This article consists of spoilers for “A Bright and Cloudless Morning,” Monday’s season finale of “9-1-1: Lone Star.”
After having survived quite a few near-death experiences, paramedic T.Ok. Strand (Ronen Rubinstein) and police Officer Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) — the fan-favorite couple identified affectionately as “Tarlos” — lastly determined to get engaged in Monday’s season three finale of “9-1-1: Lone Star.”
In the episode, T.Ok. discovered Carlos updating his will, resulting in a combat over T.Ok.’s refusal to plan his personal property. But after having practically misplaced his father, Owen (Rob Lowe), in a constructing explosion, T.Ok. — who had unexpectedly misplaced his mom, Gwyn (Lisa Edelstein), earlier in the yr — had a change of coronary heart, waking Carlos up in the center of the night time to declare that he would go away all the pieces to his “husband,” which means Carlos, earlier than he popped the query.
“My life has been scarred with loss, and at times, it’s felt inescapable,” T.Ok. informed Carlos. “But that’s the risk of love, right? For the first time in my life, the love that I feel is infinitely more powerful than the fear of losing it. … Every moment that we’re not married is a wasted moment. And baby, we only get so many.”
T.Ok.’s impromptu proposal was one among many endings that Rubinstein and Silva mentioned they mentioned with co-creator and showrunner Tim Minear. This model was in the end chosen to hark again to how T.Ok., a recovering addict, was launched in the pilot, when his final failed marriage proposal led him to relapse and overdose on painkillers.
“I think what the finale symbolizes in many ways is closing the chapter on your past traumas, on your past demons,” Rubinstein mentioned in a joint video interview with Silva. “With T.K., I think it’s the initial proposal that almost led to his death, and I think this is a new chapter for him and everything’s going to be OK, it seems like. And he’s actually found the man of his dreams and somebody that he wants to spend the rest of his life with.”
Rubinstein mentioned he beloved the concept of the proposal’s “being something that he just has to get off his chest.”
“He literally wakes [Carlos] up at 3 in the morning,” Rubinstein added with fun. “And he’s like: ‘Marry me right now! I can’t wait any longer!’ It’s so romantic in many ways.”
Silva, who mentioned he “was very happy” and that he “got super excited” when he learn the closing script final month, revealed that the proposal was shot with a number of cameras “rolling at the same time,” permitting him and Rubinstein to remain in the second throughout each take.
“The reactions that you’re getting are not layered in the sense where we’re cutting bits and creating this sort of performance,” he mentioned. “You’re getting it live from both of us at the same time.”
He added: “When I first read the scene, I thought the scene was funny … which is perfect, especially in a proposal at 3 a.m. One is waking up; the other one’s coming to this realization of what this relationship is.” The “quirkiness in the scene,” he mentioned, “went really well against this emotional stride” that they have been making collectively as a pair.
As they started to rehearse the pivotal scene with director and government producer Brad Buecker, Rubinstein and Silva — who each mentioned they at all times knew {that a} “Tarlos” proposal was a matter of when, not if — revealed they each began crying throughout the preliminary read-through, earlier than cameras have been even rolling. Buecker “immediately felt the vibe, and he’s like: ‘All right, let’s cut rehearsal a little earlier. You guys go get ready, because the emotions are already there. … Let’s save it for the real thing.’ And it was like that every single take,” Rubinstein mentioned. “I just remember it being so powerful and so epic and really beautiful, and the words did all the work for me.”
The engagement marked the fruits of a dramatic seasonlong arc for T.Ok. and Carlos. In an interview over the winter, Rubinstein teased that “a major bombshell” can be dropped in the season premiere, alluding to a stunning “Tarlos” breakup. It wasn’t till the third and fourth episodes, when T.Ok. discovered himself in one other coma — this time after having practically died of hypothermia in a lethal winter storm in Texas — that the two first responders found they have been stronger collectively than aside.
“The reason they broke up was completely on T.K.’s foolishness and his past habits of blowing something up when it’s going too well,” Rubinstein mentioned. The indisputable fact that T.Ok. is ready to cheat loss of life as soon as extra “makes them realize what’s truly important … and it’s fighting for this relationship and knowing that they were actually perfect,” he mentioned. “I think waking up from that coma and seeing the only person he probably wanted to see when he woke up right there holding his hand and then hugging him, for T.K. at least, was all of the reasons to truly commit and to truly give his everything.”
Carlos, on the different hand, had successfully declared his lifelong dedication between seasons when he made T.Ok. a co-owner of their new condominium, regardless of having fronted all of the prices himself, Silva mentioned.
“That was Carlos’ version of the proposal. That was Carlos’ way of saying: ‘I kind of want to get married. … I kind of want to spend the rest of my life with you.’ And then T.K. said no,” Silva mentioned, referring to T.Ok.’s refusal to just accept the beneficiant gesture.
As quickly as T.Ok. wakened from his coma, Silva added, “Carlos is struggling to even move his hand to grab T.K., because it’s like: ‘I was rejected by showing all of me. Is this what I really want? Is this what I think I deserve? Is this something that he thinks he wants, too?’ But in that moment, no words are needed. You just see the love between the two.”
