S05.E11: Impact

[bilgistic]

Quote

Owen makes a decision about his future; Tommy receives devastating news; T.K. and Carlos worry about adopting Jonah; Mateo gets his immigration status threatened after an altercation; a doomsday prepper gets trapped in a bomb shelter and the 126 and all of Austin brace for and asteroid crash.

Aired 1/27/2025.

Edited Tuesday at 02:12 AM by bilgistic

[Madding crowd]

If the world isn’t depressing enough! What the hell is wrong with this show. Tommy is dying or dead, TK and Carlos don’t get his brother, Mateo gets deported. Did I miss any other tragedy? If this turns out to be a dream… Since when do they revive someone after a cardiac event and just send him off to a BBQ? 

Edited Tuesday at 03:03 AM by Madding crowd

[txhorns79]

2 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

TK and Carlos don’t get his brother,

I just wanted to remind TK that regardless of whether he is (adopting (I still have no idea why they need to adopt this child, and can't just get a guardianship) and how the process is going to work if the kid is already in Europe in boarding school) his brother, they are still family, as Jonah is his brother.  And here's an idea TK and Carlos, one of you get a job that is more predictable and less intense.  Make a sacrifice for the kid you both claim you so dearly want to adopt. 

And yeah, is Tommy dead now?  That was my takeaway from that scene.  It felt rushed and I felt very bad for her kids.  I care less about Mateo being deported or Owen taking a new job. 

Quote

If this turns out to be a dream…

It does feel like the kind of show that would pull this. 

Edited Tuesday at 05:03 AM by txhorns79

[agathapenny]

I have whiplash. Why am I still watching this train wreck (pun intended) of a season?

The absurdities just kept on coming, and I don't mean just the asteroid.

Didn't we already do the Owen moving to New York thing? And apparently he didn't have a private conversation with his son first, he was just going to tell him at work like all of the other employees? Insane! 

TK and Carlos can't have TK's brother because of their jobs? Nonsense! First responders aren't disqualified from having/adopting children! Utter BS. I'm not even sure why social services is involved. Can't TK's stepdad just give the kid to them? Plenty of grandparents/aunts/uncles etc. are raising kids they didn't give birth to without any involvement from the state, aside from maybe some guardianship papers. It's not like there's someone else fighting to take custody...

The very real and immediate issues with immigration don't seem like something they should shoehorn into the very end of this series, since there is no time to do such a story justice.

Speaking of, Tommy's death was just depressing and seems unnecessary. Her whole cancer story was completely underwhelming. The actor deserves huge kudos, though, for doing a great job with the dreck she was given.

Paul's story was kind of sweet, if brief.

Oh, and that news broadcast was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I guffawed. 

The pacing of this episode (and the whole season) was weird and off.

 

 

[Jillybean]

Please just have the asteroid wipe out the entire 126 as the finale.

Edited Tuesday at 11:11 AM by Jillybean

[gonzosgirrl]

I say this as a person who adores Rob Lowe and never minded him being the hero/hub of the story. WTAF was that opening scene? That was over-the-top, even for this show. I am convinced this whole episode is taking place in Owen's (dying?) brain from whatever happened when he fell to the ground before pushing the Big Red Button™ (me). 

If it's not, and Tommy really died alone (apart from her hallucination) and Theo is getting deported, and ANY child-services worker would see a child in foster care (even if he's at boarding school, SOMEBODY has to be responsible for him), before letting him live with his actual family who wants him? Because they are first responders? Then, a big FU to the entire team behind it. Just, no.

And if it is, then possibly a bigger FU for the sheer laziness of it.

[Madding crowd]

Even the TV broadcast seemed weird; the guy looked and sounded like he was from the 1950’s. I’m half convinced Owen will wake up from a bad dream of all the things that would go wrong if he moved to NY and left his crew behind. 

[NeenerNeener]

5 hours ago, Jillybean said:

Please just have the asteroid wipe out the entire 126 as the finale.

They're sure setting it up to give you your wish!

But yeah, it's probably a fake out and everything will be just fine when it ends next week. Nobody has uttered the fatal words "love letter to the fans" in regards to the finale yet so there's a 50/50 chance we'll get an HEA.

[possibilities]

I was surprised that Owen was no longer bunking with Judd-- one phone call from Grace and he's no longer drinking? I guess they were implying a time jump, but it took a while for them to say that.

And adding the nuclear meltdown (is there a nuclear plant in Austin?) to the asteroid hit... and the asteroid being detected just an hour before it hits? And being announced and live-streamed for mass panic?

The whole thing is absurd even for this show. If it's Owen having a self-aggrandizing dream, that actually tracks with the show's overall tendencies, so maybe that's it. But it's really stupid.

And a nuclear plant meltdown would impact more than just Austin. A burn-it-all-down finale that levels not just the 126, not just Austin, but a much larger swatch of destruction is quite a choice... I guess maybe they are really pissed off about being cancelled? CANCEL US? REAP THE WHIRLWIND!

