S02.E14: Dust To Dust

[jewel21]

Quote

Owen and the members of the 126 race into action when a massive dust storm engulfs Austin.

Airdate: 05/24/2021

[EllaWycliffe]

Speaking as someone who has lived through a LOT of dust storms/haboobs, I love 911 Lonestar but this was completely silly and overwrought. Granted, the mid air plane collision was cool. 

Eta - also kinda tired of the Other Cancerous Captain twirling his evil mustache and ruining everything. I dont mind if he hates Strand, but good lord, do we have to do this plot again?

Edited May 25, 2021 by EllaWycliffe

[toodywoody]

The writers clearly never lived in West Texas. Haboobs happen at least once a year. Yes there is damage but this was just catastrophe.

I don't understand the other captain. Next season will be loaded with Owen sweeping in and saving the firehouse.

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, EllaWycliffe said:

kinda tired of the Other Cancerous Captain twirling his evil mustache and ruining everything. I dont mind if he hates Strand, but good lord, do we have to do this plot again?

Seriously. And it looked to me like Billy Burke was thinking the same thing times a thousand. I can imagine him thinking to himself that he really should have taken at least one romcom lead before he got type cast.

Edited May 25, 2021 by shapeshifter

[DavidWeis1]

Did I miss something? Why did/does Owen think he and the Billy Burke character are friends, just because of being firefighters or cancer or what? In my book, I have seen when Billy Burke screw Owen at least twice. (Yes, I saw Owen punch him at the end … but that was at the end.)

Edited May 25, 2021 by DavidWeis1

[Lady Calypso]

So...this was a dramatic episode, I guess. I'm still in disbelief that the tiny plane could collide with the bigger plane and have survivors at all, but I guess we're supposed to believe that it was just a bump in the air and them just happening to crash in the same place.

I will say, this is the VERY first episode where Mateo was competent from beginning to end. Yes, they've managed to not make him into being a bumbling idiot while saving lives. And I felt bad for him having a shitty replacement captain. 

Not too much else happened here, besides the Major Dust Storm Crisis. Tommy debated on leaving and decided not to because her girls encouraged her to keep her job, Judd, Marjan and Paul are working at the same firehouse, and the 126 is being shut down (for probably only an episode or two; we know Owen will bring them back together). And is Owen REALLY surprised at Lightning Struck Billy having nefarious reasons for taking the job? He has literally betrayed you before. Just because he helped with the arsonist case, it doesn't mean he still isn't a shady ass person. 

Grace going back to work was satisfying to watch. I laughed at her response to seeing the manual for someone being buried alive.

[CatLady]

It is odd.  I felt little suspense in this season finale.

The midair crash was a little unbelievable in that most of those types of accidents cause explosions from the jet fuel.  I don't think I've ever heard of a midair collision that had survivors-ever.

It was amazing that the jerk, abusive captain could not ever see how much Chavez accomplished in the crisis and how well he did it.  To me, there is no place in the First Responder world for people such as this captain.

Ah how did Billy wrangle Owen's job right out from under him?  And what a total jealous loser he is.  Sorry Billy, you seem to be forever type cast as the bad guy.  Bad guys make stories interesting but now every time I see BB's face I know he will be the villain in the story.

Finally, how silly is it to think the airport had no long range weather warnings of a huge dust storm?  The newly minted pilot had just taken off seconds before the warning to him came.  Also does Austin have no radar?  So the ATC knew the storm was there but not a huge plane so close by?  Makes no sense or the ATCs of Austin should be fired.

[DearEvette]

Sigh  I am pretty disappointed in this finale, TBH.

Do we really need Billy as an evil protagonist who constantly back stabs Owen?  This show doesn't need that type of character. 

