Odds are, if you’ve just watched the Season 7 premiere of Station 19, you’re asking one question, probably over and over again: How could they? (Spoilers ahead!)
As the episode drew to a close, Grey’s Anatomy doc Amelia disclosed to newly minted captain Andy that fellow first-responder and ex-lover Jack might make a full recovery after his latest knock to the noggin. But, Dr. Shepherd added, there was no way that he’d ever again be cleared for work as a firefighter.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but… WTF? The poor guy was given up by his birth parents, survived a childhood in foster care, endured one train wreck of a relationship after another, he had a freaking tree fall on him (see below), and now… this? Why?
Says showrunner Peter Paige, “It was really important to me that we explore what it is to let go of a dream, and there is something about Jack Gibson, about his openness and vulnerability, that makes him a really compelling vehicle to explore [that with].”
The EP, who shares showrunner duties with Zoanne Clack, is quick to acknowledge that the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff has not gone easy on Grey Damon’s character. “We have beaten the s—t out of the poor man, literally physically, and at a certain point you just have to acknowledge that that’s going to have a price.”
For Jack, that’s the job that he loves. Which makes it sound like he has in store a bummer of a final arc. But it ain’t necessarily so. “Once you are a member of 19,” teases Clack, “you are always a member of 19.” Read the full recap of Station 19’s final season premiere here.
