#911 lone star reaction

[callmebrycelee]

9-1-1: LONE STAR REACTION

This reaction is for season 4, fourteenth episode "Tongues Out" which originally aired on April 25, 2023. The episode was written by Bob Goodman and directed by Keith Tripler. Spoilers ahead!

This episode was wild from beginning to end. The stuff with Owen and Paul going all Scooby Doo Mysteries was pretty fun but it's actually Tommy's plot that takes the cake for me. I'm all about saving the best for last so let's talk about Owen first.

We pick up where we left off with the whole Owen dating a married woman who may or may not have killed her husband. Owen meets with his soon to be in-law, Gabriel Reyes (Benito Martinez) and is shown Brett Collier's autopsy report. Apparently prior to him freezing to death he was administered a paralyzing neurotoxin. Owen learns that Brett wasn't Kendra's first husband. Her first husband was a man named Logan Daniels. Their marriage was short-lived due to Logan falling over the balcony outside their hotel suite. Kendra insisted she had nothing to do with his death but Logan's parents suspected she killed him. With two husbands dead, it appears that Kendra Harrington (Michaela McManus) may be a black widow. Gabriel tells Owen to watch his back but the latter insists he has ended things with Ms. Harrington. 

Owen returns to the firehouse and is accosted by Kendra who tells him she is the primary suspect in Brett's death. Owen lets on he knows about her first husband and Kendra says everything he's been told is a lie. She insists what happened to Logan Daniels was a terrible accident which she had nothing to do with. Owen points out that it looks super suspicious that both her husbands are dead under mysterious circumstances. Kendra counters that she had nothing to gain by killing her husband. Owen finally tells her he believes her and encourages her to turn off her phone since the Texas Rangers are trying to get in touch with her. 

We then get a funny scene that only exists to remind us viewers that Paul is the most perceptive character on the show. When his pudding cup goes missing, Paul believes either Marjan, Mateo, Nancy, TK or Carlos is to blame. Paul accuses Carlos and our resident police officer admits to eating the pudding cup. Paul ends up getting recruited by Captain Strand to investigate the potential murder of Brett Collier in hopes of clearing Kendra's name. What's particularly funny about this is that once again, Carlos - the actual cop on this show - is sidelined in favor of another character with zero law enforcement background. We've seen this happen so many times and it makes me wonder, is Carlos Reyes a shitty cop? We very rarely, if ever, get to see him do police stuff and when we do finally get to see him do some police stuff he usually gets overshadowed by another character, namely Owen. Remember the missing little girl last season? Carlos solved that mystery yet Owen is the one who saves the day. Oh, and then there was the whole swatting situation involving the online gamer which he teamed up with Grace to solve and the result of that is Sergeant Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) making the arrest. I still believe one of the biggest missteps of the show is making Owen Strand a firefighter instead of a cop. Imagine if Owen Strand was chief of police and Carlos was one of his subordinates. TK could still be a firefighter and maybe Judd could be captain of the 126. We could still have our Tarlos romance with the added tension of Owen being Carlos' boss.

Anywho, I digress. Paul puts his detective skills to good use and we learn that Brett actually administered the neurotoxin himself. It was Brett trying to kill Kendra and not the other way around. His first attempt was disabling the brakes on her vehicle. When that backfired, he tried lacing a bottle of wine with insecticide. Unfortunately since he was working with one arm, he spilled some of the insecticide on his hand which was then absorbed through his skin. He then got in the cryotherapy chamber and froze to death because he was unable to get out of the machine due to being paralyzed. Kendra's name is cleared but she is poisoned when she drinks from the wine bottle Brett gave her for her birthday. Owen performs CPR on her and ends up getting poisoned as well. When he comes to, he is in a hospital room. Kendra, TK, Carlos, and Paul are present at his bedside. Gabriel Reyes drops by to apologize to Owen for being justifiably angry at him. I'm sorry but I don't think Gabriel was wrong about what he said to Owen. Some would argue that Gabriel should've never shared police information with Owen in the first place but I think he was coming from a place of this man is the father of the man my son is marrying and we're going to be family. Owen really nutted up by compromising an ongoing investigation which could have resulted in Gabriel losing his job so I don't think he should've gone easy on Owen. 

