Station 19 Season Two Premiere | Review

Hello and welcome back to The nerd shelf!

Today's post is going to be on the season two premiere of Station 19. If you love Grey's Anatomy and haven't watched this show you NEED to. First off it's a spinoff and we see a lot of characters from Grey's, and second, they are going to have crossovers. But most of all it's such a good show. The show follows a group of heroic firefighters of the Seattle Fire Department at station 19 from the captain down the ranks to the newest recruits in their personal and professional lives.

This is one of my favorite new shows from this year. Shondaland did it again. The writing, the action, the drama. I love it all. I cried so hard during the season two finale and I was shocked that I was already so attached to these characters. But that's what this show does. It's great.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

So the season one finale left us on a HUGE cliffhanger. Who's dead, who's alive. Spoiler, everyone lived, thank god. I was so happy to see that everyone made it through but they made us wait for that. It was an intense premiere and I loved it. We pick up right from where we left off and I'm glad that they did that. If they would have just skipped ahead and we didn't get to see what happened I would have been pissed. The flashbacks they had in this episode was great. I loved getting more backstory on everyone and why they are so close. I think I'll start with the flashbacks.

The first flashback we get is from five years ago and we get to see how Maya (Danielle Savre) and Andy (Jaina Lee Ortiz) met. They were in the same class at the academy. Andy is, of course, know in this place since her father is who he is. She doesn't want to use that though, which doesn't surprise me. She's her own person and she works hard for what she wants. And we know that he never wanted her to become a firefighter. When they are running hose drills we see Maya coaching Andy for the first time. They have always had this relationship. They stick together and help each other. Andy is having a tough time and all the guys are looking at her, laughing. Maya gets her to get her head back into the game. She is the one to get her through it. I think Maya has that instinct from her Olympic training. She is disciplined and she knows how to get shit done. 

The next flashback we see is from one and a half year ago and it's with Travis (Jay Haden) and Vic (Barrett Doss). Vic is new at the firehouse. So within these scenes, we see that she has had trouble with shutting up from the beginning. She is very blunt and says what she thinks. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but maybe you need to dial it back a little. She says that he doesn't know her and that he has no idea what she has been through, which yeah of course but you don't know him either. And he shows her that when he says that his husband died two weeks ago. They all have baggage and she needs to learn that. 

We then see Travis training Vic. They are running drills in the stairs. Vic is annoyed at Travis and we find out that he's new to the firehouse as well, he's been a firefighter for way longer though. And then she accidentally says "who died and made you my boss". This was so hard to watch. I'm that way sometimes where I say things before thinking them through. She obviously didn't think about what she was saying and she definitely didn't mean his husband. Up until that point they had some banter going on but right after she said that he shut down, and I don't blame him. 

The last flashback we see with them is when Vic helps Travis go into the hospital. He hasn't been in a hospital since his husband died. He always stays in the aid car everytime they drop off a patient. He's associating hospitals with death now. She helps him through that fear. I loved that.

The next flashback we see is from seven years ago and it's with Miller (Okieriete Onaodowan) and Jack (Grey Damon). They are in the same class at the academy and they did not like each other at first. Jack interrupts Miller while he's reading during a break. Jack is such a douche. He's so cocky and he wants to be the best at everything. Jack is annoying Miller by talking about how he's going to beat his times and he's also eating an apple really noisy. Miller gets up and walks away but we see later that something happened. They were in a fight. They are like to children in school, being told off by a teacher. They are blaming the fight on each other. Lieutenant Sullivan (Boris Kodjoe) tells them he doesn't care who started it and that he would love to have a reason to kick them out. As soon as I saw him I knew he would have a bigger part in this season, one because he's the first person who we've really met in the flashbacks and two I recognize the actor. 

The next flashback we get is from two years ago. Maya and Andy are new to station 19. Jack comes up to Maya and asks if he can touch her Olympic medal. What the fuck Jack. He was such a douche. Who asks that? Maya, of course, tells him no and when he walks away Andy says "I can't believe we're going to be working with that guy" after saying ew. That scene was so funny to me since we know that they hook up later.

