9-1-1: Lone Star
Maxim Trevelyan
March 2020
I already talked about 9-1-1 in one of the previous issues. I loved the show, so when its spin-off was announced, I decided to take a chance on it, despite the original disappointing me in its latest season.
9-1-1: Lone Star shows the lives of the fire, police, and ambulance departments of the fictional company 126, set in Austin, Texas. Texas is also known as “The Lone Star State,” from which the name comes. New York firefighter Owen Strand (Rob Lowe), who rebuilt his company after World Trade Center attacks, is given an opportunity to rebuild a company in Austin, Texas, after nearly all its firefighters were killed in an horrific accident. He accepts the position after his son TK (Ronen Rubinstein) overdoses after a heartbreak. In Austin, Strand and TK form an unusual team with the lone survivor of 126, Judson Ryder (Jim Parrack); a Latino DREAM-er with dyslexia, Mateo Chavez (Julian Works); transman Paul Strickland (Brian Michael Smith); and Marjan Marwani (Natacha Karam), a devoted Muslim. They are helped on the jobs by paramedic captain Michelle Blake (Liv Tyler) and Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva), a local cop.
They started marketing this spin-off as very inclusive, representing many races, genders, sexual orientations, and gender identities. My thinking is that 9-1-1 left a lot to be desired in that regard and while they still had some representation of minorities, they made them suffer extra in the show. With Lone Star, they tried to assuage that by having nearly everybody, but the main two captains and one firefighter of the main cast, be a member of some sort of minority.
Going into the show, I was pleasantly surprised at how they managed not to be overbearing with PC and inclusiveness. Most of the time, the media wants to push in a minority character without really considering how they fit in the story and as a consequence, make them stereotypical, which can be even more harmful than no representation at all. However, I think Lone Star learned from its main show’s mistakes and carves out a presence for each character quite beautifully. Sure, there is still drama, but the showrunners do not make the minority characters suffer for the sake of suffering, but weave that comprehensively into the overarching story.
The weakest link in the show, in my opinion, is Liv Tyler. Now, she is an amazing actress, and I loved her in Lord of the Rings, but she does not really have the moxie that a paramedic captain should have. Also, her whisper-talking, which might work as elvish Arwen, takes away from the scene and its urgency. It also simply annoys me. The story of her finding her sister (which is resolved surprisingly quickly for a 9-1-1 show) is also the weakest out of all the personal character stories. I wonder what they will do with her in the next season.
When it comes to the calls that the team must face, there are certainly some interesting ones, with my favorite (and most heartbreaking) being in the last episode of the season. The show is certainly going with the whole “only in Texas” schtick, but if you suspend your belief (and most of them were based on real calls anyway), it makes for an entertaining watch.
I have to admit that I enjoy Lone Star way more than the original. If you love procedural mixed with a dash of personal drama, then
9-1-1: Lone Star is the one for you. It will bring you through a different set of emotions with each episode and 45 minutes will pass in a blink of an eye.
I already talked about 9-1-1 in one of the previous issues. I loved the show, so when its spin-off was announced, I decided to take a chance on it, despite the original disappointing me in its latest season.
9-1-1: Lone Star shows the lives of the fire, police, and ambulance departments of the fictional company 126, set in Austin, Texas. Texas is also known as “The Lone Star State,” from which the name comes. New York firefighter Owen Strand (Rob Lowe), who rebuilt his company after World Trade Center attacks, is given an opportunity to rebuild a company in Austin, Texas, after nearly all its firefighters were killed in an horrific accident. He accepts the position after his son TK (Ronen Rubinstein) overdoses after a heartbreak. In Austin, Strand and TK form an unusual team with the lone survivor of 126, Judson Ryder (Jim Parrack); a Latino DREAM-er with dyslexia, Mateo Chavez (Julian Works); transman Paul Strickland (Brian Michael Smith); and Marjan Marwani (Natacha Karam), a devoted Muslim. They are helped on the jobs by paramedic captain Michelle Blake (Liv Tyler) and Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva), a local cop.
They started marketing this spin-off as very inclusive, representing many races, genders, sexual orientations, and gender identities. My thinking is that 9-1-1 left a lot to be desired in that regard and while they still had some representation of minorities, they made them suffer extra in the show. With Lone Star, they tried to assuage that by having nearly everybody, but the main two captains and one firefighter of the main cast, be a member of some sort of minority.
Going into the show, I was pleasantly surprised at how they managed not to be overbearing with PC and inclusiveness. Most of the time, the media wants to push in a minority character without really considering how they fit in the story and as a consequence, make them stereotypical, which can be even more harmful than no representation at all. However, I think Lone Star learned from its main show’s mistakes and carves out a presence for each character quite beautifully. Sure, there is still drama, but the showrunners do not make the minority characters suffer for the sake of suffering, but weave that comprehensively into the overarching story.
The weakest link in the show, in my opinion, is Liv Tyler. Now, she is an amazing actress, and I loved her in Lord of the Rings, but she does not really have the moxie that a paramedic captain should have. Also, her whisper-talking, which might work as elvish Arwen, takes away from the scene and its urgency. It also simply annoys me. The story of her finding her sister (which is resolved surprisingly quickly for a 9-1-1 show) is also the weakest out of all the personal character stories. I wonder what they will do with her in the next season.
When it comes to the calls that the team must face, there are certainly some interesting ones, with my favorite (and most heartbreaking) being in the last episode of the season. The show is certainly going with the whole “only in Texas” schtick, but if you suspend your belief (and most of them were based on real calls anyway), it makes for an entertaining watch.
I have to admit that I enjoy Lone Star way more than the original. If you love procedural mixed with a dash of personal drama, then
9-1-1: Lone Star is the one for you. It will bring you through a different set of emotions with each episode and 45 minutes will pass in a blink of an eye.