Now let's talk about Tommy's storyline. Tommy Vega is still seeing Pastor Trevor Parks (DB Woodside) and regularly attends a bible study he leads along with her daughters and Grace Ryder. When Grace overhears a few gossipy church ladies insinuating Tommy and Trevor are doing something inappropriate, she tells her friend. Tommy is pretty chill about it and when Grace asks if she and Trevor have been intimate, she doesn't exactly give an answer. Now this is the part I found a wee bit unbelievable. Tommy and Grace are besties. Tommy is Grace's girl and vice-versa. These two have weathered a lot of storms together. Grace and Judd's accident. Tommy losing Charles and then hooking up with his brother, Julius. I would like to think that if there's anyone on the planet Tommy can be candid with regardly her romantic and sex life, it's Grace Ryder. I get the point the episode is trying to make. Regardless of what Tommy and Trevor are doing behind closed doors, it's no one's business. Yes, he may be a minister, a man of God, but he's still a man and therefore subject to the same follies as any other man. However, it's odd that Grace doesn't know more details about Tommy and Trevor's romance. 

Unfortunately, Trevor isn't as chill about the idle gossip as Tommy is and he worries about his reputation. Trevor reveals the reason he left his last church and relocated to Austin, TX with his daughter. His ex-wife cheated on him with the choir director. The elders at the church removed him from his pastoral position because they believed him unfit to preside over their congregation since he couldn't even control his own marriage, How humiliating! And disgusting! Church people, I swear! As someone who grew up in the church, the Baptist church, something like this happening totally tracks with things I've seen. The worst part is that I totally get where Trevor is coming from. I just hate that Tommy's the collateral damage. Gina Torres does an amazing job in the scene where Trevor breaks up with Tommy. You could really feel how utterly heartbroken she was. This is the second heartbreak Tommy has endured since we met her in season two.

The best moment of the episode is when Tommy arrives at church looking like the Dark Phoenix in a stunning red pantsuit. Tommy walks down the center aisle drawing the attention of the entire congregation and commandeers the pulpit. She reads a scripture about gossipers and delivers a scathing speech to those who have judged her. 

Tommy: "Keep thou tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure. Which is what I think is God's way of saying, 'If you can't say anything nice, keep your damn mouth shut'."

Cue me clutching my imaginary pearls! Tommy went off on those two old ladies and the best part of all is she called them by name. That's what I'm talking about, Tommy Vega! Tommy talks about how there is so much tragedy and meanness in the world and everyday she is fighting it. She says those things should be left outside the moment they all walk through the church doors. She then says that she shouldn't have to deal with negativity at church but if negativity comes her way, she will deal with it. She will not be shamed and she will not be driven from church. It should be noted that Grace, Judd and Trevor's daughter, Melody, are all in support of what Tommy is saying as well as most of the other churchgoers. When she finishes, she tells Trevor he can have the pulpit back and he kisses her. This is his way of letting her and the rest of the congregation know that he loves her. The congregation breaks out in applause and we have the end of our episode. 

I really liked this episode. I thought both plots were great. It was nice getting to see Paul shine a bit more. I also love any occasion where we get to see the Tommy and Grace friendship. I found Owen endearing in this episode. Sometimes I have mixed feelings when Owen goes into detective mode but the writers made a great decision when they put Paul in the mix. I still think that moments like this render Carlos useless. We're four seasons into this show and at this point Carlos is there to be TK's fiance and someone who plays Settlers of Catan with the rest of the JV squad. I sort of got the impression that we'd see Carlos exploring becoming a detective this season after the amazing detective work he did last season but we've gotten nothing on that front. I like Carlos as a character. He provides some much-needed Latinx and gay representation to this show. However, what's the point of having him as a police officer when we rarely get to see him save the day. What makes things even worse is that his 9-1-1 counterpart, Athena Grant, is always saving the day. Anywho, enough about that. The episode was pretty great and it's definitely one worth rewatching. We only have a few episodes left this season so I'm pretty excited to see how things end. Until next time ...

