#charactermeltdown

Character Meltdown: May Grant Deserved Better — and 9-1-1 Knows It

How a once-sharp supporting character became a disappointing “main” by accident

Hook: I Knew This Meltdown Was Coming

It was only a matter of time before May Grant became my Character Meltdown.

Because the thing that hurts the most isn’t when a character is written badly from the start.

It’s when a character is written brilliantly for years… and then the show forgets why we loved them.

And that’s exactly what’s happening with May on 9-1-1 right now.

Why May Worked So Well in the Beginning

May’s introduction wasn’t “Athena’s daughter.” It was May as a person.

She was a teenager dealing with bullying, social pressure, and the brutal reality that being “pretty” doesn’t protect you from being targeted. The show didn’t sanitize it. It gave her storyline weight.

Her suicide attempt was devastating — but narratively, it also made a promise:

This isn’t a background kid we’ll forget. This is a character who’s going to grow.

And for a while, 9-1-1 actually kept that promise.

The Tsunami Episode: The Moment She Became More Than a Side Character

Then came the tsunami episode.

May trapped with Athena. Forced into action. Forced to hold it together. Forced to help someone else while terrified herself.

That’s one of the most effective “coming-of-age” pivots the show has ever done.

It didn’t just put her in danger — it proved she had courage and capability under pressure. It showed a version of May who could become an adult protagonist.

That episode didn’t just develop her.

It reframed her.

The Call Center Era: May’s Best Growth Arc

When May takes time off from USC and starts working at dispatch, it becomes the strongest stretch of her character development.

It’s the first time we see her truly in the adult world.

She’s not a kid in Athena’s house anymore. She’s a colleague. A trainee. A person learning how to be useful when things are messy and real.

And that season gave her something even better than romance:

purpose.

The Claudette storyline, the call center fire, “MayDay” — all of it cemented May as someone who belongs in the center of the show’s moral universe.

And the Bobby moment? Iconic.

May saying she has “two dads” is one of the most emotionally grounded lines the series has ever written. It wasn’t cheesy — it was earned.

And Then… The Show Dropped Her

After all that, May finally goes back to school.

And once she’s in college?

She basically disappears.

Then she returns later and the show acts like the last few years of growth didn’t happen — or worse, like it doesn’t matter.

That’s the real problem.

May was more of a “main character” when she was technically a supporting player than she is now that she’s supposedly more present.

The Current Version of May Feels Smaller Than the One We Earned

Here’s what we’re getting lately:

May as emotional support for Athena. May as emotional support for Harry. May as “around,” but not driving anything.

And yes — it makes sense that she would show up for her family. That’s consistent with who she is.

But the moment Athena stabilizes and Harry finds his direction, May’s story should naturally pivot to the big question:

“Okay… and what about me?”

Instead, the show doesn’t ask it.

So May becomes a prop.

And that’s wild, considering everything they built.

The Ravi Problem: A Relationship That Feels Like a Shortcut

Then the show tries to give her “a storyline” by tossing her into Ravi’s orbit.

And I’m sorry, but it reads like a narrative shortcut.

Not because I’m anti-romance for May — I’m not.

But because this doesn’t feel like something that grew from May’s character journey. It feels like something inserted so she’s not just standing in Grant family scenes.

It’s “Here! A pairing! Now she has plot!”

May deserves a romance that emerges from who she is and what she’s becoming — not a random spark meant to create instant buzz.

The Missed Opportunity: May’s Adult Life (Work, Home, Identity)

If I were writing May’s return, the arc would be obvious:

Start where the show did: May supporting Athena and Harry.

Then, once those fires calm down, we shift to May asking:

What career do I want? What kind of life do I want? Who am I when I’m not needed by my family?

Let us see her apartment. Her routines. Her friendships. Her loneliness. Her ambition. Her uncertainty.

Let us watch her build her adult identity the way the show once let Buck and Maddie and Eddie build theirs.

Because May’s entire call center era was proof she’s drawn to helping people — just not necessarily in the same way her mom is.

A path like social work would make so much sense: a bridge between her education and the purpose she found at dispatch.

