ravi out of the locked-down lab. While they’re aiming to get the group out within the next few hours, Hen cannot wait and it’s clear they’re going to have to perform an emergency procedure to help save her life.
While they have another EMT in the room with them, Chimney is unable to perform the procedure directly as he can’t risk exposing Hen to the infection, given they don’t know if he’s been exposed or not. Bobby steps in and manages to pull the procedure off successfully with Chimney’s help. Hen pulls through, but the celebration is shortlived when Chimney begins coughing up blood, confirming he’s indeed been exposed to the CCHF toxin.
Upon learning of Chimney’s symptoms, the truth finally comes out that the strain of the virus Chimney has been exposed to is a strain with an accelerated incubation period caused by the gain of function testing performed by the rogue scientist. This changes everything as the DOD pulls back its rescue efforts and makes it clear they cannot risk the contagion spreading as they’re now dealing with a pandemic in a bottle.
As things begin to look hopeless, one of the other scientists tells Buck about the cure located in the lab. Buck relays this information to Bobby and the team, with Ravi heading to the containment unit to recover the vaccine to use on Chimney. Despite a threat from the DOD head that they’ll be charged with terrorism should they open the containment unit, Ravi punches in the code in hopes of recovering the vaccine to save Chiminey. There’s just one problem: the cure is gone.
The episode ends as we cut to the fired scientist walking through a crowd, the cure in her bag.
Will Chimney, Hen, Bobby, and Ravi make it out alive? We're going to have to wait until April 17 to find out as 911 season 14 continues with part 2 of its "Contagion" event.