[reasonandfaithinharmony]

That sounds sexual. 😏

Felt like maybe we needed this reaction gif, here on tumblr dot com.

[carlos-tk]

his face journey is always a highlight

[tellmegoodbye]

I really loved the small detail of Carlos working on (presumably) Gabriel's case when Tommy and TK got home. He's used to TK being out in the danger, but I wonder if he used the case as a distraction so that he wouldn't worry too much.

He made a beeline for TK as soon as he arrived, but I still get the feeling this is no longer just an obsession. It has also become an unhealthy coping mechanism.

I assume that was the same reason he stayed behind to work on the case in 5x01. I don't think he was planning to until he and Campbell had that conversation about Gabriel, and the grief that came with that conversation was just another emotion that he needed to deal with, so he channeled it into the case.

[alrightbuckaroo]

Work is Published Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, everyone! As it seems most fitting, I wanted to share something from my Carlos character study, tender eyes that shine, just because it's giving me a lot of feelings and maybe I can share those with you <3

When he married Iris at the tender age of eighteen, he didn’t invite his parents and even now, he thinks the Austin High School Soccer Team t-shirt he wore to the courthouse barely counts as a tuxedo.

He didn’t think his parents would want to be an active part of his life after coming out, let alone that his mother would be the one helping him get ready to marry the man of his dreams. 

“Hey mom,” Carlos begins, his voice trying to fight through the current of a flood of emotion. “Thank you,” He pauses, catching his breath and letting his feelings guide him to his words. “For everything.”

Andrea’s eyes shimmer with unshed tears as she replies with, “Always.”

After, she raises Carlos’ arms, looking down at the sleeves of his tuxedo. Her eyes are drawn to the cuff links looped through the open holes placed on both sleeves. They’re the same cuff links that Gabriel planned to wear to Carlos’ wedding.

Her eyes sustain their misty demeanor as she says, “He would have been so happy to know these were still able to make it to your special day.”

“You think so?” Carlos asks, looking down at them. Though they’re small, Carlos can still make out the tiniest impression of his reflection smiling back up at him. He thinks that if he looks hard enough, he’ll see his Dad smiling back at him too.

“Oh I know so,” Andrea responds and Carlos looks back up at her.  

“You know that’s all I ever really wanted,” Carlos’ voice sounds fresh with heartfelt honesty. “For Dad to be happy,”  

“Oh Carlitos,” Andrea leans up to place a peck on his cheek. “He always wanted the same for you.”

Thanks for the tags: @ironheartwriter, @henrygrass, @whatsintheboxmh, @strandnreyes, @paperstorm

and @theghostofashton!

No pressure tagging:

@heartstringsduet, @carlos-in-glasses, @reyesstrand, @lemonlyman-dotcom, @herefortarlos

@actual-sleeping-beauty, @sheholdsthemoon, @sanjuwrites, @freneticfloetry, @fifthrideroftheapocalypse

@honeybee-taskforce, @literateowl, @lutavero, @irispurpurea, @thisbuildinghasfeelings

@emsprovisions, @eclectic-sassycoweyes, @welcometololaland, @rmd-writes, @bonheur-cafe

@butchreyes, @basilsunrise, @never-blooms, @carlos-tk, @mikibwrites, @tellmegoodbye

@lightningboltreader, and here's an open tag <3 <3 <3

[guardian-angle22]

911: Lone Star | Paul Strickland in 5.04

[mymycorrhizae]

TK asking Nancy to nag on his behalf.

[watchyourbuck]

Hold on bc Eddie introduces Buck to Tía Pepa as “someone he works with” and Carlos introduces TK as his “friend” and both Buck and TK have the same disgusted face SJDKDKSK but only ooooone of those scenarios is gay right ?? Mmhm bye

[nancys-braids]

A prompt for your writer’s block: conversation between besties Nancy and Carlos, right when Nancy and Marjan get together

hi hi i knew i could count on you, using this as my wip wednesday contribution as i've been lacking lately

“So, what’s up with you, Nancy?” Carlos pried, fighting the stretch of cheese pulling off his slice of pizza as he took a bite. 

