Finally, we’re getting some Grace content, you guys!
Grace Ryder is really the heart of the series, and it’s been long overdue for the season to give her a meaty storyline or at least pick up one from her past.
And thankfully, 9-1-1 Lone Star Season 4 Episode 13 will deliver on that as we check back in with Grace’s family, including her parents and previously unseen sisters.
Much of 9-1-1 Lone Star Season 4 has scaled back on the emergencies and the calls that the teams have been dispatched to in favor of providing us with more personal arcs and insight into the various characters off the job as much as on it.
It’s been a polarizing decision with mixed results, but no one can deny how great it is when they’ve taken time to delve deeper into characters, especially those of whom we haven’t learned much about over the years.
And we’ve also fostered a more cohesive group dynamic that’s made checking in with the 126 fun and the family they’ve created at the station feel more believable.
One of the most exciting aspects of the hour, “Open,” is that we’ll get some significant Grace screentime.
Grace Ryder is easily the most beloved character in this series and often feels like the glue that keeps everything together.
But often, she’s acting in a supporting role, whether to Judd or her best friend, Tommy.
Fortunately, this time, it’ll be all about Grace as she’s forced to address a family issue that she’s put off for quite some time.
If you watch 9-1-1: Lone Star online and caught up with the series, you’d know she had the misfortune of learning that her father had an affair.
The worse part about it was that Judd was the one who caught him in the act when he and the others had to save Grace’s father during a call.
Grace was livid upon hearing this information and went through many stages of denial and flat-out anger. It’s strained her relationship with her father since, and we never had the chance to revisit that meaningfully until now.
But this time, it seems her father is facing another health scare, and he lands himself in the hospital after something serious.
Benjamin, who notoriously has heart issues, appears to suffer a heart attack when he and his wife are watching Charlie. And the incident brings out all the women in his life.
Grace opted not to tell her mother about her father’s infidelity before, but after this latest incident, the issue may come back up again, and this secret has likely been weighing on Grace for a long time now.
At this point, it’s probably a given that she will have to break the news to her mother that her father had an affair. But what we don’t know is how Denise will react to it.
The possibility that she knew the whole time is a choice that the series could make, but whether or not it will further strain the relationships in this family or bring everyone closer together remains to be seen.
We can trust that Judd will be right by Gracie’s side to support her through this challenging time. It’s what they do best for each other.
We so often see Grace as the one who supports and encourages Judd. She’s his voice of reason, sounding board, and saving grace in many ways.
It makes them one of the series’s most coveted and beloved relationships. But while we know that things are reciprocal and their relationship is built on mutual trust and support, it’s always a special treat when we see Judd in that role for Grace.
Jim Parrack and Sierra McClain have such fantastic chemistry with each other, and it hasn’t been capitalized on this season nearly enough. Hence, an hour that will deliver on that is nothing short of gratifying.
We’re all suckers for Judd doting on Grace, right?
But not only are they delivering on one of the greatest aspects of the series, but they intend to expand their and our world a bit more by introducing Grace’s sisters.
In an ingenious casting move that can only delight Sierra McClain’s real-life sisters, fellow actresses, and multi-talents, China Anne and Lauryn McClain will guest-star in the episode as Lisa and Ashley.
Twitter, y’all been knew huh? 😂My heart is still full.
Can’t wait for y’all to see.
April 18th. 💫@911LoneStar pic.twitter.com/KkDBVEul1T
— Sierra A. McClainⁱⁱⁱ (@SierraMcClain) April 11, 2023
We’ve heard bits and pieces about Grace’s sisters, but we haven’t met them until now, and it was well worth the wait.
It’s also a thrilling turn of events for fans of the actresses that these three sisters get to work together onscreen again for the first time in years.
Outside of their musical group, Thrii, the sisters’ previous work together was A.N.T. Farm, Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls A.N.T. Farm, and Rob Hardy’s The Gospel.
The only thing better than one McClain sister is all three of them together on the same screen!
It promises to be an emotional, heartrending storyline with so much family content and greatness that it’ll likely resonate with all the diehard Grace fans, for which we are among the many.
It’s also going to be fun getting the chance to see Judd interacting with his sisters-in-law. We know his relationship with Grace’s parents, namely her father was always on the rocky side because of his blue-collar background.
But we don’t know much about Judd’s relationship with Grace’s sisters, let alone how things are for her and her sisters. It’ll be nice to explore that family dynamic.
The most sisterly content we tend to get for Grace is between her and Tommy, which is a fantastic pairing, and hopefully, in this time of need, Tommy may be there to at least offer a word of support here and there, even if she doesn’t get much focus.
We at least know she will have her hands full when the 126 has to respond to a call that gets a bit personal for who else? Owen.
Seriously, the predicaments that Owen routinely gets himself into are out of this world and far too frequent.
Since we can’t go without an Owen storyline for too long, we’ll see that he and his new girlfriend, Kendra, are the primary focus for what may be the only emergency call for a jampacked hour.
Owen’s love life is nothing if not complicated, so it’s no surprise that after overcoming the bumps in the road when figuring out that millionaire Kendra wasn’t paying him for sex, something new would pop up.
The two of them have remained seeing each other, but Owen gets blindsided again when he learns that Kendra is still married.
According to the promo, Kendra’s husband barges into the room for something or another after she and Owen roll in the hay, throwing Owen completely off.
He didn’t know that she was married. Kendra states that she and her husband have an arrangement, which likely suggests that the two are either currently separated or have an open marriage.
Nevertheless, that’s something that Owen deserved to know upfront, and while it likely won’t deter Owen from still seeing Kendra, because it’s Owen, let’s be real, he’ll likely feel some kind of way about this secret.
Of course, there’s a possibility that he won’t have time to process his emotions on the issue because Kendra’s husband will somehow get stuck in some fancy hydro chamber where the temperature drops so dangerously low that the man is frozen solid.
Only on 9-1-1: Lone Star would Owen get called to his girlfriend’s massive mansion ripped from Dynasty (according to Paul) to save her husband.
But how can they even do that or chest compressions without doing more damage or, like, breaking him since he’s frozen solid?
They have quite the conundrum, and Owen’s expression looks incredibly bleak.
Oh, they’re definitely going to take us on a ride with this episode!
Over to you, Lone Star Fanatics. What are your theories for this upcoming installment? Which storyline are you most excited to see?
Sound off below!
An all-new 9-1-1: Lone Star airs Tuesday at 8/7c on FOX. Check back in with us immediately after for a full review!
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You’ll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on Twitter.
