‘9-1-1: Lone Star’ Throws Another Obstacle at T.K. and Carlos (RECAP)

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 3, Episode 13 “Riddle of the Sphynx.”]

Relationships are tough in the latest 9-1-1: Lone Star, as two couples face obstacles and one character wonders if it’s time to start dating again.

In “Riddle of the Sphynx,” Officer Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) isn’t exactly happy about paramedic T.K. Strand’s (Ronen Rubinstein) sponsor. Meanwhile, Captain Owen Strand (Rob Lowe) worries that something he’s discovered about his girlfriend, Catherine (Amy Acker), may mean trouble for the future of their relationship. And Captain Tommy Vega (Gina Torres) ponders if she’s ready to date again.

Pieces of Tarlos

After Sadie (Julie Benz) drugged him and stole a year of sobriety from him, T.K. has been going to a meeting a day. Carlos is supportive and has been reading up on relapsing and is trying to be as supportive as he can be. But then T.K. mentions that Cooper said the same thing that Carlos read … and his boyfriend can’t help but notice that his name is coming up a lot. He’s also not exactly happy when T.K. says he went to dinner with Cooper after the meeting and asked him to be his sponsor.

As Cooper pointed out, T.K. had so much anxiety about going back to Day 1 because it’s the first time he’s going through it without his mother. “I’m always here for you. I know I’m not in the program, but if there’s ever anything you need to get off your chest,” Carlos says. And no, he doesn’t mean for T.K. to get his shirt off his chest.

Then, in the middle of the night, Carlos wakes up only to find T.K. on the couch, talking to Cooper on the phone. And he tries to get his boyfriend to open up when T.K. reveals he’s going to another meeting, but he’s already called Cooper to go with him. That’s when Carlos and Cooper meet, and the officer is clearly bothered as T.K. leaves, telling them to have fun … but not too much.

Jordin Althaus/FOX

It all comes to a head when T.K. comes home from a meeting and Carlos hasn’t made dinner for both of them. He figured he went out with Cooper, he says. He brings up the late night call, and T.K. explains that Carlos wasn’t the one he needed to speak with at that time. (There may only be a dining room table between them, but it’s very rare these two have felt this distant.) T.K. points out that Cooper is straight, but Carlos doesn’t think he’s cheating on him. Not physically, T.K. knows.

What it boils down to is Carlos feeling that Cooper is getting pieces of T.K. he doesn’t. “You don’t want those pieces,” T.K. argues. But “I do,” Carlos insists. “I want all of it.” T.K. promises him, “You have all of me,” but Carlos seems to doubt that. But even if T.K. did come to Carlos next time he wanted to use, it wouldn’t be enough, the paramedic tries to explain, because he hasn’t been there, and he needs people in his life who have, so that he can come home to him.

After witnessing a teen lose his mother in an accident and worry she died thinking he hated her, T.K. blows off a meeting, goes home, and takes out old photo albums from his childhood. Carlos tries to talk to him, but T.K. instead goes to lie down. That’s when Carlos calls Cooper, using the number he found during a background check. He leaves them to eat dinner and talk, and T.K. makes sure he knows he loves him before he leaves.

Jordin Althaus/FOX

The Importance of Thinking Before Speaking

Just as Owen and Catherine think they’re finally having a few uninterrupted moments together — no kidnapper, no homicidal stalker or cop — her phone rings. She has to run into work, but she’s supposed to be watching the cat, Horatio, she shares with her ex while he’s out of town on a business trip. Owen offers to take care of him, and she admits that she’s worried that he and her ex, Patrick, might get along a bit too well. “There are some uncanny similarities between you two,” she says, and she doesn’t want Owen to think she’s not over Patrick. She is, but she has a type.

And so imagine Owen’s surprise when — after reminding Buttercup they don’t eat cats — an older, bald man shows up with the Sphynx and introduces himself as Patrick. He’s horrified and now, after confiding in Judd Ryder (Jim Parrack), wondering if Catherine has a “daddy thing” going on. Since that’s the only thing on his mind, by the time Catherine stops by to pick up Horatio, Owen accuses her of having daddy issues and manipulating the elderly when he thought they had something based on respect and trust.

If only he’d waited a few minutes, since then the younger Patrick shows up, and yes, he is pretty much just like Owen. It was his father who dropped Horatio off. Owen tries to play off everything as a joke, but Catherine tells him to find a new girlfriend. Ouch!

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Tommy’s Night Out

Though Tommy isn’t quite sure if she’s ready to date yet, she accepts the (sort-of) dinner invite from another member of her grief group, Morris (Amaury Nolasco). And then she promptly calls Grace (Sierra McClain) at work, so the dispatcher goes from one emergency crisis to another (fashion-related) one.

Grace then talks Tommy through it all, including deciding on the right number of buttons to leave open, based on the message she wants to send. “Charles and I were supposed to be forever,” Tommy admits. Grace reminds her that Charles would have wanted her to at least try to have this dinner and have fun again. But, it turns out, all of Tommy’s concerns were for nothing: Morris is the one who starts crying over their meal because he misses his spouse.

When Tommy gets home, she fills Grace in and admits that it was still good for her because she felt alive again for the first time. Maybe someday, soon-ish, she’ll be ready to unbutton a couple more, even though she still misses her husband.

9-1-1: Lone Star, Mondays, 9/8c, Fox