Make it your bees-ness to behold 9-1-1’s gloriously dumb “bee-nado”

There has been no escaping 9-1-1’s bonkers season-eight-premiere promos. You know the ones, where a massive swarm of bees—a “bee-nado,” as it’s dubbed—swirls over sunny Los Angeles, droning over palm trees and the Hollywood Sign, and hinting at a catastrophe of biblical proportions. Millions of killer insects roaming wild and causing people to run for shelter lest they get stung to death? Now that’s a primetime-television event, people. The only saviors in 9-1-1 are a select crew of first responders—specifically, the folks of Engine Company 118 and the dispatchers who work with them. And these protagonists make it their bees-ness (sorry!) to help.   

But did last night’s premiere live up to the hype? The answer is a resounding yes. “Buzzkill,” the first of apparently three episodes to deal with the “bee-nado,” begins with a seemingly small plane crash and ends with a much bigger one. In between, these creatures wreak plenty of havoc during a 40-minute installment that gets crazier and funnier as it progresses. For devoted 9-1-1 fans, this is a regular occurrence. Co-created by Ryan Murphy, the series constantly portrays disastrous events, from a tsunami and a landslide to a cruise ship sinking. Still, don’t underestimate the power of 22 million killer bees on the loose. Whether you’ve been watching the show since 2018 or are just hearing about it now, this opener is a “you must see it to bee-lieve it” experience. 

For starters, the concept of murderous, enraged insects being tracked by a Doppler radar as they branch out is uniquely silly, and it’s impossible for the show to avoid the comedy of it all. 9-1-1 embraces it with its on-the-nose needle drops (Doris Day’s “Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee,”  Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight Of The Bumblebee”), a ton of overhead shots of people panicking, and moments like the grumpy chief yelling at his firefighters to avoid getting stung because “I don’t need any of you getting uglier today.”  

Even so, “Buzzkill” does attempt to inject seriousness into the mix—for a bit. In one scene, a bee flies into a man’s mouth, thus blocking his airway. When first responders Howie (Kenneth Choi) and Hen (Aisha Hinds) suck the insect out with a tube, the guy’s first words are “My mouth tastes like honey.” In another situation, a flock of bees attacks a rich divorcée’s perfume-launch garden party, forcing her assistant to dive into the pool for survival as the bees wait for her above the water. Ultimately, firefighters use the perfume’s floral scent to drive them away from her. You’ve simply got to laugh. 

So why are these bees terrorizing Los Angeles anyway? Well, a truck carrying them rams into a car driven by a woman, with her eight-year-old daughter is in the passenger seat. The boxes topple, and an ensuing fire and the city’s heat anger the insects (honestly, understandable). And bam, they form a tornado. To dial up the tension, the mother and daughter are obviously allergic to bees with, uh oh, only one epinephrine pen to share. It’s tempting to roll your eyes at the laziness of this arc, but such soapiness is exactly what the promos promised. Don’t worry, the mother and daughter are calmly rescued by dispatcher Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and her first responder brother, Buck (Oliver Stark). 

If you’re a first-timer, don’t fret about knowing who these main characters are. 9-1-1 makes it crystal clear in “Buzzkill” that Buck, Howie, Hen, and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) hate their new boss. See, their former boss, Bobby (Peter Krause), is a consultant on a movie set. And Bobby’s wife, police officer Athena (Angela Bassett), is transporting a prisoner to L.A. in a flight that’s about to land when it’s attacked by a swarm. All of the actors are fun to watch, but again, we’re drawn to this episode like honey because of the bees, not the people.  

As the installment comes to a close, Athena and her fellow passengers are toppling to the ground, as is the small plane they collided with because of the bees. Meanwhile, millions of said bees are still wandering as calamine lotion flies off the shelves, according to the news reports. What else do the remaining “bee-nado” episodes have in store? No idea, but we will bee watching (apologies if these puns sting) all of the dopey, fun chaos that’s sure to come.