Owen is sucking the all the air out of the show.  We barely see any real rescues (this episode excepting). And when we do, Owen has to be in the central focus.  I can't think of the last time the other firefighters got to really shine during a rescue (yes, we know Marjan is Firefox!).  But Owen... well here he comes to save the damn day.  The early parts of this season were sucked up by his baby drama.  Then after that was over, he comes galloping to the rescue to shoot a kidnapper.  And then blessedly we got a reprieve because the show got to focus on Judd and Grace, arguably the best characters in the show.  But then we are back to Owen hogging the limelight, with his arson investigation.  He even had to go and save TK and Carlos.  It would have been nice to show TK and Carlos ingeniously saving themselves.  And of course he had to be Tommy's hero, striding in to stand down S.W.A.T. police and usher her to safety  And now we get the whole Billy thing which seems to be driven by his envy of... yup, Owen.

For me the strongest episodes have been the ones that didn't focus on him, namely the Grace and Judd episode and yes, the Tommy episode even though he figured in it.

At least this episode did Mateo a solid and showed him being competent and willing to take some shit knowing it was temporary.  And I will say this season has been a good one for Nancy, she got to shine a bit and we got to know her more.  And finally, the other 911 operators speak!  Hopefully they'll get fleshed out more next season.  But the rest of the cast have really been shoved to the background most of the season.

At this point I am watching for Grace, Judd and Tommy.

[tennisgurl]

It was nice seeing Mateo get a win, even if his useless new captain cant even acknowledge how much good work he did. He has been written lately especially as being such a derp it was good seeing him show a lot of competence and getting credit at least from his friends. 

So much drama this episode, and yet it felt a bit by the numbers. For our big disaster this week we got a dust storm because...they already had a volcano explode so they needed to top that somehow. Granted I don't know much about dust storms, but aren't those decently common in Texas? At least they aren't totally unknown, so you would think Judd at least would know what to do during one or even what it was, or that people would have known it was coming in a bit of advance, but drama gonna drama I guess. The mid plane collision was kind of cool at least, although I cant imagine anyone could have actually survived that. 

I wish they would just pick a lane with Billy, is he a villain or not? I usually like the friendemyship between him and Owen, but I wish they were either more consistent about it or they would have Owen being more aware of how Billy can be. 

Nice seeing Grace back at work, of course everyone missed her like crazy, and very glad that Tommy is back at work with her kids approval. They're lucky they have Grace and Judd around to help out, because Grace and Judd are so awesome they can even make horrible situations like this better. 

[cardigirl]

I've enjoyed many of the episodes this season, but watching this last couple of episodes I was struck by the woodeness of expression from the young girls playing Tommy's daughters. They're frightening. At first I thought it was just the delivery of a line or two, but every single line is delivered without much emotion. Not sure what's up there. 

Sorry, maybe it's just me, but surely they could find some kids a bit more lively to play those roles? /bitchsession. 

I thought the show really came into it's own this season, even with the grandstanding that Owen tends to do. The episode with Grace and Judd was a fantastic hour of television, and last week's episode was well-done too. Looking forward to another season. Hope they get their station back. 

[EllaWycliffe]

On an aside, I wish they'd ease off on the "older gruff white captain hates Newbie who is some sort of minority" plot. I know firefighters like to tease the new ones and have some hazing stuff, but is Matteo still a probie after almost two years? 

And not taking the new guys on actual fire calls just seems kinda stupid.

[bilgistic]

Even if Billy is going to be a "deputy captain" or whatever, wouldn't he have to be clean shaven and have a short haircut? Isn't there a universal rule that firefighters and police officers can't have facial hair below the top lip nor hair below the collar? I know it's a dumb thing to focus on and I shouldn't expect reality from this show, but AFAIK, that's a hard line. Source: father was a cop and ex-BIL was a firefighter/paramedic.

[shapeshifter]

I appreciate the way they conveyed that Tommy's kids were smitten with Carlos with just a few seconds of screen time. It seemed believable and adorable.

[anna0852]

I was so happy to probie competently running the scene til more hands arrived!

[GodsBeloved]

3 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I appreciate the way they conveyed that Tommy's kids were smitten with Carlos with just a few seconds of screen time. It seemed believable and adorable.

I wish they would give him cop stories because it's feeling like he's shoehorned in just because. Also the idea that Tommy would leave her children with someone we haven't seen her develop a relationship with had me rolling my eyes. It's like this episode of Fraser where he met this woman and was going on a first date with her. She gets called into work and she asks Frazer, a man she just met to watch her daughter. 

