S03.E01: The Big Chill

[jewel21]

Quote

An unexpected arctic cold front brings an ice storm to Austin and a variety of weather-related emergencies. Owen deals with the fallout of the 126 closing, as Tommy, T.K. and Gillian settle into new employment. Judd and Grace prepare for the birth of their first baby.

Airdate: 01/03/2022

[yourdreamer]

Just starting this episode now. But I have to question - what happened to Julie Benz? She does not look like what I remember her from anything from Buffy to Dexter. I recognized the voice immediately and rewound to look at the credits. She looks fine but she just doesn’t look like her. 
 

I hope Billy Burke gets his comeuppance soon and from someone other than Rob Lowe. 

[Riplet68]

Wait, Julie Benz was in this episode?  Who was she?  Wait, the chick who talked to Owen at the beginning?

I just binged previous seasons, I really hope they don’t put Owen and the paramedic captain together. I liked him with the blonde from the first season.

how many times are they going to put pour TK in the hospital.  We don’t know what happened with him and Carlos, right?

I love buttercup

[jewel21]

I love me some Buttercup. 

Nice to see the crew again, even if they are all scattered. I definitely liked this season opener and I'm looking forward to next week. 

I am sad that TK and Carlos broke up, though. 

[Maverick]

 I missed the beginning.   Why are the medics working for someone else, yet still on the same team?

 Given the minor bit Carlos was given in last season's finale, I'm going to assume TK and Carlos broke up over kids, with Carlos wanting them and TK not.  

[Bulldog]

I would love to watch a spinoff featuring a squad where Probie is actually the "best man" on the team.  No doubt, wacky hijinks would ensue. 

[BooksRule]

Somehow, I need to figure out a way to work the phrase 'Rasputin in a man-bun' into a conversation.  That made me laugh.

[EllaWycliffe]

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this but.... I was pretty meh.

Its just so... forced. The Evil Billy Burke ripping apart the firehouse family (which apparently only consists of Strand and his favorites) and of course there's a petty thing keeping Strand away in his cabin in the woods. Of course he can't apologize, of course the fire house will be torn down, of course Billy Burke is now a Deputy Whatever and can continue to grind everyone down... and of course there's gonna be some heroics that unite the "family" and get the fire house back and I just find it all kind of intentionally awkward. I mean, technically, in order to work for a private company, didn't the three paramedics have to *resign* from their civil service firefighter jobs? Of course Marjan is using social media to make a big yet essentially incoherent stink that accomplishes nothing. The only thing we're missing is the 911 operator wife having her baby in the 911 center due to the freeze and I kind of think thats coming, folks. 

Lets just get back to wacky adventures in firefighting. I'm really done with the Evil Billy Burke and how no one sees he's a manipulative bitter ass until too late and his efforts to get rid of Pretty Boy Strand are so blatant and childish and illegal, its getting hard to believe anyone would fall for it. 

I also don't care why Carlos broke up with TK but if I was Carlos, it would be how unstable TK is and how TK is way too into his firefighter family to have a relationship outside the fire house. 

[Msample]

15 hours ago, yourdreamer said:

Just starting this episode now. But I have to question - what happened to Julie Benz? She does not look like what I remember her from anything from Buffy to Dexter. I recognized the voice immediately and rewound to look at the credits. She looks fine but she just doesn’t look like her. 
 

 

I think her hair was darker than her past shows and she was all bundled up in clothes. Plus she had like one scene. 

[tennisgurl]

Of course we must start with our customary "big disaster with a million things going on" that this franchise always has to start with. I would make a job about how next time they'll have a volcano erupt in the middle of the city, but that already happened! Not a bad start though, looking forward to seeing what happens next week. 

Judd and Grace are as adorable as ever, I could watch a whole show just about them preparing to have a baby. Sad that Carlos and TK broke up, although I cant really blame them, with the amount of crap they've already gone through. I am guessing that they will find themselves together though. 

Billy Burke really must have had his brain fried when he got struck by lightning, his motivations are all over the place, but I guess he was like that before the lightning strike. Weirdo. 

Aww Buttercup is such a good doggie. 

Edited January 4, 2022 by tennisgurl

[shapeshifter]

Didn't notice/recognize Julie Benz, but then I was wrapped up in wondering if Rob Lowe is a real life Benjamin Button aging backwards.

