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Season One
Episode 1 - Pilot
- Owen's speeches to the firefighters to get them to join. To Mateo, he assures him that he's not stupid and his heart and meticulous attention to detail is just what the firehouse needs; to Marjan, he sees her as a kick-ass firefighter, not just a token Muslim woman; and to Paul, he encourages him to inspire trans and trans Black kids like him in Texas to own their gender identities.
- Owen treats Paul just like every other man in his unit. He shows no judgment when Paul admits his hormone treatments give him acne, and immediately starts giving him skincare advice.
- The lovely father-son relationship between Owen and T.K. You can really see that they care for each other.
- The line dancing scene: everyone was having tons of fun.
- Owen clears the room when Judd breaks down under the memorial wall.
- Judd taking Owen horseback riding.
- Carlos preparing a dinner date at his home for himself and TK. Even when it causes TK to panic about where they stand, he still notices and acknowledges the effort before he leaves.
- When Marjan loses her hijab after being freed from a corn silo, Owen orders the crew to block people filming it so she can put it on privately. Talk about respect to religion.
- The police station scene with TK and Carlos after the former tells him about his bad breakup and recent drug overdose.
- Not to mention Carlos telling Michelle that even after that admission, he’s still interested in the firefighter.
- Judd apologizing to TK after snapping at him during the corn silo rescue, stating that he's still scared of losing another member of the crew. TK takes it in stride, stating that he's never had Tough Love before. The scene ends with the two of them calling each other brothers.
- The team rescuing Mateo after he falls trying to get the firehouse's colors down in the middle of the storm. When Mateo assures them that he's alright (and that he even managed to get the flags before falling), Paul even cups the back of his head fondly.
- The usually camera hungry Marjan blocking the camera from filming a recently deceased dad in front of his two children.
- On the same mission, when the crew loses contact with Owen during the rescue, TK starts calling for the captain before switching to a panicked "Dad!", and his relief when Owen comes out dust-covered but unscathed.
- Owen giving Mateo a little pep talk after the call visibly affects him more than the others.
- TK learning about his dad's lung cancer himself instead of from Owen and asking him if he didn't say anything about it because he thought his son was weak. Owen says no: he thought of himself as weak for being scared about telling TK because seeing him react negatively would really make it hit home that his disease is happening to him. TK's response?TK: Do you see fear in my eyes? No. You are gonna kick the crap out of this cancer, especially because from now on, I’ve got your back. I’ve got your back, Dad.
- Judd apologizing to Grace for insulting her faith earlier in the episode, stating that it's hard to have faith in his line of work. However, he's willing to attend some weekly church group sessions for her sake.
- After worrying about how his son would take his diagnosis, it's nice to see TK fussing over Owen during his chemo.
- Owen’s fellow cancer friend Wayne, on learning TK’s sexuality, takes this reveal in stride.
- When Paul is ultimately rejected by Josie, TK decides to cheer him up by taking him out clubbing with Carlos.
- Also, Carlos meeting Paul properly for the first time.
Episode 6 - Friends Like These
- Marjan getting the whole firehouse to help Mateo pass his exam.
- Then Owen giving Mateo a big bear hug when he does pass.
- The team gets a call about two girls being chased by a dog covered in blood. After the team rescue the girls, the dog suddenly runs off. They follow him, and discover the dog was actually trying to get help for his owner, a farmer who had gotten his legs trapped under a windrower. Once the team save the farmer, he calls over his dog and lets him lick his face, thanking him for saving his life.Owen: Got yourself a good dog.Farmer: Best friend I ever had.
- During their golf game, Billy and Owen establish a tenuous bond over their shared experiences with cancer (though it’s later undercut with Billy informing Fire Chief Radford about Owen’s own cancer in order to return to the 126).
- TK helping Owen train for the CPAT, regardless of whether or not he finished in the allotted time.
- After Billy gets critically injured from his lightning strike and Owen saves his life, the former grudgingly admits respect for the latter and even convinces Radford that Owen won’t need to take the CPAT.
- Buttercup the Bernese mountain dog, who is instantly accepted into the 126.
- On that note, even after TK starts trying to rebuff the dog, he admits he doesn’t hate him— he hates the reminder that he isn’t fully on-terms with either his or Owen’s mortality. Owen has this to tell TK, which finally brings him around:
Owen: [Buttercup] isn’t a symbol of my death, he’s an affirmation of my life. So it’s okay to love him, even though you might lose him. - Owen letting Carlos have a moment with TK in the hospital.