It would also naturally connect her to the 118 and Athena’s cases without forcing it.

That’s how you write a character into the show’s ecosystem without reducing them to “someone’s daughter.”

The Relationships That Could’ve Actually Served Her Story

May doesn’t need a love interest first.

She needs connection that reflects her growth.

The show had so many options:

A real sibling dynamic with Harry where they talk about identity and purpose. A mentor reconnection with Maddie, now that May is older and they can meet more as equals. A bridge with Buck through Bobby — because both of them see Bobby as “father” in different ways. Even revisiting Eddie as a trusted sounding board, since they already built a quiet but meaningful rapport at dispatch.

Any of these would have felt like continuing the story that already exists.

Instead, we got a sudden romantic detour that doesn’t address the big missing piece:

May’s vocation.

The Tragedy: She’s Being Written Younger Than She Used to Be

And this is the part that genuinely frustrates me.

May used to feel like the most mature young character on the show — because her writing respected what she’d survived and learned.

Now she feels smaller. Softer. Less defined.

Not because May is immature.

Because the writing is treating her like she has nothing going on unless she’s attached to someone else’s storyline.

That’s not just disappointing.

It’s a downgrade.

Final Thought: May Was a Main Character Before the Show Realized It

May Grant used to be one of the best examples of how 9-1-1 can build someone quietly over time.

She wasn’t loud. She wasn’t constantly on screen. But when she showed up, it mattered.

Right now, it feels like the show doesn’t know what it has.

And that’s why this is a meltdown — because I love this character.

I don’t want May to be “support.” I want her to be a person with direction again.

Olive Stone and the Quiet Power of “Minor” Characters Who Carry Entire Stories

Why My Character Meltdowns Are Almost Never About the Main Characters

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you may have noticed a pattern.

Most of my character meltdowns are not about the main characters.

They’re about the ones who exist slightly to the side of the spotlight.

The ones often labeled as secondary, supporting, or minor characters.

I’ve done this before with characters like May Grant, Dana Gerkhan, and even Elara Vance/Buckley — a character I created myself. And honestly? It’s probably my personal signature at this point.

Because I genuinely believe that many of these so-called minor characters often contain far more narrative potential than the series actually develops.

Sometimes it’s because they aren’t the official protagonists. Sometimes it’s simply because the story never gives them the same amount of time.

But every now and then, one of these characters manages to break through anyway.

For me, that character is Olive Stone from Manifest.

Olive Stone: A Character Who Never Betrayed Her Potential

From the very first moment she appeared on screen, I loved Olive Stone.

Part of that is absolutely due to the fantastic performance by Luna Blaise, whom I would honestly love to see in far more projects.

But what makes Olive fascinating isn’t just the acting.

It’s the way the character evolves without ever losing her core identity.

When we first meet her, she’s just a girl.

Then we see her again years later — now a teenager — navigating a completely fractured family situation.

Her father returns after what, for him, was only a few hours.

For her?

Years have passed.

And that emotional complexity is something the series handles beautifully.

The Outsider Who Sees What Others Cannot

One of the most interesting things about Olive is that she was not on Flight 828.

She isn’t one of the passengers.

She doesn’t experience the Callings herself.

And yet she becomes one of the most important characters in understanding them.

Olive functions as a narrative archetype that appears in many great shows — the analytical outsider.

The person who isn’t directly affected by the supernatural events but who sees patterns that the protagonists themselves cannot.

Think of characters like Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer — the intellectual anchor who interprets what others are living through.

Olive becomes that figure for the Stone family.

Her intelligence, curiosity, and analytical mind allow her to connect clues that even the passengers sometimes miss.

The Emotional Maturity That Surprised Me

What always struck me about Olive is her emotional maturity.

When Ben returns, she doesn’t simply accept everything instantly.

She challenges him.

She explains something crucial:

For him, no time has passed.

But for the rest of the family, life moved on.

She even becomes the emotional bridge between her parents, helping Ben understand why Grace had tried to rebuild her life.

Strangely enough, there were moments when I found Olive even more emotionally grounded than Grace herself.

And that says a lot about the way the character was written.

