Well, they wrapped up the mystery behind who was after Owen, and it wasn’t dirty deputy Griffin after all.
Griffin was the perfect red herring to distract from Sadie, and Owen and Marjan spent most of 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 3 Episode 12 assuming he was the culprit.
Of course, it turned out Sadie was Owen’s stalker, the repercussions of which caused some heartbreaking developments for T.K., too.
It’s a timliness to the topic of Owen and his anger management issues, and it’s something that we’ve discussed frequently for a bit now.
When exactly does Lone Star plan to address Owen’s violence seriously? It’s redundant, for starters, but the way they go about dismissing and downplaying it remains frustrating and disturbing.
Everyone dismisses Owen’s knack for punching people as if it’s just a classic Owen thing to roll their eyes at because “Owen is just being Owen.” They play up Owen’s cowboy antics as bravado and funny when it isn’t.
Or they make it seem like he’s heroic like they did with him “defending Marjan’s honor.”
We know he attends anger management classes, but they don’t seem to mean anything when every other installment, he’s punching someone like it’s a slapstick comedy piece.
Even during this installment, they made a whole bit that was supposed to be amusing about the long list of suspects that could have come after Owen was the list of people he’s recently assaulted.
Just look at him breathing free air, it’s disgusting.
Marjan
And moments later, Owen allowed Griffin to goad him, and he once again punched someone out in a roomful of witnesses because he didn’t like what they said.
Yes, Griffin was taunting Owen and Marjan and stating that he should have killed her, but it was evident that he intended to get a rise out of them and cause the exact thing that happened physical violence, to get a restraining order against them.
The messed up thing about all of this is that as despicable as Griffin was, between Marjan and Owen, they basically handed him everything he desired on a platter and further added to the miscarriage of justice that led to his release in the first place.
Griffin shot a man and got off scot-free, but you know, he was a deputy, and the man he killed was an “illegal,” so really, he was just doing everyone a favor.
The fact that a judge allowed that argument in the first place is sickening, albeit not the least bit surprising.
Owen and Marjan’s anger was warranted, no doubt, but it was frustrating that both resorted to stalking the man.
Marjan’s display at the grocery store was reckless and irresponsible. If anyone is an Outer Banks fan, it was so painfully similar to a shockingly baffling scene in season two that involved Kiara screeching about a murderer without thinking of the consequences or the bigger picture.
This time, Owen got arrested for the public assault, which is more than can be said about the last dozen moments. However, they undid all of it when Carlos’ father gave him, a layman, the wink-wink, nod-nod go-ahead to violate the restraining order in place and stake out Griffin’s home with no real plan to see if he’d do anything.
The bizarre ways that this series loves to glorify and lionize Owen and give him a dozen different hats outside of his purview beyond plausibility are bordering on sheer absurdity.
It was baffling that Owen found himself outside of Griffin’s place in the first place, let alone dragging Catherine, the chief of staff of a political figure riding shotgun to the ordeal.
But it meant Owen was there to save Griffin when his car exploded, and along with that burst of flames went any and all repercussions for Owen in all of this.
He got to have his final exchange of words with Griffin before the end credits. Owen also got another big save when he heroically rescued Sadie, in a slow-mo moment, from a fire that she was behind in the first place.
You’re lucky there was a blizzard, little girl. Otherwise, you’d end up in a ditch.
Griffin
After all the ugliness with Griffin, Sadie was responsible for the corn starch, dead pig, and other things.
Truthfully, it was notable during the Ice Storm Event that she was shady as hell, but nothing else ever came from it, so we didn’t have anything to go on as a result.
Initially, it came across as if she was part of the coyote thing, but nope, she was just a crazy, run-of-the-mill stalker obsessed with Owen and beheaded her husband.
It was too good to be true to bring Julie Benz into the fray and not utilize her in a bigger way, so that’s why the Sadie reveal wasn’t the most shocking, albeit entertaining.
As obsessed as she was with Owen, it was downright laughable that he didn’t even remember who she was until Marjan reminded him.
The most gut-wrenching offense of all by this woman was that she drugged Carlos and T.K.
It was good of them to allow this virtual stranger into their home under the guise of her needing some form of protection. But as nice as she seemed, there’s no way I would’ve allowed her to cook for me.
And bless Carlos’ heart, he couldn’t hide his facial expression at all when he pored over the footage and discovered Sadie at the scene.
He did listen intently and calmly while she shared her alarming confession. But once the drugs kicked in, there was nothing else he could do.
Marjan showing up and piecing things together was refreshing. Sadie managed to stab her, but at least Marjan got to knock her out before she went down.
And it beat Owen rushing in the save the day as has become the usual pattern.
Marjan and Owen’s knack for kicking ass is entertaining, and their relationship has been a highlight of the season.
But you can’t help but worry about T.K. Once again, something that involved his father landed at his doorstep, and now he’s paying the price for it.
While I believe provisions are made when it comes to someone accidentally relapsing, or in this case, getting drugged against their will, T.K. recognizes the break-in sobriety.
He got his one-year chip not that long ago, and now he feels like he has to start back at day one. It’s a hell of a setback for T.K., and he’s already been dealing with so much after Gwyn’s death.
I’m curious how they’ll explore this angle with his sobriety again.
He’s stalking a stalker and he brought a date?
T.K.
Nancy also got an arc of her own during this installment.
Under any other circumstances, Nancy probably would’ve gotten fired for her actions. DNR’s are serious matters, and it’s nothing something to make light of or ignore.
You could tell that she was aware of something based on her facial expressions as she resuscitated Joanna.
And there were so many frustrating elements of this storyline. As protective as Tommy was of Nancy, it was manipulative and gross that she invited this woman and her sister over to her home and tried to get her to change her mind.
And she did this directly after she learned that Nancy saw the DNR bracelet before she resuscitated Joanna. It wasn’t this woman’s job to prove anything to them about her supposed legacy or spare or show Nancy any grace.
However, it was also irritating as hell how little acknowledgment was directed at Joanne’s sister. She knew that her sister had a DNR, called for help, and never mentioned it in the call or at the scene.
She stood by and watched Nancy save her sister, knowing it went against her sister’s wishes. If Nancy hadn’t seen the DNR necklace and faced this lawsuit, it would’ve been unfair to this paramedic who was only guilty of doing her job.
She could’ve lost her job or faced repercussions all because this woman didn’t want to respect her sister’s wishes. The way they glossed over that angle was irritating.
I know that I didn’t respect your wishes, but all I wanted to do since I was little was save people. Please, don’t take that away from me.
Nancy
But Joanne passing away and leaving Nancy her DNR bracelet as a reminder was a great way to make her point from beyond the grave.
Over to you, Lone Star Fanatics? Are you getting annoyed with how the series addresses Owen’s anger issues? Were you surprised by Sadie? Hit the comments.
You can watch 9-1-1: Lone Star online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