- Even after working a long shift, the entire team stays to watch over TK and give their captain what little comfort they can. The episode ends with everybody sitting by his bedside, while Owen and Michelle pray for him in the chapel.
- TK being extra concerned about the little kid who shot him. His dad even notes how in-character it is for TK to have been shot and still worry about somebody else's wellbeing.
- Later on in the episode, TK decides to visit the little boy, just to reassure him that he's okay and that there are no hard feelings. The visit ends with Owen telling his son how proud he is of him, and that he will make a lovely father someday.
Episode 10 - Austin, We Have A Problem
- Mateo being so excited to see a healing TK at the station that he immediately glomps him.
- After the meeting with Iris and her mother doesn't go well, Michelle receives some advice from Owen to keep supporting Iris in whatever ways she can and loving her. In the final montage, we then see the two sisters having a picnic at Iris’ tent.
- When Iris panics and storms out of the hospital waiting room, their mother finally decides— albeit with reluctant restraint— to let her younger daughter go, at least for the time being, but not before leaving Iris with a sweater, some seed money, and well wishes.
- TK admitting to his history as an addict to the team, and saying that he chooses to be a firefighter because he's found his Family of Choice with Firehouse 126. When he finishes, Mateo immediately pulls everybody into a group hug, with Judd even kissing TK's head affectionately.TK: That’s the thing, right? ‘Cause, today, at that intersection… when [the bus driver Ellen] was dying, I would’ve given everything I had to save her. And I did give her everything, but it wasn’t enough. (turns to Owen, then back to the team) Until you showed up. And I knew in that instant, not only was she gonna be okay but I was gonna be okay too. Because this is what I wanna do. And at least, for now, [Texas] is where I wanna do it. I choose this family… ‘cause this is where I belong.
- Everyone watching the aurora, along with TK and Carlos officially starting their relationship.
Season Two
Episode 4 - Friends With Benefits
- The team treating Marjan's circumstances with Salim throughout the episode in a nonjudgmental manner, and doing what they could to support Marjan with whatever decision she made. Even Mateo, who was so upset at the thought of losing Marjan from his team, was still willing to support her. Shows how much the team have grown to look out for one another.
- Before they spiral into another argument, Owen and Gwyn give TK some solid advice about feeling secure in his relationship with Carlos: it’s good to have fun with each other, but it’s just as important to feel safe in each other’s standing.
- This then leads into him and Carlos making up for their earlier argument: Carlos telling TK his coming-out story; and TK apologizing (if not for what he said, then how angrily he expressed his insecurity) for blowing up at him without understanding that Carlos has his Gayngst to work through, and giving him time for him to do so.TK: You know what I didn’t consider? It’s how unsafe you feel, and have felt, for so much of your life […] You can tell your parents I’m your friend, coworker, personal shopper… I. Don’t. Care. Alright? Take as long as you need.Carlos: And… if that never changes?TK: Well, nothing ever stays the same, Carlos.
- This then leads into him and Carlos making up for their earlier argument: Carlos telling TK his coming-out story; and TK apologizing (if not for what he said, then how angrily he expressed his insecurity) for blowing up at him without understanding that Carlos has his Gayngst to work through, and giving him time for him to do so.
- TK arranges for a dedication for Tim to be stenciled on the side of the 126's ambulance and invites Nancy to be the one to fill in his name.
- Judd and Grace’s initial phone calls, which leads up to their first in-person meeting.
- The reveal that Grace is pregnant.
Season Three
Episode 4 - Push
- Billy refuses to leave Grace’s side despite her rage at him, and even finds them an abandoned luxury bus to take shelter in (plus gas to keep it running) as she goes into labor.
- Andrea reaffirms hers and Gabriel’s support of Carlos and TK when she comes to the hospital.
- The entire ending of the ice storm:
- TK, shortly after coming to and having the nurses switch him off of life support, gently comforts Carlos and invites him to lie with him in his hospital bed. And after he’s discharged and recovering, Carlos successfully surprises TK with their new loft, plus the addition of his boyfriend’s items.
- As a token of gratitude, a well-off family whose daughter’s life Paul saved donates enough money to Marjan’s GoFundMe page to reopen the 126 firehouse.
- The name of Grace and Judd's daughter: Charlie, after Tommy's deceased husband.
- Gwyn visiting the post-ceremony party and bringing her newly-born son Jonah.
