Summary
In the wake ofStation 19’s series finale, the series' showrunners Zoanne Clack and Peter Paige clarified the intention of the episode’s flashforwards — and it’s a somewhat frustrating reveal. TheStation 19season 7 ending culminated with the show’s firefighters banding together to contain a Seattle-threatening wildfire. WhileGrey’s Anatomycrossover characters Ben Warren (Jason George) and Carina DeLuca-Bishop (Stefania Spampinato) delivered a woman’s baby beside the blaze, the other members of 19 worked tirelessly to thwart the fire’s spread. Despite the high-level disaster,Station 19’s finale avoided major character deaths, trading tragedy for happy flashforwards.
Each of the show’s main characters faces a life-threatening or life-changing moment. No matter how brief the experience, these jarring moments promptStation 19’s firefighters and doctors to get lost in thought as they envision their futures. However, Clack and Paige revealed thatStation 19’s flashforwards aren’t canonical visionsof the characters' futures. Instead, the flashforwards portray the futures that the characters want for themselves. Ben, for example, imagines his and Miranda Bailey’s (Chandra Wilson) kids graduating from their educations. In hindsight,Station 19season 7 ending’s use of non-canonical flashforwards is a significant misstep.
Station 19’s Non-Canonical Flashforwards Are A Cheap Way To Bring Characters Back In Spin-offs
There’s no denying thatStation 19season 7had its fair share of hurdles to overcome. In the wake of its cancelation, the show’s team suddenly had to curate the final season’s entries around a series finale. To make matters more challenging, production delays resulting from the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes of fall 2023 meant that ABC gaveStation 19— and evenGrey’s Anatomyseason 20— slim 10-episode orders. Needless to say,setting up satisfying and conclusive arcs for all the ensemble show’s main characters was never going to be an easy task.
[The showrunners] also worked to ensure they didn’t “mess up their universe,” leaving the door open for Station 19 characters to return to Grey’s Anatomy.
Unfortunately, while the intention behindStation 19’s flashforwards was reasonable, the non-canonical visions don’t provide any real closure. Showrunning duo Clack and Paige confirmed that they wanted to include fitting send-offs forStation 19’s beloved characters, but that they also worked to ensure they didn’t “mess up their universe,” leaving the door open forStation 19characters to return toGrey’s Anatomy. By using the flashforwards to depict whatStation 19’s characters want for themselves, the showrunners left these endings completely malleable. Effectively,the finale is the opposite of closure, prioritizing the future of theGrey’suniverse instead.
7 Reasons Station 19’s Series Finale Makes Me Worried About The Ending Of Grey’s Anatomy
After seven seasons, Station 19 came to an end, and its underwhelming conclusion has some lessons for Grey’s Anatomy’s eventual series finale.
The Station 19 Series Finale Should Have Featured More Closure That Can’t Be Changed
Non-Canonical Flashforwards Undermine Station 19 Season 7
Knowing thatStation 19’s characters' endings can be changed at the drop of a scalpel not only undermines the finale’s stakes, but makes the final season of the long-running show feel somewhat meaningless. Instead of puttingStation 19’s story first, the spin-off avoided making any major decisions at all. Theoretically, it doesprovide closure to aGrey’s Anatomycrossover story: In a scene dubbed, “The Future,” Ben and Miranda’s daughter, Pru, is shown to be one of 19’s new recruits. Conveniently, the only other characters to appear in the segment are Andy Herrera and Maya Bishop, endingStation 19on a mostly unsatisfying note.
All 7 seasons ofStation 19are streaming on Hulu.
Station 19
Station 19 is a spin-off of Grey’s Anatomy that premiered in 2018 on ABC. The series follows the professional and personal lives of the firefighters at Seattle Fire Station 19. Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 sometimes have crossover episodes in which a storyline is depicted on one night throughout both shows.
