The 126 team races to save a grouchy woman with an arrow shot through her neck by two boys. Meanwhile, Mateo goes to help his incarcerated cousin, but at a price. Judd receives some groundbreaking news from his son Wyatt.
Tropes featured in this episode include:
- The Atoner: It's revealed that Mateo serves as a firefighter, at least partially, to atone for a prank that got out of hand as a teen that led to his school being partially burned down. Marvin took the blame for it, which eventually made him turn to crime. This has long haunted Mateo and after Marvin's death it comes to a head where Mateo nearly tries to turn himself in to clear Marvin's name but is convinced by Owen to instead devote his life, and his life-saving actions, to Marvin's memory instead.
- Bloodless Carnage: Though the arrow shot through Miss Mooney's neck, there is no sign of blood leaking through the wound.
- Cathartic Chores: Judd, unable to sleep after point-blank telling Wyatt that he won’t talk to the deputy chief about letting him apply for firefighting training, decides to fix the hinging on the kitchen cabinet. It being late at night, this ends up waking Grace.
- Character Death: Marvin Chavez.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Mateo does this in his living room after learning about Marvin’s death, causing him to pass out and lead into the below-mentioned dream sequence.
- The '50s / The '60s: Mateo's alcohol-induced Sitcom Dream Sequence has elements from the 1950s (i.e. Milkman Judd), and 1960s (i.e. the Etch-A-Sketch seen in Mateo/Marvin's bedroom and Aunt Marisol having a beehive-like hairstyle).
- Follow in My Footsteps: Wyatt informs Judd and Grace that he’d like to apply to become a firefighter, both out of job necessity for his girlfriend Leigh-Ann and a desire to better learn from Judd’s example.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Through an uncharacteristically drunken dream sequence, it’s very heavily implied that before Marvin became an on-off criminal, he was still prone to shenanigans, but used to be more straight-laced. Ironically enough, Mateo was the more foolish cousin, frequently skipping school, then tagging and accidentally burning it down, which Marvin took responsibility for.
- Framing Device / Dream Sequence: The middle segment of the episode, which shows what happened to put Marvin and Mateo on their respective life paths, is portrayed as a sitcom-style short with the 126 cast (save for Nancy, Paul, and Grace) starring as Mateo’s aunt, uncle, cousin, the neighborhood milkman, and two policemen.
- I Am Not My Father: Tommy and Grace point this out to Judd about Wyatt.
- Killed Offscreen: Marvin Chavez gets killed in a car accident in Los Angeles.
- My Greatest Failure: Not being able to help his cousin Marvin long-distance was this for Mateo. A remorseful Mateo admits to Owen that as a teenager, he inadvertently set his school on fire and Marvin took the blame for it, which led to him becoming a criminal in LA. When Marvin is then killed after being released from jail, this devastates Mateo to the point that he almost decides to turn himself in for it to clear Marvin's name before Owen talks him out of doing so.
- Teen Pregnancy: One major reason for Wyatt applying to become a firefighter as soon as possible; his new girlfriend, Leigh-Ann, is expecting a baby and he hopes to be able to monetarily support her.
- Those Two Guys: In Mateo’s sitcom dream, Marjan-as-Daniella calls the cop duo of Carlos and TK “dreamy Officer Reyes and his nincompoop sidekick.”
- Turn Out Like His Father: Judd, being afraid of Wyatt making similar mistakes to him and getting crushed by the expectations and hardships of firefighting (specially considering what happened to the original 126 firefighters in the pilot), reels back the hardest from Wyatt’s change in career and life.
- Working Out Their Emotions: Following Wyatt voicing his decision to drop out of college and become a firefighter, Tommy finds Judd having an intense boxing session at the firehouse gym.
