5 months after his accident, Buck is happy to say he’s regained his firefighter certification. However, he’s recovery is put in jeopardy when it’s revealed that due to pushing himself too hard Buck has developed blood clots. Bobby revokes his certification, causing Buck to quit the LAFD in anger. Can a day at the pier with Christopher brighten up his day?
Athena and several LAPD units are in pursuit of an out-of-control vintage yellow convertible on the I-710 when the driver, a teenager, calls Maddie to report that he's not in control of the vehicle and needs help. While his father is notified and escorted to the scene, Athena works out a crazy plan with the support of Bobby and the 118 to stop the vehicle while LASD and CHP secure the highway. As Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight" plays, Maddie directs the teen to hit his brakes, and once Engine 118 appears ahead to form a rolling roadblock, activate the emergency brake and ram the back of the fire rig. Once the car hits Engine 118, Bobby has the driver bring the engine to a stop, while the car struggles to keep going and burns rubber in futility as the engine catches fire. Bobby and his team quickly put the fire out with extinguishers and the reel line and help the wounded teen out of the driver's seat by pulling back the deployable roof to yank him out and get him on the stretcher. Once he is freed, the father is more concerned about his son over the car as he's prepped by Chimney and Hen for transport to the hospital, knowing he can always replace his car, but his son's life is irreplaceable. Athena assures him that there will be an investigation into what happened, but Eddie discovers that the gear shift broke and screwed up the transmission, locking the car in a permanent acceleration cycle, and the son is extremely sorry, but his father is just happy he's alive and will look into another vintage car that will have more safety features in it.
After several more calls that Athena and the 118 deal with regarding kids, Buck is asked by Eddie to take Christopher to the Santa Monica Pier for some fun. However, while there, Buck sees the crew of Station 136 arrive to deal with a costumed member of the staff that was suffering from heat fatigue and a heart attack, before joining Chris at the end of the pier to talk, until they, and many other guests, notice something ominous, the Pacific Ocean tide under the pier has receded so much that the seabed is exposed.
- Christopher: Where did all the water go?
They soon get their answer when a massive tsunami is seen heading for the shoreline.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Amusement Park: Eddie has Buck take Christopher to Pacific Park while he goes to work. Buck is the one who's too short to go on the Gyro Loop. The two of them enjoy some cotton candy, take goofy pictures in the photo booth, and play a water gun game where Christopher wins a giant teddy bear.
- Blood from the Mouth: Buck spits out blood from his mouth, then passes out at his "welcome back" party. It turns out to be a blood clot.
- Heroic BSoD: Since Buck is considered unfit for duty after getting a blood clot just after passing his competency tests, he can't stand the idea of being cooped behind a desk and quits. He spends his days curled up in bed or on the couch watching TV.
- Nutritional Nightmare: While talking about cooking shows, Josh mentions one where the recipe called for five cans of store-bought frosting to make eight cupcakes. Maddie feels like she's getting a cavity just hearing about it.
- Parental Hypocrisy: This episode has an elderly man who not only gets a flesh-eating STD, but ends of giving the entire population of his retirement home the STD in question. According to his daughter, his sex talk to her consisted of giving her a box of condoms and a can of mace. His son only got mace.
- Parents as People: The theme of the episode.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Dana is grossed out to find out her father, Jack, has been having plenty of sex in a retirement home.
- Really Gets Around: Being in a retirement home hasn't dulled Jack's game when it's revealed he's had multiple partners.
- Skewed Priorities: Deconstructed in the first emergency. A teenage boy took his dad's collectible car out for a joyride, but then the brakes failed and he's now speeding out of control. However, the boy is more worried about ruining the car than his own life because he thinks his dad cares more about the car than his own son. The dad is horrified when he learns about what his son thinks.
- Storming the Castle: Since Jack, the old man, locked himself into his room, Bobby tells Chimney to "storm the Bastille" by taking a ladder up to his room.
- Wham Shot: The episode ends with a tsunami barreling down on Los Angeles.
