This week’s 9-1-1: Lone Star episode reminds us that Owen is very unlucky in love. Meanwhile, Grace is faced with a family emergency and must come to terms with a past judgment she has made.
Let’s talk about “Open.”
Owen Meets His Girlfriend’s … Husband?
Owen is at Kendra’s house, and they are in the bedroom talking about art, pulled muscles, and Owen’s “Mr. October” entry in the 1999 Manhattan Firefighter Calendar. Then, a very happy dog interrupts the couple by jumping into bed. While Owen is loving on the pup, a man named Brett walks in. Turns out, he is Kendra’s husband, and they have a non-traditional marriage: she and Brett both are fine with extramarital activities. Brett shakes Owen’s hand, tells his wife that he loves her, and leaves with Brady, the dog. Owen can’t wipe the shock off his face.
At the 126 firehouse, Brett arrives unexpectedly to retrieve some sunglasses that Owen accidentally lifted. He is still nice and cordial to Owen, who introduces Brett to the firehouse as his girlfriend’s husband. Brett explains to everyone that he and Kendra love each other, “…but everyone knows monogamy is dead.” Mateo exclaims, “Is it?!” And Nancy quickly replies, “No, but you will be…” After Brett leaves with his sunglasses, Judd commends Owen’s ability to date someone whose husband is in the next room. Owen makes it very clear that he is not okay with the situation and that he will never return to Kendra’s house again.
An hour later, Owen is at Kendra’s house again. A 9-1-1 call came in from the residence, and the 126 see Brett pinned under a car’s wheel. He explains that he was rotating Kendra’s tires for her, and the car must have slipped off the jack. While Tommy, Nancy, and T.K. work to stabilize Brett, the 126 prepare to lift the car off of his arm. They are successful and then load Brett into the ambulance. Just then, Kendra arrives to the scene and runs to Brett. Owen stops to give her an update on his health, but she runs past him and goes to her husband. There is a heartbreaking look of understanding on Owen’s face.
A few days later, the team arrive at the firehouse to an impressive sushi display. Kendra wants to thank Owen and his team for saving her husband’s life. While the team load up on sashimi and sea urchin, Owen pulls Kendra aside to talk to her. He tells her that he cannot get over the fact that she is married, and even though she and Brett have an understanding between them, she really should have told Owen about their arrangement before they started dating. Kendra agrees with him and apologizes for misleading him. She admits that their marriage is dead, and meeting Owen has made that very obvious to her. Owen tells her that he sees the love between them and that their marriage may not be as dead as she thinks it is. They agree to call things off between them, for now.
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Later, Brett is home from the hospital and about to step into his cryo-sauna. Kendra tells him that he isn’t physically ready for the intense experience, but Brett disagrees. He then tells her that he is angry at her for breaking their number one rule about their marriage arrangement: never get attached to another person. He knows Kendra is attached to Owen, and he tells her that Owen dumping her is what she deserved and that he hopes it stings. (Ouch, Brett!) Kendra tells her husband she hopes he freezes to death in the cryo contraption.
A 9-1-1 call comes in, and the caller says that she thinks her husband has frozen to death. Sure enough, the call came from Kendra, and she explains to Owen and the others when they arrive that, when she returned from her run, she found Brett frozen solid in his cryo machine. The guys lift Brett out of the machine and lay him on the floor. Because Tommy and her team are not on site yet, Owen starts compressions. Unfortunately, Owen’s first compression punches through Brett’s chest like a frozen bag of vegetables. Brett is clearly beyond recovery.
Later, Owen offers to let Kendra stay at his house in the guest bedroom, so she won’t be alone. She takes him up on his offer, and as they’re sitting on his couch, Kendra confides in him the argument she and Brett had before he died. Owen tells her that nothing was her fault and that she has nothing to feel guilty about. Just then, Owen receives a call from Gabriel. Gabriel informs Owen that the preliminary toxicology report on Brett came back, and it showed that he had a neurotoxin in his system. “He was poisoned,” Gabriel tells Owen. “We’re officially investigating this case as a homicide. Just thought you should know.”
