Warning! SPOILERS about Station 19 season 7, episode 6 ahead.
The emotional events of Station 19 season 7, episode 6 managed to seamlessly connect the flashbacks and the current timeline, delivering on the importance of Crisis One and Vic Hughes within the Seattle Fire Department. Station 19’s 100th episode including Hughes’ comments against Mayor Osman’s choices guaranteed season 7, episode 6 would have focused on Vic, her long-lasting crisis, her last-ditch attempt to save Crisis One and all the good it did in Station 19. Including flashbacks of up to a year before, Station 19 season 7 introduced the character of Morris and his relationship with the firehouse’s firefighters.
Despite focusing especially on Vic, Station 19 season 7, episode 6 had the chance to show how all firefighters changed in the past year thanks to the flashbacks, even including storylines where past firefighters like Jack and Theo could be involved. Station 19 season 7, episode 6 especially detailed Maya’s path to acceptance of her wishes to become a mother and Natasha and Sully’s relationship, giving both stories an insight into their development that Station 19 seasons 6 and 7 couldn’t. Still, Vic’s connection to Morris was at the episode’s center, proving her and Crisis One’s unique contribution to SFD.
Since winning the mayoral race and learning he could easily manipulate Chief Ross into doing his bidding, Osman became bent on reducing the budget for SFD, no matter what he promised during his campaign. While Vic’s comments in front of the press put Osman in a difficult position, all Hughes highlighted was the truth, given the decision to cut Crisis One from the SFD budget in Station 19 season 7, episode 5. In addition, Osman’s actions since Station 19 season 7’s premiere steadily went against everything he stood for in the mayoral campaign in Station 19 season 6.
Chief Ross told Andy more than once how they shouldn’t have expected that a politician would have kept his campaign promises, but Osman would have never had a shot at becoming mayor if it wasn’t for Station 19. Without Travis quitting the race and endorsing him, Osman would have never won as the progressive candidate, and he only got there because he promised Travis and Station 19 to raise the budget so programs like Crisis One could thrive, making his one-eighty about budgeting sting greatly, as he would have never had the power to do so without Travis’s help.
Among the many problems Sully and Natasha’s relationship reveal in Station 19 season 7 caused, putting Natasha in Osman’s pocket was probably the biggest. Choosing not to name a different fire chief gave Osman the upper hand in their relationship, guaranteeing he could have asked Natasha anything, even something impossible, and she would have complied if she wanted to keep her job. However, Osman’s request to fire Hughes was the last straw, finally prompting Natasha to fight for her firefighters, even after her very public statement against Osman’s plans in front of the press.
Although Natasha found herself between a rock and a hard place when her relationship with Sullivan became public, almost losing him in the Space Needle call in Station 19’s 100th episode finally set her priorities straight, especially after Hughes highlighted how it was her Crisis One training that saved lives. Fighting back against Osman’s irrational requests not only saved Hughes and Crisis One but also shaped the kind of SFD Natasha wanted to lead, which was her biggest reason for accepting Osman’s mild threats – the fact that whoever Osman named fire chief next would have been the same old yes-man.
While Morris wasn’t a character previously introduced in the show, the structure of Station 19 season 7, episode 6 made him instantly likable, especially as his relationship with the firefighters of Station 19 could be seen growing through the year since they met him. Everyone at the firehouse becoming involved in trying to help Morris made his death in the current timeline soul-crushing, knowing about his bond with them, but it also provided the best example of the good work the SFD did through Crisis One.
Arlo and Morris’s story led them to Station 19, letting them simultaneously find the urgent help they needed and the support they should have had from the VA. Despite ending tragically, Crisis One made Station 19’s firefighters knowledgeable enough to provide long-term support to Morris, being there for him when Arlo died, helping him get an interview with VA housing, and even getting him new supplies when his encampment was destroyed. Morris’s story ending terribly thus underlines the need for Crisis One to continue, as more needs to be done to help the community.
Station 19 season 7 already hinted Maya’s happy ending would involve family based on her choices to prioritize starting a family with Carina, but Morris and Arlo’s story also highlighted Maya’s unease at not knowing where her brother Mason was. Station 19 season 7, episode 3 briefly reunited Mason and Maya, but her ruminating over “letting him” live on the streets showed Maya never stopped thinking about the direction her brother’s life took, simultaneously worrying about Mason and what that meant for the family she and Carina were trying to build.
