Station 19 – We Are Family

By: Gladys Luna

Maya (Danielle Savre) is surprised by Carina (Stefania Spampinato) making breakfast for her. The Captain seems to be happy to have her girlfriend moving in, but after taking a look and seeing her unpacked boxes still scattered around her gesture shifts into concern for a moment. Next, we can see Jack (Grey Damon) playing with little Marcus (Ansel Sluyter-Obidos) when Inara (Colleen Foy) shows up and the mood in the room shifts immediately as it is evident there’s something growing between them.

In the meantime, at Station 19 Miller (Okieriete Onaodowan), Vic (Barrett Doss) and Travis (Jay Hayden) look very unhappy with the recent choice of changing their usual breakfast into pre-cut fruit packed in individual portions as an attempt to keep the team safe and healthier.

Later Sullivan (Boris Kodjoe) meets with Dr. Webber (James Pickens Jr.) at the station for his hearing. Since the City Hall has been shut down they were in the need to find a new place to carry on with it. As they are discussing about what comes ahead, Andy (Jaina Lee Ortiz) shows up in the room and gets completely nervous when she sees that her husband is there. She apologizes for interrupting and tries to run away, but Sullivan follows her saying that she is free to walk wherever she wants since she works there. Andy says that she knows he doesn’t want her in his hearing, but he says that is only because he is aware he wouldn’t be able to control himself and he may end up kissing her if she is there, which won’t be a good thing for him given his current situation. Finally, she wishes him luck and leaves. Emmett (Lachlan Buchanan) returns to the station to testify at Sullivan’s hearing and in his way in he meets with Travis. They share an awkwardly brief conversation before they are interrupted by the sound of the alarm requesting a new aid car.

Andy goes in search of Warren (Jason George) to ask him to help her husband. She asks him to take her place for a bit so he can understand what she is feeling and what this may represent for her husband’s career if the commission board decides to let him go from his job. However, Warren says that he will just tell the truth.

The aid car shows up at the location it was requested where there seems to be an electrical short. Travis suddenly gets pretty excited when he sees Rainbow Trout (Sherry Vine), his favorite drag queen walking towards them. He introduces himself as a big fan of hers. Jack and Miller explain to her why they are there, so she lets them in to the building so they can do their job. Meanwhile, Sullivan grows anxious by the minute while he waits for the hearing to begin. Andy is evidently nervous when she sees the commission board gathering there and goes to Maya to ask her to testify in her husband’s favor and confesses that they are going through a 90 day separation and he didn’t let her be part of his hearing. But the Captain seems to be somehow upset and just replies that since Sullivan didn’t want her to be there either she cannot be involved.

The team decides to cut the power in the building in order to prevent from something worse to happen. Miller discusses about Jack’s new family by calling them “his rescue family,” something that resonates in the other man’s head.  Back at the hearing Emmett shows up and testifies what he knows about Sullivan’s case, but it seems that nothing he says makes the case any better for the Battalion Chief. In the meantime, Jack and Miller are taken to Rainbow Trout’s apartment while Travis and Vic are sent to a different floor of the building to shut the power off. As they enter they see sets of wigs, dresses and music playing out loud.

Then, they meet with Izzy (Roxy Wood), Ruby Red Slipper (D.J. “Shangela” Pierce) and Elizabeth (Camden Garcia) who are recording a music video. At the station it’s Dr. Webber’s turn to testify and he claims that even though Sullivan made a mistake he is now sober and back on track. Lowther (Michael B. Silver), who is leading the hearing, confronts Dr. Webber by saying that he believes that it’s because of his own addictions that he empathizes with Sullivan. Dr. Webber retorts saying that addiction is a battle that has to be fought every day, one day at a time but in order to be there the choice of doing it has to be made first and that is exactly what Sullivan has done. It’s obviously a hard one so he deserves to be judged according to that and not to his past. Emmett meets with Warren who is waiting to be called to testify as well and then they are surprised to see that Emmett’s father, Mr. Dixon (Pat Healy), has been called and every word that comes from his mouth is an attempt to bring Sullivan down. Emmett gets truly mad by hearing all the lies he is telling and tries to go and face him, but Warren stops him. The final blast comes when Mr. Dixon confesses that even though he is no longer part of the Station 19 he has now joined to the Seattle Police Department as a Chief of Operations.

