Having not watched the original incantation of Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Tim Minear’s 9-1-1, I decided to give its spin-off, 9-1-1 Lone Star, a chance for some strange reason. Most of that reason is because I’m a Rob Lowe fan, and it was cool to see how much diversity was in the casting.
With that being said, not much emphasis has been put on those diverse characters in the first two episodes. But boy have they dealt with an onslaught of random topics! Rob Lowe plays Owen, the new captain of the 126, and you find out early that he has cancer which was derived from his efforts during 9/11. His son, T.K., is also a firefighter and moves down with him after being dumped by his boyfriend and overdosing.
The 126 needs rebuilding after all but one of the crew members were killed in a manure explosion. Owen wants the best team, so he brings on Marjan, a viral sensation, Mateo, who’s very meticulous, and Paul, who is a trans firefighter. Judd, the sole survivor of the 126 explosion, gets to rejoin the team as long as he goes through the required therapy that he’s been avoiding. Liv Tyler (whose acting in this show resembles that of a dead fish) plays Michelle, who is a paramedic hell-bent on finding her missing sister.
The calls the team responds to are bizarre, but my favorite and most disturbing belongs to the mercury poisoning in the second episode. It was very Bird Box. And gory. I also really enjoyed the entire team’s response to a racist woman who keeps placing calls about her Hispanic neighbors. The pacing of the show is odd, and it seems that right after the first episode that everyone knows each other really well? But maybe I’m just reading into that incorrectly.
As far as relationships go, the only cemented one is with Judd and his wife Grace, who a 911 operator. T.K. has started a fling with police officer, Carlos, but I’m interested to see the direction that takes. T.K. has a lot of baggage, but it’s a drama show, so I’m sure Carlos does, too. At this point, anyone could couple up, but the most obvious one could be Michelle and Owen at some point far down the line. It’ll be a fun slow burn I’m sure.
As I said before, the pacing of this show is something my brain isn’t clicking with yet, but I felt that way about Succession, so I have some hope still. I’ll be posting about this on Tuesday’s, so stay tuned!