COUNTY RESCUE: Episodes 1.1 and 1.2: “Pilot” and “Fall by Myself”

COUNTY RESCUE is a drama series on Great American Family’s TV and streaming venues and follows a young woman who’s competing for one paramedic job against the fire chief’s impulsive but likeable son and an over-qualified, compassionate rookie. The first two episodes of COUNTY RESCUE are compelling and engaging, with nicely-written dialogue and good performances, plus a strong Christian, morally uplifting and inspiring worldview.

The movie opens with Danielle “Dani” Miller waking up, stuffing her engagement ring into the top drawer of her bedside table, and heading out to her first day as a county paramedic. In a first-person narration, Dani says she’s had a quitting problem recently. She quit college, has quit several jobs and broken off her engagement. However, she feels God has called her to be a paramedic, and she aims to see it through all the way. Dani wants to “make a difference” by comforting and helping people in trouble and saving lives.

In the parking lot at the county paramedic building, Dani meets Tim, another rookie paramedic. Both Dani and Tim think the paramedics inside will be friendly, but the head of the paramedic team, EMS Chief Scotty Travis, sticks his head out the door. “If you’re five minutes early, you’re late,” he says. “Get into my office now!”

Inside, Chief Scotty tells them some “knuckleheaded” politician has cut the paramedic budget. So, after they serve their two-month probation period, he only has the money to hire one of them. He orders one of the two female paramedics, Liz, to give them a tour of the paramedic station house. However, she passes the job off to the other female paramedic, Ashley, after one of the male paramedics, Duke, declines because he’s emptying one of the station’s two ambulances of the trauma trash form the last rescue run.

No sooner has Ashley introduced herself to Dani and Tim when the station gets a call to help a cardiac arrest victim. Chief Scotty orders Liz to take Dani with her.

Liz and Dani arrive at the victim’s location at a school, but Dani and Liz are unable to save the man’s life. Dani is depressed, but Liz assures her that she did everything right.

Back at the station, Ashley assures Dani that God’s in control. “Don’t give up too early,” she adds. “I have a feeling that God has some amazing things in store for you.” The Chief appears and advises Dani to do something normal on her day off. “It will help take your mind off it,” he says.

In the rest of the first two episodes, viewers learn Dani’s parents don’t approve of her newfound religious ideals and her decision to quit pre-med and follow God’s calling to be a first responder. Also, Dani and Tim learn there’s a third paramedic rookie, Griffin, competing for the one paramedic job. Not only that, but Griffin is the fire chief’s son, and EMT Chief Scotty happens to be a close family friend. Finally, on the next two rescues, despite having a good bedside manner, Dani makes two mistakes that hurt her chances of winning the paramedic job.

The first two episodes of COUNTY RESCUE are compelling, engaging, dramatic, and sometimes funny. Moreover, the dialogue is nicely written, and the performances are really good and appealing. In fact, the two half-hour episodes are fairly comparable to what viewers can find on Network TV medical series, including NBC-TV’s excellent program CHICAGO FIRE, which have much bigger budgets and larger casts.

Of course, unlike the network programs, COUNTY RESCUE doesn’t have any foul language, salacious scenes or really offensive politically correct content. Instead, the first two episodes of COUNTY RESCUE have a strong Christian, moral worldview, with multiple references to God and His providence. There are also references to prayer, including an answered prayer in the Name of Jesus.

COUNTY RESCUE is an uplifting, inspiring, absorbing program that can be enjoyed by all but the youngest members of the family. MOVIEGUIDE® will have reviews of the rest of the first season of COUNTY RESCUE. So, be on the lookout for those reviews on our main website, www.movieguide.org.