“Explore the dramatic love story of Tommy Vega in ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’!”
9-1-1: Lone Star, now in its fifth and final season, follows the firefighters and paramedics at Station 126 in Austin, Texas. Led by Captain Owen Strand (Rob Lowe), the team at 126 comes from across the country to help reopen the fire station after a horrific accident at a fertilizer plant killed all but one of the firefighters at 126. Since arriving in early 2020, the team has become a family, supporting each other through illness, childbirth, marriage, divorce, death, and some of life’s most joyous experiences.
As the show enters its final season, fans are getting to see what the future holds for their favorite characters. Judd Ryder (Jim Parrack) is trying to figure out what he’s going to do after he’s no longer a firefighter, Carlos Reyes (Rafael L. Silva) is trying to solve his father’s murder, and Captain Strand is trying to figure out who his next lieutenant will be. In Season 5, Episode 2, “Trainwrecks,” fans will see Paramedic Captain Tommy Vega make a decision about his future, though it doesn’t necessarily go according to plan.
After Paramedic Captain Michelle Blake (Liv Tyler) left at the end of 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 1, Paramedic Squad 126 needs a new leader. Enter Tommy Vega (Gina Torres), a former paramedic captain who has been home raising her twin daughters for nearly eight years. After the restaurant her husband, Charles (Derek Webster), opened was closed due to the pandemic, Tommy needed to get back to work, so she returned to her old fire station. Tommy and Judd worked together before she left to raise her children, and she and Charles became close to Judd and Grace (Sierra McClain), even helping them get back together when they briefly split up. Tommy had some trouble connecting with her paramedics at first — both Nancy Gillian (Brianna Baker) and Tim Rosewater (Mark Elias) were close to Michelle Blake, so they weren’t necessarily open to a new captain. After Tim died in Season 2, Episode 2, “2100,” after being hit by a piece of molten rock, Nancy and Tommy began to connect differently. When the team encounters two brothers trapped in a minefield in Season 2, Episode 5 of 9-1-1: Lone Star, “Everyone and Their Brother,” T.K. Strand (Ronen Rubenstein), Owen’s firefighter son, offers to cross the minefield with Owen after the new paramedic refuses to do so. It reminds him of how much he loves being a paramedic, so he applies for the job, and Nancy, T.K., and Tommy become a great team. Tommy even sings at T.K. and Carlos’ wedding in Season 4, Episode 18, “In Sickness and In Health.”
After an arsonist burns down 126 and T.K. and Carlos’ home in Season 2, Episode 12, “The Big Heat,” Tommy spends a very late night at work and comes home later than she told her husband. When she walks in at the end of “The Big Heat,” it’s clear that something is wrong with Charles, though no one figures it out until Season 2, Episode 13, “One Day,” which begins with Tommy calling 9-1-1. She tries her best to revive Charles, but it’s too late — he’s gone.
“One Day” is one of the best episodes of 9-1-1: Lone Star … it’s great to see Owen, Grace, and Judd rally around [Tommy] when she’s too shocked to tell them what happened.
Tommy goes to the hospital to perform an autopsy on Charles so she can get answers to all the questions her twins will have, and ends up in a confrontation with the police while trying to help others cope with the death of their loved ones. Owen, who is at the hospital for a follow-up appointment, calls Grace and Judd, who are watching Tommy’s daughters, and they begin to put the pieces together. No one can reach Charles, and one of the twins says they heard a car pulling out of the driveway in the middle of the night. When Grace wonders if the car is an ambulance, she decides to call her co-worker at the dispatch room, and Grace and Judd hear Tommy’s 9-1-1 call, which tells them everything they need to know. Tommy eventually learns that Charles died of an aneurysm, and that it happened quickly. “One Day” is one of the best episodes of 9-1-1: Lone Star — the audience spends most of the episode with Tommy, including flashbacks to when she and Charles were trying to have a baby, and it’s great to see Owen, Grace, and Judd rally around her to help even when she’s too shocked to tell them what happened.
