Last week’s 9-1-1: Lone Star ended on a cliffhanger no one saw coming: That Gwyneth was pregnant! In this week’s episode, Owen and Gwyn come to terms with their unexpected news and go over options since the pregnancy is a high-risk one. Meanwhile, Judd struggles with telling Grace something about her father and the others have trouble telling Mateo something about his new tattoo.
Keep reading for a recap of 9-1-1: Lone Star season 2, episode 5 “Difficult Conversations.”
At the doctor’s office, Owen and Gwyneth are waiting in silence, besides Owen’s constant leg tapping. Dr. Evans comes into the room, saying Gwyn is pregnant, and they really beat the odds. Looks like somebody got in just under the wire. He tells them she’s about four weeks along and by the looks on their faces, Dr. Evans takes it this wasn’t something they planned. Gwyn says no, this was a total, complete accident. There’s no easy way to say this next part, Dr. Evans begins. He says while geriatric pregnancies are not uncommon, they’re rare. The risks are heightened, and not just for the baby. There are serious complications that could arise for Gwyn as well. Increased risk of heart condition, blood clots, preeclampsia, and maternal mortality. Dr. Evans is sure she’s read that a significant percentage of these pregnancies end in stillbirth or miscarriage. “Well, that’s bleak.” Owen wonders what couples in their situation normally do and Gwyn answers that they terminate the pregnancy. Dr. Evans isn’t recommending anything, saying it’s really a conversation for the two of them.
At the firehouse as T.K. and Paul are talking, they notice Mateo is having trouble getting his sweatshirt off. Paul asks if there’s a reason why he’s losing a wrestling match to his sweatshirt right now and Mateo admits he got a back tattoo, showing it off. Mateo says he designed it himself; a firefighter hat with the 126 on it, and wings. After taking a closer look at it, T.K. mentions that there’s words, Paul continuing that there’s two. “Guardian angel, because that’s what we are.” Though, it’s not “Guardian angel,” it’s “Guardian angle.” T.K. and Paul don’t have the heart to tell Mateo. “My man has a typo permanently tattooed on his back.” That is unfortunate.
After responding to a call for a man who had a heart attack in the middle of “doing it,” Judd turns the guy over, mentioning they should check his glucose and steps back. When paramedics do, they find out he’s diabetic. Back on the ground, Paul brings up the hypoglycemic shock to Judd and that he called it from across the room. Paul mentions that Judd knows him, saying, “I thought I did.” Paul figures out that it’s his father-in-law and Judd admits that it’s Grace’s dad. But that woman with him is not her mom.
At the hospital after Judd has a talk with Grace’s father, Benjamin, about what happened, Grace and her mother come in and are relieved that Benjamin’s okay. Grace asks him how he let this happen and Benjamin makes up a story that he stayed too long on the treadmill at the gym, they had ESPN on and he guesses he got carried away watching the game. Grace promises him he can watch football sitting on the side of the road and he would pull over and stare at it. He got shaky on the way home and pulled over to get a milkshake at the hotel restaurant, but it just didn’t kick in fast enough. Next thing he knows, he was passed out in the lobby. Benjamin say that his favorite son-in-law was there to catch him and this is the first time Grace is hearing Judd was on the call. He figured he’d let Benjamin tell her.
T.K. and Paul are watching Mateo work out and Paul says every time he looks at the tattoo, it gets little bit bigger, like The Tell-Tale Heart. “It’s like those weird paintings when the eyes follow you.” They argue over who is going to tell Mateo and Paul says someone has to tell him. T.K. spots Marjan and they both walk over to her. T.K. asks if she saw Mateo’s new tattoo, so Paul calls over Mateo to show it off. Paul tells Marjan that Mateo designed it himself and Marjan compliments it and him. She begins to walk away but Paul pulls her back, TK. telling her she barely even looked at it. She did, it’s cool. Paul tells Mateo to lift the shirt to really show it to her and he does. Marjan’s eyes get big, noticing the mistake. T.K. and Paul whisper to her to tell Mateo but all she says is it’s really quite something. Mateo leaves and the other three just exchange looks.
Marjan’s getting ready to leave as Mateo is taking pictures of his tattoo. He asks her which filter he should use for his Instagram picture and Marjan, taking one for the team, tells Mateo he can’t post it, they need to talk. She asks if they said anything to him when he brought the design into the tattoo shop. Mateo mentions they said it was fire, and asked if it was exactly what he wanted. Marjan wonders if there was any chance they were laughing while they did it and Mateo guesses they were, but they were all busting chops. Marjan tells him how “angel” is spelled and Mateo says he knows, but as he’s spelling it out, he looks at the picture and realizes the mistake he made. How could he be so stupid? Marjan tells him he’s not stupid, he’s dyslexic. Mateo says those guys at the tattoo shop were clowning on him. And they’re a bunch of tools, Marjan says. T.K. and Paul were not having a laugh, they didn’t say anything because they love him and did not want to look at the face Marjan is looking at now. “Nobody wants to say the hard thing.” Marjan says he can fix it, she has an idea. It’s going to sting, though.