It was their monthly catch-up night. Carlos insisted on making a nutritious dinner, and Nancy insisted on picking up greasy pizza. Nancy won the battle of the meal almost every time. 

“What? Nothing…” Nancy looked at the floor. 

Carlos glared at Nancy, “Something's new with you, and you’re hiding it. We’ve been friends for too long for me not to know when you’re hiding something.” 

“Is something different with Lou’s cage?” She turned to the side of the room where the scaled lizard lived. 

Carlos set his slice of pizza down on his plate, coming to sit on her side of the table. “Why are you deflecting so much? There’s nothing you can’t tell me.” 

“Okay, fine.” Nancy sighed, “I hate you, you know?” 

“I know, but you love me.” Carlos smiled, with a twinkle of light in his brown eyes. 

Nancy felt her chest filling with warmth just thinking of her. The first time their fingers brushed against each other, the first date where they spent hours talking losing track of time until the restaurant closed, the first time they kissed and her soft lips met with hers, the first time she laid her head on her chest and slept in her arms after a long shift, the first time she made her breakfast and made her coffee just right, all the times she felt the world stop when she was with her. 

“Well… I’m seeing someone.” Nancy felt her hands shaking. Why am I like this? Carlos will be supportive, just say it. She thought to herself. “I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time, but it’s complicated.” 

thanks for the tags - @honeybee-taskforce @tellmegoodbye @bonheur-cafe @paperstorm @carlos-in-glasses @strandnreyes @whatsintheboxmh @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut

this is so late so im not gonna tag anyone but open tag if you'd like to share something :)

(+ @captain-gillian bc i love harassing you <3)

[reyesstrand]

[swords-and-starlight]

ok i think this is my first time ever watching a show while it’s coming out so i’m gonna write out my reactions as i watch the episode for the first time, even though i’m watching it from streaming (i don’t have cable rip) and i already got a bunch of spoilers.

obviously spoilers ahead

CARLOS!! first time we’re seeing him with his friends this season! and he looks so good!

Natacha looks so good in green, man. they seriously need to have her wear it more.

TK Marjan and Mateo look so good in that shot even if the person they’re being mean to is Paul :((

i really want to see them actually play a whole game of catan it would be so fun

i fs know those two boys are from paul’s past. i thought they might be people he lost but i feel like people who bullied him would make more sense in the context of the nightmare?

i know this is gonna turn out badly but i feel like this dinner is going surprising civilly for now

“LT” aww

why is the chore chart so big i don’t think we’ve ever seen it before

this is kinda making me miss clipboard Marj

paul is gonna crash and burn poor baby

wyatt is so cute omg but i miss gracie

i missed judd soooo much he’s the ultimate cutie pie

paullll why you doing this to yourself

PAUL CALL FOR HELP JESUS

tommy is so nice actually i would never facetime someone i didn’t like just to check in on them

love tk and nancy giving each other looks lmao they’re so siblings coded

gina torres is literally the cutest woman on this show (with the exception of sierra) i love her so much

tk and nancy “it’s convenient” “a little too convenient” omg this feels like one of those disney movies where the kids are trying to solve their parents kidnapping or something

why does tk know that??

nancy loml keep being a dramatic suspicious bitch please

“the enemy is behind the gate” so dramatic for no reason omggg what’s cassandra gonna do?

love paul and owen bonding time, i feel like we barely saw owen interact with the house on a personal level so far this season

genuinely how does judd afford that house by himself especially when grace was out, he didn’t have a job, and he was taking care of wyatt

TOMMY UP TO SHENANIGANS AGAIN oh i’ve missed you devious bitch tommy

i love that tommy has just fully embraced her work kids’s delusional ideas and judds the one trying to talk sense into her now

aww i know judd and tommy have been best friends forever but i know if sierra was here she would be going to grace :(

