I’m going to level with you, TV Fanatics.
The best part about writing about television is pouring my heart out about my favorite series and characters and all the creative, exciting, and entertaining things that happen with them.
But do you want to know what the worst part is?
It’s the cancellations of those shows, with the caveat that they sting more when the finales are upsetting.
Will 9-1-1: Lone Star Join a Series of Other Shows with Terrible Endings?
If you are familiar with my work over the years at TV Fanatic, you’d know that I’ve experienced this more than I would have ever imagined.
I cannot properly describe the animosity that still fuels me at the mention of New Amsterdam. How could a series I loved so much at the beginning become something I loathed by the end?
In short, a series of poorly executed storylines, cast moves, and other things.
And then there’s In the Dark, a riveting series with a fascinating concept that was the highlight of spring and summer programming. It utterly fell apart in its final season, resulting in one of the most horrific series finales I’ve ever experienced.
I fear 9-1-1: Lone Star is in a similar boat right now.
It hurt my heart to learn that this delightful spinoff would end. Frankly, the moment 9-1-1 moved to ABC, it felt like the Texas version’s fate was written in stone.
9-1-1: Lone Star’s Characters Were the Heart of the Series
Lone Star’s loss hurts because the series bolsters some fascinating, lovable characters who have always oozed potential.
Sure, you’ll always find the fandom joking (or complaining) about how Owen Strand dominates the entirety of the series, but can we take a moment to celebrate the rest of the ensemble?
Characters like Judd, Paul, and Marjan kept me coming back to this series time and again. The series had a great way of introducing these characters as strong archetypes that may warrant some criticism and then building on that from there.
I loved the dichotomy of a character like Marjan, who is so strong-willed, bold, and badass while still being a devout hijabi Muslim whose religion was never willfully treated like a spectacle or something worth mocking.
There are so few positive representations of Muslim characters onscreen. All these years later, we’re still combatting the same tired tropes about them being terrorists at every conceivable turn.
Marjan’s character has always been refreshing and quietly groundbreaking. As the years went on, the focus on her identity became more natural in its integration into the series and its storylines.
9-1-1: Lone Star’s Overt Diversity is More Quietly Revolutionary Than You’d Think
Similarly, Paul faced the same. We don’t have many trans actors onscreen, and they certainly aren’t in prominent roles in the series.
Paul’s trans identity was an important representation of the series, but it wasn’t his entire purpose on the show, and it was always great to see.
Yeah, I came to love the diversity of 9-1-1: Lone Star, not because they went out of their way to promote it but because, as the series naturally progressed with its storylines, these were simply familiar faces who normalized differences.
The characters became so much more than what they looked like and what they represented, but the series also recognized the importance of their representation.
It ensured that audiences connected well with all types of characters while finding ways to subvert some of the most problematic tropes.
What I always loved about 9-1-1: Lone Star that maybe critics who only saw it at its surface may not have grasped is that when presented with wonderfully diverse characters, it ironically stripped the audiences of the need to identify exclusively with who and what they were “supposed to.”
As a Black woman, my favorite character who touched me to my core and I will carry with me for the rest of my days isn’t Tommy (whom I love), Nancy, Paul, or even Grace. It’s the freaking lovable redneck that is Judd Ryder.
He’s my person. When given a series like 9-1-1: Lone Star that gives us such a wide array of characters with great personalities and different paths, it gives us space to appreciate characters we typically wouldn’t have before.
9-1-1: Lone Star’s Progressive Approach to Highlighting Religion Was Rare (and Necessary)
And this ragtag fire family had this wonderful ability to appeal to the masses despite everything.
I also appreciated what the series did regarding its depiction of religion.
It’s a touchy subject these days. Unfortunately, characters of faith are maligned or not even prominent onscreen anymore because of the negative connotations of faith with politics and human decency.
And I get that. Goodness, I do!
But I loved how 9-1-1: Lone Star effortlessly and realistically incorporated it, whether it was Grace and Judd’s contrasting journey with Christianity, T.K.’s casually and easily incorporated Judaism, or Marjan’s Islam.
You don’t see that in shows much anymore, and certainly not fun, diverse series that embrace love and humanity and shut down bigotry. 9-1-1: Lone Star’s effortless depiction of coexistence is something that television needs more of, not less.
With the series loss, we’re truly losing something, and it’s at a time when we need it the most.
The 126’s Massive Appeal Transcended and Pushed Boundaries
Despite all the absurd, ridiculous, outlandish, nonsensical, and batshit storylines and plots that this series has had, there was so much heart, and its presence on primetime television was invaluable.
At the end of the day, when it comes to 9-1-1: Lone Star, I know that the real secret of its success is its great characters.
We’d sit through some of the dumbest shit imaginable because it was the equivalent of using our favorite dolls to enact some of the most bizarre or heartrending plots are imaginative minds could conjure up.
9-1-1: Lone Star is a “characters” show, and the most consistent desire has always been focusing on them more, not less, elevating all of the characters, not just some, and continuing to tell great and entertaining stories with them.
This is why 9-1-1: Lone Star was so special, at least to me. It’s how I’ve had fun not only watching but reviewing this series for so long.
What I could always count on for this series was that the Ryders would always be the heart and soul for me, the found family vibes would carry every installment, and the 126 could always persevere.
