Let’s get the elephant — er, perhaps more appropriately, “fire truck” — in the room out of the way: Yes, we are embarking on the final season of Station 19. Yes, I’m sad about it too. Even though we don’t have to think about the end just yet, it does add a certain heaviness to the proceedings, don’t you think? Here, in the season seven premiere, which aired last night on ABC, we’re setting up storylines that will carry our beloved firefighters to the conclusion of their story. Though I fully believe that we’ll be sending off the people of 19 in more of a hopeful and inspiring way than a traumatic one, if I was only looking at the premiere to figure out how things are going to go, well, I’d be a little bit worried about some of our firefighters. It’s been 36 hours since the big floor collapse disaster at the Firefighters Ball that went down (pun intended, and I won’t apologize for it!) at the end of season six, and some of our friends from 19 are much worse off than others.
A ghost? Hard pass!
We need to talk about Andy and Ghost Jack. Consider it a hard and fast rule: It’s never a good sign when a TV character shows up as a ghost. No good can come of it! Sure, Ghost Jack is just a figment of Andy’s imagination, born from the immense guilt she feels over Jack’s current predicament, but still, you know Ghost Jack is a harbinger of something bad. You see, Andy Herrera — excuse me, Captain Andy Herrera — has known something was off with Jack for a long time. The guy has had a lot of head injuries over the years, and Andy’s been the one pushing him to get things looked at, but he’s refused every step of the way. Thankfully, his brain injury from the floor collapse isn’t exactly dire — I mean, any brain surgery is serious, but Dr. Amelia Shepherd assures Andy there was no brain swelling, which is a good sign that he’ll recover. But there is bad news: Upon closer look, Amelia informs Andy that there’s a lot of scarring on Jack’s brain from previous injuries, and his brain looks just like a football player’s does when they develop CTE, a neurological disorder that causes degeneration and can manifest in erratic or violent behavior, moodiness, memory loss — the list goes on. In short, this kind of diagnosis means that Jack will never be able to be a firefighter again; no one would ever clear him.
Andy not only feels the guilt from not being able to protect Jack from this devastating fate, but it also adds to the pressure she’s feeling to keep her team safe now that she’s captain of 19. It certainly doesn’t help that Maya walks in to remind Andy that regardless of her emotions, she needs to hold it all together and present herself as a strong, tough leader — she has the fate of women in the fire service in her hands. Anyone else want to scream, holy hell, not now, Maya, at their TV screen? Okay, me too.
Ghost Jack serves as another way to compound all of that pressure Andy’s feeling on her first day as captain. But you know what? Our girl thrives under pressure. The big emergency call of the episode has to do with a Crisis One call with a disgruntled employee named Phyllis threatening to blow up the office building that spirals out of control, but even as the situation escalates, Andy remains calm, and she gets things done. There’s damage to the building, but everyone makes it out alive.
After that call, and realizing that when Jack wakes up, she’ll have to tell him about his CTE, she basically processes the entire turn of events in real time. In an argument Andy has with Ghost Jack, we see Andy’s resilience, determination, and ambition grow until, through tears, she tells him that what is happening to him isn’t her fault and also that she is “going to be the best damn captain this station has ever seen.” Since Natasha made Andy captain in last season’s finale, she’s mostly been hiding her own feelings about it in order to make sure everyone else who got passed over for the position felt okay about it. Not anymore. This is Andy’s dream, and she’s earned it. She might very well be the best damn captain station 19 has ever seen.
Just because Andy finally has her dream job, it doesn’t mean she won’t have to face some real nightmares (we have watched this show for seven seasons now; we know the drill). The first one, of course, is Jack. He finally wakes up at the end of the episode, and the first thing he says through his post-op daze is that he’s ready to get back to work. Andy telling Jack that his firefighting career is over is going to be a real gut punch, won’t it?
Putting it into perspective
Speaking of impending doom, let’s get into the Vic and Theo of it all. As you may recall, after hitting some rough patches at the end of last season (mainly thanks to Theo being a real baby about the whole captain situation), Vic and Theo got into a huge fight at the Firefighters Ball and called it quits. Moments later, Theo was discovered sticking his tongue down Chaos Kate’s throat (always true to her name, that one). Thirty-six hours later, the newly broken-up couple are forced to go out on a call together. While Theo’s worried about awkwardness affecting their work, Vic reminds them that they’re adults. She takes the lead on the call and is an all-around all-star even though things get dicey, and she ends up having to leap from the office building onto a rescue cushion.