Jack and Miller find the source of the electrical short inside one of the rooms of the apartment and decide to evacuate not only the ladies living there but the entire building. Maya and Andy get a call asking for the Ladder 19 support. While they are on their way Andy looks very nervous while wondering herself out loud about the current state of her husband’s meeting. Maya blurts out that Carina has just moved in and surprised her with French Toast for breakfast. She thought it was such a nice gesture, but then she looked at all her stuff and it somehow dawned on her the big step they have taken and she feels she has a lot of darkness in her. Carina seems to be perfect and full of light and finally she says that she would have loved to be able to call her other dark friend and tell her all about it, but she couldn’t. Andy says that she can call her anytime, but then Maya replies that she had just to find out by someone else that her friend’s world was crumbling a part so she is really wondering if their friendship is still alive. They join the rest of the team and start to work. Ruby tells Travis that her sisters are still in the building, so Maya asks Jack and Miller to go back in and help them. Andy meets with Rainbow Trout in the stairs who now has a twisted ankle and Izzy offers to take care of her alleging that she used to be a fire fighter before.

Back at the hearing Warren crosses paths with Dixon on his way to testify and makes sure to let him know how disgusted he is by him. Once he is in front of the commission board he gives his testimony, but also says that Sullivan and other people in the same situation as him are not the ones to blame but the terrible system that continues to fail them terribly. Given that he changed the inventory data in order to support Sullivan, the Commission Chairman (Mark Edward Smith) decides to shut down the Physician Response Team.

Miller and Jack go to pick up Elizabeth to take her out of the building but then she recall that Izzy’s favorite wig is still in the apartment and decides to go back and get it despite of the warnings from the firefighters asking her not to do it. She d0esn’t listen to them and opens the door, which blows up in their faces. Maya calls for the team and they let her know what just happened. Miller asks Jack to take Elizabeth out and he’ll catch up with them later as he is having troubles getting up. Maya calls for Miller who says that he has a knee injury and needs assistance. Vic and Travis pick him up and carry him outside. Elizabeth is taken by Travis to the Seattle Grace Hospital and Izzy joins them. In the meantime, Jack assists Miller with his injury while trying to convince him that he doesn’t have a “rescue family” and that he is with them because they make him happy, but Miller makes clear that all he wants is for him to he happy. While Travis takes Elizabeth to the hospital, Izzy tells him the story of the wig and the importance of it in a way to explain why she believes her friend went back to save it. She also confesses that she wouldn’t mind letting it burn just to save her friends lives and refers to them as “her tribe.”

Right that moment Maya calls Travis and tells him to join the team at the station once he drops the patient at the hospital and he refers to them also as “his tribe.” Izzy asks him if he has any gay friends which he denies and she tells him that “every queen needs a queendom.”

Warren enters the bathroom and sees Sullivan there, who apologizes for the way his decisions and actions are impacting him, but he says that they are family and they “fight the fight together.” Back at the hearing the Commission Chairman grants Sullivan three minutes to address the commission and before he starts to speak the door of the place opens and we see the whole team entering the room as well as Emmett and Warren. One by one they express the reasons why they believe Sullivan should be given another chance.

Vic, Travis, Miller and Jack gather in the kitchen. Warren enters and sees Miller and Vic sharing food and tries to scold them, but the team has made their mind up and express their disagreement about the pre-cut fruit packages. Emmett enters the room to say goodbye and then leaves, but he is caught in the hallway by Travis who asks him to be his friend. Andy goes to Maya’s office and tells her that although she doesn’t know what happened to their friendship, she is now sure that she never forgave Maya for taking the Captain’s job and with all of the things happening around her she did what she was thought to do, which was to keep everything to herself and apologizes for taking her too long to say it and believes something similar is happening to Maya, which is what makes her feel scared of having her girlfriend making her French toast in the morning. Maya asks her to move back with her and Carina and expresses that she misses her. They see the commission board is leaving and the whole team goes to meet Sullivan to know the verdict. He confesses that he is still a firefighter but not their Battalion Chief. He was sent back to being a grunt and it is now Maya’s decision to decide whether she wants him back or not. She says, “Welcome to 19, probie.”