PAUL BABY WHAT ARE YOU DOING

rich people are so strange

i already love jenna hope nothing happens to her

nancy and tk sending each other looks again lmaooo

ofc the elevator broke down

damn poor augie

aww ok they’re better now

WHAT THE SHIT why is she bleeding from her eyes!?!

it’s really cute that wyatt takes all of 126 medic teams calls it feels like he’s trying to look out for them after they saved his life

paul’s gonna get hurt and mess up on this call isn’t he

oh nooo paul it’s so hard to see him cry

i feel like we need more people to die yk like how does tnt consistently bring people back from the dead? like the kid that was trapped underwater in a frozen lake for at least ten minutes and was expected to make a full recovery but tk who was in there for ten seconds was in a coma? but it was for the drama so whatever

tommy’s hair is my favorite part of every episode. is she even allowed to be whipping that horse tail around?

weed pen lmao

judd is such a nice probie

ok so i was kinda right about the kids in paul’s dream

aww paul he must have been so lonely growing up

i’m sorry i can’t take the weed pens

girl miss melody how did you think poisoning your mom and getting ur sister suspended would be better than just asking to live with your mom

episodes almost over :((( i don’t wanna wait till next week

tkmarjan friendship i’ve missed you!

im glad joe and marjan are still together! they were so cute

PAUL!! i love this entire scene with my whole heart

controversial but i really love it when people choose logic and their personal values over love. this show does that so well. like with marjan and salim, they were both in love but marjan couldn’t see herself building a life with someone so flaky and that’s a valid reason to break it off! with tommy and trevor, i think it makes sense that tommy can’t love someone who might contribute to a family breaking apart.

i know that tk and nancy are gossiping about all of tommy’s drama right now

TOMMY CALLING HER MOM!!!

idk if this is obvious yet but tommy is in fact my favorite 9-1-1 character

anyway that’s a wrap i loved this episode

[callmebrycelee]

9-1-1: LONE STAR REACTION

This reaction is for the season 4, seventh episode "Tommy Dearest" which originally aired March 7, 2023. This episode was written by Bob Goodman and Jamie Kessler and directed by Scott White. Spoilers ahead!

***LAST TIME ON 9-1-1: LONE STAR***Captain Owen Strand and the 118 prevent all of Austin from being blown to kingdom calm. 

Now that we're all caught up, let's talk about episode seven - TOMMY DEAREST.

We begin the episode at the firehouse. Owen catches Paul chatting with "an old friend from Chicago". Owen talks to Paul about helping TK and Carlos with their wedding. Meanwhile, Paul's phone is blowing up with text after text. Paul slips up and mentions that the  "old friend from Chicago" is a *she* which gets Owen's attention. Owen asks if this *she* is more than a friend but Paul tells him that's not like that. Owen encourages Paul to go after her, whoever she is. I love seeing Owen and Paul hanging out. We rarely get to see these two interact and I love how fatherly Owen can be in these moments.  

Their late-night chat is interrupted when a man named Jerry (Marcus Terrell Smith) wheels his wife Hannah (Abigail Bhimani) into the firehouse on a refrigerator dolly. Jerry tells Owen and Paul that his wife is having a medical emergency and if she is turned right-side up, she will die ... again. The rest of the 126 arrive and we learn that Hannah and Jerry were doing the horizontal mambo when she "died" the first time. Tommy says she needs to lie Hannah back to check her vitals but this causes Hannah to flatline. When they move her upside down again, her heartbeat returns to normal. Jerry mentions that Hannah has a pacemaker which is probably something he should have mentioned up front and Tommy theorizes that the pacemaker wire has become dislodged from Hannah's ventricle. Hannah needs to be taken to the hospital ASAP but since transporting her flat is not an option, they place her on the back of the rig upside down. 

Title card!

We then head over to Casa de Vega and see Tommy and Trevor (DB Woodside) making lasagna together ... and that's not a euphemism. I want to point out how amazing Tommy looks in this scene. Trevor is super nervous about telling the girls he and Tommy are an item and Tommy does some breathing exercises with him to help him relax. They hear the girls - Isabella, Evie, and Melody (Bella Blanding) playing together in the next room. During dinner, Tommy and Trevor let the girls know they are dating and the girls seem okay with this news. When Trevor, Isabella, and Evie go into the kitchen to get ice cream, Melody tells Tommy she needs to break up with Trevor. DEMON CHILD!!!!

