When the probie, Ravi says that the shift has been “quiet”, certain members of the 118 believe that he’s jinxed them. After a series of bizarre calls, Hen, Chimney and Buck truly believe they’ve been jinxed, Eddie and Bobby don’t believe such things. While out on call, Eddie runs into Christopher’s former teacher.
Athena and several cruisers are in pursuit of, for some weird reason, Engine 118.
Flashback to earlier at the firehouse, where as the crew of Station 118 are doing their usual rounds, the new "B"-shift Probie shows up, and says the word "quiet", much to the fear of the rest of the station, leading to where the alarm rings, and they immediately fear they've been jinxed.
They explain that if anyone says the word "quiet", it causes the entire station to be cursed with multiple calls in a single shift. The last time it happened, the last call had the fireman who said "quiet" end up trapped in the squad room when the fire suppression system was triggered, smothering him with extinguishing foam.
First call that the 118 respond to is a car accident caused by someone duct taping himself to a billboard, and he stubbornly refuses to come down as he paid for a full day's time with the billboard, at least until the duct tape finally fails and he falls onto the 118's airbag. Athena arrives with LAPD backup to arrest him, and gives Bobby a penny she found on the ground for luck. Meanwhile, Eddie finds Christopher's teacher, who suffered a hot coffee burn, and explains a firefighter from Station 147 gave her something for it, which was actually the wrong thing for a scalding burn as Eddie treats her for it with the right stuff.
After the crew get back to the station, cue a montage to Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" as every time they try to sit down to eat, another call forced them to put it back in the oven as they head out again, only for it to end up burned, so they have to eat out instead as more calls come in to send them back out on more, and sometimes strange, rescues. One rescue they go to being a clown pinned under helium tanks at a balloon store, leading to some high-pitched hijinks because of the leaking helium. Finally, after one call, as they are about to return to the station again, the engine is pinned by a toppled electrical pole with a sparking transformer on it, leaving the group trapped until backup arrives from Station 133 to help them, but not without the 133 crew taking some time to enjoy the 118's humiliation with taking pictures of their predicament.
At the dispatch center, Josh is surprised to hear what happened to the 118 as he gets tweets from the crew asking for help to undo their jinx.
That night, at the station, everyone is reading books and Eddie brings up Christopher's teacher that he met at one of their earlier calls. However, the alarm rings again, and it is a garage fire, only to learn that the burning garage is loaded with fireworks as Ludwig von Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" plays. Nash calls for a Second Alarm, and as backup arrives, the guy from Station 147 that was mentioned earlier shows up to help, and when Eddie mentions the earlier incident with the teacher, the guy feigns ignorance to that. When Eddie mentions him to Captain Nash, Nash explains that Station 147 is rebuilding from having their firehouse damaged by the mudslides from the Hollywood Reservoir dam failing. So why would one of their guys be on scene if their firehouse is unavailable while being mended?
Checking over the 147 roster, they realize the guy is not one of them, and while his actions are noble, without proper training and experience, it could do more harm than good. It is then that Eddie mentions still missing Shannon since her death, but Nash makes its clear he is in a similar position ever since St. Paul and he's able to overcome it, so Eddie needs to do the same.
Soon, the 118 and Athena are called to a burger joint because of a call from the LAFD regarding a gas leak, and when it is revealed that the gas leak was phony, Bobby and Athena realize someone called in a fake emergency call posing as an LAFD Fire Chief. When Bobby spots the culprit, he bolts, and in a fit of panic, hijacks and drives off with Engine 118. Athena immediately gives pursuit with her cruiser and backup, while Nash calls dispatch to report that their engine has been stolen, leading back to the opening scene of the episode.
Bobby and his crew forced to rely on using Ambulance 118 for emergency response instead with Truck 118 back at the station and no other transport available, especially with the engine packing a full tank of gas.
Josh is at the dispatch center when word comes of what happened with the engine.
The phony firefighter frantically drives Engine 118 away as Athena and her backup continue pursuit, trying to reason with him, and even redirect him into crashing into several cars, and then surround him with their cruisers, but despite repeated warnings to surrender, Athena lets him back up, and the pursuit continues, just as a five-alarm fire call comes in, requesting all available LAFD units to respond, along with LAPD for traffic control. Nash and his team load into Ambulance 118 to head to the fire, but Eddie contacts the terrified phony firefighter and pleads with him to bring the engine to the fire so he can help in some way, but the phony initially refuses, until Eddie tells him to take the engine to the fire, and he can save some lives if he does. Eddie's words seem to work as the phony replies that no one has given him a chance to be a hero, and Eddie tells him now is his chance if he brings the engine to the fire scene so they can get their gear and save anyone trapped in the burning building.
When the phony still refuses to cooperate, saying he's not a hero, Eddie calmly tells him that he can be if he gets the Engine to the fire scene. The phony finally brings the engine to the fire scene, but as he tries to flee, Athena and her men arrive and arrest him before he gets too far. As Nash and his team arrive, they thank the phony for doing the right thing, but nevertheless, Athena makes it clear he's going to jail for a long time because of the rap sheet he racked up. He tries to reason with her in hopes of becoming a cop instead, but Athena tells him to don't even think about it before her men shove him into the back seat of her cruiser and she prepares to take him back to Parker Center to be incarcerated.
Finally, the shift ends, and as everyone heads home, they hope the jinx is finally over. Nash, Chimney, and Hen are about to eat when someone passes out from choking, forcing them to call for assistance, while Eddie meets up with Christopher's teacher to eat with her.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Agent Scully: Eddie doesn't believe in the q-word jinx and believes that everything has been a chain of coincidences.
- Cat Up a Tree: One of the emergencies cuts to the end of rescuing a cat. They now have to go up for the guy who went up for the cat.
- Duct Tape for Everything: Izzy Chainz has himself duct taped to a billboard with a spider web motif. Unfortunately, his viral marketing caused a car crash.
- Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong: An octopus gets into a bathroom vent and clings onto a woman's face. They get it off by slowly dipping her head in boiling water, making the octopus release.
- From Bad to Worse: A garage fire reveals the man bought $10k worth of fireworks and makes them shoot off into the neighborhood.
- Helium Speech: Even with face masks, the team ends up huffing helium at a party supply store while lifting busted helium tanks off of a clown, making them have this voice.
- Humiliation Conga: After a mundane stuck-elevator call, the team gets trapped in their own truck after an electric pole falls on top of it. Just as the 133 arrives to help, they laugh and take pics for social media before they help.
- Impersonating an Officer: After two nonconsecutive incidents, Bobby and Eddie discover there's been a fake firefighter blending in at response locations. While his actions are well-meaning, his lack of training risks doing more harm than good.
- In Medias Res: The episode opens with Athena chasing down the 118's fire truck.
- The Scottish Trope: The insanity begins shortly after a probie named Ravi says "the Q-word" (quiet) which is why no one ever says it even out of context.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: The team is ready to have some of Bobby's baked macaroni, only to get thrown into the day from hell. Every time they're about to sit down to eat, another call comes in. The baked macaroni gets put in the oven to keep warm between calls until it's been in too long, getting charred to a crisp.
- Wham Line: Bobby drops this about the lone fireman from the 147.Bobby: Uh, couldn't be the 147.
Eddie: Yup, it was. I'm sure.
Bobby: Eddie, there's nobody at the 147. Their house was damaged during the mudslide. Their house is still rebuilding.
Eddie: Who the hell was I talking to?
Bobby: I have no idea.
