9-1-1: Lone Star Season 3 Episode 7 Review: Red Vs Blue
Jasmine Blu
at
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What on earth?!
So much of 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 3 Episode 7 was this fun hour that gathered all the characters for a softball game as part of the Red vs. Blue rivalry. And it was a blast to witness Owen and guest-star Neal McDonough at each other's throats.
But all of that fun came to a screeching halt in those final moments when someone called T.K. and told him that Gwyn was dead.
But first, let's get back to the fun of it all.
Lone Star has some of the best guest stars, and Neal McDonough is as fun as it gets. He's so good at playing bad guys and characters who drive you insane.
To be fair to Owen, he never wanted this beef between the firefighters and the cops, but it was unavoidable when O'Brien rolled up onto the scene and gave Owen and the firehouse a ticket in the middle of their work.
If there's gonna be an ass handing today, it's going to be my hand on your ass!
Owen
Owen can't take anything sitting down, so his choice to tear up the ticket was as predictable as it gets. It's a wonder they didn't cite him for littering too.
Leave it to Owen to get the 126 in some department beef, but it's an ongoing issue for cops and firefighters across the nation. And the jokes were hilarious.
They weren't wrong when they said that civilians always cheered the firefighters over the cops, especially these days. And between fires and calls, the firefighters have a more relaxed day than their siblings in blue.
More than anything, even though O'Brien started things with his poor attitude and giving Owen the ticket, things probably wouldn't have escalated much further if they missed the dispute on the air and broadcasted it. It embarrassed the cops and made them look bad as they celebrated the firefighters.
The rivalry was on from that point forward.
It was petty as heck for them to tow the fire truck, but it was worse when Mateo discovered that they had keyed the thing. How awful can you get?
Poor Carlos felt caught in the middle since he worked as a cop, but most of his loyalty was with his friends and boyfriend. And hell, even he wasn't exempt from some zingers against the kin in red.
Owen opting for the softball game was something you'd expect out of him, and I felt for the team. Not everyone is a natural athlete, and O'Brien's team was undefeated. The 126 were the Bad News Bears or something in comparison.
It was hilarious that they got Pearce back into the mix. The man is a real tool, but you can't deny he's funny. You could tell lit was killing Tommy to let him back into the fold, but she's as competitive as Owen in many ways, and she's a ride or die, too, so she's in it until the end.
The "sibmance" between Tommy and Owen was one of the highlights of this hour. As the captains and leaders of the bunch, they always have to orbit around each other as colleagues and peers, but the more time they spend together, the greater their friendship seems to be.
And Tommy tends to operate as both Owen's voice of reason and also his ride or die enabler. It was funny to see the two facing Pearce as a unit, cracking jokes at the man's expense.
Are we surprised that O'Brien played dirty? The second they realized that Pearce was running late, it was apparent that the cops probably did something to him to keep him from showing up at the game.
Pearce was their best player and secret weapon, so they wouldn't have been able to keep up without him. Although, they did a pretty decent job when it was all said and done.
T.K. is pretty good, and Paul had great form. Poor Nancy was the most relatable as someone who struck out and choked. But even she succeeded with some encouragement.
And if a brawl were going to break out for something, it would be over anyone daring to harm a hair on Nancy's head. Who trips sweet Nancy? What jerks!
Owen talks a lot about anger management, but the lessons aren't hitting home. It's the umpteenth time he's hit a man. And this time, it led to a full-on brawl. When is he going to start breathing through the madness?
Owen's consistent reaction when he doesn't know what to do is to strike a punch. It's like he panics and punches!
And once he started it, the rest of the squad had to jump in to finish it. Not only was Tommy sporting some fabulous hairdos, radiating all of her Black Girl Magic with the versatile styles, but she got some bruises from the fight too.
I would've paid money to see Tommy scrapping with the best of them. We did catch a glimpse of poor Carlos trying to break it up, though.
The call to the dispensary fire was a great way to end the feud between the two. The cops that were blitzed out of their minds were funny. And Owen had to save O'Brien. It squashed their beef, although I would've expected this tiff to last a couple of more installments.
And Grace wasn't deprived of fun rivalry and competition either. Dave was a handful when he first arrived, and you could understand why he set her on edge. He ate her food, took her seat, and jumped in on her calls.
The thing about Dave is once you got to know him, you could tell his intentions weren't harmful or malicious. He's just the type of guy who is an acquired taste.
We all know Grace would've gotten to the Capgras Syndrome determination independently. She's smart as a whip, and she always gets to the root of the issue. However, everyone got invested in that call with sweet Duncan.
It was becoming increasingly distressing to hear him terrified that his father would hurt him while his dad hacked away at the bathroom door, assuming his son was an imposter.
It's like Willie Nelson's tour bus. Ok, everybody mask up, I don't want y'all failing your drug tests.
Owen
It was devastating enough when they shared that Duncan lost his mother not that long ago, and it was the accident that contributed to his father's TBI.
Grace got in her feelings about Duncan jumping into the mix, but everyone wanted Duncan to survive the ordeal, and his father was cutting it close. I'm glad they called the paramedics instead of the police, and he'll get the proper treatment he deserves.
It would've been heartbreaking if the cops showed up and took extreme measures or placed him in jail rather than in the hospital where he needs to be.
Matt's suicide call was another harrowing ordeal. Dave got so invested in it that you could believe he was coming from a genuine place. He was practically unhinged when he started speaking to Matt from the perspective of someone who lose their father to suicide.
It was shocking when he got so worked up that he had a full-blown heart attack in the middle of the room.
Naturally, Grace took over and did well on the call despite the chaos around them. But I loved that Dave still hung around after they brought him back to life because he wanted to make sure that Matt survived. I appreciate those moments when they show that all of these people are committed to their jobs and saving lives!
I don't know what to make of Dave lying about his father dying by suicide. Part of me still wants to believe he wouldn't lie about something like that on a call. Typically, they tell operators that they should operate from a place of honesty.
But even though he had a rough start, I'm glad he's sticking around. Dave is entertaining, even though he tests poor Gracie's nerves.
What I'm not excited about, only because I'm heartbroken for T.K, is the loss of Gwyn. Interestingly, when he was in the coma, his dreamscape gave the impression that Gwyn was already dead. We found out that she wasn't, which was a bit of surprise, and now we're back to this.
It's a hell of a thing to test T.K. The guy has gone through so much as it is, but I don't know he can make it through the loss of his mother. He's been in a decent place as of late, and he's actually found happiness.
Given T.K.'s history of drug abuse, I wonder if that's something that will crop up again. It's a bittersweet thing. I hate that T.K. gets another storyline where it's such heartache and pain for him. It'll suck not having Lisa Edelstein on the series again.
However, we all know Rubenstein is going to kill it!
It's my mom, she's dead.
T.K.
Now T.K. and his father will have to travel across the country to bury Gwyn. What does that mean for T.K.'s brother? What exactly happened to her? It's such a shocking and sad way to end a fun hour!
Over to you, Lone Star Fanatics. Are you shocked by Gwyn's death? Sound off below!
You can watch 9-1-1: Lone Star online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
