Nearly one year ago, FOX’s 9–1-1 spin-off, 9-1-1: Lone Star made its debut. The first season was composed of 10 episodes featuring the crew from Station 126 in Austin, Texas. With moments ranging from hilarious to heartbreaking to heartwarming, Lone Star‘s first season was anything but small.
We are rounding up some of our favorite moments from the first season before season 2 premieres in just a couple of weeks. Between the introduction of 126’s new furry friend to Grace’s emotional call with someone saying goodbye to his family, as well as a run-in with a bull and a racist neighbor, 9-1-1: Lone Star fully brought it for its freshman season!
Warning: Mild spoilers for season 1 of 9-1-1: Lone Star!
Racist Neighbor
In the second episode of the season, the 126 take a call involving a family starting a fire in their yard. The said fire was actually barbacoa, steak that you grill in the ground. The previous week, the neighbor, Ellen, had made a call about her neighbors waving around bats, but it was really just a 10-year-old’s birthday party that had a piñata. Hector, her neighbor, says she may look like a sweet, old lady but she’s really an evil racist. The “old” part is what really gets to Ellen, soon correcting herself that she’s not a racist. Owen tells her he will be making a citizen’s arrest … on her, it’s illegal to make nuisance 9-1-1 calls. Just as they’re about to arrest her, Ellen starts acting like she’s having a heart attack. Marjan goes in to do mouth-to-mouth but Ellen says no. She asks Owen if he can do it and he tells her he’s not certified. She points to T.K. and his response is simply, “Sure, ma’am. But just so you know I am a homosexual.” Ellen asks Judd, who straight up says no. She tells Paul he can do it, indicating she’s not racist. She asks him if he’s homosexual and he says no. But he is trans though. Ellen gives in and tells Owen to cuff her. It’s one of the more hilarious moments from the season and also shows just how diverse the 126 is.
The Team Barricades Marjan
One of the great things about both 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star is seeing how much the crews are like a family. During one of the calls early on in the season, the 126 try to rescue someone in a grain silo but Marjan’s line snaps and while trying to reach out for her, T.K. goes down with her. Once they’re out, Marjan’s hijab comes off and Owen, T.K., Judd, Paul and Mateo form a wall around her while she puts it back on. The incident leaves Marjan going viral once again but also kicked out of her mosque. However, after having a talk with Paul, Marjan realizes that she should be proud of her Muslim heritage, no matter what, and proud of what she does. It’s one of the moments that show just how much of a family the 126 is, even when the series was just beginning.
The Team Helps Mateo Study
Halfway through the season, Mateo has to retake his academy written exam for the fifth time. If he doesn’t pass it, he’s out. And not just out of a job, but deported since he’s a Dreamer. Due to his dyslexia, he has trouble understanding things. Since Marjan had the highest score in the firehouse, Owen tasks her with helping Mateo study. To get the job done faster, Marjan assigns T.K., Judd and Paul with different sections of the Austin FD Academy Manuel in order to help him. They record themselves going through the sections so Mateo can listen to it later, and he listens to them throughout the week, on runs, during calls, before calls, the team even wake him up in the middle of the night to give him a pop quiz. Marjan gives him advice after he reveals that he might get deported, telling him she’s going to be by his side. Everyone also shows up to his exam and meet him after he’s done, showing their full support. These moments showcase how supportive the 126 is by helping Mateo, wanting him to pass his exam, and being there for him.
There’s a Bull in a Car
All deals and no bulls at Happy Stan’s Used Car Lot. That is … until a real rodeo bull, Malachi, is brought in as a promotion and starts rampaging through the lot. When the 126 pull onto the scene, they don’t see a bull but rather a bunch of injured people. The team get ready with axes and follow a trail of blood. They find the bull with its head stuck in a window and T.K. tells dispatch they have a bull in a car. (This line was actually improvised by Ronen Rubinstein!) Owen talks down the bull while T.K. and Marjan use the Jaws of Life to pry the car apart, gently, trying to not hurt him. Once they can get to the bull, Judd secures its horns with rope and frees Malachi, Animal Control taking over. It’s definitely not something you see everyday, but Rubinstein’s improvised line of “We got a bull … in a car” makes the scene that much more memorable and iconic. It was also pretty intense not knowing what was going to happen to Malachi.
Buttercup
The introduction of the 126’s newest furry addition, Buttercup, was one of the highlights of the season. Buttercup is Owen’s canine companion and they have the same type of lung cancer. Everyone on the crew immediately adores Buttercup, except for T.K once he finds out the dog has cancer. T.K. neglects the pup and is rude to him, even though Buttercup quickly sees T.K. as his favorite, sleeping on his bed at night. Later though, Owen can tell that T.K. loves Buttercup. T.K. admits that he can’t fall in love with one more thing that he knows he’s going to lose. Owen tells him it’s okay to love him, even if he knows he’s going to lose him. T.K. will never forgive his dad for this, but he gives in and shows Buttercup his love. Anything involving dogs is always a great moment, but like Owen said, it’s more than the dog. Buttercup is not a symbol for his death but an affirmation of Owen’s life. Hopefully we’ll be getting more Buttercup scenes in season 2, because this dog seems like he’s here to stay.
Astronaut Call
One of the most heartbreaking moments, but also a favorite, in season 1 happens in the season finale. After the solar storm, the call center is being bombarded with 911 calls and scrambling lines and Grace takes one from someone up in the International Space Station. The caller, Tom, says they were in the path of the orbit when the solar storm hit but Grace isn’t able to connect him to someone. Tom and his partner have been diagnosed with acute radiation syndrome, his partner is already dead. Tom tells her there is something she can do for him and Grace gets in contact with his wife, Melissa. Tom begins to tell her where all the bank information and insurance forms are, and Melissa realizes what’s going to happen. Their daughter, Evie, notices he’s on the phone and talks to him, and she wonders when he’s coming home. He stays strong for her, telling her to be good for her mom, and that he’ll always be with her. Tom tells his daughter to wave up at the sky, he’ll always be looking down on her, she may not be able to see him but he can see her. She tells him she’s waving and he waves back, Evie tries to talk to her dad again but he doesn’t respond back. Getting so emotionally involved in characters that are just there for a few minutes is something that both 9-1-1 series do so well. You’re rooting for them, you want them to be okay and you are sobbing by the end no matter the outcome.
T.K. Talks to the Team
The aftermath of the shooting in episode eight left T.K. questioning his life choices in the final two episodes. He’s not sure if being a firefighter is really what he wants to do for the rest of his life, even though it’s what he’s wanted to do his entire life. However, after helping citizens (including a bus driver who was drowning) during an emergency crisis after the solar storm, he tells the team everything. He tells them that he’s an addict and that in New York he OD’ed on opioids and his dad, his captain, saved him. During the solar storm, at that intersection, T.K. would have given everything he had to save the bus driver. But it wasn’t enough, until Owen showed up. All of them showed up. And he knew in that instant that she was going to be okay, he would be okay because this, saving people, is what he wants to do for the rest of his life, at least for now, with them. “I choose this family.” This is where he belongs. Going through not one, but two, near-death experiences is traumatic, but even when T.K. was questioning everything he didn’t question whether or not he should try to save all those people. He immediately jumped into action, without any gear, and risked his life. It’s a touching moment between T.K. and the 126, and his dad, and we can only hope there’s more moments like these in season 2.
You can catch these moments and more with season 1 of 9-1-1: Lone Star streaming now on Hulu and the FOX NOW app. Season 2 of Lone Star premieres on Monday, January 18 at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on FOX, following 9-1-1!
