In the immortal words of Boyz II Men, “How do I say goodbye to what we had?” But now, instead of smooth R&B vocals, I’m just shrieking that at my television screen, eyes welling up with tears, hair a mess, wine bottle empty. Some of that has nothing to do with Station 19 and is just my life, but I really want to paint the picture. The time has come, friends: It’s the series finale of our beloved firefighter show. It seems impossible, and yet here we are. The finale delivers everything you might expect: emotional farewells; hopeful, heartwarming looks into the future; and a firenado. Oh, you read that right — Station 19 has given us so many gifts over its seven seasons, and it delivers one more to close things out, a tornado made of fire. How blessed we are! What do you say, folks — should we get into it one final time? The good, the bad, and the ugly crying of the Station 19 series finale? Dean Miller is there, so you know it’s going to be great (and emotionally devastating!).
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2)/station-19-053024-1-98433431a4824648a03da555848858bb.jpg)
First things first: Uh, Maya’s still trapped behind a wall of fire
Lest you forget (although, really, how could you?): When we left things off last week, our brave firefighters from Station 19 were part of a massive crew fending off a wildfire that’s reached Seattle. While running off to save a victim who had been lost in the woods, Maya and Andy got separated by a giant wall of fire, and Maya was left trapped. Things look grim as the entire team try to figure out a way to save their friend, and Andy screams out to her to remind her that she has so much to live for — she wants Maya to stay strong and remember everything she has waiting for her out there.
And boy, does she! In the first of many of these moments of wishes for the future, we get to see what Maya envisions for herself and her life. As Andy tells us in voiceover, as people whose job is to “literally run in to fires,” the future isn’t always guaranteed, but “the future is what we make of it; the possibilities are endless.” A possibility, a wish, a dream for Maya: that not only will she be there when Carina gives birth to their second child, but that Maya will give birth to their third.
Luckily, that wish could be a real possibility since not only do we know that Carina’s pregnant (Maya still has yet to find out), but a water drop also comes by before it’s too late, putting out the wall of fire and saving Maya’s life.
But that doesn’t mean 19 are out of harm’s way — it’s the witching hour, a name for the late afternoon when conditions are optimal for extreme fire behavior. In short: The hardest part of fighting this wildfire is just getting started.
Very Important News: Carina suits up!
When Ben checks on Theo at Grey Sloan, he runs into Carina. Theo, by the way, is rushed in to surgery and is in a pretty rough spot with all of his internal injuries, but we know he’s going to be just fine, first because Station 19 would not do us so dirty as to kill off a main character in the last episode, and second because his dream of the future includes returning to SFD and ending up with a lovely woman and starting a family, and I have decided that these wishes for the future will all come true! I am an optimist! (Some days!)
Anyway, Carina tells Ben she’s pregnant, which is fun (she is so excited), but she’s also there when Ben gets a call about a woman in labor and her husband trapped in a car; of course, she is going with Ben to help. But first, Ben makes her suit up in 19 gear. She even gets a slo-mo walkout. I’m glad Station 19 understands the importance of this moment. Wildfires, schmildfires!
When they find the couple in the car, things are intense. The husband is severely burned in the front seat, and the woman basically has a baby halfway out of her. But Ben and Carina are professionals, okay? Ben, even on his own, protects all of them from the incoming fire and tends to the husband; Carina gets that woman through a safe delivery. This team-up is so good! I’d say, “More of this, please,” but, well, you know. Sorry, too soon? Here’s something that will make you feel better: We get a glimpse of Carina’s hope for the future, and she, like her wife, wants three children. We get a look at them over the years. It’s lovely, and now I believe it is true — those are the (my) rules.
Firenado!
It was only a matter of time until Station 19 gave us a tornado made of fire. A wild sentence but true! The first people who come upon this beast are Travis and Dom, right after Dom is like, I’m getting out of this place and traveling the world; come with me, Trav, and Trav is immediately like, nah. Harsh but direct, I guess. Unfortunately, they see the thing too late to be able to warn Chaos Kate, who is directly in its path. It’s, honestly, a little poetic: Kate lived a life full of chaos and goes out in one of the most chaotic things imaginable, a firenado. RIP.
As Travis and Dom run for cover and to warn others, Travis has a long, hard think about his future, and his little future dream is much different from the others: He sees himself in a gallery with Dom and Vic, looking at pictures of places all over the world — all the things they could see together. In the end, though, Travis stands alone watching Vic and Dom walk off: You get the subtext. Perhaps Travis is satisfied with letting them go, or perhaps this glimpse of a sort of future will make him rethink a few things.
Natasha and Beckett too have a run-in with the firenado that has Natasha thinking about her future, and thank goodness because I didn’t know if there would be enough time to get a look at the long-awaited Natasha/Sullivan wedding, but we made it! In her future wish, there they are on their wedding day: Ben is officiating (he does all the 19 weddings now, I guess), and Beckett is Sully’s best man, which I honestly love because you know it means he’ll be hooking up with maid of honor Jinny. Natasha and Robert jump the broom, and it’s glorious.
But all of that is for later: Once 19 reconnect and assess the situation, they realize there is no way to outrun this thing in time. All they can do at that moment is hunker down in their individual fire shelters and wait it out. It’s excruciating. Not just the physical conditions, but also the fact that they can only hear what’s happening to one another through their radios. When a branch falls on Vic’s shelter and almost breaches it, she is panicking and terrified and could, uh, burn up, and all the team can do is listen. It’s Travis who tries to calm her down over the radio (of course it is). Once Vic calms herself, she too sees what she has to live for: a future where Crisis One is a huge national success. We see her giving a presentation on the program — Travis, Andy, Beckett (with glasses), and Diane are all cheering in the crowd — and Dean’s picture looms in the background. And then Dean is there, calling her Hughie and telling her how proud of her he is and making us all bawl. I guess in the future people can be resurrected via photos — it’s crazy! I’m sorry; I joke to mask the pain! Keep up!