Whether it’s being reminded of how great Vic is or that their line of work means you don’t always get a second chance to say how you feel, Theo decides to tell Vic about Kate after they’re safely back at the station. He knows how messed up it was, and he’s sorry. He’s clearly waiting for a big emotional reaction out of Vic — but that never comes. As Vic points out, they were technically broken up, but more importantly, compared to everything else going on — people dying at the Firefighters Ball, Jack having a traumatic brain injury, everything that went down just moments ago — their relationship issues are not actually a big problem.
Now, Vic can talk about perspective all she wants, but there’s no way she isn’t hurt about Theo’s immediate reaction to go hook up with another woman or isn’t brokenhearted that they’re splitting up in the first place. Those two were (are) in love love. Something tells me this conversation between them isn’t over yet. Will those two crazy kids find a way back to each other before we wrap this thing up?
There’s some sunshine after all
Lest you think the premiere was all doom and gloom, let’s get into some very happy developments kicking off season seven. The end of season six was rough for Natasha and Robert. When news of their romantic relationship broke, it put Natasha’s job on the line. Robert realizing he’d never get promoted if he was dating the fire chief caused him to react in some less-than-mature ways. And, oh yeah, a floor collapsed, and Robert had to literally pull the love of his life out of the rubble. Natasha is fine now, but she does spend the episode worrying that newly elected Mayor Osman might fire her for her so-called “sex scandal.” In the end, he does no such thing. Natasha keeps her job — but now she’s well aware that she’s only keeping it because it’s a good political move for Osman; when it isn’t any longer, she could lose it all.Still, all the trauma at the end of the last season puts things into perspective for Robert. On the way home from the hospital, he tells Natasha that he wants to get married. They love each other; they should get married. Natasha points out that so much of their relationship is built on crisis. “We’re addicted to the adrenaline,” she tells him. But Robert’s never been more sure that she’s wrong. It wasn’t the adrenaline he felt when he realized he could’ve lost her forever; it was “clarity.” She’s still not so sure. She doesn’t want a proposal after some life-or-death moment. She wants one on a random Tuesday, “when the weather’s crappy, and [her] hair looks busted, and [she has] raging coffee breath.” She wants to know it’s for real. Robert can handle that. “Tomorrow’s Tuesday,” he says with a smile as they continue on their drive home. It’s honestly adorable, and I think everyone involved here, including me, deserves to see one last Fire Wedding.
They aren’t the only couple doing romantic things and taking steps forward: Carina and Maya also find some clarity in the ballroom disaster. First, now that the two have made amends and are starting up their IVF journey again, Carina wants a fresh start all around. She thinks they should move out of Maya’s apartment — so many bad memories loom large there! — and find a house to build a family in. “Our home,” Carina says to punctuate the very cute little scene. But finding a home together isn’t the only major step they decide to take together. During the ballroom collapse, Carina delivered that waitress’ baby. Sadly, we learn that the waitress didn’t make it. Carina meets one of the waitress’ friends, the chef at the ballroom, who tells her that he’s going to adopt the little boy. He knew her the best; he can tell her son all about his mom. It sounds like the happiest ending this baby could get.
Hours later, the guy changes his mind. He just can’t handle the responsibility. It’s too much. Not that you couldn’t see it coming from a mile away, but Maya suggests that she and Carina adopt the baby. They would still go through with trying to get pregnant, but maybe this is meant to be. Carina loves the idea. We get to watch — through some tears, admittedly — as little Liam meets his moms for the first time. Actually, this might be the happiest ending this baby could get.
Oh, and one more thing …
Emmett is back! And he and Travis have sex! Even though Travis just started dating Eli! Okay, Emmett returning to mourn the loss of his father isn’t a huge surprise, but the other stuff? Hot damn! Travis heads over to the Dixon house to pay his respects to Kitty — who accuses him of killing her husband — and finds Emmett there. Travis seems relieved to be able to tell his ex that his dad was regretful over how he handled his relationship with Emmett in the end, and grateful that he could tell Emmett that his dad loved him, even if he didn’t show it. Eventually, it all becomes a little too much for Emmett, and he ends up sobbing on Travis’ shoulder … which then turns into much more. For a moment, it looks like Travis will stop it since he’s, you know, in a relationship, but he just can’t help himself. Hasn’t that always been the way with these two?
While it’s clear that a lot of this sex is simply comfort-based, I’m hoping it really is a onetime thing. Come on, hasn’t Travis put Emmett through enough? Let that man live! Let him go back to Florence and eat all the food he wants! Let Emmett go, for real this time. Looks like we’ll find out just how deep this reunion is going to go at a later date.
