Chief Ross is dealing with the aftermath of the media learning about her relationship with Sullivan. Newspapers are filled with it, and reporters are trying to get a hold of her. On top of it all Dixon addresses it in one of his interviews on television. Ross sees only one option to get the story to go away, and that is by resigning from her position as fire chief since she has been asked to do so from higher up. While Ross is getting ready to leave her position as chief by packing up her office, Andy stops by and is not having any of it. By telling Chief Ross to fight for what she wants and that she is an example for many female firefighters.
Beckett is back, not yet as captain, but as a firefighter. At first, he seemed to be doing fine, at least a lot better than before he left. During a highway pile-up, Beckett is hands-on. We might even have seen him do more work than he did as captain. He is helping the victims and trying to talk to them from experience. At first, it seems like that doesn’t have any deeper meaning, but in the following episode, you just realized it did. By the end of the first episode, we also learn that Beckett doesn’t want to return as captain of Station 19.
When Beckett calls in sick during their following shift, Vic starts to put some things together, what Beckett said to a victim during a call, the apology to the team, and his gift for Ruiz after resigning as captain. It might have been a hunch in the beginning, but Vic follows up and brings a visit to Beckett, who is cleaning out his garage.
Vic worries about his safety, so she tells him she is doing peer-to-peer check-ins. He tells her he is fine and wants her to leave. Vic keeps persisting in doing the check-in and needs to ask him some questions, she still needs to do a check-in, and he seems anxious about it. So he finally asks her to ask the question she came to ask for. She struggles to ask him if he took the day off to kill himself. We didn’t see his response to the question but the fact that Vic didn’t leave after does tell us his answer wasn’t too positive.
Beckett later tells her he left his program early because everyone kept talking about their worst day. So Vic challenges him to talk about his worst day. At first, he doesn’t but when she tells him about hers, he starts talking about his. He is struggling, and while he asks why she is still here, she tells him she is not leaving. He then breaks down crying. By the end of the day, Beckett has decided to go back and finish his program.
With Becket out as captain of 19, there is a spot open for a new captain. While Ruiz is now covering for Beckett, Chief Ross wants to consider everyone willing to apply for the position. Ruiz, Herrera, and Sullivan step forward. From that point on there is a competitive tension between the three of them, all wanting to prove that they are the best captain and bickering over each other's decisions on call. This continues at the firehouse where Chief Ross overhears them and calls them out on it. She thought she had decided on the new captain but needs to rethink that now.
Speaking of Captaincy, Maya didn’t step forward for the function. Which was the proof Carina needed to hear to feel like she could come first by Maya. Carina had told Warren earlier that she had learned that she didn’t want to come second to chaos anymore, which was what living with Maya had become. After Maya has been sent home after her incident with the brush spinner at the carwash Carina tells her she is coming home.
Jack has been nervous about meeting another sibling. He was just getting used to how things were with Brooke and are afraid meeting other siblings will ruin that, but what he doesn’t know is that he is meeting Lila, one of his foster siblings. Which seems to be a happy reunion between the two.
Warren keeps beating himself up over not being able to save both Milo and Tyler, which even worsened when Milo accuses him of not keeping his promise to go back for Tyler. When Warren hears he gets recognition for his action, he feels like he doesn’t deserve this and only starts to accept it when a former patient of his comes back with his wife thanking him for saving his life and bringing a souvenir from Italy.
Lastly, the election has finally come to an end and Dixon has lost. But what it means for Chief Ross’ position and Crisis One exactly has to be determined. Probably be next season. And Sullivan apologizes to Andy for lying to her and trying to work on their friendship.
