Say Her Name is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season and the 58th overall episode of Station 19.
Short Summary[]
When Vic helps her parents through a devastating loss, they have a long overdue conversation about the anguish of being Black in America.
Full Summary[]
Travis and Vic complain about the traffic as they bring groceries back into the station. The protests have gotten so big, they're starting to shut down the whole city. Vic threatens to drink the ice cream if it melted on their way. Travis asks about the plan for doing street medic stuff tomorrow, but Vic isn't sure. Vic and Travis talk about Travis getting someone's number, but Travis isn't interested in using the number he got. Travis realizes something's off with Vic, but she denies it.
As they watch the protests on the television, Andy, Ben, Sullivan, and Jack put together kits for the protestors. Sullivan asks if Ben's kids are there and he says they should be on their way home as they have a strict home before dark if you're protesting rule, which Roz strictly enforces. Andy thinks they must be shaken up after his night in the ocean and then his surgery. Ben says he got waited on like a king for a few days and then things went back to normal. Sullivan unmutes the television and they hear the report about Breonna Taylor's death. Then Dixon makes a statement asking people to stop protesting. They're disturbed that Dixon has convinced himself he's a good guy. Jack asks if they knew that the earliest forms of policing being slave patrols. Sullivan says he did know that, but Ben's glad that Jack knows now, too. Sullivan asks Ben if he got his results from his surgeon. Ben says the surgeon called Bailey and he's all clear. Sullivan is surprised for a minute that the surgeon called Bailey first. Sullivan would have been personally offended if Ben survived being lost at sea only to die of cancer. The two of them check in with each other briefly.
Dean, Jack, and Andy continue packing the bags in the kitchen as Travis and Vic unload the groceries. Dean says the protests have been peaceful until police show up and escalate everything. Andy's seen all kinds of injuries. Jack shares another fact about policing and the 13th amendment. Dean hopes people aren't just studying this information like a test and that they're really internalizing how racism pervades everything. Vic suddenly snaps and asks Ben to turn the volume down. Maya comes in and compliments their "19 for Black Lives" shirts. Dean tosses Maya hers. She says they'll have to wear them under their uniforms when they work the tent because they're running the tent in an official capacity. They have to figure out how to navigate it with PD. Things are escalating. That doesn't mean they should back down. She thinks they need to make their position know, but she's trying to figure out how they do that in a way that they will hear it. Vic then asks if they're not going to talk about the fact that Maya is engaged. The whole team celebrates the engagement. Maya says there's nothing like getting engaged and then sending your fiancée into the COVID hot zone two days later. She still had to go to Italy, but only for a month while the marriage visa comes through. Vic asks if this means they get to have a firehouse wedding, but Maya says she barely got Carina to agree to marriage and doesn't think there will be a wedding. There will be a registry though.
Andy follows Maya to her office and asks how she's doing. Maya says she's holding up well, if holding up well is stuffing her face with cookies every time she thinks about Carina being in the COVID hot zone and how the immigration system is as broke as the justice system. Andy asks her what kind of cookies and Maya closes the door in her face.
Dean stops Ben from carrying the bags. He can lift again when Maya takes him off desk duty. After they leave, Vic asks Travis if the team will be mad that they got mussels instead of stuff for lasagna. Travis thinks they won't be made. Vic starts to soak the mussels and reveals she's never made them before, shocking Travis. Vic is sure they'll figure it out. Travis questions what's wrong with Vic as he's noticed her odd behavior. Vic talks to Travis about Breonna Taylor and how she was a female first responder killed in her own home, where she was supposed to be safe. Vic wants one day not to have to think about it. She'll pick it back up tomorrow, but she needs one day because she's exhausted. Travis says they need to figure out how to make the mussels so the team doesn't figure out there's no lasagna. They're interrupted when a call comes in.
As the team loads up, Ben says the protest was a block away and the fire was started by a group of rioters. Travis recognizes the address as Vic's restaurant, Kaminski's. Vic is upset because she just wanted one day.
Vic is upset that her parents aren't answering their phones and it's taking so long to get there. Because of the protests and other fires, they have to take the long way around. Vic says the restaurant is their whole life. It's like her crappy older sister that they loved more than her her whole life. Travis promises they'll save her crappy older sister.
Andy looks over at Sullivan and tells him she likes it when they get to fight fires together.
As they arrive at the restaurant, Vic jumps out, throws on her turnout coat, and runs inside over Maya's order to stand down. With Vic inside, Maya gives orders to the rest of her team. A Few moments later, Vic comes back out with her parents. She thanks Theo for carrying out her mom's crock pot because she wouldn't leave without it.