We then head over to the Ryders' house where we see Tommy tell Grace and Judd about Melody. Judd calls her a "bad seed". Tommy tries to sympathize with Melody because she remembers what it was like when her own parents divorced. Tommy tels them she is going to cancel her date with Trevor and Grace tells her not to do that. Grace tells Tommy she should tell Trevor about Melody.

Back at the firehouse, Asha Fulton (Amanda Payton) returns to close out the case concerning Marjan. Apparently the couple who were trying to extort her have dropped their case against Marjan. Imagine that. Nancy, Mateo and TK think this is great news and can't wait to let Marjan know. Paul lets them know he's already told her. The others pick up on Paul's awkward behavior in front of Asha and figure out that he's interested in her. TK says he felt sparks between the two. Paul lets them know that he and Asha went to school together in Chicago and they have been reconnecting via text. Nancy, Mateo, and TK think Paul should ask her out. 

In our next scene, we see a pizza delivery man named Lance (Greg Hess) arriving at the home of a shut-in. He rings the doorbell multiple times and when the owner doesn't come to the door, he looks through the window and sees her on the floor having what appears to be a seizure. Lance calls 9-1-1 and of course he gets Grace on the line. Grace figures out that the owner of the house has a medic alert bracelet due to being diabetic. She tells Lance to break into her house. Lance manages to mule kick the door in and tends to the owner whose name is Valerie (Cheryl Lynn Bowers). He finds her insulin pen and injects her. When she comes to, she freaks out and tases Lance twice which stops his heart. Valerie calls 9-1-1 and gets Grace's coworker Bree (Nina Concepcion). Both Grace and Bree realize their callers are at the same scene. Thankfully Tommy, Nancy, and TK arrive on the scene and they are able to revive him. As Lance is being loaded into the ambulance, Valerie takes a step out of her house for the first time and asks him on a date. What a cute little meet-cute. Hope it works out between these two!

Later that day, Tommy arrives at Trevor's house and is shocked to see Grace there. Grace tells her she will be babysitting Melody while Tommy and Trevor are on their date. Trevor and Melody come out to the main room and Melody gushes over how beautiful Tommy looks. Tommy looked sexy as hell in this scene! Gina Torres is a knockout! Grace and Trevor leave the room which gives Melody a chance to tell Tommy that her dress is inappropriate. Tommy tells her she is not breaking up with Trevor. When Grace and Trevor come back into the room, Melody hugs her father and shoots Tommy a death stare. Methinks this little girl is a total psychopath. We then see Paul and Asha on a date and it looks like the two of them are really hitting it off. Things take an awkward turn when Asha takes out their middle school yearbook. Asha seems to revel in the memories but Paul looks visibly uncomfortable. I imagine it must not be easy for him to see photos of himself pre-transition. 

Speaking of dates, Tommy and Trevor have dinner at a pretty snazzy restaurant. Tommy goes to broach the topic of Melody with Trevor but Trevor gets a call from Grace. The two of them head back to Trevor's place and see Melody "sick" on the sofa. Grace apologizes to Tommy for calling during their date. Tommy offers to take a look at  Melody and makes up for an illness which I thought was hilarious. Something about juvenile gastro-something. She tells Trevor that the cure for this juvenile gastro-something is milk with pickle juice, horseradish (seriously who has horseradish at home), minced garlic, a raw egg, soy sauce, and tobasco sauce. Grace and Trevor leave the room to make Tommy's abuela's remedy and Tommy tells Melody to cut the act. When they return with the drink, Melody calls Tommy's bluff and drinks the nasty drink. Tommy is horrified by this and honestly so am I!

