911 Lone Star, on Hulu
Apr. 8th, 2020 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sasha_featherMigraining the last couple of days, so trying to take it easy.
I watched the first season of 911 Lone Star on Hulu, which is 10 episodes. This is kind of a bad show in certain ways and I cannot really recommend it BUT it has diversity and good actors. Over the course of the season, it improved somewhat.
Rob Lowe plays a firefighter named Owen Strand who moves from NYC to Austin, TX to rebuild a crew at a station where most of the people died in an explosion. He brings along his adult son, TK, also a firefighter. The first episode has a sequence where he recruits oddballs for his crew, and it's very much like "getting the band together" or assembling a spaceship crew, etc--that kind of trope.
The crew is wonderful: Judd, the only surviving firefighter from the explosion, who needs to be told to go therapy. He has a wonderful wife, Grace, who is black, and is a 911 operator.
Marjan, a young Muslim woman who wears a hijab and leaps into danger.
Paul, a black trans man who is played by same (!), who is just a wonderful person.
Mateo, a probationary firefighter who is a DREAMer and has dyslexia, which has made it hard for him to pass the exam. The captain helps him use the ADA to get an oral version of the exam, and has the crew help him by recording themselves reading the handbooks.
Carlos, a cop, who is a love interest for TK-- hey, an inter-racial gay relationship.
Liv Tyler plays a truly insufferable character named Michelle, who is the head EMT and is super reckless. She has a plot involving searching for her missing sister. At first I hated this plot line, but it got better in the last 2 eps.
Towards the end of the season, they get a firehouse dog!
Good things: Diversity!! Likeable characters, people in queer community with each other. People having identities that are sometimes in front-focus and other times in the background, which is so realistic. Having the main white guy speak positively about things like PTSD was surprisingly moving. People have connections with their intentional family and their biological ones. People care about each other and try to do the right thing.
Bad things: very over-the-top dramatic situations, some of which make no sense whatsoever. Unrealistic medicine, including that TV thing where someone gets seriously injured, but then two episodes later they are totally fine. It bothered me that Liv Tyler's character is out there practicing medicine without a license, and it's presented uncritically.
Content notes: addiction, gun violence, snakes, mental illness. There has been no sexual violence so far. Very little homophobia. There is some transphobia in one episode, exhibited by a guest character.
I watched the first season of 911 Lone Star on Hulu, which is 10 episodes. This is kind of a bad show in certain ways and I cannot really recommend it BUT it has diversity and good actors. Over the course of the season, it improved somewhat.
Rob Lowe plays a firefighter named Owen Strand who moves from NYC to Austin, TX to rebuild a crew at a station where most of the people died in an explosion. He brings along his adult son, TK, also a firefighter. The first episode has a sequence where he recruits oddballs for his crew, and it's very much like "getting the band together" or assembling a spaceship crew, etc--that kind of trope.
The crew is wonderful: Judd, the only surviving firefighter from the explosion, who needs to be told to go therapy. He has a wonderful wife, Grace, who is black, and is a 911 operator.
Marjan, a young Muslim woman who wears a hijab and leaps into danger.
Paul, a black trans man who is played by same (!), who is just a wonderful person.
Mateo, a probationary firefighter who is a DREAMer and has dyslexia, which has made it hard for him to pass the exam. The captain helps him use the ADA to get an oral version of the exam, and has the crew help him by recording themselves reading the handbooks.
Carlos, a cop, who is a love interest for TK-- hey, an inter-racial gay relationship.
Liv Tyler plays a truly insufferable character named Michelle, who is the head EMT and is super reckless. She has a plot involving searching for her missing sister. At first I hated this plot line, but it got better in the last 2 eps.
Towards the end of the season, they get a firehouse dog!
Good things: Diversity!! Likeable characters, people in queer community with each other. People having identities that are sometimes in front-focus and other times in the background, which is so realistic. Having the main white guy speak positively about things like PTSD was surprisingly moving. People have connections with their intentional family and their biological ones. People care about each other and try to do the right thing.
Bad things: very over-the-top dramatic situations, some of which make no sense whatsoever. Unrealistic medicine, including that TV thing where someone gets seriously injured, but then two episodes later they are totally fine. It bothered me that Liv Tyler's character is out there practicing medicine without a license, and it's presented uncritically.
Content notes: addiction, gun violence, snakes, mental illness. There has been no sexual violence so far. Very little homophobia. There is some transphobia in one episode, exhibited by a guest character.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 07:15 pm (UTC)Is it a comedy? drama? that exquisitely weird concept, a dramedy?
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 11:47 pm (UTC)On the upside:
*The diversity rocks as does the in which Marjan, Paul, and Mateo negotiate these spaces that, in other context, would not welcome them. They are very much themselves.
*Paul's episode where he meets Josie. I loved how Paul explained to TJ and Mateo that dating is different for him and he detailed, without fanfare, how he goes about finding someone. Also, if someone has a problem, it's their problem, not his.
*Judd and Grace. Grace and Judd. Listen, the man loves his wife in this very visceral way that encompasses a very specific history - they've been together for a while. Her daddy didn't think he was good enough. HE BUILT A POOL DECK FOR HER DADDY. And the fact that when Strand mentioned that he'd met Grace, Judd was ready to throw hands if there was any hint of prejudice about her being Black. I don't get to see that kind of regard for a Black female character involved with someone white very often and I liked it.
*Honoring the memory of the 126. Understanding that there's a depth of grief in reopening the house and living with those memories.
Midrange:
TJ - JFC, I needed him not to be so whiny. And like many of the episodes towards the back end, he got better but man, he was on my nerves for a while.
That said, I like him way better than the character of Buck on the original 911. TJ at least learns and grows over the ten episodes. Buck just stays on his bullshit.
On the downside:
*I totally agree with you about Michelle. I love Michelle's crew and want to see more of them but she's really not presented in the best light; dodgy ethics. Misplaced rage issues. I feel like Liv Tyler is sleepwalking and I'm not sure why that is.
Miscellaneous:
*I do hope they get a renewal because the potential is there for it to be a good spinoff
*I enjoy the found family feels
*As much as they talked about Judd's PTSD, I would like some acknowledgement of Grace possibly enduring her own bout with it. She was on the line with the 126 when everything went to hell and the last thing she hears is Judd's voice being cut off. I can't even imagine what that felt like for her.
This part is me being ranty-pants older fan, shaking my fist from my porch:
Fandom-wise, I realize I will be on the rare pair end of the spectrum because most of the fic is TK/Carlos and some meh shipping between Marjan and Mateo. Grace is usually shunted into being team mom (which, NO) and Judd the big brother. Gaaaah. If my muse kicks in, there might be some short fic at some point.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-10 03:59 am (UTC)I agree with your thoughts! I haven't seen the original 911 but might check it out after watching this. I do love a good rescue story.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-10 10:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-11 08:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-24 10:38 pm (UTC)Just so much found family stuff. I'm such a sucker.
[But I'm with you on Liv Tyler. I'm really not enjoying the writers' take on what an EMT does, but also, she used her captain's badge to harass a guy and get out of it with no consequences.]
I'm glad the show got renewed for S2. We'll see if it actually happens due to COVID.