Station 19 - S1E1 - "Stuck"

 

A woman is on her laptop in bed, cyber stalking her ex-boyfriend. She calls her friend who convinces her to log off the computer. She puts the lid down, while keeping the laptop on her pillow, and goes into her bathroom. Sparks begin to fly from the power cord … and the pillow ignites.

A voice-over begins in a woman’s voice. This is the first clue that we have entered Shonda-Land! Fire engines are racing to the scene in all their fire-engine glory. They arrive at a home with smoke billowing out while the voice over continues, talking about the legendary fire pole that we all imagine fire fighters slide down with every call. The crew rushes to put the fire out, while Captain Obvious orders, “Contain the flames and get the hell out!” I could have called that play, and I don’t even have any fire training. He barks some other orders and assignments for his team to pair up. The crew enter a smoky house looking for the victim and the source of the flames. Quite naturally, they find the cyber stalker on her bathroom floor, coughing from smoke inhalation. I have questions: Why didn’t she open the window? Or put a towel under the door to keep smoke from seeping into the bathroom she is trapped in? Didn’t she smell the smoke? They remove her from the bathroom. Another eye-rolling sentence is now delivered by the ones who are not on rescue: “The wet stuff on the red stuff!” In case we weren’t sure what methods they would use to extinguish the fire. The victim is pulled from the home and tells the team that “Charlie" is still in the house. The men inside think it’s a child. However, they find a dog hiding under a chair. Two female fire fighters complain that even though they were the ones to rescue the cyber stalker, that she only thanked the one male fire fighter who put her dog in her arms. They declare that next time, they will be the ones who save the puppy. In true Shonda fashion, feminism will be a major plot theme.

The team heads back to the station while opening credits begin to flash across the screen. We begin to get a good look at all of the members at Station 19 now. Ben Warren, being offended that he’s referred to as a “probie” – he’s been there a full two weeks now, y’all! Because being a surgeon in his past automatically should exempt him from probie-ship. He is our cross over from Grey’s Anatomy character. Next is Victoria “Vic” Hughes – who ruthlessly mocks him. Next is Jack Gibson, the McSteamy of Station 19. In fact, he looks and acts very much like Mark Sloan of Grey’s … I wonder if the casting call specifically stated that the role required that the actor must resemble Eric Dane? Jack is talking to Captain Obvious, otherwise known as Captain Pruitt Herrera. Jack thinks that their successful fire extinguishing and cyber stalker dog owner rescuing today should make today a pole day. Pruitt shuts that down quick and puts the cocky Jack in his place. I like him already. Next up is Travis Montgomery, Maya Bishop, and Andrea “Andy” Herrera, who is Pruitt’s daughter. They, along with Vic, look longingly at the pole. There may be something Freudian about that. Andy fusses over her father and he resents it. It’s clear that she acts as her father’s Administrative Assistant at the firehouse, along with her normal fire-fighting duties, and keeps the place running smoothly for him. And now, if you haven’t put the clues together yet, this is a Grey’s Anatomy Spin Off, as it states clearly across the bottom of the screen at just six minutes in: “Based on Grey’s Anatomy created by Shonda Rimes.” Thanks. The Eric Dane doppelganger didn’t completely make that clear.

The scene changes to the crew eating dinner together. The last fire-fighter we meet is Dean, who is complaining about the quality of the meal being cooked by Travis. His complaint is that the meal is made up entirely of vegetables. It’s revealed that Maya, the token blonde goddess, is an Olympic Gold Medal winner. Pruitt tells an embarrassing story about Andy from when she was a child. This is meant to relay to the audience that Andy is fiercely independent. As the conversation turns away from Andy, she gets up and leaves the table in her embarrassed angst. Jack follows her and here we are, at eight and a half minutes in, and Jack and Andy are getting ready to hook up. However, Andy finds a small jewelry box in Jack’s pocket, pulls it out, and opens it to reveal an engagement ring. She is decidedly displeased and Jack back-pedals from an actual proposal. Before she can explain her lack of enthusiasm, the fire alarms go off and the team needs to respond to a fire.