Owen is looking at T.K.’s baby pictures (which are Ronen Rubinstein’s ACTUAL baby pictures) and Gwyneth comes over to him. “We may not be perfect but we made a beautiful boy.” Owen wonders if she can imagine doing this all over again, little tiny body resting on your chest, chasing a toddler around, first day of school. “Are we actually considering this?” Owen says they’re young for their age, they do all the healthy things. 50’s the new 40. “Is 67 the new anything?” Because that’s how old Owen will be when he’s teaching them to parallel park. Gwyn says it’s a skill that will come in handy when one of them breaks a hip moving them into a dorm and they have to rush them to an ER. Owen tells Gwyn he had a case earlier that day, a dad he couldn’t save. And his daughter was maybe 19, and now she’s left without a parent. Would it be fair to do that to their kid? That’s assuming the pregnancy goes well, which is a huge assumption. It’s risky for the baby and Gwyn. Maybe they should just do the logical thing, schedule an appointment.
Grace takes a call from a woman, Kristen, ordering pizza and Grace thinks she dialed the wrong number. She didn’t, asking if they have cheesy crust, telling her her address. Grace asks if she’s in danger, if someone is making her feel like she can’t speak freely. Kristen tells her that’s right, as a guy, Andrew, is sitting on the couch watching a hockey game. Grace tells Kristen she understands and that help is on the way. Kristen asks if a medium pizza would be big enough for two people, then telling Grace her name for the “order.” Grace tells Kristen if the person she’s with is armed with a gun to ask for extra pepperoni, and she does. Grace says help is eight minutes out and if there’s somewhere safe she can go to say “peppers.” Definitely no peppers.
Andrew Smart, two priors for aggravated assault, just got out on parole. Kristen has a permanent restraining order against him. “He’s definitely not going peacefully.” Grace tries to keep Kristen on the line as Andrew is getting more angry. Kristen thinks she can do that and Grace tells her she needs her to try to move as far away from the door as she can. However, a muffled yelp can be heard and Andrew tells Kristen nice try. Grace asks Andrew where Kristen is and Andrew says she’s right here, his hand grabbing her neck. Grace stalls Andrew, telling him that her grandmother always told her that when God closes a door, he opens a window. “Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith.” Kristen breaks free and runs towards the window, jumping out of it and landing onto a big airbag fire and rescue have set up for her on the ground. Andrew tries to run away but it’s too late. Carlos and other officers come in and Carlos tells him to get on the ground, cuffing him.
Elliot tells Grace another operator would have hung up, but not her. How did she know? Sometimes it’s not what they say, it’s what they don’t say. Grace realizes something Judd had said and she listens to the hotel call, figuring out that her father was lying.
At home, Grace thanks her mother for stopping by, bringing out some tea for her. Grace knows she’s had a crazy week. Grace’s hands are shaking as she holds the cup and she tells Denice she’s okay. Denice asks Grace why she’s so nervous and Grace says she has to tell her something, and she’s just not sure she knows how. Denice asks what’s going on and Grace says it’s about her dad. Denice is worried the doctor said something but it’s not anything like that. She tells Grace to come out with it and all Grace says it’s Grandma’s china, she was moving some boxes around the house and she broke some of it. Denice is relieved, she was worried it was something serious. Benjamin loved that china more than Grace. Denice tells Grace with what they could’ve lost this week, she doesn’t care about some old plates. Grace knows she knows, telling her mother she loves her.
Owen and Gwyneth get ready for their appointment, both of them nervous, talking about where they should go to eat afterwards. Owen asks her what she wants, she wants to have this baby. Good, so does he. Gwyn asks if he’s sure and Owen thinks so. It’s crazy, probably a terrible mistake. So, they’re doing this. “I think that’s what we’ve been saying.”
Marjan and Mateo show up at Carlos’, T.K. and Paul already there. Carlos asks them how it went and Marjan says they did not botch it, Mateo is just being a baby. He has T.K. and Paul help him with his sweatshirt and the word “angle” has been covered up by a blood design. Mateo’s going to go back once it’s healed up and get the letters redone, best part is, the shop agreed to do it all for free. Marjan had a conversation with them. “Must’ve been some conversation.” Amazing what a little direct talk can do. T.K. gets the hint, apologizing to Mateo for not giving him the heads up. “Yeah, man, it’s just really hard to hurt someone with the face of an angle.”
Judd gets home, seeing Grace already in bed. He asks if she’s awake, and she said she is now. He has to tell her something, and he thinks it’s going to make her mad. But he just wants her to really consider who it is that she’s angry with. Grace gets up and turns on the light, telling Judd if he’s about to tell her that her father is not the man that she thought he was or that he kept this from her because he loves her and he didn’t want to see her hurt, she will say she understands and she appreciates it. Beyond that, Grace doesn’t want to talk about it. She turns off the light and goes back to sleep, Judd understanding and Grace holding back tears.
Catch 9-1-1: Lone Star every Monday at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on FOX, following an all-new 9-1-1! New episodes stream the same night on FOX NOW and the following day on Hulu.
Read our exclusive interview with Lone Star‘s Director of Photography, Andy Strahorn, here!
