Hello again! How’s everything going? We’re skipping from episode 11 to 14 because Carina didn’t appear in the previous two, so nothing’s happening between our favorite firefighter and doctor. But in this one, we finally see Carina again, and I’d say what happens in this episode is pretty crucial for what’s going to happen in the following episodes. Are you ready? Let’s go!
The episode begins with the firefighters in the park kitchen looking at calendars they’ve made to raise funds for a proper funeral for Pruitt. In the two episodes we’ve skipped, Pruitt jumped into the fire like a hero to save the other firefighters. Since he’s retired, the Fire Department doesn’t want to give him a proper funeral, so Park 19 has organized several fundraisers and a calendar. Apparently, they don’t like how they came out in the photos. They’re playing jokes on each other, and suddenly Andy walks in. Everyone falls silent, and Maya welcomes him back after his time off work following his father’s death. Then Sullivan walks in, and Warren stands in front of him, looking menacingly at him. The Battalion Chief tells him to please let him have some coffee.
Maya and Carina are in the captain’s office making out, but as usual in Sapphic plots, they’re interrupted. Someone knocks on the door, and when it opens, we see Emmett apologizing and telling them Maya’s mom is there. Maya’s mom appears, and the two are stunned, their faces so funny.
Maya asks her what she’s doing there, and her mother replies that she thought it was time to visit her daughter’s workplace. Suddenly, the woman notices Carina and asks if she’s one of the firefighters from the park. Carina tells her she’s a doctor, and once again we have a funny situation because she thinks Carina is Maya’s doctor, and the Italian woman clarifies that she isn’t. Maya says she has to go, and there’s a very nice moment when Maya takes her hand. When the doctor leaves, Maya’s mother tells her she’s left her father.
Meanwhile, Dean is removing an earring from a girl’s ear that got stuck in her ear while she was sleeping. She sees the calendars and starts flirting with him when she sees him in the photo, buys him a calendar, and gives him her number.
Andy and Jack are checking the engine of one of the trucks, and Jack asks where he’s been since he left home. Andy tells him he’s at Sullivan’s house because he married him.
We return to Maya’s office. The captain doesn’t want to talk to her mother about her leaving her father and changes the subject, saying she has to prepare a dinner they’re hosting, also to raise funds for Pruitt’s funeral. Her mother wants to help because apparently he also hosted dinners for her track team. Maya tells her that’s not true, and her mother says she’s right, that her father didn’t let her socialize. Maya gets angry and asks if she’s here to criticize her father, but her mother tells her she’s there to apologize for not protecting her from her father’s abuse. Maya is in denial and refuses to accept that her father did indeed abuse her.
A call comes in and Maya comes huffing and puffing out of her office. Andy wants to know what’s wrong and Maya says her mom is being overly dramatic.
The firefighters leave, leaving Warren in the park. The first thing he does is go to Sullivan’s office and tell him he wants him to pee in a cup. Then they start arguing because Warren knows Sullivan has been using drugs at his workplace. In the middle of the argument, a flashback appears where Warren is having a drink with Pruitt at Joe’s bar. Pruitt tells him to always put the team before himself.
The firefighters arrive at the scene of the call, which is a bowling alley. Maya starts giving orders. A very scared girl approaches Dean, telling him that her grandfather is trapped inside. When they enter, Dean and Travis find the man inside one of the bowling alley lanes, trapped between the mechanisms that hold the pins. Apparently, he is the owner of the bowling alley. Suddenly, Walter, as the man is called, tells them that there are some children who haven’t left yet. Andy and Jack rush to rescue them.
Outside Maya continues giving orders and tells Emmett to go into the bowling alley to rescue the children but he says he can’t go back in, Maya tells him to go take care of the injured people and to get out of her sight.
In the park, Maya’s mother is setting the tables for dinner and looks toward Sullivan’s office, from where she is, you can see that they are clearly arguing.
Andy and Jack continue looking for the children at the bowling alley and when they get to the birthday party they were celebrating, they find them under the table.
Andy instructs them to put on their jackets, covering their noses so they don’t inhale smoke. Jack tells them to line up and follow him. Outside, Maya asks Andy how they’re doing, and she tells her that a wall has collapsed and they can’t get out. Maya tells them to grab sledgehammers and make a hole in the wall. It’s harder than they thought because the wall is so thick, and the kids, Andy, and Jack are still inside. Jack is panicking and keeps banging on the wall, and Andy tells him he needs to calm down because he’s scared of the kids.
Maya’s mom is still setting up the dinner tables in the park when Bailey arrives. The doctor wants to know if she’s the organizer, but Maya’s mom clarifies that no, it’s Maya’s mother. Bailey has gone to deliver money they’ve managed to raise at the hospital for the funeral and realizes something’s going on in Sullivan’s office and that Warren is there, so she rushes off to see what’s going on.
Meanwhile at the bowling alley, Travis, Vic and Dean keep hitting the wall to get the kids out until it’s finally big enough to get them out but the hole isn’t big enough for Jack and Andy to get out.
Outside, Walter’s granddaughter approaches Maya to find out if they were able to save her grandfather, but Maya, still angry about what her mother said, rudely tells the girl to get out of there. Miller reprimands her, and Maya grabs a sledgehammer and starts hitting the wall until the hole is big enough for Andy and Jack to get out.
While they return to the park, Andy tells Jack that he is going to tell the captain what happened while they were rescuing the children because he did his job wrong and scared them. Apparently, Jack has Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and had a breakdown.
Warren and Sullivan arrive at Dixon’s office, just as he is leaving, Sullivan starts by telling him that he and Andy have married and that if necessary they should transfer him to another park but Dixon says that it is not necessary, then he tells him that he has stolen drugs and that he has overdosed at work.
Back at the park, Carina and Maya’s mother are talking animatedly. Then Maya arrives, looking unfriendly, and asks them what they’re doing. They reply that they wanted to help her with dinner. She then tells her mother that her father never touched her, but her mother tells her it wasn’t necessary. However, Maya doesn’t want to see it and remains in denial. Her mother reminds her of the time her father made her walk 30 km because she hadn’t beaten her own record. Upon hearing this, Carina approaches her and takes her hand. Her mother tells her to go with her to her therapy group, but Maya tells her no, that she’s fine. She lets go of Carina’s hand and walks away.
Warren and Sullivan remain in Dixon’s office. The department head tells them that if they hadn’t spoken up, they wouldn’t have found out, and that a scandal of that kind wouldn’t suit him in his first year in office. Dixon is a scoundrel who breaks the rules at his convenience.
In the park they are already having dinner and the firefighters are serving dinner to the people who come there, among the diners are Bailey and her two children and Warren arrives, joins them and tells Bailey everything that has happened in Dixon’s office.
Carina enters Maya’s office, where she is crying with rage, and this conversation takes place:
Carina: I love my dad too. He’s brilliant. He’s funny. He’s my idol in so many ways. That’s why it took me so long to realize that this wasn’t right. It took me a long time to understand that it’s not normal to always walk on eggshells. Maya, denying reality is the easy thing to do, but the abuse your mom described is just that…
Maya: (crying and filled with rage) I’m not denying reality. I won a gold medal because of my dad. I’m the youngest fire chief in Seattle and the first woman to run this park because of my dad. I’m not denying reality. I’m pissed off.
Carina: (walking away and accepting that she has to leave Maya alone) Okay.
At dinner, Sullivan sees it as a good time to announce that he and Andy are married, and also tells everyone that Dixon has approved a full funeral for Pruitt.
And that’s it for our chapter! The drama begins for Maya and Carina, so I’m giving you a heads-up so you’re ready. See you next week!
