Owen Strand, the lone survivor of his Manhattan firehouse on 9/11, takes his progressive philosophies of life and firefighting down to Austin, Texas, where he helps the firefighters of Firehouse 126 start anew.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Accidental Pun: The security worker at the start of the episode tells Grace that he's fired as the flames start to really build.(the fire he's accidently started, grows out of control)Security Guard: I'm in the kitchen in the main building and I'm so fired.
- Action Prologue / Downer Beginning: The episode opens with tragic deaths of the original 126 Fire House, bar one.
- Bait-and-Switch: During the rescue of a baby in a tree. Just as Owen reaches the baby carrier, it falls to the ground, everyone gasps, only for Owen to reveal that he had already removed the baby from the carrier and he was safely in Owen’s arms.
- Bringing in the Expert: Owen is brought in because he successfully rebuilt a fire house after most of the crew were killed on 9/11. This makes him uniquely qualified to do the same for Fire House 126.
- Crusading Widower: A sibling variant; in Michelle’s introductory scene, she’s angrily and loudly announcing her belief that her younger sister Iris’ boyfriend, Dustin, killed Iris herself to his neighbors and vowing to find evidence of his culpability.
- Dance Party Ending: To celebrate their first successful rescue, the 126 crew goes to a honky-tonk bar and, one by one, eagerly participate in a line dance.
- Drugs Are Bad: Part of TK’s own Establishing Character Moment— his conversation with Owen after his overdose and breakup shows that he struggles at coping with emotional pain healthily, and that he has a history of using hard drugs.
- Establishing Character Moment: The Strands' three recruits all have moments that are brought up in their interviews. Marjan defied her boss's orders to go rescue two civilians in the water (her daredevil attitude), Mateo is wiping the inside of some car handles (his meticulousness), and Paul is able to find an arsonist by knowing what aspects of the person to find in the crowd (his observation skills).
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Grace warns Judd about flammable fertilizer in the burning building he's at, but it's too late to save the other firefighters before it explodes.
- Friend on the Force: How Carlos is introduced when arresting Michelle for her outburst.
- Instant Web Hit:
- The Instagram video of Marjan’s water rescue has over 6 million likes, and it gets 3 million more in one night after Cardi B reposts the video.
- A video of the new 126 Fire House’s very first rescue of a pregnant mother and her baby has already racked up over 2 million views and they are trending as #TheDreamTeam.
- Lethally Stupid: A security guard microwaves his food without removing any of the foil. This sets the plastic plate on fire. Rather than putting out the very small fire, he tosses the burning plate into the garbage can which is full of flammable material. He then freezes and stares as the fire starts spreading to other items in the break room. By the time he tries to get help, the fire is out of control. Most of Fire House 126 is killed trying to put the fire out.
- Microwave Misuse: In the start of the episode, a distracted night security worker puts a burrito into the microwave with the foil still on. This causes the contents to catch fire and become the starting point of the 126 Fire House tragedy.
- Offscreen Breakup: We don't actually see the moment T.K and Alex break up, only the aftermath.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Judd has this reaction when he hears that there is a large quantity of explosive fertilizer stored at the site of the fire Fire House 126 is trying to put out. The warning is too late.
- Owen when he gets no response from knocking at TK’s apartment door or calling his cell number, and then as he finds his son unconscious on the floor next to a bottle of pills.
- This is the team's reaction when the pregnant mother they have just saved asks about her child— and she tells them she has another child who had been in the back seat.
- Parent-Child Team: Owen and T.K. work together as firefighters in New York and in Texas.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Owen doesn't think T.K. should propose to his boyfriend Alex, as they aren't even living together yet. But he tells T.K. that if he decides to go through with it, he's happy for him.
- Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: Michelle and her team are called out to the end results of this, which involves peppers.
- Poor Communication Kills: Fire House 126 was sent out to put out an out-of-control fire and were not warned that the facility housed a large quantity of explosive fertilizer. In addition, Judd was the only one in radio contact with dispatch, so the warning was relayed to him first. He is too far away from the team to warn them in time and Judd ends up as the Sole Survivor.
- Refusal of the Call: Owen initially turns down Radford’s request to come to Austin to help him re-establish the 126 Fire House. The aftermath of his son’s drug overdose eventually changes his mind.
- Sherlock Scan: During the car accident, Paul is able to deduce where the missing baby might have gone from how the car crashed.
- Shirtless Scene:
- The new 126 members, minus Paul and Marjan, are shirtless in the locker room.
- T.K. is seen working out shirtless.
- Shrine to the Fallen: Owen makes one to Judd's fallen crew, noting that he did that for his old Fire House after 9/11.
- Sole Survivor:
- As Judd was the one to attach the fire hose to the hydrant that was about 100 yards away from the fire, he was not in the danger zone when the fertilizer and ammonium nitrate that is stored at the Farm and Feed Factory ignites and kills all of his team.
- Owen is the only survivor of his Manhattan Fire House, after the 9/11 tragedy.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Michelle and her crew are called out to deal with the end results of a prank between cousins, that could have been fatal without Michelle’s quick thinking.
- Time Skip: 6 months have passed after the 126 Fire House tragedy.
- Tough Love: Owen enforces this as TK is recovering from his overdose.Owen: It is tough love from now on. You want out of [your addiction], you do this my way. Therapy, twice a week, with a therapist I choose. […] My only priority right now is that you live.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After TK is resuscitated, he visibly throws up on the floor just before he’s able to sit up.