Edited Tuesday at 04:41 PM by possibilities

[marceline]

I'm just assuming a lot of what we saw is fake. I mean there's no way that newscast happens in the real world. The only question is how much of it is fake.

Part of what I find hilarious is how quickly things happen in this show's version of the world. Matteo gets into a fight, is arrested, and suddenly there's a Federal agent there with deportation papers. No court hearing. No legal counsel. Just "you gotta go but we'll let you go back to work first."

Tommy finds out she has days to live and there's nobody there at the appointment with her. No family member, counselor, or friend from her church. (Or GRACE, but that's a whole other thing.) How did Tommy get to and from her appointment? And don't get me started with how oblivious her daughters were.

Owen gets a job as the new NYC fire chief, somehow manages to keep that a secret, while he's also done an interview with the New York Times. The Times knows he's coming to NY but Austin hasn't announced that he's leaving. No press release. No discussion of how the city is going to fill his position.

Nothing about anything seemed real which makes it kind of hard to invest emotionally. Although Gina Torres is acting her ass off!

[Quark]

This was one of the most bizarre episodes of anything I've ever seen.

[tennisgurl]

If you told me that this was all Owen's last moments before he was kicked in the head by that horse from earlier this season, it would make more sense than anything we just saw. Is the show going scorched earth (literally) because they're so pissed at being cancelled? Are the writers mixing their antidepressants with Mali? Am I? How is this all happening in one episode before the show ends and why would they want to end it? I would like to imagine that this is all in Owen's mind, but I have a bad feeling that its not, even if it would make more sense. 

The episode felt almost dream like, everything was happening so fast. Asteroid! Nuclear waste! Mateo's being departed! Tommy's on deaths door! Owen's going to New York! TK and Carlos don't get TK's brother...which is probably for the best considering Carlos didn't actually want to adopt a kid out of nowhere, for no reason, this is just insane. Its like the Debbie Downer sketch but played for drama, every bad thing you can imagine is happening with no time to actually deal with any of it. 

Honestly, #teamasteroid. Put this show out of its misery. 

[txhorns79]

3 hours ago, marceline said:

No discussion of how the city is going to fill his position.

In fairness, would filling the chief post at one fire house really merit all that much city discussion?  I'd have to think the fire department has people already that could step in for Owen if he left.  

 

10 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Honestly, #teamasteroid. Put this show out of its misery. 

I would take back much of my hate watching if the show went out by killing the entire cast in a meteor crash. 

[ajsnaves]

1 hour ago, txhorns79 said:

I would take back much of my hate watching if the show went out by killing the entire cast in a meteor crash. 

Just before Tommy’s dead husband showed up I said to my mother, “So is the plan to just kill everybody? ‘Cus I could get behind that.”

 

I stand behind that. 

[threebluestars]

I'm almost expecting Owen to wake up at the end of the next episode and dreamt everything that happened.

Either that or the writers just wrote a big fuck you to everyone.

[Court]

So I know how ridiculous this episode is but I enjoyed the absurdity of thr asteroid, bunker and gen z jackass. That's what I signed up for. I don't care about the rest of the crap. Jonah, cancer, ICE, etc. But hey Charles! 

[possibilities]

Last week they were seeming to try to give everyone a sentimental, sterotypical, hackey, tropey, happy ending. This week they seem to be trying to create the most miserable finale in the hisotry of television.

I'm not going to go into next week with any expectations at all in any particular direction.

[KeithJ]

12 hours ago, possibilities said:

Last week they were seeming to try to give everyone a sentimental, sterotypical, hackey, tropey, happy ending. This week they seem to be trying to create the most miserable finale in the hisotry of television.

I'm not going to go into next week with any expectations at all in any particular direction.

I have this strange feeling that absolutely everything is going to work out next week:

Tommy will not die and will be miraculously cured
TK and Carlos will somehow get TK's brother
Owen will end up not going to NY
Mateo will not get deported and will end up marrying (or at least engaged to) Nancy
Grace will return (a stand in where we only see her from the back)

Don't really have anything for Paul or Marjan though but their stories kinda wrapped up the last couple of weeks.

[iMonrey]

On 1/28/2025 at 9:39 AM, gonzosgirrl said:

I am convinced this whole episode is taking place in Owen's (dying?) brain from whatever happened when he fell to the ground before pushing the Big Red Button™ (me). 

I'll go you one better. I wonder if this entire series has been a dream or hallucination of Owen's. Maybe he's been in a coma ever since 9/11, and everything he's experiencing is in his head. That would explain a lot.

If everyone is panicking and running around looting and jamming the roadways trying to get the hell out of dodge, how the hell is the fire truck able to make it to Doomsday Prepper's house and back again? For that matter, wouldn't the calls to 911 be so numerous nobody would ever get through?