Andy tells Jack Vic must be freaking out because this is family stuff and fire stuff mixed together with everything that's going on right now.
Dean has given Anthony and Lenya Hughes oxygen masks. Vic declines one of her own. She's glad her parents are okay. Vic tells them Dean will take care of them and goes back to help. She asks Maya what she can do and Maya reminds her that she disobeyed a direct order to stand down and tells Vic to go be with her parents and take care of them. Police arrive then, which Maya says is the last thing they need. Just then, the front windows of the restaurant are blown out, so Maya gives additional orders and requests information from Jack and Andy, who are doing recon. Vic tries again to approach the fire, but Maya orders her back again.
Sullivan and Wiggins are spraying the flames from inside the restaurant. Something explodes in the kitchen and Sullivan figures it's the stove.
Around the back of the restaurant, Ricky jumps out a window and brushes past them. They realize people are still inside and check it out. As they prepare to start evac, Ricky throws bricks at them and asks them whose side they're on. Sawyer then climbs out the window and falls to the ground. Sawyer tries to get Ricky to wait, but Ricky runs away. As Jack helps Sawyer get up over his objections, Andy asks if any of his friends are still in there looting the place. Andy busts open the back door and prepares to go in.
Lenya tries to go back inside the restaurant, but Vic stops her. Lenya and Anthony overhear Maya talking about the fire and ask Vic what she means, so Dean and Vic start to explain what all the members of their team are doing. Anthony asks where the files he brought out are. It's all the insurance papers. Lenya is worried about losing all her recipes, but Anthony says she has them memorized and even if she doesn't, they can replace things, but can't replace her.
Travis sand Sullivan are still fighting the fire inside.
Maya asks for an update on the civilians and Andy says they got them out, but one ran away before they could be assessed. Maya is annoyed to see a reporter approaching. She gives new orders as she walks toward the reporter. She tells Miguel it's a closed scene. He says he has some questions, so she says, "Fire." Whatever questions he has, the answer is fire and they're doing everything they can to put it out.
Vic asks how the fire got started. Anthony says it happened so quickly. They've been busy all day. People were coming in and out on their way to and from protests. It was nice. Then they heard screaming down the block. He saw people throwing things at the shoe store down the street. And then there was smoke. Miguel asks if he saw the fire get started and wants a comment. Vic tells him there's no comment and asks him to leave. When he doesn't, Dean gets him to back up. Once of the cops sees this and points Dean out to another officer. They exchange some tense conversation and Officer Anderson implies that Dean might have started the fire himself. Dean starts to approach, but Maya orders him away, saying they need more bodies on the fire. At the same time, Vivienne calls Anderson back, telling him to get in the car. Vivienne and Maya share a meaningful look before returning to their jobs.
Maya rallies her team, telling them this one is for Vic. They continue to fight the fire inside. Once the flames are out, they celebrate.
Maya tells Vic she can take her parents home, but Vic says they won't leave. They're determined to get back in. Maya says Vic can stay behind to do overhaul. Station 23 is sending a few firefighters to assist. She also leaves Travis behind.
Sullivan looks at PD briefly before climbing back into the ladder truck.
Vic tells her parents it's not safe to go back inside, but Lenya says Vic and Travis can make it safe. Anthony says Lenya's not going to go home. They walk back toward the building. Vic vents to Travis that they never talk about anything, which is where she learned it. She's tried to fight against it. She and Travis go inside and Vic is shocked at the damage. Lenya and Anthony start to move tables back into place. Vic and Travis give her parents their helmets, but neither of them puts one on. Vic wants them to let her and Travis check for hazards, but they insist on getting started. Vic's dad chastises her when she picks up a shelf on her own, saying it would have been easier if she let him help. Vic wants them to take a second and talk about what happened. She wonders why they never talk about anything. She wants to talk about how they're cleaning up their restaurant that was burned down by rioters who hijacked a protest. She talks about them going right back to work after tragedies. She questions if that's working. She knows they've worked her whole life, but for once, she'd like them to acknowledge that something awful has happened. And that awful thing was precipitated by law enforcement repeatedly killing Black people, but they won't talk about that either. Vic mentions Breonna Taylor, a Black female first responder like Vic. In another world, that could have been Vic herself. News of her death didn't break for two months because no one cared. And she's been trying not to center herself so Sullivan and Miller and Warren had their place to feel their feelings. But she hasn't slept through the night since she heard what happened to Breonna. She's been sleeping with a kitchen knife so she can feel slightly safer. But her parents don't know about that because they haven't checked on her. But even if they had, she probably would have told them she was fine because that's what they do in their family and she doesn't think that's working for her anymore. She's sick and sad and scared and doesn't know how they aren't. Anthony says they are, that he is. They get back to work and Vic shares a shocked look with Travis.