En route to the fire, Maya questions Andy about what’s wrong, just from the look on Andy’s face. Without Andy saying anything, Maya figures out there was some sort of marriage proposal and that it didn’t go well. They are such good friends, that they can have a conversation just with Andy’s facial expressions. Arriving at the scene of the fire, they see a police car is blocking the fire hydrant. The police car, we learn, belongs to Andy’s high school sweetheart, Ryan Tanner. Andy pushes his car out of the way with her firetruck, and has a shouting match with Ryan, taking her frustrations with Jack out on him. Yeah, we get it: Andy’s a badass. The team enters the building in pairs. Jack goes into a child’s bedroom away from Pruitt and loses him (against protocols). Jack calls for help and the team finds Pruitt collapsed and unconscious. They pull him out just before part of the fire explodes. They get Pruitt out just in time by jumping out a window since the fire has blocked them off from an escape. They land on landing airbags that have been deployed. Andy starts to hyperventilate, and Jack asks if she is all right. She pushes him away, so he walks off. Ryan comes up and calms her down a bit.

Pruitt is rushed off to Grey Sloan Memorial and of course Miranda Bailey (Ben’s wife) is his doctor. Because this is a Grey’s Anatomy Spin Off. Cue Meredith Grey cameo. Because this is a Grey’s Anatomy Spin Off. Meredith takes Andy to a supply closet and lets her cry for a few moments before telling her to put on her game face and be brave for her team.

Pruitt awakes in a hospital bed with Andy hovering over him. She reads off from a note that he has stage 2 cancer. He never told her about it. He says he needs to step down as Captain. He says Jack will be in charge. Andy is clearly annoyed about that.

Cut to Andy at home. She is doing laundry and getting buzzed on beer. Ryan stops by. He announces he moved back in with his parents next door. He wants to know how she is. She is annoyed, she says everyone is making decisions about her life without her and lists all the ways her life is messed up. I am really not liking her, she’s a narcissistic brat. Ryan, though, thinks she is being taken advantage of and encourages her to take over instead of Jack. She says she can’t bury another parent (her mother has died before the series), and Ryan tries to offer comforting words. She throws herself at him, and here we are, at 27 minutes in, and she’s hooking up with him. Earlier in the day she’s screaming at him about his parking, now she’s jumping on him. So much for that engagement!

Miranda shows up at the Station to check the place out. Ben’s kicking himself over nothing and Miranda tells him to stop showing off. Jack finds Maya in the locker room and tries to talk to her about Andy and her unenthusiastic reaction to his non-proposal. Andy shows up behind Jack and hides but is eavesdropping. He says to Maya that if Andy doesn’t love him then she should just tell him. I agree. Jack’s too good for her. I can tell this already. Maya and Andy go running together and Andy tells her she slept with Ryan. Maya encourages her to be a strong independent woman and to forget about the boys for now.

Another fire rescue call, and Ryan is there. There is awkwardness all around between Ryan, Jack and Andy. Andy tells Ryan they have nothing to talk about, and Ryan says they are all good. Andy wants to know what that means. A college co-ed has gotten herself stuck between two building walls. She thought it was a shortcut. Andy is trying to free her. Jack asks how its going and Andy is short with him, causing the co-ed to start panicking. Andy gets her to calm down. Its unclear how they get her out, and Jack tells Andy how great she is. If he only knew. He tells her he thinks she is being taken advantage of by Pruitt. He says he won’t overlook her if he is put in charge of the Station.

She tells Pruitt that she wants to be considered for the Captain position. There’s a problem: she’s not a lieutenant like Jack is. She tells him to promote her. She says she is putting her hat in the ring.

Back at the Station, Ben is still trying to fit in with Vic and Travis. Vic starts calling him Warren, showing that she really does know his name.

Back at the hospital, Pruitt tells Jack that he’s stepping down, that he is promoting Andy to lieutenant, and that he is depending on the two of them to run the Station.

Back at the station, Dean reveals that he is in a relationship with the girl who’s puppy he saved in the beginning of the show. Jack and Andy tell the team that they will both be running the Station for now. Andy tells everyone to go down the pole. Jack is not looking as on board with things as Andy is.