Grace Struggles with the Past
At Grace and Judd’s home, Grace’s parents are visiting. They are complimenting Grace on the roast dinner she just served them while Charlie is in the middle of the group, coloring and playing. There is obvious tension between Grace and her father, Benjamin, stemming from his extramarital affair when Judd found him in a motel room with another woman many months ago. We learn that Benjamin and Denise don’t get to see Charlie very often, and they offer to babysit her any time she and Judd need them to. Grace declines the offer.
After dinner, Grace and Judd are cleaning up the kitchen. Judd confronts Grace about her cold attitude toward her father. She tells him she can’t forgive him for what he did to her mother and does not want him around Charlie. She tells him that every time she is around her mother and doesn’t tell her about what her father did, she feels like she is lying to her mother, too. Judd reminds her that, while he did something horrible, he repented for it. He tells her that she should either confront him about her feelings or leave it up to God and drop the judgment.
The next day, Benjamin and Denise arrive to babysit Charlie. While Denise tends to Charlie in her bedroom, Grace takes the opportunity to confront her father. He thanks her for letting him come over to keep Charlie but notices Grace’s hesitance to relax and open up. “It just feels like you don’t want me here,” he says to his daughter. “I do want you here, Dad. Because when you’re here, you’re not out there getting in trouble.” This breaks Benjamin’s heart, and Denise enters the room with Charlie at this moment, preventing the two from continuing to talk about the issue.
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Later, at the 9-1-1 call center, Bree receives a call from Grace’s address. We see Denise kneeling over an unconscious Benjamin, who is lying on the floor. Bree gets Grace’s attention, and Grace takes over the call and tries to give her mother directions for performing CPR. But both women are too distraught to communicate effectively. Grace’s boss then takes the call from Grace and successfully instructs Denise on what to do.
An Unplanned Family Reunion
At the hospital, Denise is having a difficult time coming to terms with the seriousness of the situation. Grace suggests they call her sisters to let them know what is going on, but Denise says that is unnecessary and they’re in Nashville anyway. Then, Benjamin’s doctor informs Grace, Denise, and Judd that he came through surgery well, but it’s just a matter of time now as they wait for him to wake up … if he does at all. This seems to make Denise aware of the gravity of Benjamin’s outlook, and she tells Grace to call her sisters.
Upstairs in the ICU, Grace is standing outside her father’s room. Judd checks in on her and asks her why she isn’t in the room with him. She tells Judd she feels so guilty about the last thing she said to her father about his extramarital affair. She believes she caused his heart attack because she hurt his heart with her words. Judd assures her that it was “60-plus years of bacon and mayonnaise sandwiches” that caused his current situation and not anything Grace did or said. Then, Denise walks up to the couple and tells Grace that she is aware of Benjamin’s actions. He came clean to her and told her the truth, and eventually, she forgave him. And Grace should forgive him, too.
This gives Grace the encouragement she needs to walk up to her father’s bedside. She holds his hand and starts talking to him, telling him what a wonderful father he has always been to her and her sisters. She brings up the last time she and her sisters sang together, which was three Christmases ago, and how he made them sing “Smile” to everyone who came to the house that day. Grace then starts to sing that song, and she is then joined by her sisters Lisa and Ashley (played by Sierra McClain’s real-life sisters Lauryn and China McClain). The three women give a beautiful rendition of the song, and their voices are enough to wake up Benjamin!
Later, Benjamin is fully awake and free from the ventilator. Judd announces to everyone in the room that they have a visitor, and before Charlie’s two aunts can whisk her away from her father’s grasp, Grace places Charlie in her grandfather’s arms. Grace then promises Benjamin they will make up for the lost time between them.
9-1-1: Lone Star airs on FOX on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Stay tuned for our continued coverage on the series, including episodic recaps and more!