Overall I enjoyed the finale. I was glad to see Mateo being able to handle the crisis. Grace's call creep me out so I was very happy that the caller was able to dig herself out.

[saber5055]

Wondering how much that gigantic pile of take-out food cost and what happened to it after the dust cleared.

People in elevator couldn't tell they were being soaked in jet fuel? ("Something in here is giving me a headache.") Okay then.

Owen better stick around for next season because for sure most of Austin will burn down and multiple people will die if he leaves.

I do like this show. Really!

[possibilities]

I think the people in the elevator didn't know there had been a plane crash, so they knew it was chemicals, but didn't make the guess that it came from an airplane. How many people have ever smelled jet fuel, and would recognize it without a hint that there had been a plane around?

When I saw the "promoting Owen" story, I thought Lowe might be leaving, and they were promoting him to give him a plausible way out-- and then Judd would become Captain of the 126. I was all on board for that! But I guess that's not happening, because they need him to stay and save them all from the evil serial betrayer. 

Loved seeing Mateo be competent. He was competent at home a few weeks ago, when his stupid roommates were setting their house on fire, too. I think his problem is that he doesn't do well when he's around people he considers his superiors, so he gets nervous and loses him brains. It seems like when he's alone, or surrounded by people who are clearly fuck ups or who just don't judge him, he does great. It makes sense. If he's been dyslexic all his life and apparently never got proper diagnosis and support before, he's probably spent his entire life feeling like people think he's stupid and then believing it. But once he clears his mind of that, he does great.

The woman who was buried alive and dug herself out, then being greeted by her husband in a rude way.... I think they thought it was funny that her spouse was an asshole, but I didn't. I hope she divorces him. 

I don't think Carlos was a stranger. He was TK's partner. I don't think it's a stretch to trust the partner of a close associate to babysit your kids for a few hours. 

The last thing you want to do in a dust storm is scream, right? Close your mouth. Cover your face. Everyone running and screaming seemed stupid to me. Also, the new pilot arguing with ATC annoyed me. It's an emergency. Tell the pilot there's an emergency and what he should do. Don't give cryptic instructions and then have someone argue. Why does TV like that dynamic so much? It makes everyone look ridiculous. I'm definitely a cranky bitch, though. I acknowledge it makes many things, including TV watching, dicey.

I am still sad about Tommy's husband, and 2 weeks after the death of a spouse is nothing in the getting over it timeline. So I think Tommy still crying is totally reasonable.

 

[Bruinsfan]

It really would have been better if the dust storm had been treated as a complication rather than a surprise natural disaster, and the plane crash had been due to some unrelated cause that didn't involve Austin's ATC being completely unaware of current weather conditions and losing track of a commercial jetliner flying through their holding pattern.

Tim, I get that you and the writing staff live in Los Angeles where it's sunny and dry like 300 days a year and Fire Season can pop up suddenly, but those of us who live in locales with actual weather don't just stand frozen slack-jawed in amazement when a storm blows up. Even tornadoes don't come with only 10 seconds of warning. That's earthquakes and meteor impacts, and I think the parent show has dibs on them.

Carlos being a hit with Tommy's kids is making me dread surrogate baby drama for him and TK next year. What's an active duty policeman doing babysitting kids when there's a Dustpocalypse with planes falling out of the sky and crowds of injured people panicking, anyway?

[sempervivum]

Also, did I just imagine this? Were they really playing 'The Chain' during the 'lets save the city money and demo the 126 station ourselves!' scene? What a very odd song choice, if so. ('If you don't love me now, you will never love me again; I can still hear you sayin' that you'd never break the chain')

[shapeshifter]

21 minutes ago, possibilities said:

When I saw the "promoting Owen" story, I thought Lowe might be leaving, and they were promoting him to give him a plausible way out-- and then Judd would become Captain of the 126. I was all on board for that! But I guess that's not happening, because they need him to stay and save them all from the evil serial betrayer

Loved seeing Mateo be competent. He was competent at home a few weeks ago, when his stupid roommates were setting their house on fire, too. I think his problem is that he doesn't do well when he's around people he considers his superiors, so he gets nervous and loses him brains. It seems like when he's alone, or surrounded by people who are clearly fuck ups or who just don't judge him, he does great. It makes sense. If he's been dyslexic all his life and apparently never got proper diagnosis and support before, he's probably spent his entire life feeling like people think he's stupid and then believing it. But once he clears his mind of that, he does great.

