‘Station 19’ Showrunners Break Down Vic’s Public Meltdown in Episode 5: She ‘May Not Have Hit Bottom Just Yet’
“Station 19” celebrated 100 episodes with a big emergency at Seattle’s iconic Space Needle, and an even bigger blowup by one of the show’s main characters.
Thursday’s new installment, titled “My Way,” followed as the firefighter crew ventured to the heart of Seattle to respond to a dangerous call at the iconic landmark. This marked the first time the “Grey’s Anatomy” universe has featured action at the Space Needle (“We had pitched it for years on ‘Grey’s’ but it never came through,” coshowrunner Zoanne Clack told TheWrap.)
Though the action-packed episode led to a successful rescue operation — despite Ben (Jason Winston George) and Robert (Boris Kodjoe) nearly dying — the hour saw Vic (Barrett Doss) reach a breaking point after the emergency, after she publicly admonished the mayor for budget cuts affecting the fire department, including the dissolution of the beloved Crisis One initiative she was running out of the station.
“[Crisis One] was the one thing she was holding on to. Her professional life was so intact and she was still doing her job, but she was already burning out and under pressure and she just snapped,” Clack said in a recent interview. “Personal life is one thing, but when you come after something that she’s loved and nurtured, there had to be a breaking point.”
“[Now] she has to try to keep her job, that’s the first thing,” coshowrunner Peter Paige added. “And I’ll say this, Vic may not have hit her bottom just yet.”
Vic had been struggling for some time, after the loss of her best friend Dean (Okieriete Onaodowan) and her breakup from Theo (Carlos Miranda). Clack teased that Vic will have to fight for her job after her public meltdown, but the road ahead — new episodes return May 2 — comes with a “healing journey.”
The hour also felt like a fitting celebration of the firefightrer drama’s 100-episode legacy, featuring Andy Herrera’s (Jaina Lee Ortiz) pinning ceremony and owning her new leadership role as captain during the call, and Natasha Ross’ (Merle Dandrige) engagement to Robert.
TheWrap spoke with Paige and Clack about the landmark hour’s biggest moments and what to expect from the second half of “Grey’s” spin-off’s final season.
What made you decide this was the time to feature the landmark on the show?
Clack: It was an iconic episode, and we wanted an iconic save.
Paige: At one point we were considering going to Korea for the 100th episode, and we were trying to make it work, but after the strikes and the amount of time to prep something like that to go international… we weren’t able to make it happen. Then we were like. What can we do that is iconically Seattle. Something that Station 19 has never done before. So we came up with this and then we almost instantly regretted it. (laughs)
It was phenomenal. We got an incredible crew and incredible producer, just everybody went above and beyond. The art department, what they accomplished is just really unreal. Daryn Okada, who directed it, just did an unbelievable job.
I have to follow up. Why were you going to take the show to Korea?
Paige: It was the 100th and we wanted to do something big and iconic. We have two characters who are half-Korean on our show, we thought we could bring some very interesting stories in there. And it is true that a lot of U.S. fire departments have trades with South Korean fire departments.
Clack: It was a nice way to get some backstory on some of our characters with some international flavor… I didn’t want to discuss it but Peter brought it up [laughs].
Paige: You and I are going to Korea together, just for a holiday.
Vic has been going through it this season so we knew she was due for a little meltdown. The episode ends with Andy sending her home, but I imagine that that won’t be the end of it after Vic messed with the mayor. Where does she go from here?
Clack: She’ll be on a healing journey.
Paige: Yes. But first she has to try to keep her job… And I’ll say this, Vic may not have hit her bottom just yet.
One of the episode’s biggest moments was Ben and Robert coming very close to becoming casualties during this call. But thankfully, they will ultimately saved. What are the odds that our firefighter crew is going to make it through this final season without another major death?