Over at the firehouse, TK, Nancy and Mateo see Paul working out in the gym. They ask him about how his date with Asha went. Paul tells them he doesn't think things will work between him and Asha. Paul then lashes out at the three of them and Owen overhears him. Owen asks to speak with Paul in his office. Owen asks Paul what's going on and Paul tells him about Asha. Paul says the problem with Asha is that she already knows everything about him, including him being trans and during their date Asha wanted to revisit old memories. Paul tells Owen he used to play basketball before he transitioned. He then says he gave up a lot of things so he could become the person he is today. He calls it a survival mechanism. I really like this scene because it's just a reminder of what trans people have to go through in order to live authentically. The fact that a trans actor is saying this through a trans character made this scene even more powerful for me and I'm so glad that Owen just listened which is what most marginalized folks need from their allies. 

Meanwhile, Judd teases Tommy about the nasty drink she gave to Melody. Tommy says she was only following Judd's advice. Judd calls her Tommy Dearest which I thought was hilarious. Melody shows up at the firehouse, without her dad, and tells Tommy she needs to speak with her. Melody says she Googled the illness Tommy said she had the night before and it does not exist. Tommy tries to make a truce with the 12-year-old but Melody says they are just getting to the fun part. Melody mentions Tommy's brother-in-law, Julius, and records Tommy talking about her intimate relationship with Julius. Melody threatens to blackmail Tommy if she doesn't break up with Trevor. Seriously, this kid is a sociopath! She should be checked out by a professional. 

Tommy heads over to the dispatch center to have some girl talk with Grace. Grace learns about Tommy's fling with Julius but isn't judgmental about it. She even asks Tommy how it was. Grace!!! I'm clutching my pearls over here. Tommy tells Grace she overheard Evie and Isabella talking about Melody having a secret Tik-Tok and suggests blackmailing her back. Grace thinks this is ridiculous and tells Tommy again she should just talk to Trevor. 

Tommy heads over to Trevor's and finds him in the middle of writing his sermon. He asks Tommy what's wrong and she says she thinks they jumped the gun by telling the girls about their relationship. Tommy tells Trevor she slept with her deceased husband's brother and Trevor, like Grace, is not judgmental. Trevor suspects that Melody has said something to Tommy but she lies and says no. She then tells him it's best they break up now before someone gets hurt. Trevor tells her it's too late for that. Melody comes out of her room and says she's hurting. Tommy thinks she's crying wolf but this time Melody is being serious. Tommy checks her out and figures out immediately what's going on. The two of them go to Melody's room.

Turns out Melody got her period and Tommy is there to help her through this pivotal moment in her young ife. Melody starts to cry and says she wishes her mom were there. Tommy tells Melody she can talk to her. Melody finally apologizes to Tommy for all the messed up stuff she's been doing. She says that Tommy's the first person her dad has dated since divorcing her mom. Tommy is so amazing in this moment as she comforts Melody. Melody asks if Tommy can un-dump her father and Tommy says she won't do it alone.

Back at the firehouse, Owen tosses a basketball at Paul. He then shows Paul the basketball goal he's set up. The two of them start playing a game of one-on-one. Paul looked so happy in this moment. Nancy, Judd, Mateo, and TK show up and Owen suggests they play three-on-three. Paul is really good at basketball and a part of me wonders if Brian Michael Smith is good at basketball in real life.

We then see Tommy and Trevor having ice cream with the girls. Tommy and Melody seem to be getting along quite well. The five of them look really good together and it would be so nice if Tommy and Trevor do end up together and they have a blended family. 

So, that's it for "Tommy Dearest"! This episode was a nice palate cleanser after last week's resolution to the big terrorist plot. We got a few emergencies, none of which were super serious. Both emergencies were also hilarious in hindsight, even though poor Hannah died twice. I love that we got to focus on Tommy this episode. We got introduced to Trevor back in episode one and we haven't really gotten a chance to spend time with him and Tommy until this episode. I love how supportive Grace and Judd are with Tommy. I love their friendship. I really like Trevor as a love interest for Tommy because the whole dalliance with her dead husband's brother was not a good look. 

