With So Little to Be Sure Of is the sixth episode of the seventh season and the 101st overall episode of Station 19.
Short Summary[]
With both Vic's job and Crisis One in jeopardy, a flashback shows how the program has changed the lives of the team and the local community. Meanwhile, Ben keeps a secret from Bailey.
Full Summary[]
Vic tells Travis she won't be okay if he asks her one more time if she is. She doesn't want to talk to him about the press conference. Andy comes out of her office and says she hasn't heard anything, but she and Ross are doing everything they can to make sure she has a job, but it's really up to the mayor.
At City Hall, Ross tells Osman that Vic is essential to SFD. Crisis One is personal to her. Osman says Vic publicly humiliated him, but Ross say she was just trying to fight for the program. Osman says he could have parlayed station 19's win into more support for their programs, but Ross doesn't believe he would have really done that. Osman says they're there to discuss discipline for Vic, not anything else. Ross disagrees, saying it's about their community and the people in it that they help. That's what she's trying to get him to understand.
Last Spring
Arlo brings Morris Hapgood to the station, saying he fell and cut his hands on some broken glass. Morris says it's not a fire, but Arlo told him stations do things like this now. Sullivan says the fire department's always done things like that, but Morris says they didn't in his day. Sullivan gets Morris in a chair while Jack gets a medical bag. Morris jokes about being old and Jack says he looks great. He says it's because of his diet, which consists of not enough food. He and models have the same diet. Jack cleans his hand while Morris, Arlo, and Sullivan talk about their military service. Morris served in Vietnam. Jack bandages Morris's hand and gives him some granola bars to take with him, saying he spent time sleeping roughly and having those handy helped. Morris says they'll be back when they need some not-good granola.
Sullivan works on his computer in the beanery. Maya comes in and makes fun of him for typing with two fingers. He tells her about Morris and Arlo. He's been trying to get them housing help, but the VA site is awful. Maya asks if he knows where they're living now, because it'll be hard to find them again once they lose them. He tells her and she says that's one of the safer encampments. She knows because her brother has struggled.
Vic finds Morris and Arlo at a table at the annual spaghetti dinner. They are laughing with Jack, Beckett, Travis, and Ben, so she asks what's funny. Morris says it's not for a lady's ears. Travis says Morris is teaching them dirty limericks and recites one. Jack starts to share one next, but Ben stops him, saying it's too much. Morris shares one next and then Vic comes up with one. Morris likes hers best.
Maya and Carina are at the bar. Maya asks Carina if she knew that crows have really good memories. If you harass one, they'll remember you. Carina doesn't plan to do that. And the epigenetics are strong. She finds it interesting and scary. Carina asks her why she's drinking too much whiskey and talking about crows. Maya's been thinking about her brother, her family in general, and nature versus nurture. She's worried about him. There's nothing new there, but she's letting him live on the streets. Carina says she's not letting him. She can't make him do something he doesn't want to do any more than Carina could with Andrew. Maya finds that terrifying. They grew up in the same homes as their brothers, so what if there's a time bomb inside them and they just haven't exploded yet or what if they bury one in their kid. Carina says mental illness isn't a time bomb and because of their families, they both know what to look for. They'll do that for their kid, too. Maya says she's good at this. Carina says Maya is, too, prioritizing the well-being of their child before they even have one. Her mom didn't do and neither did Maya's. Maya's going to be a great mom. Hearing that makes Maya emotional and she says she didn't know that she needed to hear that. Carina says it's true.
Morris comes in with Arlo, calling for help. Arlo has been acting erratically. Ben asks if he took something, but Morris says he's been sober and doesn't think that's it. Carina says his breath is fruity and when asked, Morris says he's been rationing his insulin. Vic checks in with Morris while they work on Arlo. Carina checks his blood sugar and it's over 700. As they load him into the aid car, Carina asks how long he's been rationing his insulin. Morris says it's been a few weeks, maybe more. He was running low and tried to make it last because he didn't think he could get more. Maya stops Morris from getting in the aid car with them, but he says Arlo doesn't like being alone and he'll panic. Ben says he'll be with Arlo and Arlo knows him. Vic tells Morris they'll meet them at the hospital.
On the way to the hospital, Arlo arrests. Ben starts compressions.
Vic leads Morris to the door, telling him the hospital isn't far. As they leave, Vic's phone rings. After talking to Ben, she has to break the news to Morris that Arlo didn't make it.
