Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0
4
Changes abound on 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 5 Episode 1, as the series picks up roughly a year later with most of the characters we know and love.
And it’s been a tough year for most of them, with Owen and Carlos battling grief in their respective ways and Judd facing a crisis of identity as he confronts feeling lost in every aspect of his life.
And yet, all of this results in an understated opener to Lone Star’s final season.
Grief is a Heavy Cloak for Owen
It’s genuinely refreshing to see Owen accepting Tommy’s offer and participating in grief group therapy.
It may not be something he’ll partake in often, but it’s more than one could’ve expected from him.
Owen is a character who has experienced such unfathomable loss and trauma back to when his first brother died.
Each death he’s experienced over the years has compounded this grief, and it’s a much better road for Owen to walk down, acknowledging that grief and doing something about it rather than these extraneous things he does to avoid sitting in his own feelings for too long.
Owen is at his most stable in life.
He’s healthy, has a normal romantic relationship, and his son is happy and fulfilled in his job with no other issues.
However, Robert’s death has placed Owen in a reflective place that adds more depth to his character.
Seeing him lean on Tommy for emotional support when talking about his brothers’ deaths and Judd as a confidant whose judgment he trusts about pretty much everything was genuinely lovely.
With this being the final season, one can’t help but hope that Owen is on a path toward feeling like a fully realized character who has evolved since the series premiere and can have a satisfying end.
Filling Shoes and Lieutenant Blues
Marjan and Paul are always hilarious, so it’s great fun when they compete for Judd’s spot.
It was more endearing to know that they didn’t intend to compete with one another, but Mateo was stirring the pot, and once he got going, there was no going back.
Marjan and Paul’s ridiculous heroics to prove why they were the best person for the job provided that light, humorous fodder you expect from Lone Star episodes.
Owen needs to fill that spot sooner rather than later because while it’s all fun and games, the structure is paramount for the team to function correctly.
It was interesting to learn why Owen struggled to name someone, though.
He has a genuine fear of losing people now, and the thought that two capable candidates like Marjan and Paul could result in one of them landing the position and the other pursuing that rank elsewhere haunts him.
When everything else around him changes so much, it makes sense that he wants the house and the family he’s developed there to remain the same.
The series’s heavy reliance on the familial dynamic of the house, including with Owen, was a highlight of the hour and something one only wishes they had done more of.
Ironically, it never crossed the mind that if Owen chose one over the other, the second person would be in their feelings about it and may want to leave.
They’ve all seemed perfectly content at the house and with each other.
But on the flip side, you don’t go through the trouble and hard work of achieving a certain rank to settle for missing out on a position.
It’s perfectly reasonable to seek an opportunity elsewhere after that, regardless of how close one may or may not be with one’s house members.
The lieutenant thing was played up for fun, but there’s a deeper potential conflict there that feels all the more prescient, given that this is the final season.
Could we face the possibility of one or both of them moving on if they don’t get the desired outcome?
Judd Seeks Purpose without His North Star
It’s always been clear that Grace is Judd’s guiding light and the person who grounds him most in this world.
Without her around, he’s a bit aimless and doesn’t know what to do with himself, and it’s heartbreaking.
Firefighting and Grace have consumed so much of Judd’s life and purpose that he can’t figure himself out.
He no longer has Wyatt to distract him now that he’s happily moving into a nice apartment with his wife and child and helming his own family these days.
As a hardcore fan of Grace and Judd, there’s no getting around the disappointment of her not being there.
But there’s also been this frustrating thing where it feels like they had been slipping to the background or had storylines shifting away from them before this.
It caused a pang in the chest to see Judd and Wyatt’s mother in this apartment celebrating their son and his new family, with little Charlie on the outskirts of the frame and Grace just a memory.
It’s such a contrast from this love story that has always been at the hub of the series.
The writers could do little about Sierra McClain’s departure, but it’s no less difficult to swallow this pill regardless.
