Luckily, this time, we have Grace and Judd to keep us going.
Owen Strand Being Owen Strand
First, after Owen finds out about TK, and makes it all about himself, he and Tommy attempt to find Billy, which leads them to search for Grace.
How, you might ask? Well, Tommy and Owen apparently somehow tracked the GPS in Billy’s car to Grace and Judd’s house. Because that’s a logical thing for paramedics and firefighters to have access to.
Owen, after finding out that his son's organs are beginning to shut down, explains to the crew that TK is dying because he lost faith in humanity, and now this is his karma because he gave up.
Somehow Owen has made his son’s almost dying about himself.
Everything Owen says, along with lots of the conversation between Carlos and his mother, is soured by the fact that we know TK is going to live.
I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: the stakes are nonexistent if you put a character whose actor signed a contract in mortal danger.
You Know What That Is? Not Growth.
Rafael Silva, Sierra McClain, Jim Parrack, and Gina Torres are saviors in this episode – both literally and figuratively.
Silva’s Carlos reveals that TK is the one who broke up with him, and later, coma TK tells his not-really-there mother that it was because Carlos made a grand gesture in paying for a down payment on a loft all on his own.
The writers attempt to turn this into TK destroying what makes him happy in his life because that’s what TK does, except… is it?
Though we’ve only known them for two and a half seasons, TK and Carlos have gone through a pretty hefty amount of growth, especially when it comes to communication. The fact that TK, instead of offering an explanation as to why he’s leaving Carlos, just leaves, isn’t OK.
Especially when you consider how quickly Carlos took TK back. While, of course, again, it’s television and it’s done for the drama of it all, they were broken up for months and not one of them decided to, I don’t know, talk a bit, before moving in together?
The writers stating that they wanted to break up Carlos and TK to explore what Carlos is like without TK, and then spending three episodes in a row centering Carlos’ entire storyline around TK is astonishingly obtuse.
Then, in what may be my smallest complaint about the episode, but still deserves to be said: an unnamed amount of time passes between when TK’s organs were shutting down to when he’s moving in with Carlos and he doesn’t have so much as a cane to walk with?
Siiiiigh.
Baby, Baby, Baby
In other fantastic news, Judd and Tommy find Grace in time for her to have her baby. It’s very emotional, and I’m proud to say we can now call Judd and Grace DILF and MILF of the year, respectfully.
Number three in my impossibility to suspend disbelief for this episode: the time jump occurs and we don’t know how long it’s been, but in that time Grace and Judd didn’t name their baby? Does Texas not have parents fill out birth certificates at the hospital? (They do. I checked.)
Luckily, we’re given a happy ending when Marjan’s GoFundMe to save the firehouse racks up $5 Million, thanks to Lindsey’s dad. They halt construction, have yet another time jump, and open the 126 back up.
Overall, the ice storm definitely could’ve been condensed into just the first three episodes, but it’s over now and I’m pretty grateful.
And One More Thing:
- Number of season three episodes aired: four. Number of time jumps in season three so far: three. Number of time jumps fans have asked for in season three: zero.
- “Stop it.” “Stop what?” “Dying.” This wasn’t supposed to be a funny moment, but I did cackle a bit.