- After taking time to process the news about Wyatt being Judd’s biological son, Grace accepts Wyatt and his mother into the Ryder family. And while she was initially shocked at this news and meeting him for the first time, she even gives Wyatt their contact information in case he’d like to get in touch with them.
Episode 8 - In the Unlikely Event of an Emergency
- In 2017, when TK presumably hit one of his lowest points in his drug addiction, Gwyn was absolutely determined to make sure that her son got the help he needed. How much? Besides walking through a drug den to find him, she pre-reserved a spot for him at a drug rehab center in Los Angeles and a corresponding flight, firmly talked him into getting on the plane, accompanied him to the airport exit, and gave him a You Are Better Than You Think You Are pep talk to start his path to recovery.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.
- In the present, Carlos takes time in the midst of booking a flight to New York to gently assure TK that there will be other trips there with better circumstances, and tries to get him to eat an early lunch before they head to the airport.
Episode 13 - Riddle of the Sphynx
- After TK ends up in an emotional spiral from a son’s loss of his mother and seeing connections to it and Gwyn’s death, Carlos informs his boyfriend’s sponsor to meet him at the loft and decides to give the two of them time alone.
- Even when his jealousy of Cooper rears its ugly head, Carlos’ extensive studying of drug addiction, the NA program workings, and the sobriety process, and his pride of TK’s own efforts clearly show this dedication coming from a deeply caring place— he might not have prior experience with addiction behavior before TK, but damned if he lets his boyfriend push himself to regain his sobriety on his own.
Episode 16 - Shift-Less
- In Owen’s flashbacks, it’s shown that he used to have a younger brother named Tyler, with whom he had a playful and protective relationship judging from their trip to the Santa Monica Pier.
- Owen’s conversation with Robert about their experiences with their dads. Even before the two men learn that their fathers are one and the same— making them half-brothers— it’s really sweet to see them hit it off despite them having different memories of the same man. It’s moreso after they put it together, as Robert welcomes Owen to visit him and his family in California any time.
Episode 17 - Spring Cleaning
- Judd giving Wyatt a little job training in his own way, and buying him a suit and tie for the interview.
Episode 18 - A Bright and Cloudless Morning
- Judd advocating for Wyatt to get employed, even when enduring a building collapse and a re-broken leg.
- While it follows a funny moment for happening at the ass-crack of dawn, and a heavy one for Owen nearly dying, TK decides to propose to Carlos off-the-cuff. No restaurants, publicity, grand gestures or rings, just a “Marry me” and a speech about not wasting a moment… and Carlos cuts him off to joyfully accept.
- The 126 are also very quick to deduce (with Mateo a couple seconds behind) that they’re celebrating this during their hangout, and their overwhelming support is exciting and lovely to see.
- Owen and Tommy’s coffee date, where he tells her his MRI results on his lungs came back positive for a fungal spot but not a cancer recurrence.
Season Four
- When Carlos learns that he has to resolve one more thing from his past, that being his legal marriage to Michelle’s sister Iris, he’s visibly nervous about breaking it to TK. Luckily, while he is understandably thrown by the news at first, TK is much quicker to shift his focus and concern to Iris’ current mental health, and reaffirm his own commitment to his fiancée.
- On that note, Iris herself is overjoyed (and also a little pissed that he took so long) to see that Carlos came to visit her.
- An elderly woman is known as the neighborhood grouch who confiscates the toys of any kid that lands in her yard. When two boys accidentally hit her in the throat with an arrow, she's ready to sue...until the paramedics find that she has a tumor. Realizing this accident saved her life, the woman pauses on the gurney to tell a neighbor to return all the confiscated items. She also invites the boys to have some juice if they end up playing in or near her backyard again.
- In Mateo’s sitcom dream (if we go off of what is shown without the performative elements), the relationship between him and Marvin really seems to have been more akin to twin brothers, not just identical cousins.
- When the police visit the house to ask about who started an arson attack on his school, Marvin seemingly flees from the kitchen table… only to then come back and frame himself to protect Mateo.
- Marjan learns that Salim, her ex-fiance, is now a father, and everyone decides it's time for Marjan to try to move on. Since she wants a chaperone to attend her dates per Muslim customs, everyone takes shifts to go on her dates with her, and a safety word is decided on.
- After none of the dates with the selected Muslim men work out, Marjan and Paul, while shopping for the latter’s dinner date with Asha, encounter her physical therapist Joe (with whom she's been engaged in increasingly flirtatious conversations with during her sessions). When they learn that he's also Muslim, Paul literally pushes her towards him; she then invites him to Paul's dinner date. Joe is a little surprised at this, but happily tells her yes.
