9-1-1 Lone Star Recap: “A Bright and Cloudless Morning” (S3E18)
By Distributel
Spoilers ahead!
We start off with what happened at the end of last week’s episode. Judd goes into a building to plead Wyatt’s case with the tech founder, who is berating a small group of app developers. As Judd takes the blame for Wyatt’s previous bad interview performance and the tech founder treats people badly, the security and gas guys downstairs cause an explosion and the building partly collapses.
In a flashback, young Captain Owen Strand is in bed with his then-wife Gwyn. He wants to remain, but she tells him he can’t hold on to a moment forever. He looks out the window and looks upon the twin towers.
In the present, Owen is in his oncologist’s office. She’s pointing out a spot on his lungs that she wants to get biopsied. He’s clearly terrified that his cancer has returned.
At the firehouse, TK is whining that he caught Carlos updating his will. The firefighters are incredulous that TK doesn’t have a will himself, particularly given that in the past few years he’s been shot and nearly died of hypothermia. Owen arrives and admonishes TK for not having a will, telling him that grownups should have one. Captain Tommy Vega, suspecting that something is up with Owen, tries to get his news out of him but is unsuccessful.
Wyatt is put through to 9-1-1 dispatch. Grace takes over the call when she hears his name.
At the building collapse, Judd takes over the situation, telling everyone that he’s a firefighter. Grace calls him and he updates her on the situation. They find one of the app developers crushed under some concrete and the guy expires.
The 126 arrives on the scene and Owen is clearly reminded of 9/11. Grace patches Owen through to Judd, and the three of them come up with a plan to get the civilians down from their partly collapsed area to a garden on the second-floor roof. Judd has rebroken his leg though, so the remaining developers have to help him move.
On the ground, Tommy treats Wyatt, who tells Owen about the gas and security guys he saw. Owen surmises that they may be alive, so he leads a team in to get them. They find the security guard, whom they save. Mateo helps the man to safety, leaving Owen alone after some argument. As the survivors in Judd’s group hustle down the stairs and Mateo helps the security guard to safety, Owen triggers another explosion from leftover gas in the structure’s air pockets.
Owen wakes up trapped in a small space. He’s with a pinned man. After some talk, Owen realizes the man is a police officer he couldn’t save on 9/11. The officer asks him why he keeps a chunk of the south tower on his desk and why he can’t let go.
We see a bright light and Owen wakes up in a hospital bed. He’s surrounded by his team. But his ex-wife Gwyn is there, and he realizes this isn’t real either. Gwyn tells him that he needs to go forward in life, not back.
Owen wakes up on the scene to his team saving him. In the hospital, TK tells Owen that the doctors found a spot on his lungs. Owen knows, of course. When TK starts crying, saying he can’t go through this again, Owen points out that he, Owen, will be the one going through it. He then tells TK that no one gets to decide whether or not he gets cancer, and that we make a will because then the moment will be taken care of and we’re free to live.
Still awake much later at night, TK wakes up Carlos and tells him he wants to write a will, but it would be simple because he’ll just leave everything to his husband. The two resolve to marry.
At the hospital, Owen tells Judd that, when the time comes, he’s recommending that Judd take over the 126.
Carlos and TK put out a nicer than usual spread for the weekly 126 hangout and talk about how to break their good news to their friends. However, the nicer than usual spread tips everyone (except Mateo) off, and everyone celebrates.
Owen has lunch with Tommy and breaks the news to her—he has a fungal infection. He’s cancer-free still.
Judd watches Wyatt graduate over FaceTime and celebrates.
Tommy and her girls visit a street fair and get matching unicorn temporary tattoos.
In his office, Owen packs away his piece of the south tower.
Final Thoughts
Carlos waking up and asking if the lizard is back is probably one of the funniest lines this season.
Can Carlos and TK have a wedding without a big crazy disaster that pushes all the guests into hero mode?
Happy endings for all!