The woman who was buried alive and dug herself out, then being greeted by her husband in a rude way.... I think they thought it was funny that her spouse was an asshole, but I didn't. I hope she divorces him. 

I don't think Carlos was a stranger. He was TK's partner. I don't think it's a stretch to trust the partner of a close associate to babysit your kids for a few hours. …

Hah! Billy Burke has a new AKA: Evil Serial Betrayer  
ITA with the rest of your post too, @possibilities!

 

22 minutes ago, Bruinsfan said:

What's an active duty policeman doing babysitting kids when there's a Dustpocalypse with planes falling out of the sky and crowds of injured people panicking, anyway?

LOL. I can fanwank that Carlos only babysat after his shift was over. 

 

[GodsBeloved]

25 minutes ago, Bruinsfan said:

What's an active duty policeman doing babysitting kids when there's a Dustpocalypse with planes falling out of the sky and crowds of injured people panicking, anyway?

That too. 

I really hope they begin to incorporate cop stories otherwise I can see Carlos becoming Major Crimes Rusty level hate for me lol

[t7686]

6 hours ago, cardigirl said:

I've enjoyed many of the episodes this season, but watching this last couple of episodes I was struck by the woodeness of expression from the young girls playing Tommy's daughters. They're frightening. At first I thought it was just the delivery of a line or two, but every single line is delivered without much emotion. Not sure what's up there. 

Sorry, maybe it's just me, but surely they could find some kids a bit more lively to play those roles? /bitchsession. 

I thought the show really came into it's own this season, even with the grandstanding that Owen tends to do. The episode with Grace and Judd was a fantastic hour of television, and last week's episode was well-done too. Looking forward to another season. Hope they get their station back. 

Yeeees! And I say this as a twin, those girls are creepy as fuck. They seem almost… happy their dad died? Sorry to the young actresses but I hope they get recast over the break. 

[Chaos Theory]

I am tired of the firehouse always on the verge of shutting down plot.  

Edited May 25, 2021 by Chaos Theory

[iMonrey]

Quote

I've enjoyed many of the episodes this season, but watching this last couple of episodes I was struck by the woodeness of expression from the young girls playing Tommy's daughters. They're frightening.

Thank you. I have commented before they remind me of the scary twins from The Shining. I think a lot of viewers are willing to overlook sub-par performances because "they're just kids," but that's lazy casting. TV shows have had convincing child actors, even very young ones, since the 1950s. There's really no excuse.

I have to admit, the part with the lady stuck in the storage box had me feeling pretty claustrophobic. That would scare the crap out of me.

[shapeshifter]

30 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

the part with the lady stuck in the storage box had me feeling pretty claustrophobic. That would scare the crap out of me.

I was impressed with her realistic acting. IMDb lists a lot of credits for her, including stage: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0463057/?ref_=tt_cl_t_12

[CoderLady]

9 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Wow.  I had a totally different take on this. 

I didn't think Billy tried to snake the job away from Owen.  I was thinking that the dude that is going to retire wanted to make sure Owen took the job by putting Billy in charge if Owen didn't take that job, and having Billy not reopen that fire station.  Owen would end up taking that job and doing whatever it takes to keep that fire station open, and then Billy would take over that fire station (Owen's old job).

I have a horrible time "reading" into things.  My thoughts on this are most likely very wrong, but I thought I would throw them out there anyway..

Actually, that sounds exactly like the way a retiring Deputy Chief would maneuver his first choice of successor into taking the job based on his knowledge of the two candidates' past histories and personalities. The man ain't no fool.

[Kel Varnsen]

Is Rob Lowe intentionally getting jobs on the 911 shows for his Parks and Rec friends? Because Jerry was on the original 911 a few weeks ago, and now Perd Hapley was the news anchor on this one (and it made it hard not to laugh).