Maya tells Ben she left the engine behind to do overhaul at Vic's parents' restaurant. Ben asks if they were able to say it and Maya says not much. Andy says she's starving and she's going to make a giant pot of Chicken tikka masala as soon as they're done cleaning up. Even though it's 3 AM, she doesn't care because her stomach is growling louder than the engine. Maya seconds that, as her stomach was growling louder than Carina's, which she didn't think was possible. Sullivan says he just needs a shower and some sleep and Andy wants that for him, but she wants food, then maybe a shower and sleep. Jack says he could eat.
Maya gets an email and sees that the city pulled their permit for the medical tent. Tensions are too high and the city wants to present a united front. They don't want SFD and PD to appear to be on different sides. Dean says they're on the side of helping people. Andy says they should go anyway, but Maya says they can't, upsetting her team.
Sullivan and Andy exchange some racy text messages as he goes to shower.
Theo brings water as he comes to help with overhaul. Travis asks him to help board up windows.
Anthony and Lenya talk about Vic growing up to be strong and self-sufficient. At the door, Theo and Travis stop Miguel from coming in. He says he wants a comment about the "violent protests turned riots." He thinks they must be horrified that their restaurant has been burned down by protesters. Anthony corrects that it was rioters, but Miguel won't back down. He wants them to comment. Lenya says their comment is to let it burn. If that's what it takes to get people to care and hold those officer accountable, let it burn. Miguel asks what about the property damage. Anthony says property does not equal life. You can rebuild property, but you can't bring back someone has been killed. If people are more upset about property than murder, they need to re-evaluate how they're walking through the world. Vic says it's about more than them. It's about the people whose lives were taken. It's about justice for Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and Charleena Lyles. Vic's parents join and help her list names. Manny Ellis. Michael Brown. India Kager. Atatiana Jefferson. Sandra Bland. Tamir Rice. Rekia Boyd. Alton Sterling. Freddie Grey. Tarika Wilson. Eric Garner. Janisha Fonville. Philando Castile. Korryn Gaines. Tony McDade. Tanisha Anderson. Elijah McClain. Bettie Jones. Quintonio LeGrier. Kathryn Johnston. Javier Ambler. Yvette Smith. Jamar Clark.
Jack comments on the smell in the kitchen, but Andy says it's because of the mussels Vic and Travis left sitting in the sink. He tries Andy's cooking and says it's the worst thing she's ever made. She took a risk with bottled Bombay Blend. Jack says the name is probably problematic took, with colonization. Andy's surprised that Jack is woke. He says he's trying to understand everything. It doesn't make sense to me. Then that kid asked what side they were on. Jack is worried that he's most comfortable in crisis mode and he worries that he's not good for anything if there's not a crisis. Andy realizes he's talking about Inara, though he denies it. He admits that with Inara, there's always been something. He's been taking care of her. But now Marsha is well and everything is calm. It's fine, but Andy says a girl needs more than fine.
Vic is going around the restaurant with a flashlight, looking at everything. In the office, she finds a bulletin board full of pictures of her and her firefighting accomplishments. Lenya says it's her professional ones and the personal ones are on the other side. Another bulletin board holds programs and pictures of her performing. Her whole life is on there. Lenya says Vic's hardly ever there anymore and when she is, she grabs her pierogis and go. Since they spent so much time without Vic, they brought as much of her as they could to the restaurant. Lenya smiles as she looks at a picture of young Vic. She says she watched an interview with Breonna Taylor's mother and couldn't sleep for a week. She knows she can't understand what it's like for Vic to be a Black woman, but she doesn't understand being the mother of a Black daughter. She knows Vic could have been Breonna Taylor. She's always known, since Vic was five and a cashier accused her of stealing a candy that Lenya had just bought her. Or when she was eleven, crying because the girls at school wouldn't stop touching her hair. Before she was even born, when Lenya's parents disowned her for marrying a Black man and refused to meet her perfect little girl. Their moment is interrupted when Anthony calls for help.
Travis and Theo board up windows. Travis says Theo kicked ass, getting Vic's parents out of the restaurant. He saved them. Theo apologizes to Travis for what happened with Michael and says he'll never not be sorry. Travis thanks Theo for apologizing.
