It’s the winter finale of 9-1-1: Lone Star, and it is a roller coaster of emotions. While Carlos is forced to work a case with his Texas Ranger father, the 126 EMS team take a call that turns out to be a ploy and Tommy, T.K. and Nancy are taken hostage. The episode also ends on a big cliffhanger that puts two more lives in danger. Keep reading for a recap of the 9-1-1: Lone Star winter finale, “Bad Call.”
T.K. is celebrating his one-year anniversary of sobriety with a party at the Strand household. Owen and Gwyn, along with the 126, Grace, Charles, the girls and Carlos, are in attendance. “I would not have made it through this year or earned this chip without all of you.” T.K. goes on to say that last year he was in a dark place, he relapsed and almost died, then his dad brought them to Texas. The year was full of miracles for him. “Our captain is in remission. I’m working alongside heroes who have become much more than friends. They’ve become family. And I found an incredible man who showed me that it is okay to open up my heart again.” Everyone celebrates and has a good time.
Carlos and his partner, Officer Mitchell, take a call about a bank robbery, and they catch up to the suspect, Armando, who is running back to his car. The police car stops and Carlos and Mitchell get out, raising their guns at Armando, who has his hands up. He shows them a bomb strapped to his chest, pleading with them to not call it in, if he doesn’t show up at the drop with the money in the next five minutes, they’re going to trigger it. Mitchell says she’s calling it in but Carlos stops her as Armando pleads with them not to. Carlos tells Mitchell to let him go. “Whatever happens, it’s on me.” Armando gets away, and Mitchell is hoping this doesn’t blow up in Carlos’ face.
At the station, Carlos is impatiently waiting in an interrogation room until his father comes in. Carlos is glad to see him. They took his gun and his badge, and they won’t tell him anything. Gabriel tells Carlos it’s an unusual situation, and Carlos knows they all think that he got played, but that man was terrified. “You think I made a bad call.” Carlos feared for his life, and that’s a story Gabriel can work with. The case falls under the jurisdiction of the Texas Rangers. Gabriel starts going over notes from Carlos’ statement with him, soon telling him to not leave town while the investigation is still pending. Carlos tells his father he looked into his eyes, and his fear was real. “I trusted my instincts like you always taught me.” The thing is, Gabriel tells Carlos he needs to have the right instincts.
Later that day, Armando is in the interrogation room, and Gabriel tells Carlos he walked into the APD a few hours ago pretty shook up. He claimed he made his rendezvous, the man who forced him to wear it removed it, and took the cash. Armando did pick out two faces out of a photo lineup, which suggests he’s telling the truth. Anthony and Chris, former bunkmates at a prison. That afternoon, they almost burned down the apartment building they were living in. Armando gave them a description of a brown panel van they were operating out of. They may have been injured in the blast, so they’re monitoring hospitals, urgent care facilities, vets. “We’ll get them.” Carlos tries to get his father to say that his instincts were good but Gabriel won’t comment on an ongoing investigation. That’s what Carlos is to him, an ongoing investigation. “Well, you let me know when my captain tells you what to think of me. I’ll be interested to know.”
Tommy, T.K. and Nancy respond to a call at a mall parking garage where a woman’s water broke. They find the woman lying on the ground, but when Nancy goes over to her, she tells Tommy she’s not looking overly pregnant. The woman, Amy, turns over, cocking her gun and aiming it at Nancy. Another guy, Anthony, comes out with a gun and also aims it at them, telling them to not move or yell. He takes them over to a van and Tommy opens the door, where a guy is just barely alive. “You’re gonna save his life.” Tommy gets into the van, along with T.K., and they start checking him. Tommy points out bruises on his torso, saying they suggest traumatic internal injuries. He needs a hospital, but Anthony says, “No hospitals.” Tommy tells him she knows a place, her husband’s old restaurant, which is about two or three blocks from there and has been closed since COVID. If he really wants them to help his friend, it’s his best shot. They start walking towards the rig, Chris on the gurney, and T.K. drops his sobriety chip on the ground in order to leave a clue.
Once in the restaurant’s kitchen, they put Chris on a table and get things set up. T.K. notices Anthony’s chest and Tommy says his chest cavity is filling with blood. He needs a tube in his chest to drain it. T.K. tells Anthony they’re not surgeons, they’re paramedics, and they do not have the equipment to do that. Tommy says they’ll improvise, but they need some stuff off the rig first. After getting supplies, Tommy says she needs something for the chest tube. She points over to some shelves, telling T.K. there should be some empty industrial cleaning bottles. T.K. grabs one, noticing a fire alarm on the wall ahead of him. As Tommy and Nancy are busy and Anthony and Amy are occupied watching them, T.K. slowly backs up and sneaks towards the fire alarm. However, just before he can pull it, Anthony comes up to him and hits him in the head with the gun, knocking him out.
