Best finale ever? Best episode ever? If you watched Tuesday’s two-part 9-1-1: Lone Star, we know you’ve got plenty of feelings to sort out — so let’s do it together.
The full-night event got off to a rocky start, with the long-awaited #TarlosWedding being postponed due to an unspeakable tragedy. (More on that later.) It was a character-defining twist of fate for Carlos, who is “never going to be the same,” actor Rafael Silva tells TVLine.
In the end, the finale did give us the wedding we’d been waiting for, even if certain key family members were no longer able to attend.
“It was the last few days of shooting overall, so there were already a lot of emotions as this chapter was coming to a close with another season in the books,” Ronen Rubinstein adds. “It was really special to be able to celebrate so many things with everyone. We shot that for two days, and it was a magical two days.”
The finale also presented a range of developments for #Tarlos’ fellow 126-ers: Wyatt (who survived!) is now recovering at Judd and Grace’s house; Trevor presented Tommy with the possibility of becoming a preacher’s wife, and she did not hate the idea; and Owen made the difficult decision to remain by Robert’s side in his final moments.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Below, Silva and Rubinstein break down the finale’s biggest twists and emotional surprises, then drop a hint about what the viewers didn’t get to see at the #TarlosWedding…
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RANGER DOWN
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fox OK, let’s get the sad part out of the way first. The front half of the finale included the brutal murder of Carlos’ father Gabriel Reyes. It came as quite a shock to the audience, but less so to Silva, who apparently predicted the tragic twist ahead of time.
“I was watching something one night, I turned off the TV, and I just had this thought: What’s going to happen with Carlos later this season?” Silva tells TVLine. “The only thing that could top being held hostage is if he loses somebody. Gabriel immediately came to mind, but I thought nothing of it. Then I was in the gym the next day and got a text from our showrunner [Tim Minear]. He was like, ‘Hey, I want to pitch you something.’ So we started talking, and he brought up how something might happen with Carlos. I was like, ‘Is something going to happen to Gabriel?’ He said, ‘Who told you?’ And I was like, ‘Nobody! I just have my antennae on, I guess.’”
When Minear confirmed Silva’s worst fear, the actor recalls, “I felt my heart drop a little bit. As Rafael, I knew what that meant for me as an actor, to lose [Benito Martinez] as a companion to act with — a friend, truly. But I also felt for Carlos. I immediately felt protective of him, knowing what this would mean. I knew it was going to completely destroy him.”
And destroy him it did. Upon discovering that his father had been investigating corruption within Texas law enforcement and was preparing to testify against some powerful people, Carlos was consumed by the investigation to the point of madness.
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CARLOS’ NEXT CHAPTER
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fox “He’s never going to be the same,” Silva acknowledges. “Carlos has been forever changed. He now lives in a world in which his father has been murdered. Murdered. It wasn’t an accident, there was no attainable explanation, there’s nothing.”
That said, this horrific event could potentially propel Carlos in an exciting new direction, giving him the push he’s been needing to become a detective.
“Detective work is something we’ve touched on, with Detective Washington saying that he has a talent,” Silva says of Carlos. “If I’m digesting it correctly, I think we’re going down the path of asking what it looks like for Carlos to do more investigative work. Does that work? Does that not work? I’m curious to find out.”
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THE VOWS
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fox OK, now for the (mostly) happy part — the wedding! With Paul as their officiant, Carlos and T.K. swapped vows in an elegant, wooded ceremony surrounded by their closes friends and family members.
“With that kind of situation, there’s not much acting involved,” Rubinstein says of the big day. “You’re really living in it. From the environment that was built around us to having everybody there, it was literally like having the whole gang back together. You should have seen that call sheet, it was gigantic.”
As for the big moment, “the words of the actual vows did all the work that I needed them to do,” Rubinstein says. “Sometimes you’re just blessed with that kind of writing. #Tarlos boys have been blessed with that a lot. We’ve had some really incredible storylines.”
Adds Silva: “The words did them justice. I think we both understand where those two characters are coming from. They both understand loss in a very specific and similar way, but also the desire to have the presence of that one person they lost in that moment and not being able to. I think these characters earned that moment. I think everyone has earned that moment.”
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SPECIAL GHOST STAR
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fox Did anyone else start cutting onions at the mere sound of Lisa Edelstein’s voice? Though she couldn’t physically be there, Gwen was present in spirit for a brief, unforgettable moment at the #TarlosWedding.
“I love her so much, and the bond that we created through Gwen and T.K. is really something that I hold very near and dear to my heart,” Rubinstein says of Edelstein. “Having her there, and the words she said to Owen … when I was reading the sides, that was a massive gut punch. It sort of brings everything into perspective when she says, ‘We both saved our boy so he can finally live.’ Obviously she said it much more eloquently. But that little experience was really special, to hug her one more time and thank her for everything — for what she’s brought to the show, to me as a character and to me as a person. I’m going to hold that relationship very closely.”
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TOMMY’S TUNE
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fox Just when we thought the tears had finally stopped flowing, along came Tommy with a performance of “Being Alive” from the Stephen Sondehim musical Company.
“I had to walk away a couple of times in between takes,” Rubinstein admits. “[Gina Torres’] voice, first of all, is unbelievable. I think it blew all of us away. And the story behind what Tommy is doing — it’s sort of this one last passing from Gwen of like, ‘I love you boys. Congratulations.’ For me, it was that sensitive trigger. All I needed to hear was when she said, ‘This was Gwen’s favorite song.’ It was just like a sword through the heart. So I was uncontrollable, I think, from the rehearsal. There wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd. Crew members were crying, cast members, it was a beautiful moment.”
Adds Silva: “Tommy singing that song carries a different weight because of the loss that she’s also experienced with her husband. It’s a special bond between the three. And also because it’s Gina. She’s not just a magnificent storyteller. She’s a captivating person. She knows how to tell so much without saying anything at all.”
And the stunning solo was nearly a group effort, much to Torres’ annoyance.
“She had a bunch of background singers at a certain point — a bunch of the frogs started to make noise,” Silva recalls with a laugh. “She would just turn around [and give them a look].”
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WHAT DIDN’T WE SEE?
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fox This was easily Lone Star‘s most jam-packed finale yet, so it’s safe to assume that the 15 minutes of wedding footage we saw was only the tip of the iceberg
Rubinstein says there were some “after-hours shenanigans” the audience won’t get to see. “I won’t go into detail on that one … but there may have been real champagne flowing at the very end of the night,” he says. “It was definitely well-deserved.”
For the record, Silva was “not there for that portion” of the night, to which Rubinstein admits, “I led the charge on that one.”
Still, Silva insists that “what was selected to make the cut … was the cream of the crop. It was truth in every single moment, and what you got to experience were real moments that we lived and that we experienced.”
OK, time to talk: What did you think of the finale? Grade it below, then drop a comment with your thoughts on the #TarlosWedding below.
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