The city of Austin is shaken by a volcanic eruption, and the 126 roll out to help. A college pool party literally gets heated by volcanic debris, a mini-golfing trip goes south after the ground collapses, and a food truck owner is trapped inside by dozens of scorpions.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: A variant-at the pool party, Brett gives a soft "I wish" when Nancy asks him if Elise is his girlfriend, which Nancy notes strengthens Elise's heart rate considerably.
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: When TK asks when he’ll get to meet Carlos’ parents, Carlos simply asks if he wants more punch, much to his boyfriend’s confusion.
- Character Death: Tim Rosewater dies by getting hit by a stray lava rock, just as he’s about to help Owen carry one of the partygoers to safety.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends on a young boy somewhere on the outskirts of San Angelo unsuccessfully trying to stoke a fire, then venturing further into the mesa until he steps into something that causes him to scream in pain.
- Empathic Environment: When the team returns to the firehouse after Tim's death, Paul turns on a news report which states that the volcanic activity has ceased.
- Mess on a Plate: When celebrating his cancer remission, Owen is disgusted and touched at his tumor cake, which TK had made at a bakery with his MRI scans. Underneath the frosting is perfectly edible red velvet cake.
- Montage Out: The penultimate scene of the episode shows everyone processing the loss of Tim in different ways:
- Paul and Marjan have a cathartic boxing practice session before the latter collapses in tears.
- Mateo goes on a long jog, passing a church on the way.
- Judd returns to his house and a sleeping Grace.
- TK enters Carlos’ townhouse to find his boyfriend sitting on the staircase, and they hold each other in solidarity.
- After sharing a moment of mourning with Nancy, Tommy decides to adopt Tim’s cat, Buster, feeding him a bowl of milk and pouring herself a glass of wine.
- Owen and Gwyn share a moment on the porch outside to watch the falling ash with Buttercup.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Tim was a huge fan of Buster Keaton, to the point that he named his tabby cat after the actor.
- Not Enough to Bury: This is implied to have happened to Tim’s body when another paramedic team on scene unsuccessfully tried to save him.
- Scary Scorpions: One of the volcanic emergency calls Grace gets is from a woman named Lucy, who is trapped in her vegan Tex-Mex food truck by a swarm of scorpions that are escaping the oncoming lava flow. With help from an Internet search, Grace then advises Lucy to use her lemon salad dressing to fend them off until she's rescued by Carlos.
- Title Drop: The maximum temperature of the volcanic lava flow is mentioned during Owen’s video conference call.
- Too Dumb to Live: In the middle of the lava shower, a partygoer named Chad finishes a cannonball dive into the pool just as the lava flow causes the water to superheat itself. By the time firefighters and paramedics arrive at the pool, he’s the first casualty there.
- Why Couldn't You Save Them?: In the immediate aftermath of Tim’s death, Nancy asks out loud the “Why couldn’t we save him?” variant in her grief.