Did I miss a deep dive into "previously on 9-1-1 Lone Star"? If not, I needed one.
I needed to be reminded me why they were tearing down the 126 "house"? Was it burned up or exploded or something? 
If so, I guess Marjan's performance art theatrics were just that. But they kept making it sound like tearing down the building had something to do with the 126 coming back from the dead. 
I think I also recall the 126 were going to rebuild it themselves. 
Maybe The Property Brothers follow Majan's Tiktok feed?

[yourdreamer]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Didn't notice/recognize Julie Benz, but then I was wrapped up in wondering if Rob Lowe is a real life Benjamin Button aging backwards.

Did I miss a deep dive into "previously on 9-1-1 Lone Star"? If not, I needed one.
I needed to be reminded me why they were tearing down the 126 "house"? Was it burned up or exploded or something? 
If so, I guess Marjan's performance art theatrics were just that. But they kept making it sound like tearing down the building had something to do with the 126 coming back from the dead. 
I think I also recall the 126 were going to rebuild it themselves. 
Maybe The Property Brothers follow Majan's Tiktok feed?

It was rebuilt but then Billy Burke (evil and newly appointed Deputy Chief) decided to get it closed to save taxpayer money. Of course it was Rob Lowe’s house because he hates that guy and is mad at Judd for staying with Rob Lowe instead of backing him up I believe. It’s all very convoluted. 

[possibilities]

Did I miss the resolution to the story they opened with, with the people who were poaching turtles and found a person trapped in the ice?

[jewel21]

17 minutes ago, possibilities said:

Did I miss the resolution to the story they opened with, with the people who were poaching turtles and found a person trapped in the ice?

Nope, they went back in time like 8 hrs. Maybe next episode we'll catch up to that scene. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

Did I miss the resolution to the story they opened with, with the people who were poaching turtles and found a person trapped in the ice?

OK, this really pissed me off. I spent the whole hour waiting for them to get back to the boy under the ice. Yes, I understand they did a time jump back, which is an over-used storytelling gimmick these days, but if they weren't even going to circle back to that during this whole episode they shouldn't have started out with that. They could easily have started with something that happened in this episode, like the homeless shelter caving in, or Marjan's car going off the road, or Owen finding that body. 

Also, when they were going back in to try to rescue the volunteer who was trapped in the wreckage, bringing in the parents to beg the firefighters to save their little girl was overkill. I mean, who the hell even called them before anyone even knew anything? The situation is already dialed up to eleven, it didn't need the extra angst of the grieving parents standing there wringing their hands. It's not like we know any of them.

Edited January 5, 2022 by iMonrey

[EllaWycliffe]

Were they poaching turtles? I kind of thought they were rescuing them from the cold D:

 

[Nialla]

43 minutes ago, EllaWycliffe said:

Were they poaching turtles? I kind of thought they were rescuing them from the cold D:

 

Yes, that was a real thing during "Snovid" last year. Turtles were stunned by the cold, and people were taking them to, for lack of a better term, turtle shelters.

I only recall seeing that on the coast, but probably happened elsewhere too. It was just such a massive thing on the coast, so that's what was being reported.

[Nialla]

21 hours ago, Maverick said:

 I missed the beginning.   Why are the medics working for someone else, yet still on the same team?

 Given the minor bit Carlos was given in last season's finale, I'm going to assume TK and Carlos broke up over kids, with Carlos wanting them and TK not.  

Some cities contract with private companies for ambulance service. I usually hear about it as covering an entire city, but in a major metropolitan area, I could see them hiring a private company to serve a specific area.

It was said that their temporary posts would now be permanent, but I don't think a city employee can be posted to a private company. Not sure how that works, but I'll hand wave it as the district the company serves had openings, so the City transferred them. Depends on the contract whether they're considered City employees or not, but if they're not, that could affect a lot of stuff, such as their own health insurance, retirement funds, etc. A lot of cities use the same retirement system, so it transfers with the job if you move to another municipality.

I also think kids might be the issue with TK and Carlos. TK may not be comfortable with the idea of that level of responsibility, but I'm thinking Baby Ryder may change his mind.

[sadie]

Can we just get a show with Owen in the woods with Buttercup! Damn Rob Lowe just gets hotter and hotter, the cowboy hat was working for him. Yes, I’m in the shallow end of the pool but Lowes attractiveness is soooo distracting! ❤️

[possibilities]

I'm all for that show happening, especially if it gets him off of this one.

I do think the scruff improves him. He looks less artificial when he's with Buttercup in the snow.

