After hearing that his mother has been killed, TK wrestles with grief and remembers what she meant to him.
Tropes:
- Addled Addict: In 2017, TK is found by Gwyn like this in the Bronx drug den.
- Always with You / You Are Better Than You Think You Are: As one more nudge towards the attendant who is scheduled to take him to the rehab facility, Gwyn has this to say to TK:Gwyn: My sweet boy. I’ve traveled with you as far as I can— the next steps you take are yours.TK: (reluctantly) I don’t know if I can do it without you.Gwyn: Yes, you can. You are stronger than you know. (hugs TK) And I’ll always be with you.
- Appetite Equals Health: Two of TK’s withdrawal symptoms include a lack of appetite and nausea, which keeps him from eating his food despite Gwyn’s stern coaxing.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Lampshaded and averted with TK’s physical state in the 2017 flashbacks. From the night Gwyn finds him in the drug den to the moment she leaves him at the valet exit at LAX International Airport, he’s quite realistically haggard, dirty and wild-looking even after he changes clothes.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: In the present, a grieving TK is extremely reluctant to attend Gwyn’s funeral. Then he and Owen actually are prevented from doing so because of their plane’s engine malfunction.
- Character Death: Of Gwyneth Morgan.
- Downer Beginning: Before the flashback, the episode begins with an audio version of 9-1-1 call about Gwyn’s death from the biker’s perspective. When following the dispatcher’s instructions to check on her, he’s devastated to find that she died on impact, and even moreso when he checks on Jonah in his stroller.
- Explosive Decompression: When one of the plane’s engines malfunctions, Genevieve, who is sitting in the window seat next to Owen and TK, has the bad luck of nearly getting sucked out after her window breaks from the suction. They’re able to pull her back in and get the open window secured, but she’s still critically injured as a result.
- Flashback: Over half of the episode sees TK remembering one of his previous drug relapses in 2017, and how Gwyn found and helped get him to drug rehab.
- In the beginning, Gwyn takes a taxi to an abandoned building in the Bronx that is revealed to be a drug den when she walks in. After looking around, she finds a drug-high and unconscious TK near the corner of a room with an empty syringe in his arm, and tries to rouse him to little avail.
- Some hours or days later, mother and son are having brunch at a Chinese restaurant, with TK bristling at Gwyn trying to get him to eat. Upon questioning, he tries to convince Gwyn that he has his drug use under control but reveals that he’s been on the job while feeling effects and cravings. Gwyn then reveals that she signed her son on for rehabilitation at an apparently renowned facility in Los Angeles, and reserved an evening flight over his protests.
- During the flight, TK’s withdrawal symptoms intensify to the point that he starts getting more irritable, can barely put his seatbelt on with shaking hands when sitting down, and struggles with heightened senses around him. Midway through, he’s able to ease his tremors with travel-sized alcohol, but Gwyn is quick to call him out on lying again. TK counters by telling her she can’t forcefully save him, but while she acknowledges this, she tearfully tells him she doesn’t want to see him dead. This gets her son to mellow significantly for the rest of the plane ride.
- Gwyn continues accompanying TK to a valet area, until he realizes she isn’t going any further with him. She confirms this sadly, even when TK desperately invites her to get lunch on the way to the rehabilitation center, but encourages him to see the rehab process through. He reluctantly does so, but not before looking back to find her gone just as the first set of automatic doors close behind him.
- In the ending flashback, the Strands happily celebrate their reunion with Chinese takeout when Gwyn travels to Austin for a visit.
- Five Stages of Grief: Gwyn lampshades one of the stages when she and TK stop at the valet area.TK: Maybe… maybe see if [one of the drivers] knows any good Chinese restaurants? Dim sum?Gwyn: You’re bargaining, honey. […] It’s thirty days, TK. That’s the commitment.
- Functional Addict: TK insists to Gwyn that he’d been this during his firefighting.