An Unsatisfying Final Season Causes Leaves Viewers Conflicted
Sadly, 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 5 hasn’t delivered on that.
Viewers are torn between mourning the loss of this show, but mostly these characters that they love with trying to make sense of an unsatisfying final season.
It’s hard enough when the “powers that be” decide that a show you love is getting the boot. These days, no matter how vocal fans are, saving your favorite series is a pipe dream.
We’ve witnessed that no amount of love, support, outrage, or outspokenness can save a beloved series from the cancellation machine.
From NCIS: Hawaii and Blue Bloods to Magnum: PI and Station 19, these battles almost consistently feel fruitless in the end, and it’s heartbreaking.
But what hurts the most, what truly twists the stake in the heart, is when one can’t even properly enjoy what’s left of the series.
As 9-1-1: Lone Star Fanatics, we went into this season understanding that the cast and crew were unprepared for a cancellation.
As a result, we could grasp that this season would be a difficult one to navigate. How do you have such a short time and episodes to wrap up so many rich stories for these wonderful characters?
Darker Storylines in a Limited Time Frame Affected the Series and Characters
Despite accepting the limited episodes, it has been a difficult season for the series. We started things off with Grace Ryder’s glaring absence, and the remainder of the season has only confirmed how she truly is the heart of the series.
Without Grace, 9-1-1: Lone Star feels soulless, and that carries throughout an unexpectedly heavy and bleak season.
We spent a significant amount of time watching Owen grapple with another devastating loss. And they even treated us to horrific flashbacks to how his brother died and his role in it.
It was incredibly dark, even for this series, and hard to shake, but we still had to soldier on with the remainder of the series, transport Owen to a place of healing, and catapult him into this position of returning to NYC.
The final season finds Judd giving in to his darkest vices as he becomes aimless without Grace. With his darkness, we lose the last vestiges of the Ryders’ compelling family arc as Wyatt seemingly disappears, Charlie gets shipped offscreen, and Judd’s only solace is the bottom of a bottle.
Eventually, Owen supports Judd, but in the final season loses the familial connection that always made this series so great when Judd has no one else to lean on at any point in the season.
Everyone and their storylines are so insular. The interconnection is limited, and the found family falls to the wayside in a series that depends so heavily on it.
The quest to wrap up Carlos’ arc by solving his father’s murder was a compelling high point of the season, but it was also confined to him and T.K. and did nothing to bolster this romantic relationship, which cooled down and practically felt robotic in the final season.
The unresolved nature of their issues lingers, even as we rush through a sudden adoption in a poorly paced arc to give Tarlos a child before the series wraps.
The Final Season Loses Some of What Made 9-1-1: Lone Star Great — The Found Family
Paul, Mateo, and Marjan lacked much development as the season progressed beyond a race for lieutenant. And Marjan’s abrupt marriage to a partner we barely saw felt like an attempt at a happily ever after that 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 5 Episode 11 makes quick work of dismantling anyway.
Nuggets of information about Nancy came out this season, but it’s almost too little too late, especially as she falls into the background again.
Tommy’s arc just goes from sad to more depressing and tragic, with a pointless breakup and devastatingly cruel cancer arc that metastasized so quickly that it never could’ve gotten its proper due and fleshing out, even if we wanted to see it.
It also highlighted some of the season’s biggest pitfalls when she spent much of this arc alienated from the rest of the characters, and all we know of the Ryder/Vega friendship becomes a casualty of Grace’s absence and Judd’s depressing darkness.
When a final season struggles to get to an unwanted finish line, it results in carelessness.
Hurt and anger bleed out in every scene, whether intentional or not, and sometimes, viewers pay the ultimate price for it twice over.
It feels like the writers had to balance the herculean tasks of molding a season after losing a major character, wrapping up storylines for a final season, and mourning the series’s loss.
And the combination hasn’t served the plot or characters we love well.
The Final Season is a Mixed Bag. Is the End a Bittersweet Blessing?
As the season has progressed, it feels like we’re on a fast past to hell for everyone we love, and that’s a particularly bitter pill to swallow when at the heart of this series are the characters themselves.
The desire for happy endings may be foolish or naive, but given the circumstances, it’s not too much to ask.
Even if we don’t have happy endings and there’s a poetic art to a bleaker end, it’s only satisfying if the stories feel fulfilling, suitable to the characters, and have the space to be executed properly.
That isn’t the case with what we’ve seen thus far, and sadly, there’s only one episode of the series remaining.
I don’t begrudge anyone who finds excitement and intrigue in the asteroid disaster, in which we know everyone survives, nor the subsequent meltdown that some characters may not.
And maybe there would be something fitting about 9-1-1: Lone Star’s end if perpetually heroic Owen does sacrifice himself for the safety of his squad and all of Austin.
However, I’m struggling with this final season and seeing the bright spots for a series with characters I love. I don’t see an end that could satisfy me after what all of these characters have endured this season.
Maybe I started the season not wanting to see 9-1-1: Lone Star end, but as dour as it is to express it out loud, I need it to — for the greater good of preserving what remains of what this series meant to me.
Over to you, 9-1-1: Lone Star Fanatics. How do you feel about this series signing off, especially like this? Let’s hear your thoughts below!