Sullivan also has a career-related vision while in the fire shelter: He sees himself kicking off a program that helps veterans become firefighters. It feels like a perfect ending to his story. Not long after all the future dreaming, Natasha informs everyone it’s safe enough to come out of their shelters and reassess what the next move is. There is one problem: When they all emerge from their tents, Andy is missing. If she left at some point to go get help, there is no way of knowing if she’s okay. People are freaking out. After 19 collectively get their heads on straight, they decide the only course of action is to attempt to run through the fiery hellscape around them as fast as possible and get to help — hopefully, Andy will be there when they find it.
This is a true trial, though, and the path to help is not an easy one. Eventually, when once again hunkering down to figure out where to go next, Beckett tells the group that he has no one waiting for him, he is expendable, so he will run ahead, find help, and bring it back to them. It’s a heroic act, but immediately everyone jumps up to stop him — he’s not sacrificing himself like that. Beckett runs anyway.
Almost immediately, he runs into members of the Tulalip tribe on their way to help 19, thanks to Andy. But wait! When Beckett turns around to point them toward the rest of his team, he finds them already behind him; they weren’t going to let him go anywhere alone. He does have people who care about him: his family at 19. I teared up! I love this full-circle moment for Beckett. Even more? I love his little future flash to him and Jinny swept up in a kiss after crushing Natasha and Sullivan on the pickleball court. I want that life for him! I have a soft spot for Beckett, and I will not apologize for it!
With the team back together, they tackle the beast with all the strength and heart they’ve got, and in the end, 19 and the other firehouses scattered throughout the wildfire are able to contain it. So, Seattle is saved, right? Everything ends up okay, right? Not. So. Fast. Just as Maya starts joking with Andy about being so reckless for running off to get help, Andy collapses and is whisked off to Grey Sloan.
O, Captain! Our Captain!
Don’t worry, friends — Andy is going to be just fine. I mean, she looks rough. She’s suffered burns, has a bunch of pulmonary damage, and is severely dehydrated, but she’s going to pull through. Her little flash-forward is very interesting, though: She finds herself back in 19 and follows voices to the equipment room, where she comes upon the scene in season one when Andy and Jack are fooling around, and Andy finds the engagement ring Jack has in his pocket. This time, however, our Andy takes the box from their hands, and our Jack appears behind her, and they kiss. They are getting a second chance at their love story. Honestly, I would’ve loved to have seen this play out fully, because both Andy and Jack deserve this happy ending, but what can we do? The season opener certainly alluded to their deep connection, and Jack is there sitting next to a sleeping Andy saying things like he “can’t imagine [his] life without Andy,” and they are there holding hands once Andy finally wakes up — I’m into this full-circle moment too. Everyone’s getting a happy ending — including Carina and Maya, who finally get to revel in the news of Carina’s pregnancy outside of Grey Sloan with a full 360-degree camera shot as they kiss in celebration. The future is certainly looking bright for our firefighters, isn’t it?
Three months later …
We have some bittersweet moments to get through before we close this sucker out! It’s Vic’s last day. Jack makes Dean’s chili (there is a lot of Jack/Andy hand-holding going on), and Travis brings her some gas station sushi for breakfast — her two favorite things. Theo is there, and Andy basically demands he rejoin 19.
Ben pulls Andy up to the roof and tells her what she already knows — and what we’ve already guessed throughout the season — that Ben has decided to leave 19 and head back into his surgical residency. You knew it was coming, folks! The injuries, the focus on his medical skills — Miranda is going to be so happy. Actually, first she’s going to be like, Ben Warren! Another career change?! Get it together! But then she’ll be psyched. And regardless of what Ben ends up doing for the rest of his life, his wish for the future has nothing to do with his career and everything to do with his kids: He envisions all three of his children graduating — Joey from Seattle Central College, Tuck from NYU, and Pru from … the Seattle Fire Training Academy. Anyway, I burst into tears. It’s fine. That reveal happened right after Ben told Andy that she was her father’s “wildest dream,” and you can’t one-two punch me with sweet dad/daughter moments like that and not expect tears. I am a human woman!
The hits keep coming because downstairs it’s time for Vic to sign her name under the table and say her goodbyes. She can’t get through it, it’s too hard, and so Andy, tears in her eyes, comes over to hold her hand: “Let’s just do it,” she tells her. Eventually, everyone is under there with Vic as she bids farewell to 19.
We find her at the airport, about to leave for D.C., when who should be sitting right behind her at the gate but Travis freaking Montgomery? He had told her he couldn’t go with her to D.C. because his life was here in Seattle, but his feelings have changed: “So, as it turns out, my life is wherever you are,” he says. I’m honestly getting emotional just writing that. It’s Travis and Vic who get the big, swoony airport rom-com moment, and it couldn’t have gone to a better pair. A platonic declaration of love for the ages.
The future
It feels fitting that the final moments of Station 19 are handed over to Andy and Maya. Another platonic love story for the ages. Years into the future, Maya is now the captain at 19. Under her charge? Pru Miller-Warren! And on this day, they are meeting the new chief of the Seattle Fire Department. Come on, you know it’s Andy. It was always going to be Andy. She gives 19 a rousing speech about how 19 is bigger than a firehouse — it’s community, it’s selflessness, it’s putting good into the world, it’s taking care of the people you love. But in true 19 form, a call comes, and everyone gets to work — it was always about the work too. Andy’s left standing in the barn alone. She pays a visit to her dad’s photo and then walks out of Station 19’s doors one last time.
