Station 19 (2×15) Always Ready Review

If you would like to read my review of last episode of Station 19, click here.

“Always Ready” starts off with Sullivan, Andy and Ben looking for Ripley who left Grey Sloan in search of Victoria. He has some form of toxin in his body, but needs to see her. This causes them all to race to the Coffee Plant where Victoria is helping with clean up. They manage to get in contact with Ripley and tell him his results as they urge him to return to the hospital. He heads to the nearest one while Sullivan searches for Victoria.

At the Coffee Plant, the Station 19 crew works at the plant while they are ordered around by Pruitt. Montgomery asks Victoria about how long she waited at the dinner and this prompts a flashback to one of her nights with Ripley that ended in her propositioning him back to her place. With no word from Ripley, Victoria is pumped to do as many jobs as possible to keep herself distracted. Unfortunately, the team arrives late and have to get the location of ladder 19.

With someone stuck on top of an electrical tower, Victoria volunteers to ascend and save them. The woman Gwen (Greta Jung) is very anxious, but won’t let Victoria get closer. She tries to talk down the woman, but it becomes problematic when Sullivan forces them to radio up. Montgomery gives her the news about Ripley and Gwen urges her to go, but she starts to lose her grip on the tower. Victoria manages to get over to Gwen, ties a harness to her and distracts her so they can descend. Another flashback shows how Victoria got her nickname from Ripley over another early breakfast that screams relationship goals.

Ripley heads into Seattle Pres where he informs them of his condition and asks them to call his doctor, Maggie Pierce. She arrives at the hospital and brings the thunder to find her patient. En route to see Ripley, Sullivan is informed that Captain Conlin also shows symptoms of Hydrofluoric acid exposure and urges the team to get immediately tested. They arrive at the hospital and run into Ripley’s sister Jennifer (Bre Blair). This prompts another flashback of the three of them hanging out for breakfast, showing the depth of their friendship.

However back at the hospital, she seems agitated about Ripley putting his life in jeopardy for Victoria. Pierce comes out asking to speak to family and while Station 19 and Victoria believe themselves to be that, Jennifer asks to speak to Pierce alone. Ben takes the moment to call Miranda and leave a voicemail about the last time he was at this hospital when she had her heart attack. He is thankful that she is alive and just wanted her to know that.

The team questions why Victoria isn’t in the room with Ripley and they get angry at Jennifer’s decision. Victoria defends her and spirals, believing that she is to blame for this whole situation. Montgomery quickly intervenes and gives her a much needed pep talk to keep her spirits up. She decides to confront Jennifer so she can also get information about Ripley’s condition. However, this only causes her to berate Victoria for being a poor choice for Ripley. Pierce interrupts them to say that the situation has worsened.

Victoria returns to the team, dazed and confused. Everyone wants answers, but Andy can see that Victoria is in no shape for company. She pulls her aside and brings her to a yelling, crying or whatever you have to do closet and stands outside so she can have some time alone. Meanwhile, Pierce talks to Jennifer about Ripley and Victoria’s situation causing her to tell Pierce to find her potential sister-in-law. She grabs her so they can informed about what’s going on.

Ripley needed help breathing, but he hasn’t responded well because of the low calcium. Pierce believes that there is nothing they can do and both of them should go say their goodbyes. Back at the Coffee Plant, Dean reveals that he has known about Maya and Jack for weeks and she is ecstatic. Finally she has someone other than a baby to talk to. When they finish cleaning up, Pruitt informs them of what happened with the Chief and tells them to get checked out before they all head to the hospital.

Firefighters come en masse to the hospital to pay respect to their leader. Jennifer comes by the room with station 19 and tells Victoria to go sit with him. She cannot bring herself to go and asks someone else to with Sullivan volunteering. He has a heart-to-heart with his old friend before Ripley asks to see Victoria one last time. Sullivan returns to the room and asks her to come, but she cannot move. Montgomery gives her a pep talk and tells her that he will hold her hand and not let go. I would just like to say that Jay Hayden’s performance here with Barrett Doss was absolutely heartwrenching and one of the most emotional moments in this show.

She enters the room and he instantly asks for the morphine to be reduced so he is more alert. The other firefighters question how long their relationship has been going on, but Montgomery tells them to stop. Andy holds Sullivan’s hand in comfort, which causes Ryan to question how long that’s been going on to Maya. Victoria and Ripley joke about being outed to the department and taking their long awaited vacation. The machines start to beep and Victoria opts to turn them off so they can embrace their final few moments together.

She marches out of the room, past her team and the rest of the firefighters out of the hospital. At Station 19, Sullivan informs Victoria and Jennifer about what is done in honour of a fallen Fire Chief. Victoria interrupts to say he should have it all before retreating to the bed of the firetruck to lay down. Each of the team members come up individually to comfort Victoria, including Montgomery who everyone moves out of the way for so he can console his best friend. The final flashback shows Ripley and Victoria telling each other that they love one another for the first time.

Captain’s Log

• Who will become the next Fire Chief?
• Is there something between Andy and Sullivan?
• How will this affect Victoria?
• Is Ben stretching himself too thin?

What did you think of “Always Ready”? Let me know in the comments below!

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Dylan Phillips