Get the latest gossip

Angela Bassett Is Giving the Full Angela Bassett on 9-1-1

No matter how silly the scenario, there is no winking, no tongue in cheek — and that’s what makes the whole thing work.

There was a moment near the end of 9-1-1 ’s three-part season-eight premiere, as a police officer played by Angela Bassett was trying to land a mangled passenger plane on a freeway with a child as her co-pilot while a swarm of bees terrorized Southern California, when I stopped and wondered aloud if anyone out there is doing it better. I think my exact words, mumbled to the furniture in my living room, were, “Oh, hell yeah, Angela Bassett.” One week later, she was trying to wrangle a fully grown tiger that had cornered a terrified landlord inside a studio apartment. This is a show that once did an entire episode about a famous author faking his own death as part of a staged treasure hunt to promote his next book, but then, whoops, he actually died; it would still be, like, fine if she gave it that 80 percent.

Get the Android app