By Michelle Gonzaba
After last week’s heavy-duty Buck-centric story, this week’s episode focuses on much more lighthearted subjects: hexes, jinxes, and curses. The crew never gets a break!
Station 118’s shift quickly turns crazy after a new probie (other people work at the 118?) says his shift was pretty quiet. Buck, Chim, and Hen freak out at the word “quiet” because they believe it jinxes the firehouse and causes a shift from hell. Although Eddie isn’t convinced of the word’s power, the firehouse’s alarm immediately starts ringing.
Their first call deals with an “artist” who has duck taped himself to a billboard to promote his music. While on the call, Eddie runs into Christopher’s former teacher, Ana. They flirt while he treats a burn on her hand that was mishandled by some unknown firefighter from Station 147. While Eddie plays the field, the duck-taped musician becomes, well, unstuck and falls into an inflated pad set up by the firefighters. It doesn’t seem like he cares too much about falling as he’s ecstatic about the attention from onlookers. Everyone loves a good publicity stunt!
When Hen, Chim, and Buck said it would be the shift from hell, they were not fooling around. They have to deal with climbing up trees, a man stuck underneath a movie theater chair, rude clowns, and some poor woman who just wanted to use the bathroom and ended up with an octopus stuck to her face. While taking a breather in their truck, Eddie tempts fate and talks about how he still doesn’t think there is a jinx on them. Jokes on Eddie when a power pole falls on their engine. Eddie, even if you don’t believe in it, you gotta respect it.
While waiting for help, the crew discusses the differences between curses, jinxes, and hexes. Bobby won’t say whether he believes in them or not, but Eddie remains unconvinced even though he is literally sitting in a truck that could kill him at any second. I did make one important, but at the same time completely unimportant, observation while they argued back and forth. Who was that random guy sitting next to Bobby? Why did no one acknowledge his presence? What’s his opinion on curses? It looks like we’ll never know.
Their shift of insanity continues with ten grand worth of fireworks shooting out of a garage. While fighting the fire, the mysterious firefighter from Station 147 arrives to help out. Once Eddie tells Bobby about the firefighter, Bobby is quickly suspicious; Station 147 has been shut down since the mudslide. He thinks the man is an impersonator who dreams of being a real firefighter. Fortunately, they don’t have to look far for their imitator. The crew is called out to a restaurant with a supposed gas leak. A frustrated worker says a fire chief called and said the restaurant would explode from the leaking gas. When Bobby questions the call, he spots the fake firefighter in the crowd. He’s quickly chased down by both firefighters and cops, so he makes a decision any of us would make-he steals a fire truck.
The police chase him down and eventually surround him. In any other situation, this would be the end of the chase. This faker doesn’t give up easily though. He starts to reverse the truck towards Athena and the other cop cars. Instead of doing blocking him in, Athena moves her car and lets him go. I’m not a cop but I feel like “moving your squad car because you’re in the criminal’s way” isn’t a great strategy. While he keeps driving, another fire has sprung up at another location. Without their truck, the crew jumps into an ambulance and takes off. They won’t be much help once they get to the fire-all of their equipment is on the stolen truck. In a desperate move, Eddie calls Brian, the fake firefighter, and tries to convince him to drive the truck to the fire. In true Captain Bobby Nash-style, Eddie gives Brian a pep talk that persuades him to bring them their equipment. Brian isn’t a very strong-willed criminal/impersonator.
Once everyone arrives at the fire, he jumps out of the truck to avoid the police. He doesn’t get very far before he trips over his own feet and is quickly arrested. Luckily, this is the last call of the crew’s shift and they’re eager to leave the station. Eddie finally takes Ana out on a date while the rest grab breakfast together. Before they can finally eat and relax, a woman at a nearby table starts choking. It looks like the jinx isn’t quite over yet. Oh Eddie, this is all your fault.