Ross says it's not just that Vic connects with people, but she is also teaching other firefighters to do the same. Osman says that'll make it easy to replace her once she's gone. Ross says Crisis One isn't just for Vic. It's city-wide and played a huge part in station 19 saving those lives at the Space Needle. Osman expects them to continue doing that work, just as they did before it had a special name. Ross reminds him that he's cutting other resources as well. Osman picks up his phone and has the person on the other side push back his next appointment.
Last summer
Sullivan is on the phone. He looks over at Ross and tells her he's on hold with the VA. He finally gets to talk to someone, but they immediately put him on hold again. He's trying to get Morris VA housing, but he can't even get good information. Sullivan says if they hadn't joined the fire department after serving, this could have happened to either of them. Ross says she couldn't have done another kind of job with her brain still calibrated to military life. They tease each other over being rigid. They debate over which of them is more chill. They start kissing, but then someone picks up and he jumps out of bed to talk to them. He gets put back on hold again.
At the clinic, Maya finds Carina and says she can't believe Carina might be pregnant right now. She's excited, but Carina silences her because she's wanted it for so long and she doesn't want to get too excited before they know for sure. She doesn't want to talk about it for right now and proposes talking about something else. Maya doesn't know what else to talk about, so Carina suggests Beckett being a crappy captain or Jack leaving. Carina then remembers that Morris came in while the team was out. Sullivan was giving him old sleeping bags from his camping days. Maya doesn't believe that Sullivan's the camping type, and Carina says the bags didn't look that old. Carina sees the way Maya is looking at her and points at her. Maya says she didn't say anything. Carina says she thought about it and says they need to be professional. Maya counters that Carina doesn't know what she's thinking.
Beckett calls for a lineup. He tells them they'll be training with the SFD dive unit. Just then, a Crisis One call comes in and Vic and Andy leave to respond.
Vic and Andy arrive to find Morris punching the air in the middle of the street, saying he can take all of them. Vic and Andy go to him and get him out of the street and try to get him oriented. A jackhammer starts up again and Morris grabs Andy. Vic hears him say something in Vietnamese and she tells him he's not in Vietnam. Once he is calmed down, they get Morris sat down and he asks them to give him a minute. They go to the aid car to get him some water. Andy asks how Vic knew what he was saying and she says it's because she and Travis get Vietnamese food like twice a week. The phrase he used means "hurry up." Vic knows Morris's situation is only going to get worse. He was okay when Arlo was alive, but he needs more than what the VA is offering. Andy says they can be his friends. Vic's worried that won't be enough. They bring Morris his water.
Osman offers Ross a deal that would give her the opportunity to allocate Vic's salary anyway she pleases. Ross declines, saying she doesn't want to make a deal with someone who doesn't know how to keep them. Plus it's a bad deal. Osman says he tried. It's good that Vic taught so many people to do what she does because they won't miss her when she's gone.
Last fall
Morris comes into the barn, where racks of coats are set up. Theo picked out the perfect one for him. Ben also thinks he has the perfect coat for Morris. They show him the two options. He picks Theo's. Theo says he needed that win and Morris needed the coat.
Morris tells Vic that he thought Arlo's generation had it better when they got back, but he might have been wrong. They were celebrated as they returned, but then those same people were nowhere when he needed more help. When they got back from Vietnam, the crowd spat on them. Vic spots a plaque on the bench with a vague inscription. He says if the plaque said that it was to Morris, who loved the park, it wouldn't reveal that the reason he loved it was because it was the one place where the cops didn't harass him. She says she'd do better with the wording if she made one for him. She'd speak of how great Morris was. Vic's phone chimes. She has to go to class. She leaves him supplies.
Vic goes to Maya in the beanery and asks if she's okay. Maya says the IUI didn't take and Carina is again not pregnant. Suddenly, Sullivan comes in dancing. After a few moments, he reveals that he got Morris an interview for transitional housing. Everyone celebrates.
Morris is in the road blocking traffic when Vic and Travis arrive. Vic checks in with him and says he looks tired. They get him out of the street so he doesn't get hit though he says it doesn't matter. Vic says she'd be devastated. They sit him down and he says the cops cleared out the encampment. Everything is gone and he doesn't know what to do now. They even threw away the documents he needed for the housing interview.
Ross tells Osman that the only reason he wants to fire Vic is because she bruised his ego. He desperately wants to do the same to the money guys and the people who really run the city, the guys he campaigned against. Now they own him and he wants to push back but he's afraid and he resents Vic because she did it. Ross tells him not to fire the people who are on his side to appeal to the people who aren't. That's how you lose everything. Osman says she's being insubordinate and wonders if that's where Vic learned it. He tells her to sit down. They need to figure this out today.