Also I hate elevator danger drama. They are designed to fail so that they don't move and if the cable brakes it activates one of several other safety features. That's why you never hear about people dying in elevator accidents.

On 5/25/2021 at 2:33 PM, sempervivum said:

Also, did I just imagine this? Were they really playing 'The Chain' during the 'lets save the city money and demo the 126 station ourselves!' scene? What a very odd song choice, if so. ('If you don't love me now, you will never love me again; I can still hear you sayin' that you'd never break the chain')

It made me think of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 and made me wonder when Drax would show up to help. And now I really want to watch that movie.

[shapeshifter]

31 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Wow.  I had a totally different take on this. 

I didn't think Billy tried to snake the job away from Owen.  I was thinking that the dude that is going to retire wanted to make sure Owen took the job by putting Billy in charge if Owen didn't take that job, and having Billy not reopen that fire station.  Owen would end up taking that job and doing whatever it takes to keep that fire station open, and then Billy would take over that fire station (Owen's old job).

I have a horrible time "reading" into things.  My thoughts on this are most likely very wrong, but I thought I would throw them out there anyway..

The look on Owen's/Rob Lowe's face while Billy/Billy was drawling out the new plan didn't leave any room for me to speculate that Owen still had a chance to take the job and save the station, but I was hoping it in the back of my mind anyway. But then the punch.

[possibilities]

6 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Perd Hapley was the news anchor on this one (and it made it hard not to laugh)

I had the same reaction. Also: does that guy only play news anchors?

 

[kirkola]

On 5/25/2021 at 2:21 PM, possibilities said:

When I saw the "promoting Owen" story, I thought Lowe might be leaving, and they were promoting him to give him a plausible way out-- and then Judd would become Captain of the 126. I was all on board for that! But I guess that's not happening, because they need him to stay and save them all from the evil serial betrayer. 

 

 

14 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

Wow.  I had a totally different take on this. 

I didn't think Billy tried to snake the job away from Owen.  I was thinking that the dude that is going to retire wanted to make sure Owen took the job by putting Billy in charge if Owen didn't take that job, and having Billy not reopen that fire station.  Owen would end up taking that job and doing whatever it takes to keep that fire station open, and then Billy would take over that fire station (Owen's old job).

I have a horrible time "reading" into things.  My thoughts on this are most likely very wrong, but I thought I would throw them out there anyway..

I am hoping for a bit of both of these.  Owen taking the Deputy Chief job and letting Judd be Captain.  Judd's got the skills to be Captain and Owen has built Judd a top-notch team who will follow Judd.  As I understood it, Billy is retired, so making him a Deputy Chief seems a little out there, but I do get that I don't have any firefighting family members or friends to know the politics of it all.   But if other firefighting TV shows are anything to go by, Deputy Chief can randomly just appear at fire calls anyway. 

Also, it would be nice to get away from the "Owen saves the day" trope we've got going on.  Which, frankly, is one of the better things over on the flagship program.  Captain should direct and lead. 

[Bruinsfan]

I didn't watch the first season of the show—why does Billy have it in for the 126 firehouse? Or is it just a rivalry with Owen and all the firefighters he's known longer are collateral damage?

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Bruinsfan said:

I didn't watch the first season of the show—why does Billy have it in for the 126 firehouse? Or is it just a rivalry with Owen and all the firefighters he's known longer are collateral damage?

IIRC, the 126 was destroyed in some catastrophe of which only Judd and Billy survived. Is that right?

 

It just occurred to me that since we had that other episode in which Billy was faking being evil, maybe he's doing the same thing now? --like he and the retiring Deputy Chief are just manipulating Owen into becoming Deputy Chief. Did Owen punch Billy last time too?

[Kel Varnsen]

3 hours ago, kirkola said:

Also, it would be nice to get away from the "Owen saves the day" trope we've got going on.  Which, frankly, is one of the better things over on the flagship program.  Captain should direct and lead. 

Owen as chief could be good. I would even accept him as a Jimmy James version of a fire chief who spends a massive disproportionate amount of time at one fire house. But it would be nice to go against that annoying trope where a group of people are the best of the best at their jobs, but none of them ever move on to better things.