Rubinstein mentioned that on condition that T.Ok. and Carlos already dwell collectively, know one another’s households effectively and have created a good bond with the different members of Station 126, he felt the engagement was at all times going to be a “natural progression” of their relationship.
Rubinstein mentioned he thought the closing scene of episode 13, which debuted April 11, by which Carlos realizes the finest strategy to help T.Ok.’s sobriety is by calling his sponsor, was “crucial for T.K. to know, like: ‘OK, I knew this was the man of my dreams, but now he’s really proven it. That was the last thing he ever had to do. I would marry him right now.’ That storyline is so special, and I think it’s many people’s favorite episode, because we get to have real-life couple conversations — and it’s really difficult conversations, too.”
“I think breaking them up at the beginning of the season was really brilliant, because I always said the journey of them getting back together is more interesting than if things were just going very well and smoothly throughout the whole season,” Rubinstein added. “I remember Tim [Minear] always saying, ‘We have to earn this relationship, and we have to earn this proposal,’ and I honestly think we did. I think 42 episodes is enough.”
Following Monday’s announcement that “9-1-1: Lone Star” has been renewed for a fourth season, Rubinstein and Silva quipped that as a lot as they might love for the coming nuptials to go off with out a hitch, they’ve already begun to brainstorm any variety of issues that would go incorrect, given the “9-1-1” franchise’s fame for outlandish emergencies.
“Someone’s going to choke, someone’s going to have a heart attack, an earthquake’s going to take place — all at the same time!” Silva mentioned with fun. “I think it’s going to be special either way. I want Carlos to be the most Texan. I want him to wear a cowboy hat — like, all Tejano gear — to his wedding. I want to show the Mexican American culture … because America is beautiful and has many shades, and we need to show that on national television.”
Rubinstein mentioned with a playful smile: “We would have a honeymoon, and I was like: ‘Listen, if production wants to send us to, let’s say, Hawaii, and there will be something that we have to deal with there, I’ll take it. I don’t care. I’ll deal with a rescue with Carlos and T.K. in Hawaii. I’ll deal with anything if we go to Hawaii.’ I’m just so, so excited that we know that there is a wedding and honeymoon on the horizon.”
While Rubinstein mentioned he desires to proceed exploring T.Ok.’s private {and professional} relationships in subsequent seasons, Silva, whose character hasn’t had as a lot display screen time in the first three seasons, mentioned he desires to see the place Carlos “comes from” and “how he is as a person.”
“We’ve seen a good amount of how he’s come to be … and I think those characteristics are mistaken for personality traits, like ‘control freak,’ ‘super caring,’” Silva mentioned. “I think that’s just the result of everything that he’s been through, and I think everything he’s been through is way more interesting than all of these coined personality traits, and I think it would be interesting exploring that.”
But at the finish of the day, each actors perceive the significance and shared accountability of telling a distinguished love story between two males when anti-LGBTQ laws continues to be handed throughout the nation — and round the world.
“I think now more than ever, it’s beyond imperative to show this sort of relationship on network television. Television brings conversations into homes that might not be asking for such conversation,” Silva mentioned.
“With over 250 [anti-LGBTQ] bills trying to be passed, seeing this sort of relationship being portrayed right now and this sort of reality where two people can just sit in bed and commit themselves to each other for the rest of their lives, I think it just speaks to the commitment to the diversity of the show and what we want to see in real life, as well,” he continued. “We want to let viewers [know] that this love exists, it is legitimate, and it deserves to be on the screen.”
And when the time comes, Rubinstein and Silva mentioned, they might each like to see T.Ok. and Carlos begin a household collectively, as a result of “you don’t know how powerful representation is until you see yourself” — and what’s attainable — on tv, mentioned Silva, who’s overtly homosexual.
When you depict a relationship between two males “caring and loving each other and caring for this child,” you’re sending a message “that these are human beings who simply love each other, who deserve to love each other, that all of this prejudice against the LGBTQIA+ community is coming out of fear and ignorance and shall not be entertained and shall not be condoned,” Silva added.
The indisputable fact that T.Ok. and Carlos are getting married on one among community tv’s hottest dramas, which has averaged over 4.8 million dwell viewers this season, is groundbreaking in and of itself, Rubinstein mentioned.
“To show them have a kid eventually would just break all the barriers, and so many people’s brains will explode for good and for bad,” he mentioned. “People need to be uncomfortable, and people need to realize that this is real life, this is normal.
“I think this relationship is so important for opening people’s minds and eyes to what the real world is like and that we’re not some monsters,” mentioned Rubinstein, who’s overtly bisexual. “We just want to be treated fairly and equally, to be loved and to be treated with respect and kindness, and that’s it. … So it’s about time that we start showing these kinds of storylines on such a massive network.”
The first three seasons of “9-1-1: Lone Star” are streaming on Hulu and Fox Now.