- Notably, even when the 126 didn't exactly agree with her arranged engagement to Salim, they remain respectful of Marjan’s decisions to remain a virgin until marriage, date people within her faith, and have chaperoned dates. It’s one more integral part of them being a Family of Choice; they might have different ideas of what could work for her, but they’ll always encourage Marjan that she’ll find a desired someone to build a life with, and nudge her onto any good path to do so.
- After none of the dates with the selected Muslim men work out, Marjan and Paul, while shopping for the latter’s dinner date with Asha, encounter her physical therapist Joe (with whom she's been engaged in increasingly flirtatious conversations with during her sessions). When they learn that he's also Muslim, Paul literally pushes her towards him; she then invites him to Paul's dinner date. Joe is a little surprised at this, but happily tells her yes.
- They might have opposing desires to raising children, but when the topic comes up, TK (who is eager to have children) and Carlos (who doesn’t feel ready to be a parent even with his good experiences looking after the ones in his life) never doubt each other’s worth as role models or try to force their wants on the other.
- On that last part, TK making a home-cooked dinner with wine for Carlos, and Carlos finding a compromise to their child situation by bringing home a bearded dragon.
Episode 15 - Donors
- TK excitedly accepting Robert into his life when they meet each other over dinner.
- When TK tells Carlos about his potentiality of developing Huntington’s Disease, and offers an out if it got to be too much to bear, Carlos unhesitatingly commits himself through his own shock to stay at TK’s side as his husband and caregiver. He even calls himself and TK “soulmates”, and promises he’ll keep up the reminder if TK were to end up forgetting who he was.
- Carlos and Gabriel tentatively, but clearly re-establishing a father-son bond. Special mention goes to Gabriel appreciating his son’s accomplishments enough to offer Carlos a spot with the Texas Rangers, revealing some of the healthier and domestic habits he developed during the pandemic, and expressing palpable joy at Carlos asking him to be his man of honor.
- Robert telling his daughters offscreen about his prognosis with Huntington’s, and from the way he talks about how they handled the news, they presumably reacted similarly to Carlos. His youngest, Yvonne, even takes over making his breakfast, accommodating his oatmeal preparation to be easy for him to swallow and keep down.
Episode 18 - In Sickness and in Health
- TK being an emotional support for Carlos, just as much as was the other way around, as the latter grieves the loss of his father, and doesn’t think he can go through with the wedding. He’s also the one to indirectly save Carlos from his own rage after he tries to channel it into investigating the shooting, gently suggesting he loop in Detective Washington and catch up on sleep, and later informing Owen (who then informs O’Brien and Major Bridges) about his concerns.
- Following the confrontation, Owen comforts Carlos over a drink and acknowledges that yes, the shooter may be indefinitely at large and everyone who knew and loved Gabriel could never forget about what happened to him, least of all Carlos. That said, it’s not worth losing himself and everything else he loves to his vengeance, and that Gabriel would have wanted his son to keep living without letting his loss taint that.Owen: (raises his filled glass) To Gabriel.Carlos: (shakily raises his own drink) Te quiero siempre, Papa.noteOwen: He knows.
- Following the confrontation, Owen comforts Carlos over a drink and acknowledges that yes, the shooter may be indefinitely at large and everyone who knew and loved Gabriel could never forget about what happened to him, least of all Carlos. That said, it’s not worth losing himself and everything else he loves to his vengeance, and that Gabriel would have wanted his son to keep living without letting his loss taint that.
- After four seasons of romantic buildup (with a re-proposal from Carlos thrown in), the wedding of TK Strand and Carlos Reyes is back on, and by God is it as heartfelt as it was hyped up to be.
- In a deleted scene leading up to TK and Carlos walking down the aisle, Owen and Andrea assure them that even with the sadness of their losses shadowing the day, Gwyn and Gabriel would be delighted for their respective sons.
- Paul officiating TK and Carlos’ union, Iris filling in as Carlos’ woman of honor, and Tommy singing a rendition of Sondheim’s “Being Alive” as a tribute to the Strand and Reyes families.
- Judd introducing playtime with Charlie into Wyatt’s recovery routine, and his and Grace’s pride at seeing Wyatt gradually regain motor function.
- And, while it leads into Owen losing another younger brother, it’s also touching to see him and Robert proudly watch the wedding, then share one last drink before Owen helps Robert die at peace.