Last winter
Sullivan and Ross go inside. Sullivan says Morris lost everything. He'll have to start all over. It'll be worse without his identity documents. Ross asks if Sullivan wants Morris to move in with them. She knows that's now how you fix things, but she would. Sullivan asks if she wants them to move in together. She knows they haven't had the conversation, but believes they're working in that direction. She feels suddenly self-conscious. After a moment, Sullivan climbs on the bed and starts jumping. He tells her he loves her and wants to move in with her. She joins him on the bed and they jump together. Ross says before they do that, they need to figure out how to get Morris new paperwork.
Vic tells Beckett she knows he doesn't want to be there, but everyone gets a Crisis One shift. They find Morris. Vic knows his stuff got cleared, so she brought him some new things, including a new tent. She offers to get him a bed in a shelter, but he says he can't do it. As they talk, Vic notices Margaret standing nearby, taking pictures of them. Vic says she's trying to have a private moment with a friend and asks her to stop. Margaret wants to ask Vic some questions about the charity work she's doing, but Vic says no and Margaret leaves. Once she's gone, Vic apologizes to Morris and assures him that wasn't a publicity stunt. He says he knows because Margaret is always there. They start setting up his tent.
Today
Sullivan asks Ben what's going on with him because he's acting strangely and hiding things. Ben says it's testosterone. He's started taking it. He's starting to feel like himself again with it. He's hiding it because he hasn't told Bailey yet. Maya overhears that and asks what he hasn't told Bailey. Sullivan tells her, not realizing it was a secret. He says it's not a big deal and now Ben feels amazing. Maya struggles to get her locker open and gets frustrated. Ben opens it for her and she rants about how his shots are giving him super strength and making him feel amazing while hers are making her feel terrible. They're doing IVF with her eggs and it's awful. She can feel follicles growing her eggs. It's like jelly sloshing around in her. She loves that his shots are making him feel so great, but hers make her feel like a bloated chicken coop. Beckett comes in and asks what she means. She says she's an egg factory. Beckett says peppermint helped when his ex-wife was doing IVF.
The team gets called out to Morris's encampment. Vic knows that's where it is. She wants to go, but Andy says she can't because she's on probation.
At the encampment, which is on fire, Andy gives orders. Beckett sees Morris going back inside his tent and calls for someone to get him out.
The team rides back from the call in silence.
Travis thinks he should be the one to tell Vic, just the facts. Vic comes into the barn and Andy tells her Morris died. She says they're going to do a hotwash and a critical incident stress debriefing. She's going to call Diane. Vic says she should do it. Andy agrees that she'll participate, but Vic means she wants to lead it. She can do it and needs to do it. Andy has Ben call dispatch to make them conditionally available.
The team sits in a circle in the barn. Vic explains the purpose of the meeting. Their work is hard and they need a safe place to discuss it so they don't self-medicate in harmful ways, so they can keep doing their jobs. They need to answer four questions. What did they do right? What was supposed to happen? What actually happened? What do they wish they'd done differently? They're going to have feelings and they'll discuss those, too. They start with what was done right. Everyone starts listing things that happened the right way. Vic notices Travis is being quiet and asks if he has anything to add. He says he didn't think they did anything right.
Travis and Sullivan try to get Morris to leave, but he refuses to go without his stuff. He goes back into his tent. Suddenly, there's an explosion.
Vic asks what he wished had happened. Travis says he wishes Vic had been there. He's not blaming anyone and knows it's not rational. But he thinks Vic might have been able to get Morris to leave his tent. And he might not be carrying the guilt for not saving him. At least he wouldn't be carrying it alone because having Vic to carry things with him always makes it easier. Vic says she wasn't there, but she is here now and she's carrying it with him. Everyone is. He's surrounded by people who get it. They can help him through it. Morris didn't have that for a long time. But she knows he had it for his last one. Vic says she's going to e-mail everyone some resources and she's there for them to talk. Beckett starts a round of applause for Vic. Vic says they did everything they could, but Morris is still dead. He served a country that didn't take care of him. You give and you give and the second you need something ... Travis realizes she's not talking about Morris. She admits she's talking about herself. She always takes care of everyone and tables her own feelings. She does everything to make them all feel better, even when she's not fine. When Morris needed someone, there was no one. Ben says Morris had them, but that wasn't enough. And Vic adds that they're going to take away what they tried to do to save him because they're taking everything away. The team assures her they won't let them take away Crisis One. Vic apologizes, but they tell her she doesn't have anything to apologize for. She leaves.
