9-1-1: Lone Star cast on the season 4 finale's Tarlos wedding song, two major deaths, and surreal return
Warning: This article contains spoilers from the 9-1-1: Lone Star season 4 finale.
Fans knew there would be tears during the 9-1-1: Lone Star season 4 finale, but maybe not for all the reasons there ended up being during Tuesday's two-hour event.
"It felt like bliss, it felt like joy, and it felt like love," Carlos actor Rafael Silva tells EW of filming the Carlos and TK wedding. But with that joy came the devastating "heartbreak" of burying Carlos' dad, Gabriel (Benito Martinez), and the assisted suicide of Owen's brother, Robert (Chad Lowe, real-life brother of Owen actor Rob Lowe).
"We were the most un-fun grooms that first day of shooting," TK actor Ronen Rubinstein adds of the emotional weight of the episode beyond the wedding.
After a bit of time to decompress after wrapping filming of season 4, we asked Silva and Rubinstein to break down the season 4 finale, including that musical moment from Gina Torres' Tommy; the surreal return of TK's mom, Gwyn (Lisa Edelstein); and how Gabriel and Robert's deaths will impact season 5.
Kevin Estrada/FOX Ronen Rubinstein and Rafael Silva on '9-1-1: Lone Star'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: For a finale centered on a wedding, the final hour of the season opens up with some very dark scenes for Tarlos, as Carlos rages about his grief and TK can only sit there and support him.
RONEN RUBINSTEIN: I think one of the most precious scenes is where, without even saying it to each other, we knew that the wedding had to be postponed — and that line where TK says, "I'm not going to use the word canceled. Postponed." Man, that one destroyed me every single time I read it. I think it speaks so highly of TK, that he will do anything it takes to make sure that Carlos feels safe and comfortable and loved and seen in this relationship. So much so that he will put off the wedding. He doesn't care. Carlos is first priority.
RAFAEL SILVA: I think in these scenes we start to learn how Carlos reacts to adversity, to challenge, to pain. We learn that he does not sit down. He goes into action, which I think when someone feels possibly the deepest pain one can feel — his father being murdered, which is such a violent act.... I mean, it's so unfair, and I think it's the lack of information, the lack of answers. There are no leads. This was premeditated, it was planned, someone meant to kill Carlos' father. I think Carlos is forever changed.
Kevin Estrada/FOX Rob Lowe and Benito Martinez on '9-1-1: Lone Star'
So much so that he's almost willing to kill.
SILVA: I think in each and every scene after his dad's death, a knob is being turned, turned, turned — up until the point we get to Carlos picking up a gun, driving to the guy's house, pointing a gun at his f---ing throat. He was going to pull the trigger. Every scene we were turning the heat higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, until it starts boiling.
Even when the heat gets turned down for the wedding, Gabriel's death is still weighing on him.
SILVA: So because Carlos had that story line, I, Rafael, had to remove myself from everybody, because everyone was in happy mode. It's a wedding, and we have the entire cast there, so it's a f---ing blast. Everyone's loud, everyone's laughing, and it's a lot of fun. But I personally had to remove myself because that's not where Carlos would've been [mentally]. I desperately wanted to be there laughing and joking, but I couldn't. I sat separately from everybody to truly just have the focus.
Kevin Estrada/FOX Rafael Silva, Brian Michael Smith, Ronen Rubinstein on '9-1-1: Lone Star'
Still, it's a beautiful ceremony.
SILVA: The shot of us exchanging vows was one of the very last takes that we did. It was an entire day of emotion. Ronen delivered fantastic vows, and having Brian Michael Smith [as Paul] there to officiate the wedding, that was just the cherry on top. Right, Ronan?
RUBINSTEIN: Yeah. I echo a lot of that. It was a celebration of also wrapping the season, closing another chapter on this tremendous journey that we're on. It was a beautiful culmination, but this wedding had a tremendous mix of grief and loss and tragedy — very recent tragedy.
Kevin Estrada/FOX Lisa Edelstein as TK's mom Gwyn on '9-1-1: Lone Star'
And past tragedy, which we were reminded about when Lisa Edelstein shows up as TK's mom, Gwyn.
RUBINSTEIN: I think TK's biggest wish was that his mom was there first row watching her sweet boy get married to the man of his dreams. She was in a dream sequence with TK — in the voodoo world with him [during his (most recent) coma] — so that [option] was always playing in the back of my head, and I'm glad we had that moment where Gwyn whispers to Owen and she's like, "We did our job. Now, our son can live." That was a really special moment for me. It's cool that she was there in some sort of capacity.
Kevin Estrada/FOX DB Woodside and Gina Torres on '9-1-1: Lone Star'
Then Gina Torres' Tommy gets up there and sings "Being Alive" from Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical Company...
SILVA: We went through two full days of high emotion, high intensity — and then on top of everything, Gina just blows us away with this song that is quite literally about being alive, and what that means. It's such a beautiful song choice because as first responders, you're teetering every single day on being alive and possibly losing your life in the blink of an eye. And obviously, Gwyn is not a first responder, but her life was gone in a blink of an eye. I think it was a really fascinating way to have one last gesture from Gwyn. It was her wedding gift to the boys. And Gina's voice is just unbelievable. There wasn't a dry eye on the entire set, and I mean, crew, cast, everybody. It was pretty extraordinary.
RUBINSTEIN: It's also so fitting that Tommy was the one to deliver that song. Aside from the fact that Gina is a extremely talented storyteller, Tommy knows loss. It ups the stakes that Tommy lost Charles, and TK lost Gwyn, and Carlos literally just lost his father. It was paying homage to people that we love who are no longer there, people who have shaped us, people who have inspired us, and there is absolutely no one better to deliver that message of love than Tommy, and Gina.
Kevin Estrada/FOX '9-1-1: Lone Star' cast in the season 4 finale
The song ends with Robert's final moments. TK doesn't know about his uncle's death yet. How do you think that will play out in season 5?
RUBINSTEIN: I really hope they start next season on the next day. I want to get into it. I want to see him find out from Owen, right? But when will that be? I'm not sure if he'll be completely comfortable talking about it right away, especially after his son just got married. Owen and TK have been sharing bad news for four seasons now, so maybe he wants to give him a little bit of a break. I'm very interested to see what that secret does to Owen. That's probably going to F him up pretty good.
And where do you think Carlos will be when you return?
SILVA: Carlos has changed — but how? Is he still a police officer? Has he abandoned the force, or is he in it more than ever? Is he neglecting? Is he accepting? Is he angry? Is he depressed? Is he seeing a therapist? Has he gone crazy? Has he tried to take this matter into his own hands? I'm excited to see how Carlos deals with grief.
RUBINSTEIN: I think TK is going to be afraid of what might happen to Carlos, so that's going to be a really interesting dynamic.
SILVA: But I'm also excited to see who Carlos is as a husband. I'm also excited to see if TK knocks on Carlos' door and is like, "Hey, you ready to have a kid yet? Can we talk about this?"
RUBINSTEIN: I echo that!
Kevin Estrada/FOX TK (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos (Rafael Silva) on their honeymoon on '9-1-1: Lone Star'
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