Mason’s affiliation with anti-LGBTQ+ groups makes a reconciliation between him and Maya more difficult, but Maya worrying about him in Station 19 season 7, episode 6 too, albeit in the past, established a pattern, showing Maya might need to help Mason even if it brought her hurt before peace. It’s unclear whether Station 19 season 7 will have the time to let Maya and Mason patch up their relationship, but it dropped many hints about their ruined bond giving Maya doubts about becoming a mother, making a proper reunion between the two siblings more likely.
Maya nudging Carina toward adopting Liam in Station 19 season 7’s premiere seemed a particularly quick reaction for someone who only by Station 19 season 6’s ending had shown a change of heart, finally prioritizing her relationship with Carina over her firefighting career. However, Station 19 season 7, episode 6’s flashbacks were instrumental in building Maya’s wish for a family, letting her ramblings about crows remembering the faces of those who had wronged them lead her to admit her worries about becoming a mother and making her and Carina’s child inherit their mental health “time bombs.”
Station 19 season 7, episode 6’s flashbacks helped build up Maya’s path toward motherhood, making her desire to enlarge her and Carina’s family visible even before she suggested adopting Liam or using her eggs for their IVF journey. While focusing mostly on Crisis One, the flashbacks made Maya and Carina’s path more cohesive, culminating with Maya starting the IVF process in the current timeline making her crankier.
Like Station 19 season 7, episode 6’s flashbacks made Maya’s journey to motherhood seem thorough and consistent, it did something similar for Sully and Natasha’s relationship. While Robert and Natasha had been seeing each other on and off since Station 19 season 5, their relationship was full of ups and downs because of the secrecy involved, being Natasha Sully’s superior. This made Sully’s confession in Station 19 season 6’s ending seem fueled by the fear of losing Natasha rather than stemming from a stable relationship between the two.
Station 19’s 100th episode including Natasha learning about Sully really wanting to propose and the two finally agreeing to marry could have also looked like the two going too fast given they were ready to break up in Station 19 season 6. However, Station 19 season 7, episode 6’s flashbacks showed Natasha and Sully’s daily life together, away from the firehouse, offering an insight into the unseen moments that made them a stable couple, especially considering Natasha had already asked him to move in with her without planning to a year before Sully’s marriage proposal.
Station 19 season 7, episode 6’s current timeline revealed that Warren’s secrecy regarding the drug he was previously seen injecting in himself hadn’t to do with what it was, being testosterone, but with the fact he had yet to tell Miranda. Ben’s talk about it with Sully removed the layer of mystery from the ordeal, revealing there was seemingly nothing wrong with him despite his unexplained back pain from Station 19 season 7’s first half.
Still, Ben keeping something from Miranda doesn’t fare well for their immediate future, even if Station 19 season 7, episode 6 didn’t hint at a possible illness Ben was hiding from his fellow firefighters. Due to Miranda’s fear of him getting injured in the field, Ben refused to tell her about the academy before he actually got in and similarly toned down some of his toughest shifts. If the testosterone were to hide something more, his story could easily be continued in Grey’s Anatomy after Station 19’s end.
Vic opposing Andy calling Diane for the critical incident stress debriefing proved once again how strong she had always been for those at Station 19 and how valuable her contribution to the SFD was. Despite Vic’s bond with Morris and having just learned he died after not having been allowed to attend the call due to her probation, Vic put the well-being of her fellow firefighters first, putting to use her new training to help them after a harrowing call.
While Osman’s reasons for firing Vic included how Crisis One had helped Vic’s knowledge to be shared with all firefighters having to deal with calls made difficult by mental health crises, Vic handling the CISD showed she had still a lot to offer even if Crisis One effectively bettered the firefighters’ response. Vic’s empathy, her training, her ability to accept the feelings of others and turn them into something easier to handle aren’t things that can be easily taught to others, making her promotion to head of Crisis One the best possible development for the program and SFD.
Vic had been keeping her feelings bottled up since Station 19 season 7’s premiere. No matter what happened in her personal and professional life, she belittled the problem, unable to feel anything, despite having feelings was always one of her core traits. Finally exploding in front of her fellow firefighters forced everybody to be aware of Vic’s crisis, turning it into something unable to be swept under the carpet.