The TJ Era: When Olive Became Part of the Mystery

Olive’s character arc becomes especially interesting when she meets TJ Morrison.

Because TJ was a passenger.

The time anomaly makes them suddenly the same age — something that normally would never have happened.

Their relationship leads to one of the most fascinating parts of the series.

Together they research ancient mythology, historical symbolism, and the deeper meaning behind the Death Date and the Callings.

That period of the show is one of my favorites.

Olive stops being just “Ben’s daughter.”

She becomes an intellectual partner in solving the mystery.

The Season Where the Show Almost Lost Her

Then TJ leaves to study in Egypt.

And suddenly Olive’s storyline becomes… strange.

She remains theoretically involved in the research, but the narrative shifts.

Out of nowhere, she develops a romance with a university student she meets during research.

And the relationship appears almost magically — then disappears just as quickly.

When TJ eventually returns, the story acts as if that previous relationship barely existed.

It felt oddly similar to something happening right now in 9-1-1 with May Grant.

A character builds a long emotional journey… only for the show to temporarily ignore it for a sudden romantic subplot that doesn’t really belong there.

Thankfully, Manifest eventually put Olive back on track.

Olive’s Strength in the Final Season

In the final season, Olive becomes one of the emotional pillars of the story.

After Grace’s death, she essentially becomes a second mother to Eden.

She continues supporting Cal — even after his shocking transformation into an older version of himself.

She never abandons the investigation.

She visits the detention center constantly, trying to support her father, her brother, TJ, and the other passengers.

In many ways, she becomes the anchor of the family.

The Goodbye Scene That Broke My Heart

One of the most heartbreaking moments in the series happens when the passengers must return to the plane.

Everyone who wasn’t on Flight 828 — people like Jared and Drea — must stay behind.

Olive remains there too.

Holding Eden.

Waiting.

Not knowing whether she will ever see her father and brother again.

It’s one of the most emotional moments in the entire series.

The Reset Ending and the Bittersweet Moment

Then comes the finale.

Time resets.

The passengers land as if nothing ever happened.

Only they remember.

For Olive, this creates one of the most bittersweet scenes in the show.

She meets TJ again — exactly as she did the first time.

Except now she’s a young girl again.

The love story that once defined them no longer exists.

For him, she is still the woman he loved.

But time has separated them again.

And that moment quietly breaks your heart.

The Spin-Off I Secretly Wish Existed

Part of me always imagined a spin-off.

A story about Olive and Cal growing up again — eventually reconnecting with TJ and Violet.

Maybe TJ would wait.

Maybe he would watch Olive from a distance, waiting until time made it possible for them to meet again.

Maybe Olive would slowly regain fragments of the memories she lived in the erased timeline.

Those overlapping memories could reopen the mystery of the Callings.

A new journey.

A new discovery.

Honestly, I would watch that show immediately.

Why I Love Characters Like Olive

What fascinates me about Olive is something she shares with several other characters I love.

Characters like:

May Grant (9-1-1)

Samantha LaRusso (Cobra Kai)

Maddie Nears (School Spirits)

Dana Gerkhan (Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei)

They all share the same narrative archetype.

Young women who are thoughtful, grounded, and emotionally intelligent.

We’re often told that the most interesting characters must be chaotic, rebellious, messy, or self-destructive.

Something very Euphoria-coded, if you will.

But I disagree.

Sometimes the most fascinating characters are the ones who face extraordinary situations with intelligence and strength.

Not because they’re reckless.

But because they’re capable.

The Lesson Olive Stone Teaches Television

Olive proves something important.

A young character doesn’t need to be the main protagonist to carry enormous narrative weight.

She interacts naturally with the adult characters — Ben, Michaela, Zeke, Jared, etc...

She belongs in their world.

She’s part of the investigation.

Part of the emotional core.

Part of the solution.

And that’s exactly what I once hoped would happen with May in 9-1-1 (because giving her a story with Ravi isn't going to help her, it's just destructive fan service).

The key is simple:

Integration.

Let the character interact with everyone.

Let them exist within the group.

Olive did that perfectly.