[fastiller]

A friend of mine has a band; they have a song called Bring on the Asteroid.  (Spotify link; it's available elsewhere.)

[gonzosgirrl]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I'll go you one better. I wonder if this entire series has been a dream or hallucination of Owen's. Maybe he's been in a coma ever since 9/11, and everything he's experiencing is in his head. That would explain a lot.

I legit logged in here to say exactly this. You are in my brain! (so, so sorry)

 

[threebluestars]

I'm pretty sure Matteo and Nancy will marry - that would get him a Green Card, wouldn't it?

[eel2178]

5 hours ago, KeithJ said:

I have this strange feeling that absolutely everything is going to work out next week:

The newscasters already did give them a way out: the meteorite breaks up on entry and maybe starts a few small fires and gives people a few small concussions, so the 126 has a little something to do in its last episode. However, the major catastrophe is averted once again, and things are mostly right with the world or at least in Austin.

[iMonrey]

On 1/27/2025 at 11:04 PM, agathapenny said:

TK and Carlos can't have TK's brother because of their jobs? Nonsense! First responders aren't disqualified from having/adopting children!

Not only that . . . if their jobs disqualify them from adopting, then why did the social worker even bother going through the formality of inspecting their home, sitting them down and asking them about their upbringings and TK's history of substance abuse? She seemed so pleasant and upbeat about everything before dropping the bomb that she can't recommend them because their jobs are too dangerous. Surely she knew what they did for a living before she even got there! And, this show notwithstanding, an EMT's job isn't really all that dangerous.

(That said, I wanted to slap both TK and Carlos for going on and on about the absurdly dangerous things they go through on a daily basis. Dial it back, kids.)

[possibilities]

6 hours ago, threebluestars said:

I'm pretty sure Matteo and Nancy will marry - that would get him a Green Card, wouldn't it?

Not necessarily.  

https://immigration-lawyers.org/marrying-a-us-citizen/

 

[Attatude]

The episode was so extreme it must be fake.  Social services wants to place children with family whenever possible. As an adult brother with the financial means to care for him, Jonah should automatically go to TK. That is absurd. The rest was preposterous.  I feel cheated.

[agathapenny]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Not only that . . . if their jobs disqualify them from adopting, then why did the social worker even bother going through the formality of inspecting their home, sitting them down and asking them about their upbringings and TK's history of substance abuse? She seemed so pleasant and upbeat about everything before dropping the bomb that she can't recommend them because their jobs are too dangerous. Surely she knew what they did for a living before she even got there! And, this show notwithstanding, an EMT's job isn't really all that dangerous.

Yeah, it was weird how she strung them along like that. 

And even being a Texas ranger (this show not withstanding) is not that dangerous. 

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

(That said, I wanted to slap both TK and Carlos for going on and on about the absurdly dangerous things they go through on a daily basis. Dial it back, kids.)

I kept telling them to shut up through my screen, lol. But really lava bombs? Not so much a typical job risk, any more than the asteroid currently bearing down on them. Is everyone who was involved in those weirdo situations now forbidden to adopt?

[gonzosgirrl]

7 hours ago, eel2178 said:

The newscasters already did give them a way out: the meteorite breaks up on entry and maybe starts a few small fires and gives people a few small concussions, so the 126 has a little something to do in its last episode. However, the major catastrophe is averted once again, and things are mostly right with the world or at least in Austin.

Yeah, and one of those fragments happens to hit some sort of nuclear reactor and Owen hits the button at the last second.

[fastiller]

10 hours ago, gonzosgirrl said:

Yeah, and one of those fragments happens to hit some sort of nuclear reactor and Owen hits the button at the last second.

And another hits Tommy's house.

[KeithJ]

12 hours ago, gonzosgirrl said:

Yeah, and one of those fragments happens to hit some sort of nuclear reactor and Owen hits the button at the last second.

I don't know.  We saw him hit the ground at 1 and getting back up and hitting the button before 0 would be virtually impossible but I wouldn't expect anything else from this show.

[marny]

On 1/29/2025 at 11:52 AM, iMonrey said:

I'll go you one better. I wonder if this entire series has been a dream or hallucination of Owen's. Maybe he's been in a coma ever since 9/11, and everything he's experiencing is in his head. That would explain a lot.

If everyone is panicking and running around looting and jamming the roadways trying to get the hell out of dodge, how the hell is the fire truck able to make it to Doomsday Prepper's house and back again? For that matter, wouldn't the calls to 911 be so numerous nobody would ever get through?

I was literally about to post that this whole show was Owen’s dream while he’s in a coma from 9/11. If 2 of us think this, we’re obviously correct. I mean, otherwise we have to believe in underground volcanoes in Texas and toxic clouds of death that simply… go away. 
 

Also, why are people looting if they’re all going to die anyway? #teamasteroid