Maya finds Dean walking on the treadmill and asks if he's okay. He says he's just tired, which Maya suspects might have something to do with them having been up all night and him being on a treadmill. Maya knows it's terrible that the city pulled the permit. Dean knows they're on the same page, but it sucks to be shut down over and over again when you're trying to help. It feels like there's no winning. Maya suggests they still go do the tent, even though it's not sanctioned. They still have paramedic training. They'll go as civilians with medical training. Dean suggests stopping by the drug store for supplies. They set up a table where people can come if they need medical train. Dean also suggests borrowing stuff from the station that they can't get at the drug store. Maya says as his captain, she didn't hear any of that, but Civilian Maya loves resourcefulness. As she does to leave, Dean stops her and says the team could use something to celebrate, so he asks her to have a wedding for them.
Vic asks Lenya why she never told Vic about her family. Lenya says it wasn't Vic's burden to bear. Lenya knew she'd have enough struggles in her life and she didn't want to put that on her, too. She knows she was not always there for Vic growing up, but it was in service of trying to give Vic the life she needed. They were always thinking about her. Lenya takes a plate from a stack and throws it to the ground, letting it break. She says it's a Greek tradition after you have a good meal. It started as a death ritual, a type of controlled loss. It helps people deal with a loss, to celebrate the dead and honor the living. Vic takes a plate herself and smashes it. She, Lenya, and Anthony smash more plates. Travis and Theo come in and smash plates of their own. Once all the plates are smashed, it's time to clean up.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Jaina Lee Ortiz as Lieutenant Andy Herrera
- Jason George as Dr. Ben Warren
- Boris Kodjoe as Robert Sullivan
- Grey Damon as Lieutenant Jack Gibson
- Barrett Doss as Victoria Hughes
- Jay Hayden as Travis Montgomery
- Okieriete Onaodowan as Dean Miller
- Danielle Savre as Captain Maya Bishop
- Stefania Spampinato as Dr. Carina DeLuca (credit only)
Guest Stars[]
- Carlos Miranda as Theo Ruiz
- Pat Healy as Michael Dixon
- Rick Worthy as Anthony Hughes
- Svetlana Efremova as Lenya Hughes
- Golden Brooks as Vivienne
- Rodrigo Rojas as Miguel
Co-Starring[]
- Teddy Van Ee as Sawyer
- Ian Stanley II as Officer Anderson
- Cooper Devaney as Ricky
- Jennifer Kim as News Reporter
Rescues[]
Kaminski's[]
Station 19 was called out to a fire at Kaminski's, the restaurant owned by Vic's parents. While they were en route, they got word that the fire was spreading north. When they arrived, Vic ran inside, ignoring Maya's order to stand down. While she retrieved her parents, Maya ordered Andy and Jack to recon the building and sent Travis after Vic. Then she assigned Wiggins and Sullivan to cut the other utilities and put Dean on medical. Soon after, Anthony and Lenya were evacuated and given oxygen. When a window exploded, Maya ordered a line into the front and into the attic. While they worked, the stove ignited. Jack and Andy discovered additional civilians inside the building while searching the back. While they tried to help evacuate, Ricky began throwing things at them and asking them which side they were on. Then Sawyer fell through a window onto the ground. He asked them to leave him, but they refused and helped him up.
Back in the front, Maya ordered them to make a trench to keep the fire from spreading. They then continued fighting the fire from the front. With difficulty, they put the fire out. Vic and Travis then stayed behind to do overhaul along with a few firefighters from station 23.
Music[]
| Song | Performer | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| "A Song for Tomorrow" | Judith Hill |
|
| "" |
| |
| "Fighter" | Joseph |
|
Notes and Trivia[]
- This episode's title originated from the song Say Her Name, originally sung by Janelle Monáe.
- This episode scored 4.59 million viewers.[1]
Gallery[]
Episode Stills[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Quotes[]
See Also[]
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A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here. |
| Station 19 Season 4 | ||||||
| #01 | "Nothing Seems the Same" | #07 | "Learning to Fly" | #13 | "I Guess I'm Floating" | |
| #02 | "Wild World" | #08 | "Make No Mistake, He's Mine" | #14 | "Comfortably Numb" | |
| #03 | "We Are Family" | #09 | "No One is Alone" | #15 | "Say Her Name" | |
| #04 | "Don't Look Back in Anger" | #10 | "Save Yourself" | #16 | "Forever and Ever, Amen" | |
| #05 | "Out of Control" | #11 | "Here It Comes Again" | |||
| #06 | "Train in Vain" | #12 | "Get Up, Stand Up" | |||
| << Season 3 | Season 5 >> | |||||