I also like that we also got to spend some time with Paul. We haven't really seen Paul date since season one and it's so refreshing to see that Asha is fine with Paul just the way he is. I was worried his being trans was going to be an obstacle for them and I'm so glad the writers decided not to go in that direction. I hope we get to see more of Asha and I hope we get to see her date Paul. Paul deserves to have a partner much like TK and Carlos and Judd and Grace and Tommy and Trevor. 

Lastly, to all the Owen haters out there, you got your wish. Owen was in the background much of this episode and when he was in a scene, he didn't dominate. I like that we stepped back a bit from Owen, TK, and Carlos. I find it funny that people talk about how much Owen dominates the show but turn a blind eye to all the screen time TK and Carlos get. Hopefully this is a sign we will be focusing on the other characters. I need a Nancy-centric episode ASAP. Hopefully the writers give me what I need! Until next time ... 

[nether-moth]

Just finished watching s5 ep9 of Lonestar

I'm unwell

[carlos-tk]

let us all pretend it’s not tuesday for me and also that this is seven. as you can tell I’m obviously very on top of things lol

thank you for the tags @alrightbuckaroo @rmd-writes @heartstringsduet @welcometololaland @strandnreyes

@carlos-in-glasses @sznofthesticks @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad @tommy-kinard-buckley @zitasempri

@theghostofashton @basilsunrise @eclectic-sassycoweyes 💗

“Are you saying you don’t want to fool around in your childhood bedroom,” he teases, his left hand pinching Carlos’ hip as his right tries to untuck his t-shirt from his faded jeans, his teeth nipping at Carlos’ chin.

He doesn’t make it very far in his attempt to lift his shirt, before Carlos is shoving him away with enough force that he stumbles backwards, hand blindly reaching for purchase on the wall behind in order to steady himself.

One of Carlos’ eyebrows is arched up, a look of half bemusement half horror painted across his gorgeous features.

He stifles a laugh, and wonders at what point Carlos will be done with being baffled by his deviant behaviour. He really should know better at this point of their relationship.

“What are you doing!” he shrieks, tone high pitched and perturbed, “are you crazy?”

TK tries not to laugh again when his face distorts into the same horrific one he once made when the original Lou the lizard crawled across his shoulder.

TK shrugs, an attempt at nonchalance to get Carlos onside.

“Relax baby, can’t we have just a little fun? We are newlyweds you know, I think everyone expects us to be all over each other. Consummating the marriage and all hmm?”

extremely late but tags for @celeritas2997 @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @thisbuildinghasfeelings @birdclowns @never-blooms @whatsintheboxmh @safeaswrites + an open tag for you 🫶🏼

[slothteainfuser]

thinking about the tarlos break up again and the fact that tk “blew it up” when things were too perfect and he was too comfortable…i wonder if that had anything to do with his relationship with alex, which we honestly don’t know much about. based on what we do have, it seems like the closest to canon is that alex wasn’t obviously terrible and there were no clear red flags (even if tk might’ve had rose-colored glasses) and they probably just drifted away for any number of reasons: maybe the fact that alex was cheating and “in love with someone else,” maybe they had fundamental differences that didn’t click, maybe alex was a dick, etc etc.

just thinking about the fact that, yes, cheating on tk is enough to make alex an asshole, but it’s more upsetting to think that like...until he finally told tk, there were no obvious signs that anything was wrong. to tk, at least, maybe they were drifting apart but he thought that everything was perfect and fine. (yes, he probably proposed out of an act of desperation instead of safety because he felt how distant they were from each other, but alex’s cheating and betrayal also completely blindsided and wounded him in a way that makes me think that he really, sincerely thought they were okay. even after they’ve been broken up for months, tk still calls alex his “soulmate.” for whatever reason, he thought they were in love). i wonder if that affected how he felt when carlos bought the loft, which was, among other things, this huge romantic gesture that almost seemed too good to be true. he was with someone who loved him unconditionally, everything was perfect, and they were about to finally live in a place they called their own. thinking about how desperately he felt like he needed to be in control again, and how hurt he was, enough to blow it up and run — it was a total power move, he said. it just makes me think about what made him so distrustful in the first place and compelled him to end a seemingly stable, good, and loving relationship.

[lonestardust]

me ranting in my tags at 3am