I’m both surprised and sad that 9-1-1 Lone Star lasted five seasons. With its predecessor still rolling, I figured the audience was there for this particular Rob Lowe led series. I guess I was wrong. At least the writers for this show knew this was the final push, though they were given less episodes to tie it all together.
With that being said, some things these season felt insanely breezed past, while others felt unnecessarily dragged out. Not sure who was leading the charge with the narrative arcs this season, but it wasn’t with a very consistent hand. One thing that remains top of mind for this series though is life-threatening scenarios. They are never short on those. This season saw a deadly train derailment, a possible nuclear meltdown, as well as several interactions with federal agents and cartels. The personal drama was at an all-time high, as well, which is also a major part of the series. Here’s some of the major stuff that went down.
Owen helped his brother end his life, Grace left for a mission job overseas leaving Judd a mess at coping. So much so that he succumbs to alcoholism and loses temporary custody of their daughter. Owen helps Judd work through it, but this was one of the few storylines that stretched the length of the season. Marjan gets married, Paul becomes lieutenant, and then Judd comes back to the 126 as a probie. Carlos is out to find his father’s killer and almost gets killed himself while simultaneously revealing a seriously dirty cop. At least he gets some closure. While that’s going on, he and TK experience a rough patch when TK announces he wants to adopt his baby brother. With his mother dead and stepdad facing probably the rest of his life in prison for money laundering, he feels it’s what they need to do.
Meanwhile, Tommy proposes to Trevor only to have that relationship end with a fizzle. Then somehow, she has stage four breast cancer. Rather that focus on that storyline, in the last episode we see her practically on her deathbed. That’s one way to one-up other storylines! With Tommy’s illness it means Nancy is named interim captain, which I think she does a fine job at. Her and Mateo are so cute, though their future together is threatened when a bout of anger almost gets Mateo deported. Again, this is another storyline that got shoved in at the end with almost no screen time to dedicate to it.
I understand that these were probably all storylines the show was hoping to explore over the course of several more seasons, so that’s why they were so brief, but I think I would have rather had them par it down to a few of the major storylines and dedicate more time to those rather than throwing all of the spaghetti at the wall hoping that some of the details would stick. Really though, I’m sure the way they did release this final season appeals to a large audience that aren’t serious television watchers, or just casual viewers who have this on in the background while doing something else.
Still, I’m glad that the series did have a proper ending. I enjoyed almost every ridiculous minute of it.