The next flashback we get is from two years ago at Andys and Maya's graduation. Herrera (Miguel Sandoval) is nowhere to be seen. Andy tries to defend him to Maya but we can see that she is disappointed. But as we see he was going to the graduation. But Ryan (Alberto Frezza) got himself arrested and called him for help. Ryan wants Herrera to not tell Andy, and if he didn't she probably thinks that he was just late to or missed her graduation just because. 

The last flashback we get is from six years ago. Andy and Ryan are hanging out on a top of a car somewhere. She tells him about her getting into the fire academy. He's not that happy about it. He thinks that she's only doing it to show her father that she can do it. They get into a fight and Andy wants to go home. She finds out that he hotwired the car and she does not like it. I think that's when they broke up. And after that at some point, he must have gotten his shit together since he's a police officer now.

Let's get into the present. Miller was left in the elevator by Jack. He tries to contact him but doesn't get an answer. He gets out and the chief, Ripley (Brett Tucker), orders him to not go back in. After going around patching some people up he tries to convince Ripley again. He gets a no but he goes back in anyways. He walks past Ben (Jason George) who is with Molly (Vanessa Marano), the girl who was trampled by everyone in the stairwell in the finale. Ben tells him to go up to Travis. Travis got a piece of glass stuck in his chest in the finale, Ben was trying to get him downstairs when they found Molly and Travis convinced Ben to take her instead. 

Vic finds Travis. She's trying to get him down the stairs by herself but it's hard. Travis is trying to get her to stop, to get out and save herself. She will not leave him and when he passes out she is even more forceful since he can't feel anything. Miller comes up the stairs and Vic tells him to help her. He hesitates because he wants to go to Jack but Vic tells him that Andy and Maya went to find him. 

Ben is with Molly. She has trouble breathing but he helps her. I think these are the situations where him being a surgeon really helps. He gets her out but it doesn't look good. Her mother comes up and they have a conversation. The mother jumps on Ben and thanks him for saving her. He goes to the hospital with her. 

Right after he drives away Miller and Vic come out with Travis. When Ripley asks Vic about the others she blows up at him. I understand why. She feels like he abandoned her team and as he left them to die. But he makes a great point, he's in charge of everyone. He has to make those horrible decisions that might get firefighters killed. He has to do to that. It's not fun. But what if he sent in other firefighters in after them and they all died?! If you're the chief you have to think about how many you can save and when you have to say no. He tells her that if she ever talks like that to him again she will be fired. I mean I think that's fair. She did it once before this too. She has to learn how to hold in those feelings especially when it's her superiors. 

Ben gets to the hospital with Molly. She has internal bleeding and her heart stopped in the aid car. Miranda (Chandra Wilson) meets him and tells him that they are going to take care of her and that he should get to the waiting room. He tells her that he was supposed to save her. He has guilt for leaving Travis behind. He did it because he was supposed to save her. If she doesn't live he will feel even more guilty especially if Travis doesn't make it. Vic comes in with Travis right after Miranda took Molly away. Vic is pissed at Ben. She walks into him just to make a point. 

Ben is in the waiting room with Molly's mother when Grant (Sterling Sulieman) comes in. He wants information on Travis but since he isn't family they won't tell him anything. Ben tries to help and Vic comes in and tells them that they brought Travis into surgery. Vic basically makes Ben explain why he left Travis alone to Grant and Molly's mom is right there. Vic blames Ben for Travis being injured but my problem with this is that she's making the mom feel guilty about this. Their job is to save people. I think a firefighter should do what Ben did. They are supposed to help people and that's what he did. He didn't want to leave Travis but he couldn't carry them both. I get why Vic is upset but she, out of anyone, should know why he left him behind. I understand that this is your friend or even family but you signed up for this. You signed up to know that there is a possibility to die every time you get called. The victims of these fires don't. 