- Heroic BSoD: In the present, while Carlos and Owen look for immediate flights to New York, TK is naturally stuck in one of these. He only really snaps out of it during the sudden engine malfunction, and while treating one of the wounded passengers.
- Holding Hands: TK and Owen do this with each other as they’re bracing for landing impact, which parallels with TK and Gwyn’s 2017 flight just before it touches down at LAX International Airport.
- In the present, Paul and Marjan, and Nancy and Mateo also do this while watching the plane land on the news.
- I Lied: Before their plane lands, TK tearfully admits his below Moment of Weakness to Owen.
- Killed Offscreen: We’re only told what transpired during the Downer Beginning, but it’s not hard to imagine how it happened.
- Mama Bear: The entire episode shows and tells how Gwyn was this to both of her sons, from not-so-gently saving TK from himself when his drug use spiraled into an addiction to pushing Jonah’s stroller out of a biker’s path at the cost of her own life in the Downer Beginning.
- Man Hug: Carlos wraps TK up in one of these when they reunite on the tarmac.
- Moment of Weakness: After greeting the rest of his team, TK walks into one of the ambulances and opens one of the cabinets that store painkillers. He then finds a bag of fentanyl vials and contemplates two of them, until Owen gets his attention.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Their plane’s engine malfunction prevents Owen and TK from making it to New York for Gwyn’s funeral; they’re both resigned to the fact, but TK decides to commemorate her with Chinese takeout for their dinner.
- Not His Blood: When Carlos notices Genevieve’s blood on TK’s clothes, he nearly panics further before his boyfriend assures him that he’s not bleeding.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Defied with Gwyn citing this as a reason why she’s pushing for TK to get sober, for both of their sakes:TK: What do you think’s gonna happen in California, hm? Think I won’t know where to find a score within ten minutes? You can’t save me, Mom.Gwyn: I know… but I have to try. I can’t bear the thought of attending my son’s funeral. I can’t bear it.
- Quick Nip: During the flight to LA in 2017, TK’s withdrawal tremors become so unbearable for him that he steals two mini-bottles of what looks like vodka and, after going through turbulence, downs them in the lavatory. Gwyn picks up on this when she notices his lack of tremors and a pack of chewing gum, which TK gets defensive about.
- Sensory Overload: Another one of TK’s withdrawal symptoms includes him experiencing the sounds around him as louder than normal.
- Staging an Intervention: When they’re having lunch at a Chinese restaurant, Gwyn reveals to TK that she pre-reserved a flight to Los Angeles and a 30-day stay at a rehabilitation center there. Despite her son’s protests and weak threats, she keeps her foot down on getting him sober and alive.
- Tender Tears: Everyone who knew and loved Gwyn sheds these throughout the episode.
- Tough Love: Gwyn gives TK shades of this in the flashbacks after the drug den, and as she accompanies him on the flight to Los Angeles.Gwyn: You’re losing control, TK. We’re getting you help. […] Are you addicted to the needle prick yet? I read about it— needle fixation, the ritual of the pain.TK: Mom, no. Why are we even talking about this?Gwyn: You gonna eat [your food]?TK: No, I’m gonna puke.Gwyn: Then puke. Just get it all out, ‘cause we have a flight to catch.TK: What?Gwyn: Our plane leaves in two hours.TK: What’re you talking about?Gwyn: I’m taking you to rehab.TK: Rehab?!Gwyn: There’s a rehab center in California that is supposed to be the best.TK: Califor— wh— Mom, I have work.Gwyn: No, you don’t. Not for thirty days.TK: I’m not doing that, Mom.Gwyn: Do what you want. But you have six hours to decide—TK: Mom, no—TK: (slams a fist on the table) NO! […] I have to stay here. J-just… look at me, I’m fine. They need me, Mom. Okay? I-I’m a firefighter, I save lives.
- Trying Not to Cry: Both TK and Gwyn are barely holding back tears as the former reluctantly leaves the airport for the clinic.
