Jodi Saves Nick. Or Did She?

On my episode of McLeod's Daughters today, Jodi decides she wants to join the local fire brigade. She's bored on the farm, and wants to expand her horizons.

Her neighbor Nick leads the brigade and the training sessions. Jodi volunteers to go first in an activity in which the trainees wear a breathing mask while having to locate a victim inside a smoked filled room. 

Jodi panics. She feel she can't breathe and tears off the mask. She fails. Her spirit is down.

Minutes later, her sorrow and shame are interrupted by an emergency call. Or really...not quite an emergency. They call it a domestic issue.

There's a possum in someone's attic that needs rescuing. 

I'm wondering.  In America, the stereotypical non-fire problem that firemen are called out for is a cat stuck up in a tree. In Australia, is it possums in the attic? Or is it cats for Aussies too?  Or maybe something else?

But, anyway, this time it was a possum issue.

Nick goes into get the attic to retrieve the possum. He picks it up as Jodi watches from outside the window. Then Nick gets bit by the possum. He hits his head, falls, trips on some wires that spark. A small fire starts. Or at least there's smoke.

Jodi suddenly gets brave and tells her partner she'll go in after him. He doesn't stop her.

The whole thing kind of unnerved me. I think I was supposed to be proud of Jodi and relieved that she overcame her fear. Instead I was thinking that's it doesn't seem appropriate for her to risk Nick's life and the house just so she can prove to herself and others that she's over her fear.

I could understand if she was the only one around who could help. Then I'd be glad she was trying to squash her fear. Beggars can't be choosers. But otherwise, I think it would have been better if she had more training in mock situations before throwing herself into the real fire.

At the end of the episode, in a conversation between Nick and his brother Alex, it's inferred that Nick faked the whole thing just to get Jodi over her fear.  He not only tricked Jodi. He tricked me as well. I totally believed it.

And I'm a bit confused about the fire. So he purposely tripped on wires to start a fire? But was it a fire he knew wouldn't spread? I'm no expert on pyrotechnology.  

If he didn't know the fire wouldn't spread, I'd say that's hugely irresponsible. 

I'm watching the scene again, and it does seem the incident was just a spark and then some smoke. No real fire.

When I was watching the episode I thought of an episode of The Secret Life of Us. Alex is offered the chance to do an amputation on a diabetic patient. She's new at this surgery job and doesn't feel she's ready. She says she wants to watch a few more surgeries before doing one herself. I personally was very impressed with her honest, cautious attitude, and I would prefer all the doctors in my life be like her.

But her supervisor thinks differently than me. Alex is criticized for not taking the plunge. I would hate for me, or someone I love, to be under the knife of a doctor who feels he's not ready but feels pressured to do it anyway.

Of course there are cases where people ARE ready to do something, and they just don't have confidence. If someone knows them well enough, it can be a simple matter of giving them the push they need.  If Jodi managed to succeed with five mock rescue activities, but refused to participate in any real ones, I think it might be okay to push her to do it.  Or if Alex watched many amputations, helped out with them, and still refused to lead the surgery; then I think it would be appropriate to say cut off this guy's limb or we're going to have to consider replacing you.