[possibilities]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

 

It just occurred to me that since we had that other episode in which Billy was faking being evil, maybe he's doing the same thing now? --like he and the retiring Deputy Chief are just manipulating Owen into becoming Deputy Chief. Did Owen punch Billy last time too?

That would be hilarious. I hope that's it. It can be his character's hook. Like Lucy and the football, the 126 always falls for his game. 

[KeithJ]

I'm wondering just how big the life insurance payout was that Tommy thought she could just retire and care for her kids.  When we got our life insurance they said it should be 10x our income.  That would last one of us for a while but no where near long enough that we could just stop working.

[shapeshifter]

10 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

I'm wondering just how big the life insurance payout was that Tommy thought she could just retire and care for her kids.  When we got our life insurance they said it should be 10x our income.  That would last one of us for a while but no where near long enough that we could just stop working.

Did she say she was "retiring"? If not, maybe she was just going to take a year or 2 off. Or, maybe she will "come out of retirement" off screen after the end of the series.

[Bruinsfan]

I'd imagine it would have just been until the kids were teenagers, at that point they wouldn't need a stay-at-home parent. Though I think paramedics hit retirement/pension age after a certain number of years; my best friend is eligible at 52/53, and he's not been in the job since college.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Bruinsfan said:

I'd imagine it would have just been until the kids were teenagers, at that point they wouldn't need a stay-at-home parent. Though I think paramedics hit retirement/pension age after a certain number of years; my best friend is eligible at 52/53, and he's not been in the job since college.

I know this can vary by state, city, and county, but my daughter’s 9-1-1 contract that provides a pension after 20(?) years limits the size of the pension depending upon how many years worked.

[Combo21]

Who else is kinda sick and tired of the probby. He sometimes acts really dumb and annoying. But yeah I'm glad he stepped up

On 5/25/2021 at 1:07 PM, anna0852 said:

I was so happy to probie competently running the scene til more hands arrived!

 

[Bill1978]

I have experienced multiple dust storms in the area I live in and I have never ever felt like I was experiencing a disaster movie like was depicted in this episode. It got to the point where I was thinking are American dust storms different to Australian dust storms. I'm just glad the mid air collision happened to justify some of the chaos show.

On 5/26/2021 at 12:26 AM, DearEvette said:

Owen is sucking the all the air out of the show.  We barely see any real rescues (this episode excepting). And when we do, Owen has to be in the central focus.  I can't think of the last time the other firefighters got to really shine during a rescue (yes, we know Marjan is Firefox!).  But Owen... well here he comes to save the damn day.  The early parts of this season were sucked up by his baby drama.  Then after that was over, he comes galloping to the rescue to shoot a kidnapper.  And then blessedly we got a reprieve because the show got to focus on Judd and Grace, arguably the best characters in the show.  But then we are back to Owen hogging the limelight, with his arson investigation.  He even had to go and save TK and Carlos.  It would have been nice to show TK and Carlos ingeniously saving themselves.  And of course he had to be Tommy's hero, striding in to stand down S.W.A.T. police and usher her to safety  And now we get the whole Billy thing which seems to be driven by his envy of... yup, Owen.

So I just finished binging the first 2 seasons of this show (and the 4 seasons of the original) and I must say this season really has shifted the show from an ensemble show to The Rob Lowe Show. I caught myself while watching this episode saying 'Effin' Rob Lowe here to save the day' multiple times. Honestly I find his character the least interesting out of the ensemble, the writers need to go and rewatch 9-1-1 to realise that every one can have their episode to shine but no one character is really the lead. I would have been happy to see Mateo save those people from the elevator, let him have his moment to shine with out Owen's assist. Same as in the episode where TK & Carlos were trapped in their firey house, why did Owen have to save them? I was looking forward to them jumping out that window and saving themselves. It really is beginning to feel like Lowe has had it written into his contract that he must be the focus and hero of every episode.

A part of me hopes that Owen gets the 126 open again and then becomes Deputy Chief so he goes away and I get to see more of everyone else.