911: Lone Star (2020)

REVIEW BY: ROBERT CHANDLER

Well, if we're voting for our favourite post-GLEE Ryan Murphy tv show, I'm plumping for 911 LONE STAR. 

I wasn't expecting to find much in it. I baled from Murphy's RATCHED and AMERICAN HORROR STORY; and found the original 911 derivative and weak (the Santa Monica tsunami episode finished things off for me, placing the series on a level with a SyFy disaster movie). And I was bruised by that other firefighter show, Shondaland's Grey's spin-off, STATION 19, with its relentless need to connect with the mother series. 

So, I approached the Rob Lowe / Liv Tyler starrer with caution.

I should have known to trust Lowe. He has developed great taste. See WEST WING, BEHIND THE CANDALABRA, BROTHERS & SISTERS, PARKS & REC, etc.

911 LONE STAR works and is compelling. And it is up-to-the-minute contemporary in that it directly addresses issues of diversity representation in its storyline, not only in its casting. 

In the pilot ep, an entire firefighting team in Texas is wiped out by an explosion with the exception of one survivor. Rob Lowe is transferred from New York to the station to recruit a new team, with the express direction from his commander to incorporate diversity in his selection. It's a simple but effective note, bringing the issue to the foreground, so the series can explore the implications within the team, as well as within the wider community the firefighters serve.

One example stood out for me. Episode three. When a Muslim firefighter loses her hijab in an incident that members of the public are filming on their phones, the team immediately formed a protective ring around her, lifting up their jackets to obscure her from view until she was able to cover her head. A touch like this could feel awkward or crowbarred in, but this one did not. It is what the series is about.

There are other complications within the characters and their relationships, plus a season arc involving Liv Tyler's character's missing sister... it's all very well done. And often moving.

Extra things to watch out for: Jim Parrack as the sole member of the original team. He gives a quietly powerful, centred performance as a man dealing with survivor guilt and grief. First spotted him in the tank movie FURY. And Mary Kay Place (who takes me straight back to NEW YORK NEW YORK). She plays Liv Tyler's character's mother.