Travis finds Vic in the bunk room. He tells her she has to be a little impressed because he gave her three whole minutes before coming to find her. He tells her she saved everyone from having breakdowns. She says then she had one. For months, she couldn't feel anything and then she felt everything. She doesn't know what's worse. He tells her the session was good, but the best part was her crying. It's like in movies when a baby is born and it isn't crying. Everyone panics, but they don't want to worry the mother. But then the baby starts wailing and everyone is relieved. It was like that when she started crying. It was a relief because they knew she was fine and she made it. Vic asks if she's the baby. Travis says yes. Sometimes she gets to be the baby and have other people take care of her. Travis tells her he loves her and he'll always take care of her. Then he tells her her eyes will be so puffy and will look so bad.
The team is eating together when Ross comes in. They move to stand, but she tells them to relax. Sullivan called her and she says she's sorry about Morris. She knows he meant a lot to them and them to him. But she has good news. Crisis One is safe for now. And Vic still has a job. Andy says Ross saved Vic's job, but Ross says Vic's work saved Vic's job, the work they all do. Ben gets Ross a bowl of gumbo and she joins them at the table.
Andy, Vic, Beckett, Maya, Ben, and Travis carry Morris's casket. Sullivan and Ross, in their military uniforms, follow, along with Theo, Jack, and Carina. Ross and Sullivan fold his flag and present it to Vic.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Jaina Lee Ortiz as Captain Andy Herrera
- Jason George as Dr. Ben Warren
- Boris Kodjoe as Lieutenant Robert Sullivan
- Grey Damon as Jack Gibson
- Barrett Doss as Victoria Hughes
- Jay Hayden as Travis Montgomery
- Danielle Savre as Lieutenant Maya Bishop
- Stefania Spampinato as Dr. Carina DeLuca
- Carlos Miranda as Lieutenant Theo Ruiz
- Josh Randall as Sean Beckett
- Merle Dandridge as Fire Chief Natasha Ross
Guest Stars[]
Co-Starring[]
Rescues[]
Arlo[]
Arlo had diabetes and had been rationing his insulin because he didn't know when he'd be able to get more. Morris brought him to the station when he began acting erratically. His blood sugar was over 700, so they loaded him into the aid car to take him to the hospital.
Morris Hapgood[]
In the spring, Morris, 74, came into the station after tripping and getting cut on some glass. Jack pulled out the glass, cleaned the wound, bandaged it, and sent him on his way with some granola bars. When Morris came back with Arlo and Arlo died, Vic broke the news to him.
In the summer, Morris came back to the station to get some sleeping bags from Sullivan. Later, Vic and Andy responded to a call about him acting erratically. They arrived to find construction near his encampment that was triggering him. He ended up grabbing Andy and holding her, but Vic was able to get him to breathe and calm down. Vic knew losing Arlo had affected him and she decided that they'd be there for him as much as possible.
In the fall, Morris came to the station during a clothing drive and got a new coat for the winter. He met Vic in the park and they talked about the different experiences he and Arlo had as veterans. Sullivan got him an interview for VA transitional housing, but before the interview, the police cleared out the encampment where he was living and everything was put in the dumpsters, including the paperwork he needed for the interview.
In the winter, Vic brought Morris a new tent and offered to him a bed in a shelter. He declined, saying he couldn't do it.
Finally, Station 19 was called out to the encampment where Morris was living. They established water supply quickly and had two hoses on the fire, but they were unable to get Morris to leave his tent and there was an explosion that killed him.
Music[]
| Song | Performer | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| "Behave" | Festive People |
|
| "Believe Again" | Luke Sital-Singh |
|
| "Where the Wind Blows" | Josh Record |
|
Notes and Trivia[]
- This episode's title originated from the song With So Little to Be Sure Of, originally from the musical Anyone Can Whistle.
- This episode scored 2.16 million viewers.[1]
- This episode is the television directorial debut by Boris Kodjoe.
- The badges on Robert Sullivan's Marine Corps uniform indicate that he had only an average score when qualifying with the service rifle and that he barely qualified when shooting with the service pistol.[source?]
- According to show writer Emily Culver, the "last spring" scenes take place between 5x11 and 5x18, "last summer" during the six months between seasons five and six, "last fall" between 6x01 and 6x05, and "last winter" from the end of season six to the top of season seven.[2]
Gallery[]
Episode Stills[]
Quotes[]
See Also[]
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A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here. |
| Station 19 Season 7 | ||||||
| #01 | "This Woman's Work" | #05 | "My Way" | #09 | "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" | |
| #02 | "Good Grief" | #06 | "With So Little to Be Sure Of" | #10 | "One Last Time" | |
| #03 | "True Colors" | #07 | "Give It All" | |||
| #04 | "Trouble Man" | #08 | "Ushers of the New World" | |||
| << Season 6 | ||||||