Tarlos is definitely past the honeymoon phase.
As TK (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos (Rafael Silva) prepare to celebrate their one-year anniversary on Monday 9-1-1: Lone Star, the firefighter and Texas Ranger finds himself in therapy as Carlos isn’t focused on their marriage while he’s dealing with the stresses of his new job (and investigating his father’s murder).
At the end of season 5, episode 5, “Thunderstruck,” the couple finds a new appreciation for each other — but Rubinstein teases that there’s a “big blow” coming for Tarlos before the Fox first responder drama ends. (“It’s weird,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly about the series’ impending end.) ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The episode begins with Tarlos in therapy. How long do you think this has been going on?
RONEN RUBINSTEIN: Season 5 picks up a year after the end of season 4, which I think illustrates the amount of time it takes for a relationship to start to go a little bit haywire. I think it wouldn’t really make sense if we came back right after the honeymoon and things were starting to go sour. For me, it was just really trying to understand where Carlos was coming from and knowing that, yes, TK has his wants and needs — but ultimately, it’s always about, “How can I be the most supportive, loving, caring husband?” And I think that’s just TK as a person. He did that for his dad, for his mom, for Carlos, for all the fellow firefighters, the fellow paramedics, and all the patients out there in the field.
So TK wasn’t necessarily angry with Carlos… I think the stress and anxiety for TK wasn’t necessarily coming from “I don’t feel seen, I don’t feel noticed.” It was more like “I’m really scared for my husband and he’s chasing some really bad people that could lead to a really, really scary situation that could even hurt him.” I’m curious to know which one of them suggested we try couples counseling. I’d like to think it was TK, and it just shows how great their relationship is that Carlos agreed to do it. I think it’s clear that they love each other very much, and are very committed to each other, and they knew that they were going to need some extra help to work things out.
And their anniversary gifts show that therapy has worked.
It just shows how beautiful these two are and how much they care and love each other and how uniquely different they are. I think that scene is a perfect example of that. It seems like a beautiful memory.
So what’s next for Tarlos?
Well, [TK’s stepfather] Enzo and [his half-brother] Jonah coming into their lives is going to be a big shock to everything. What’s great about the Enzo storyline is that it’s something I’ve been asking for and dreaming about since season 1, since I learned that Enzo was actually the one who raised TK. We’re going to have a lot of questions answered about that relationship, and we’re going to dig deeper into the relationship between TK and Owen [Rob Lowe], which you feel like you know everything about, but we really don’t. And I think it’s going to get to the bottom of what really happened to TK and Owen when he was younger. So I’m really excited about that. It brings up a great scene between Rob and me. And then with Jonah, that’s going to raise a lot of questions. I think a lot of the things that fans have been hoping and fearing, I think that’s going to come to… You’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when that episode airs.
