Oh la, this final episode starts badly with yet another argument between Andy and Sullivan… We don’t really know what happened between them, but Andy is angry with her husband for having done something that, from his point of view, saved his job. Good.
Of course, we finally come back two days earlier to find out what happened to the couple. The firefighters intervene in a residential area where a house has caught fire. They have no news of the residents, so they have to look for them in the house. Andy ends up finding the seven residents, but it takes a long time in the episode, because the writers clearly want to keep the surprise for us. I almost believed that one of the firefighters was dead because they took so long to reintroduce everyone!
The episode has a slightly convoluted timeline, but that’s partly because of Grey’s Anatomy . Indeed, this episode takes place six weeks after the previous one, which I find slightly abusive all the same, but we had six weeks in the episode of the parent series that precedes it, so it makes sense (after the timeline and logic with Shonda…). We won’t know anything about these six weeks, except that it gave Carina the opportunity to go to Italy in “Covid hell” and do two weeks of quarantine upon returning. Okay?
I would have liked to see a bit of the management of their long-distance relationship, but I find that the reunion is very nice to be done in song and hugs like that. We also learn that Maya has not planned to invite her parents to her own wedding… but who cares? They seem happy to be getting married, including Carina… even though in the previous episode, it was Dean who insisted on convincing Maya to have a real wedding. It’s a bit excessive.
This doesn’t stop them from being very happy to get married, to the point of making love even when Andy arrives at their house. Okay. I loved these hasty wedding preparations, because Maya doesn’t know what to wear on her wedding day anyway. And Carina makes fun of her so much!
It was funny, much more than the Andy/Sullivan storyline that continues to weigh on Andy throughout the preparations, and especially when Maya, inevitably, thanks her for inspiring her so much with her strong couple. Tsk. Luckily, Andy doesn’t lose sight of the bride and helps her realize that the real problem she’s worried about isn’t really her wedding dress, but the fact that her parents don’t know she’s getting married.
Hop, that’s all it takes for Maya to agree to a detour. So she goes to her parents to announce her sexuality, then her marriage. She takes the opportunity to tell her mother that she doesn’t have to stay living with her father, in front of the father who still doesn’t dare hit her. It was a hard-hitting scene, but in real life, wow. It was also effective, but we’ll come back to that later in the review.
For her part, Vic has therefore definitively reconciled with her parents in the previous episode. And in a month and a half, the restaurant has had a facelift… In other words, the fire is forgotten, the restaurant is brand new to host the reception of Carina and Maya’s wedding, organized by Vic. Come on, grandpa. The management of masks in front of the florists leaves me perplexed, but we are distracted when the parents talk about Theo, that said. That’s something.
Meanwhile, Dean is still in his political troubles with his lawyer who finally takes the time to kiss him to convince him that he has to drop the case. She talks about his legal case, of course, but quickly, it becomes obvious that it could also be about Vic. In real life, Condola kisses Dean who totally refuses her advances, because he is still in love with Vic. Seriously, they can’t let us go with this plot? Let them just be friends, damn it.
In any case, Condola (Miller’s ex, it makes sense, it would have been handy if I had remembered that from the start – his name and his relationship to him) really advises telling Vic the truth, and it upsets Dean who confides in Ben again on the matter. Besides, Ben is still as annoying: his operation went well, his doctor and Catherine Fox both stressed that there was no need for chemo, but he continues to seek other medical opinions. It’s ridiculous.
Equally ridiculous is his opinion on the Dean/Vic situation, since he also advises to confess everything to Vic when there is zero fucking romantic feeling between them. Even Jack and Inara have more chemistry, honestly!
We note in passing that Jack is still in love with Inara (I didn’t force this transition at all in the review!), but that there is a coldness between them… It is apparently a question of a sister of Inara that she must go help, with the problem that her sister is in California. In other words, Jack and Inara are about to separate, unless Jack also moves, as the famous Marsha advises, totally back on her feet. So be it.
Otherwise, Travis is still in contact with his father, despite the arguments that have taken place throughout the season. He has finally come to terms with it, obviously: Travis is even able to hear that his father is in love with another man even if his mother is still not aware of his father’s homosexuality. So, I’m fine with the coming out side which is not easy to do, eh, but there, he is also unfaithful, at some point, you have to know when to say stop? Phew. I’m old (game).
And particularly disturbed by Travis who arrives late to the restaurant for the wedding preparations and directly spills everything his father told him, before pointing out that he didn’t dare invite Emmett to the wedding. In front of everyone? There are Vic’s parents – and them again, okay – but also a good part of the firehouse? This doesn’t make sense!
No more than ironing tablecloths when they’re on the restaurant tables before moving them to the back of the restaurant, though… And yet that’s what Vic does? At least it stops Dean from talking to him about his feelings like he started with everything else to get his opinion. And after this masterful wind, Ben learns Theo’s identity while he’s changing in the restaurant bathroom with Dean and Jack. Who changes in a restaurant bathroom for a wedding?
Well, OK, ME, I changed in the bathroom ten days ago for a wedding I was helping to organize. Guess that makes sense. Who cares?
It was much more exciting to see Theo show up at the wedding because Vic’s dad had the good idea to invite him. It’s a super weird invitation, it makes absolutely no sense that Theo would come, but he comes anyway and he even runs into Travis. Really, the relationship between these two is peaceful and it’s nice to see.
On the other hand, if Travis admits that he doesn’t hate Theo, he’s not ready to tell him that it’s OK for him to date Vic either. After all that, the wedding can begin: Carina discovers the restaurant and thanks Vic for doing all the decoration and organization of the wedding for Maya. I liked the scene where Vic emphasizes that he also does it for Carina, but it’s true that they don’t really know each other yet.
