#dispatcharc

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.