9-1-1: Lone Star Episode 5
When you title an episode “Studs,” you better live up the name, and episode 5 did not disappoint. 9-1-1: Lone Star brought about studs in every sense of the word. By far, this was the most enjoyable episode this season.
I have rarely seen a show top itself week after week, but I can’t wait to see where this season is going because Lone Star has done exactly that.
Let’s Begin…
We start the episode at a strip club full of ladies celebrating special occasions. Of course, the main attraction are several beautiful men dressed as firefighters. They did a lovely job choreographing their number.
A bachelorette in the front row was excited and blocked the view of the gals behind her by jumping. Tensions rose, and punches were thrown. The debacle ends with a Tiara impaled into the face of a woman while still attached to the head of the person wearing it. Apparently, the tiara was sewn into her hair (I didn’t know that was a thing.).
A Glitter Firehose is a thing!?
Paul ends up treating a woman whose face is covered in glitter from a glitter firehose. I also would like one of these myself. She couldn’t open her eyes, but after he washed it away, she was able to, and it was evident she liked what she saw.
T.K. accompanied his father to his chemo treatment and was a nervous wreck the entire time. It was obvious a lot was going on in his mind watching his father receiving his treatment. Wayne once again starts his dramatic explanation of all the things chemo will do, this time tackling the performance issues of their “little soldiers.” I swear the chemo treatment scenes are just setup so that Wayne could mention a major plot point of the episode.
And how about this?
My favorite plot point took place on a stud farm where they used artificial insemination to breed cattle. A man wanted to purchase some seed from a particular stud named Jericho. It turns out Jericho used to be Steer before he was brought to the farm to be a stud.
When Jericho died, the price of his specimen went up, and it was going to cost him 15,000 instead of 10,000 to complete the purchase. The breeder wouldn’t budge on the price. This made my heart a bit sad because you can tell Jericho meant the world to him, and he just couldn’t afford the steep price. When you are that attached, it can cause you to do stupid things, like set the place on fire so you can steal the specimen.
Once the firefighters of Ladder 126 arrive on-site, the compressed canisters containing the goods started to explode and shoot into the air. It literally rained specimen canisters. At first, Judd was frozen by the similarities between this call and the one that took his brothers, but soon he devolves into a fit of laughter, and he had it right. If this were a real-life situation, I’d be dying of laughter too. They end up getting everyone out alive, but Jericho’s specimen was lost in the fire when it shot off like a rocket from the blaze.
Relearning Intimacy
Judd and Grace had their own story woven throughout the episode regarding the intimacy in their marriage. They hadn’t shared an intimate moment since the accident, and Grace could only hold on for so long. She tries to seduce Judd but that dissolves into a disagreement. It wasn’t until after the specimen fire that Judd realizes he needs to meet his wife’s needs, and he was ready to do so. He makes a big gesture by making her dinner, and we can all assume what happened after that.
The Judd storyline has been a hard one for me. I love Grace, and I believe Sierra McClain does a fantastic job portraying her. I wish we could see more of her character outside of her supporting Judd. She is our only glimpse into the 9-1-1 operator world, and the exposure has been minimal. Judd losing his entire ladder in the explosion is a major cornerstone to this series, but I feel like his storyline has been pushed a bit heavy and quite honestly isn’t the most interesting.
Oops?
We got to experience a little accidental science experience gone bad when Michelle injected meds into a patient who was on sulfate-based medicine and shocked him with a defibrillator. The ensuing chemical reaction released a sulfate gas from the man’s body and knocked the entire EMS crew unconscious, which caused the driver to flip the ambulance on its side. Michelle confides in Carlos at the hospital, telling him she feels like she is missing a lot of important things. She should have known the drug reaction would have happened, and the photo of her sister in the bed of a blue pickup truck contains people she has never met before and is unsettling to her.
Owen’s issue this episode is a little more lighthearted, and it’s been a nice change of pace from all the heavy cancer scenes. He is having issues “performing” while with a woman, a problem he’s never had before. On a mission to make everything right in his world, he almost decides to inject himself with a fairly large needle. Luckily, he gets his confidence back, and after a little sushi and decided to let go of the pressure to perform, he is back to his normal self, including his little soldier.
Jump In
The biggest storyline this week belongs to Paul. After meeting the lady covered in glitter at the strip club, she stops by the firehouse to bring him a basket of treats, brisket included. She has also thrown in her phone number, and the flirting starts between the two. Paul is apprehensive about what to do with the relationship because she doesn’t know he is trans. T.K. tries to convince him to jump in with both feet because dating is hard for everyone. Amen to that! Paul and Josie go bowling, and let’s say Paul has some bowling skills to work on. At the end of the night, Josie kisses him and feels like the moment is right to tell her he is trans.
We don’t get to see her reaction, but the next day Paul is not quite himself at the firehouse. He is taken aback when Josie shows up to the firehouse. She apologizes for the way she reacted the night before and tells him that this isn’t something she could get past. Paul is ready to field all her statements with the knowledge in his heart that this is how it always goes. The heartbreak on his face and in his voice was enough to break my own heart. You could feel that this reaction is normal for him and that he deals with a lot of rejection.
Brotherhood
At the end of their shift, T.K. and Carlos take him out to the club. They are there to pick him up and let him know that it’s possible to move on after rejection, and they are there for him as a friend. Even though I think the people in this show can go somewhere else besides a bar or a club, I love that we got to see that brotherhood form between these guys.
I thought this episode was well written and funny as heck at some points. Lone Star is hitting its stride and finding its own path. I’d like to see a little less Texas at the forefront of every storyline and just let the show breathe a bit. We all know this is Texas, but not everything is so Texas in Austin. There is just as much city life as there is country life, and I hope to see that part shine through a bit more.
Although there have been some gruesome medical scenes so far this season, they have improved the medical accuracy ten-fold from the pilot episode. I may never get some of my continuity questions answered, but if we continue in this direction, I’m ok with that. I’m sure there is more excitement to keep us on the edge of our seats.
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