It’s wedding time for Carina and Maya anyway, and it’s just so cute. I love Carina’s outfit, seriously, even if it’s a bit cliché to have one in a dress and the other not… Their entrance scene was beautiful though. Okay. Ben is the one officiating this wedding (??) while Vic plays the entrance music for them, during which Emmett and Travis get to exchange a lusty as fuck look (sorry), during which Maya sees that her mother has come to the restaurant (how did she know where to come?) and while Andy continues to make a face at her husband.
I deliberately forgot to mention Dean and his loving gaze towards Vic, huh! We then witness the most express wedding ceremony of all time, with Maya forgetting to write her vows (what?) and Carina forgetting hers. Oh, Maya’s mother is in tears, OK, but seriously it was express. Afterwards, it reeked of love so much, no need to do more, right? To think that I co-organized a one-hour ceremony, me… No, really, Carina jumping up and down like a child because Maya forgot her vows, it was just too beautiful, it’s a good idea.
I loved the dancing part of the wedding, though, because it’s something that’s sometimes skipped in series, but here, really, since they’re getting married in their Covid “bubble”, everyone knows each other and has a blast, it’s fun as hell. Plus, during the ball, Theo tries to approach Travis again, and I found that really cool. They’re finally at the stage where they can talk to each other like the old friends they are, and I found that touching. Maybe it was also touching because Theo reminded Travis that Michael wanted him to be happy – and therefore to settle down with someone else from now on.
Well, we still have to talk about the past and what happened two days earlier on the ground. Andy thinks she found everyone in the burning house, but finally, she learns from one of the residents that there are more people than that. And a dog! But the dog arrives alone near the young girl, who faints in front of Andy, while Maya learns that the neighbors’ child, whose mother is pregnant, has also disappeared. OK.
We can feel that this intervention is a bit of hell, not helped by the confinement and the people who are cramming into the houses, clearly. Zaza, the neighbor’s son, is also in the house, because he wanted to help the grandmother get back into bed. Well, it’s going in all directions. Finally, Zaza is in bad shape, but there is a huge problem: no more ambulance to take him to the hospital.
This is where we start to see how things could have gone so wrong, because Maya makes a decision that goes against protocol and one of her superiors, who is present at the scene: she decides to take the child to the hospital with a fire truck, even if it is not one of the official ambulances. That’s risky. And the superior doesn’t like it, who then yells at Maya and Sullivan, before having a little one-on-one with the former captain of the fire station.
That’s all it takes for Sullivan to take advantage of it to position himself and try to get a promotion. No wonder Andy is giving him the cold shoulder at the wedding. In fact, their argument continues even during the wedding where she tries to avoid him as much as possible, even if it means ending up with Jack again. The latter confides in Andy who is surprisingly good at explaining to him that he just has to figure out what hurts him the most: losing Inara or changing his life.
So the characters evolve and grow over time? I want to believe it when I see this scene or the one that follows, in which Travis calmly explains to Vic that he loves her and that she can get together with Theo if she wants. Too bad for Miller, it happens at the moment when Ben and Miranda are insisting that he confess his feelings to Vic. Phew. Listen, you already know my choice, I think.
In any case, the atmosphere of the wedding convinces everyone to move forward, including Ben who ultimately refuses to consult a third doctor. And while Carina was worried about not having any drama at her wedding, we inevitably end up having some. No wonder with this series! So, Jack doesn’t have time to propose anything to Inara before she quite rightly points out to him that he is not in love with her (contrary to what Marsha thinks) but with the family they form. This is not a sufficient reason to start over in his eyes (it’s debatable, really), so she thanks him for saving her, but she leaves him there.
In the same vein, Dean leaves the restaurant looking for Vic to get a better look at her making out with Theo. I’m seriously frustrated that there weren’t any scenes between them for this romantic reunion, but I assure you that I let out a big “YES”. At the same time, Travis ends up confiding in Emmett that he’s in love with him, between two urinals. Pff. Oh, hello romance! Obviously Emmett prefers to just stay friends with Travis because it was too complicated to forget him… and obviously he kisses him right after. I don’t know what to think of these two. I’m not sure that they’re really a lasting couple in the long term, but hey, come on, I’ll take the happy ending.
There’s a lot of that in this episode, and we then see them doing a slow dance right next to Carina and Maya. Okay, they’re in the back of the scene, but that’s fine with me, it was much more interesting than the scene between Sullivan and Andy. She really blames him for everything he’s done, even if he still tries to justify it by pretending to be a hero, which he’s not.
Not at all. Indeed, during the wedding party, everyone receives a text message informing them that Maya is no longer the captain of the barracks… Only Maya is not on her cell phone during the wedding, she is living her best romantic slow dance.
A beautiful end-of-season image, frankly.
IN SHORT – I loved this season 4 for a lot of reasons, even if the main one is the Maya/Carina couple, I admit it. It was really their season and this ending proves it… but it also didn’t stop the development of wonderful stories concerning Travis and Vic, especially thanks to the presence of Theo, who makes a very good addition to the cast, there’s no comparison.
Sorry Dean! While I didn’t like his romantic struggles at all, I really liked how he allowed the show to address racial and systemic issues in America. It really gave him a good role in which he could show off his skills, even if it was often to the detriment of Prue, who was barely present at the end of the season. I hope they fix all that for season 4.
In the same vein, I would like Ben to integrate better into the firehouse, because he has been on the sidelines for four years. As for Sullivan… Well, no, still not. In any case, I can’t wait to see him eat everyone’s hatred in season 5, can’t wait to follow the next adventures for Maya/Carina, Vic/Theo and even Travis/Emmett. I forgot to mention Jack, but hey, I hated the character and his plot so many times in four years, I don’t know what else to say about him. Inara never really managed to integrate, I think, so her departure is sad, but he will find someone else. Andy, again? Please, no.
