Spoiler alert! This story contains spoilers for Station 19’s Season 5 episode “Death and the Maiden.”
Michael Dixon (Pat Healy) has always been bad news for the firefighters of Station 19. From the shady way he got promoted to Seattle fire chief to refusing to help Pruitt Herrera when he contracted cancer, Dixon’s presence on our screens by now should only elicit groans from the audience, if not a more violent reaction. Of all the characters, it's arguably been the worst for Travis (Jay Hayden), as he had to deal with Dixon on a personal level when he was dating his son Emmett. Travis almost reached his breaking point when he found out Dixon was running for mayor, and now the events of “Death and the Maiden” may have put the wheels in motion for Travis to make a huge move.
After the firefighters saved some workers from being burned alive where they were being held captive in a factory, Dixon showed up to do what he does best — get his friends (in this case, the owner of the supposedly abandoned building) out of trouble. Travis became enraged and nearly got physical with the mayoral candidate when trying to make new fire chief Natasha aware of Dixon’s history. After conversations with both Natasha and Theo — who is now officially a firefighter with Station 19! — could Travis be considering running for mayor against Dixon?
It seems like a little bit of a stretch, as Travis has no political background and no career aspirations other than to keep saving lives as a firefighter. Natasha reminded him that since he hadn’t wanted to take the lieutenant’s test, he had actively avoided putting himself in a situation to better effect change. I think Travis is angry enough to step up, and let’s be honest — even with no experience in politics, we can all agree that nobody would be a worse mayor than Dixon, right?
Travis himself voiced it as an option after Theo’s parable about the snake and the saw. Getting mad and lashing out at Dixon wasn’t going to help, so they had to figure out a realistic way to take the man down. Travis said:
What am I supposed to do? Run against him?
Theo said maybe, and that won't be the end of the conversation, because as long as Dixon’s around, he’s going to be bad news for Station 19. Dixon said previously that if he were elected mayor, the first thing he would do would be to end the station’s Crisis One program that Dean Miller started before his death. So already he's made promises to hurt our heroes.
I love that Travis is willing to fight back, and I trust that he won’t back down until Dixon is no longer a threat. Jay Hayden’s co-star Danielle Savre definitely seemed to be on board with Travis’ possible entry into politics:
“Pick your battles…” I think Travis is getting ready to go to war!!! Retweet if you want to see Travis run against Dixon for mayor. @JayHayden00 #Station19May 6, 2022
There’s only one more episode of Station 19 before the Season 5 finale, but it’s not all bad news, because our favorite Seattle firefighter drama has already been renewed for a sixth season. Station 19 returns at 8 p.m. ET next Thursday, May 12, on ABC. Keep up with all the shows approaching their season finales with our spring finale schedule, and be sure to check out our 2022 TV Schedule to see which shows are premiering soon.