Meanwhile, Carlos is anxiously texting T.K. after having dinner ready, getting worried. Carlos shows up at the Strands’, wondering if T.K. is there and Owen says no, they thought he was with him. Carlos says T.K.’s shift ended an hour ago, but he didn’t show up for dinner, and now he won’t answer any texts or calls. He’s never done this before. Owen says when he left the station, EMS was out on a call, so maybe it went long. He tries to call Tommy, but it goes straight to voicemail. Owen then calls the captain on duty, seeing if he can get some information. After getting off the phone, Owen tells Carlos and Gwyneth they can rest easy, they are still out there. But he does think it’s a good idea if he and Carlos were at the station the minute T.K. gets back. In the car, Owen breaks the news to Carlos that the captain on duty said that they haven’t heard from them all night. No radio in, no call, no nothing. “It’s not good news.”
Owen calls Grace at the Call Center, telling her what happened. Grace tells him she sent them out on a call a while ago, and when she tries to bring up the GPS, there’s nothing. Grace tells Owen their unit is not on the grid; it’s like they have disappeared. He asks her where was the last place she sent them.
With T.K. still unconscious, Tommy and Nancy are working on Chris. Now that he’s stable, Tommy grabs supplies and makes her way towards T.K., but Anthony stops her. Tommy tells him she did what he asked, he’s stable. She’s going to tend to her guy. “You’re brave.” “I’m angry.” While Tommy tends to T.K., Anthony turns on the TV and his and Chris’ faces are plastered all over the news. Chris starts moving and Tommy says his tubing slipped, they have to drain him. Nancy unclamps him and he starts breathing again. Amy wonders if he’s okay, and Tommy says he’s not okay. He’s in a kitchen in a restaurant. He needs to be in a hospital. Chris wakes up and starts choking Tommy on impulse. Anthony tells Chris they had to call 9-1-1, he was in bad shape. They needed help. Anthony blew him up but Anthony tells Chris it was an accident. Chris shoots Anthony, telling him that wasn’t.
At the parking garage, Owen and Carlos start looking all over, calling out for the 126. Carlos notices T.K.’s sobriety chip on the ground, showing Owen. Carlos spots the brown panel van, telling Owen the case his father’s been working on. He takes a peak inside the van, giving Owen the all clear and they open the door, noticing blood. Carlos figures they weren’t called there for a woman in labor and Owen tells him no, they needed medical attention and they couldn’t trust a hospital. Carlos suggests Charles’ restaurant, Tommy would have access to it. Charles has been using the kitchen for his catering jobs; he talked to him about it at T.K.’s party. The place would have power, it’d be empty and it’s not far from there. “You’re a good cop, Carlos.”
Tommy, Nancy and a barely-conscious T.K. are forced into the dining area of the restaurant and sit at a table. Amy tells them to stay put, keeping the gun aimed at them. Chris tells Amy they have to get out of there but Amy tells him he can barely walk. Chris points to Tommy, saying this is her husband’s restaurant, and everybody in the world is going to be looking for them. Chris says they’re going to take one of them with them. He points to Nancy, telling her to get up and get her stuff, because she’s coming with them. Nancy starts to get up but Tommy tells her no, they don’t want her. She tells them to take her, because Nancy isn’t the one that worked on him, she is. He needs her. Fine, she’s hired. Tommy says she’ll go on one condition. The other two stay there, unharmed. “Or you may as well shoot me now.”
Chris asks Tommy if she has a walk-in pantry and Tommy nods her head, saying it’s in the back. He tells Amy she locks them in and barricades the door, and get the hell out of there. Amy goes over to Nancy and T.K., telling Nancy to go. Tommy, meanwhile, is holding a syringe as Nancy is trying to get T.K. up. While Amy’s distracted with T.K., Nancy hits her with some wood and Tommy sticks a syringe into Chris’ neck. Nancy keeps Amy on the ground and T.K. kicks the gun out of the way. Chris aims his gun at Tommy but he gets shot instead, thanks to Owen. Carlos rushes over to T.K as Tommy tells Nancy to get her some Narcan and call another ambulance for Chris. “He’s not getting another ride in mine.”
Outside, Gabriel praises Owen for what he did but Owen tells him the only reason anybody got through the door is because of that brave officer right there, pointing at Carlos at T.K.’s side as he’s taken into an ambulance. “He’s an impressive guy.” Gabriel goes over to Carlos, mentioning he thought he told him to stay put. He went with his gut. “Good for you.” Gabriel’s proud of him. He then asks Carlos if he’s going to ride with his boyfriend. He knew since the day they ran into them at the market, and he expects a proper introduction next time. Carlos thinks his father is really going to like him. He already does. “My son has got great instincts when it comes to people.”
While driving down the highway on a rainy night, Judd and Grace are discussing what Judd’s father is going to ask when they get there, like when they’re going to be ready to give him some grandbabies. Judd thinks it’s about time they give him some. They hold hands, Judd telling Grace that the Lord knows he’s not getting any younger. Suddenly, headlights are shown in their direction and a car honks its horn right before the car crashes through the railings on a bridge and into the water below.
And with that heartbreaking cliffhanger, the first half of season 2 of 9-1-1: Lone Star is completed. Sadly, the series won’t be back until April 19, so we have six weeks until we find out what happened to Judd and Grace. But the first season and the first eight episodes of season 2 are streaming now on Hulu. Catch the return of 9-1-1: Lone Star on Monday, April 19 at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on FOX.