Ben is having a conversation with the mom in the waiting room. It's really beautiful. She's nervous and anxious and can't stop talking and Ben just listens and answers her questions. DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) comes in tells Ben, Vic, and Grant what is going on. Of course Ben is the only one who understands what he is talking about. Ben tells them that Travis has a fifty/fifty chance of getting out of this. Either he gets through the surgery with flying colors or he never gets off the table. DeLuca tells them that he will come back with more information later. Miranda comes in right after he leaves and with just one look to Ben we know that Molly didn't make it through. She tries to get Molly's mom to go into another room so that they can talk more privately. She doesn't want to so Miranda has to give her the news in the waiting room. This is when Vic comes to her senses and realizes that she was too harsh. Ben doesn't want to hear it though and he walks away. I understand that. I would have been screaming in her face telling her that she has no right to now be nice to me when she was such an ass just minutes ago. Ben feels like he was supposed to save her and she didn't make it. 

Vic goes after him and she apologizes. If she hadn't done that I would have been pissed. 

Okay, when the episode starts we see Andy right after her conversation with Jack and the explosion. Ripley tells her to evacuate but she, of course, doesn't listen to him. She can't leave him behind. I don't blame her either. She runs into Maya and Vic in the stairwell and Maya goes back up with her. They get to the floor where Jack is and they break the door open. Andy doesn't think about the risks of this. Maya tries to get her to think but has to cave and help her out. They don't know if the fire has gone out behind that door. They could get blasted with flames in the face. The fire is out though. They can't see anything though so they tie themselves together to not lose the other. After a while, they hear the alarm that Andy is talking about in the voiceover in the beginning. It's an alarm that is sewn into a firefighters uniform that goes off if a firefighter stops moving. It means man down and if you hear it it's usually not a good sign. They find Jack and he's alive, thank god! I was so pissed last season when they left us on that cliffhanger. I wouldn't have been surprised if they killed him off but thankfully they didn't. I loved Jack last season and I want him and Andy together so if they would have killed him I would have been pissed. 

They get him out of there and Andy is going a little overboard with his care. She's listening to his lungs over, and over again. She just wants to make sure that he's okay. They have this great moment of him looking at her, studying her face. He tells her that when he thought it was over for him all he wanted to remember was her face. But he remembered her wrong and that's why he's looking at her. 

There's this great scene with Miller and Jack. Miller starts rambling about how Jack shouldn't have just made him go in the elevator and making Miller leave him behind. He wanted to know the plan, and he wants to punch him but the only reason why he doesn't is because Jack looks pretty beat up. When Miller turns and walks away Jack says thanks for not punching me and Miller just say YET. I love that. That's friendship. If one of my friends basically forced me to leave them knowing that they might die I would be pissed. I loved that scene. 

In the season finale, we saw that Hererra called Ryan and he and Miranda got him to the hospital. Herrera is in bad shape, and at the time I thought that it was probably from not taking his treatment seriously. Ryan didn't tell Andy what was happening because she was so caught up in her job. I get why he didn't tell her but I also get why she gets so angry about it. When she got Jack out of the building she finally found out what was going on and goes straight to the hospital. We find out that Herrera's cancer is actually going away and why he is having these problems is because of the chemo working. Andy puts two and two together and realizes that Ryan knew about her dad before he left the skyscraper and he didn't tell her. They have a fight and they break up. I think this is a good thing. I never really liked them together anyway so I might be biased but you know. 

We then jump forward six weeks. Everyone made it out okay. Travis survived his surgery but his not back to work yet. Herrara and Ripley introduce them to their new captain, Sullivan. He's not the friendliest guy. He kind of takes over very harshly and wants things done his way right away. He wants them to start doing drills and Andy cuts in and tells him that the shift hasn't started yet so they usually start off with breakfast. He does not care, he wants them doing drills. That's where the episode leaves us. I have a feeling that Sullivan will stir up some drama. I hope that Andy and Jack get back together. 

I'm really excited for the rest of this season and I can't wait to watch the crossover with Grey's (I haven't watched any more than the season premiere yet). 

/Johanna