 

[MrPissyPuppy]

I'm pretty sure the furniture store guy who opened up his business to people needing shelter was based on "Mattress Mack" (real name Jim McIngvale) who opened up his stores during several storms in Texas in the past few years.  

https://people.com/human-interest/mattress-mack-opens-mattress-stores-again-texas-winter-storm-snow-houston-those-in-need/

[possibilities]

I thought they were going to break into the fire station, and use it as a shelter (and thus get publicity for not demolishing it). But the furniture store was one of the more realistic things this show has done, and I like that the story comes from a real thing.

[preeya]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I thought they were going to break into the fire station, and use it as a shelter (and thus get publicity for not demolishing it). But the furniture store was one of the more realistic things this show has done, and I like that the story comes from a real thing.

I thought the same thing about the firehouse, and I'm still wondering why they didn't use it or both.

Shelter is shelter especially in times when emergency conditions exist.

[anna0852]

Is the firehouse structurally sound? Is there clean water? Heat? Electricity? Food storage? Have dangerous item been removed? 

All this has to be taken into account. 

[Bruinsfan]

Yeah, basically almost any large building that hasn't been left abandoned for months after burning down would be a better temporary shelter than the firehouse. It wouldn't have anything like unstable walls covered in the vaporized remains of Owen's emergency work stash of hair product and exfoliant scrub for the refugees to deal with. The furniture store is just optimal because it has lots of beds and other comfy furniture.

[torqy]

No one caught the sly dig at CBS News? "Major Garrett"??

Guess it's true...only us geezers watch that news show.

[Jillybean]

I don't know that I've seen Julie Benz in anything, but if she's the chick who was talking to Owen, my thought was "that actress looks familiar, and as though she's had some work done."

The furniture store storyline reminded me of Mattress Mack and I assume that's what it was based on.

[meatball77]

Julie Benz is just a terrific actress.  She has always been able to turn herself into completely different people.

[Tdoc72]

On 1/5/2022 at 8:34 AM, sadie said:

Can we just get a show with Owen in the woods with Buttercup! Damn Rob Lowe just gets hotter and hotter, the cowboy hat was working for him. Yes, I’m in the shallow end of the pool but Lowes attractiveness is soooo distracting! ❤️

Although I’m a Judd girl 😍, the mountain man/ cowboy thing really worked for Rob. 

[Raja]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:44 PM, Maverick said:

 I missed the beginning.   Why are the medics working for someone else, yet still on the same team?

 Given the minor bit Carlos was given in last season's finale, I'm going to assume TK and Carlos broke up over kids, with Carlos wanting them and TK not.  

 

On 1/4/2022 at 6:20 PM, Nialla said:

Some cities contract with private companies for ambulance service. I usually hear about it as covering an entire city, but in a major metropolitan area, I could see them hiring a private company to serve a specific area.

It was said that their temporary posts would now be permanent, but I don't think a city employee can be posted to a private company. Not sure how that works, but I'll hand wave it as the district the company serves had openings, so the City transferred them. Depends on the contract whether they're considered City employees or not, but if they're not, that could affect a lot of stuff, such as their own health insurance, retirement funds, etc. A lot of cities use the same retirement system, so it transfers with the job if you move to another municipality.

I also think kids might be the issue with TK and Carlos. TK may not be comfortable with the idea of that level of responsibility, but I'm thinking Baby Ryder may change his mind.

Some google -fu says that Austin's setup is not the same as LA City and that EMS is run by an independent county agency not part of the fire department. That sort of goes with the paramedic captain taking over on medical calls they gave us in the first season.

Then again the paramedics on the mothership 9-1-1 act like Los Angeles County Firefighter/Paramedics  and not like the City fire department that they are said to be part of where the roles are more specialized even if many firefighters  have EMS or less than paramedic training.

Maybe changing up to more authentic gives the producers more access to equipment and support from Austin if they film there.

[mojito]

I saw an interview with one of the cast members about the shooting of these scenes. They did it in LA in what she said was 95-degree weather. Then I watched the show.

Some of the scenes reminded me of old TV westerns where they shot in the day and used dark filters to make it look like night. You could see sun streaming through trees. In this episode, you could see sun although it was snowing and there was at least one scene as you could clearly see that the characters cast shadows. As well, Paul and Nancy were both sweating profusely.

I was not impressed by the "danger" and "tension" of this episode. Maybe I'm 9-1-1 weary.

[mojoween]

On 1/4/2022 at 8:17 PM, iMonrey said:

Yes, I understand they did a time jump back, which is an over-used storytelling gimmick these days

Holy hell 9-1-1 both recipes are just the WORST with this.  It’s not cute when you do it every other week, Ryan.