The Season Premiere Addresses Grace’s Absence in a Fitting But Difficult Way
But Grace’s going on a church mission that involves traveling the world and trying to help children in need suits her character, even if it is hard to grasp her ever leaving Judd and Charlie behind in any capacity, mission or not.
It’s the best way they could address the departure, honoring the character and what the actress built while preserving the Ryder love story.
Goodness knows a sudden, offscreen death would’ve been a slap in the face.
But Grace’s absence leaves an unfillable void in the series, upending the resulting storyline for Judd.
In the season premiere, Parrack pulls off the lost husband, who misses his wife well and nails the man who doesn’t know what to pursue next.
Firefighting has always been Judd’s calling, and he misses it, but he doesn’t know how to approach getting back into it after retiring.
It’s so darling that he wanted Owen to ask him back instead of outright telling his friend how he felt.
A closed mouth doesn’t get fed, and now, Judd feels more conflicted, knowing that Marjan and Paul are determined to get his job.
It would be intriguing if the season explored another avenue Judd could pursue, one where he still finds purpose and passion, even if it’s different from what he has been doing.
Judd’s return would feel too easy and uninteresting. Sometimes, it’s more exciting to see someone expand their horizons.
A Nepo Baby Worth Stanning
We had a few glorious shots of Carlos donning his ranger uniform, and this girl isn’t complaining about it.
We always knew that Carlos would continue his pursuit of justice regarding his father’s awful, tragic murder.
They’ve settled on the best way for him to do this: joining the Rangers to honor his father and get the necessary access to investigate things further.
This move opens up many opportunities for Carlos, and 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 5 Episode 1 lays a lot of groundwork for Carlos in his professional and home life.
Carlos’ New Partnership Offers a Refreshing Spark
We mused about some 9-1-1: Lone Star Spinoffs we’d like to see, and we’re standing firm on the Carlos/Campbell buddy-cop one.
Parker Young, unsurprisingly, is a breath of fresh air.
Campbells is an asshole, but he’s a likable one by the end of the hour and someone you could understand.
Anyone in his shoes would’ve reasonably had the same beef with Carlos.
His father was a legendary Ranger, and he fast-tracked himself into the Rangers. He was already working on high-profile cases along with the confidence of their superior.
At first glance, Carlos would read as the quintessential Nepo baby.
But it didn’t take long for Campbell to see what we all know: Carlos is brilliant, passionate, and driven for all the right reasons.
He was critical in figuring out who the bank robbers were and getting them off the streets.
He and Campbell work better together than they do at odds, which makes for a beautiful partnership.
Campbell’s previous experience working across from the senior Reyes also added more context to why he was harder on Carlos.
But that partnership provides Carlos with this piece of his father within his new job at the Rangers and a possible ally when he continues to delve into his father’s murder.
There were touching moments with the references to Ranger Reyes, and there’s no doubt the man was complicated, as was his relationship with Carlos.
Carlos’ Quest for Justice Impacts Tarlos
But sometimes, it feels unusual that the series has leaned so heavily into lionizing Reyes, to the point of feeling like it’s rewritten history.
This investigation into his death puts Carlos in an intriguing position as an individual character in the series.
It’s no secret that he often felt criminally underused as his own entity when he wasn’t tied directly to TK.
It’s a strong start for Carlos as his own character, but it may lead to friction between him and TK.
You can tell that Carlos has devoted many late nights over the past year to looking into his father’s death, and it’s starting to take a toll on TK.
TK is a supportive partner in all of this; frankly, I always appreciate seeing him in that role because it is reciprocal.
But Tarlos are in a phase in their relationship where Carlos’ obsession could challenge them, and I’m intrigued by what the series will do with that moving forward this season.
Over to you, 9-1-1: Lone Star Fanatics.
What did you think of 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 5 Episode 1, and were you content with how the show wrote out Grace?
Let’s hear all of your thoughts in the comments below! I’ll see you there.
9-1-1: Lone Star airs Mondays at 8/7c on FOX and can stream the following day on Hulu.
