9-1-1: Lone Star Season 2 Episode 11 Review: Slow Burn

A serial arson is on the loose!

Owen is the one person who recognizes that there is a serial arsonist in Texas on 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 2 Episode 11, and between the potential culprit knocking Owen out and the authorities eyeing Owen as a suspect, he’s catching it.

Where do we even begin?

The good news is that Owen had his cancer surgery, and he does appear to be in peak health. The bad is that Owen doesn’t know how not to be a firefighter.

He can’t handle a break for anything in the world. Now he’s expected to be out of work for a month? The man has done this for 30 years, and his entire identity is fighting fires.

He doesn’t know what to do with himself in his free time. It’s hardly a shock that he’s taking alternative routes to finagle his way back into the job.

Owen’s listening to a scanner and showing up at the fire scene before the squad did — it was too much. He didn’t even realize how poorly that reflected on him, and it was understandable how an extensive interrogation was in his future.

He also was looking like the Unabomber at both scenes, and I need Owen to help himself out here. Seriously?!

He had a great save the first time around, but the final moment of a mysterious person knocking him out obviously was concerning.

Owen knows how to stress a person out. It sucks that he couldn’t show up at the important dinner with T.K., Carlos, and Carlos’ parents. Owen prioritized finding a serial arsonist and confirming that he was right about the cause of the fire ahead of T.K. and something that mattered to him.

And he’s so laser-focused on this that he’s losing sight of everything. Billy reentering the picture was a pleasant surprise. I hate to hear that he’s battling stage three cancer.

I commend the series for never shying away from the health effects of firefighting on those who do it. It’s tragic how many individuals dedicate and endanger their lives in such a career only to have cases of cancer, or emphysema, or several other issues down the road.

Billy would’ve been a nice sidekick for Owen with his quest, but he couldn’t risk anything that would affect his healthcare coverage and pension.

Owen can’t handle getting benched, but he did have some wise words for Judd about taking up his position as Cap for the short term.

It was a delight to see Judd at the helm. It’s a position he more than earned, and you could tell that despite his hesitancy, he was born for the title.

Judd is a natural leader, and all of this Judd positivity and screentime is enough to make my heart swell.

But Judd is a perceptive one, and he knows that Owen is off. It’s to the point where Judd could barely focus during dinnertime with the Ryders and Vegas without expressing his worries about Owen.

He knew that sit down with the fire inspector didn’t go over well nor paint Owen in the best light. And the voiceover of Judd telling his wife and friends about Owen over Owen behaving every bit as concerning was a great moment.

Judd’s a natural, but he got a tough call with the couple in the truck.

Yet, nothing could prepare for the shocking moment when the man fell to his death nor the repercussions the entire event had on Marjan.

She loves the spotlight, thrills, and the attention from loyal fans, but she never puts those things ahead of saving lives.

My heart ached for her when the deceased’s wife publicly put her on blast. Marjan is typically a cool, calm, and collected person.

And even Judd admitted that she put up a facade and acted as everything that happened rolled off her back. But the more the public dragged her for her actions, the worse off she seemed.

Marjan and Paul’s friendship is one of the highlights of the series, so it only felt natural that he’d be in her corner the entire time and making sure that she was handling things well.

Marjan felt all the guilt and blame, and it had her reevaluating who she was as a person and whether or not she was fit for the job. She also didn’t like the ripple effects of everything on those around her.

The derby club got uninvited from an event because of Marjan going viral. What do you even do during something like that?

The wife was entitled to her grief, and heavens know that it isn’t rational or linear. It’s messy and sometimes leads to tearing other people apart.

Marjan didn’t do anything wrong, but she went down a spiral anyway, and if a grieving wife saw Marjan as Firefox innocently saying hello to a crowd and lost it a bit, that’s understandable too.

It came a bit full circle with Marjan saving her life after her disheartening suicide attempt. It was one of their hardest and bloodiest calls, and the series isn’t afraid to go there with many of their cases.

It still was one of the most disturbing scenes on the show so far, and it didn’t appear as if the woman would even make it no matter what Marjan and Paul did.

Again, those two are like two peas in a pod and make the best team. They work so well with one another, but Paul’s neverending support of Marjan is sweet.

Paul is such a solid, reliable, trusty character. The show is all the better when he’s pushed to the forefront more.

Owen and Marjan did most of the heavy lifting for the hour, but I’m grateful that the show is taking a more balanced approach to its storytelling these days.

The series is going out of its way to explore more of the characters and even the relationships and bonds.

The group of younger fire fam playing a game together was enough to make you smile especially knowing that Nancy is brought into the fold these days.

The Ryders and the Vegas are always golden.

We don’t see Charles often, and yet, I’m still gleeful that he gets to open his restaurant back up, and I’d love to experience his food for myself as it’s all the other rave about, yes?

It was curious that Grace offered to babysit the kids while both Charles and Tommy work when she and Judd also have full-time jobs and a baby on the way.

I wonder when they’ll dig into the baby angle a bit more. Neither of them has spoken about their pregnancy since they found out the news, and it’s hard to gage how they’re feeling about it.

Is Grace excited or scared? What’s going on in Judd’s head? It’s hard to say.

And, of course, Carlos and T.K. are already in some form of domestic bliss, which is adorable as hell.

They’re both in such a good place right now, and it’s what they deserve. We didn’t get much time with either of them, let alone with the pairing together, but what we did get was sufficient.

Maybe that’s another reason why the Owen situation is so hard. T.K. has it all together right now, and he’s content with his life, and in a place he always wanted to be, and Owen is all over the place.

Although, Owen and Mateo, as roommates, remain top-tier.

But yes, Lone Star has a nice rhythm going, and it’s starting to come into itself, and it makes for enjoyable television.

Over to you, Lone Star Fanatics. How do we feel about Owen and the arsonist? Hit the comments below.

You can watch 9-1-1: Lone Star online here via TV Fanatic.

Edit Delete

Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

You can view the original article HERE.