Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 4 Episode 1 of 9-1-1: Lone Star. Fox’s 9-1-1: Lone Star, a spin-off of the hit show 9-1-1, follows Owen (Rob Lowe) and TK Strand (Ronen Rubenstein) as they pack up their lives in New York City to make a new start in Austin, Texas. Following a call that leaves nearly all of the 126 firefighters dead — aside from Judd (Jim Parrack), who is haunted by his lone survival when the series begins — Owen is called in to use his vast experience to put together a new, fantastic team, which he is eager to do after TK relapses and nearly kills himself in an overdose. In the episodes to follow, the Strands have created a family at the 126 with Judd and his wife/dispatcher Grace (Sierra McClain), Marjan (Natacha Karam), Paul (Brian Michael Smith), Tommy (Gina Torres), Nancy (Brianna Baker), Mateo (Julian Works), and TK’s boyfriend and resident police officer Carlos (Rafael Silva).
As any longtime fans know, the writers in charge of the 9-1-1 universe love a good twist. In the premiere of the series’ fourth season, that’s exactly what they throw at us once again. But, this time, it rewrites history by changing the context of the first season, somehow creating an even more beautiful story than the writers already had. With Carlos and TK planning their walk down the aisle to marital bliss in the upcoming season, Carlos is forced to finally face his past and the reason he has been hesitant to make concrete plans for the wedding. As it turns out, Carlos is already married. He has been for years, yet he’s never once mentioned it. When he reveals this information to TK, he divulges that he’s married to Iris Blake (Lyndsy Fonseca), who was his best friend for years before she went missing. This was Carlos' attempt to please his parents, himself, and a world that didn't accept him for being gay. In many ways, this is truly shocking information.
Who Is Iris Blake on ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’?
As you may recall, Iris is the sister of Michelle Blake (Liv Tyler), who was the co-lead of the series in the first season as the 126’s EMS Captain. When we meet Michelle, she is desperate to find answers about what happened to her sister Iris, who has been missing without a trace for years. Michelle is convinced that Iris’ boyfriend Dustin (Jon Foster) killed her, so she had been harassing him and accusing him as she pleaded for answers. In the end, Michelle discovers Iris has been living on the streets since the night she went missing due to untreated schizophrenia, and Iris had been showing signs of the illness for quite a while beforehand. Michelle brings her sister home and tries to get her help and treatment, but she’s afraid of pushing too hard because Iris could just run away again, leaving Michelle in a hard position. Then, after the first season, Tyler chose not to return due to the pandemic, so Torres’ Tommy Vega came into the picture, and we haven’t had many updates on the Blake sisters until now.
How This New Information Changes the Past
Learning Carlos and Iris were best friends — married, even — changes the emotional connection to the events of the first season and Carlos’ role in the Blakes’ story. Carlos is Michelle’s best friend, always on her side as she grieves for her sister. He’s her shoulder to cry on, the person there to comfort her when even her mother isn’t, as their mother refuses to listen to Michelle’s ideas of what could have happened to Iris. Carlos arrests Michelle multiple times, yes, but it’s only to make sure she doesn’t get herself into even more trouble if another officer were to try. Their relationship was already so deep and touching in the first season. This new information adds even more history to the relationship, simultaneously making it more heartwarming and heartbreaking.
Carlos and Michelle had been in each other’s lives for years because of Iris, and they came together in the time she was missing to become even closer. Carlos wasn’t just Michelle’s friend in her hunt for answers about Iris, either, as he also had a personal stake in the story given she was his best friend (and wife, on paper). All the while, though Carlos was more focused on Michelle than Iris, he had been dealing with his own feelings about the situation. He had to mourn his best friend, whom he believed to be dead as well. But, in true Carlos fashion, he stayed strong and did exactly what Iris would have wanted him to do: Take care of Michelle. He constantly put his feelings aside to help Michelle, comfort her, and get her to attempt to move on and live life. He tried his best to honor her memory by paying extra attention to those she left behind.
Watching the first season with this new information will show everything with Carlos and Michelle in a new light. That said, the signs are there, which ultimately adds so much to an already outstanding series. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Silva said that series co-creator Tim Minear told him about Carlos’ history with Iris before they started filming the show back in 2019. While we’re just learning about it, it’s something that has always been on the minds of those behind the scenes. Perhaps we would have found out about this much sooner if Michelle had stayed on the show, but maybe it’s better to find out now, to completely pull the rug out from under us with characters we have known for years in such a fun, rewarding way.
Plus, this twist somehow makes Carlos an even sweeter and more thoughtful man than he already was. Aside from learning about their marriage and years-long friendship, the reason Carlos and Iris hadn’t gotten divorced yet is because Carlos has excellent health insurance that helped Iris get the treatment she needed to get back on her feet and get her schizophrenia under control. This is also part of the reason that Carlos has put off seeing Iris and telling TK for so long, as he didn’t want her to lose that crucial help. However, when he visits Iris at the center where she sought help, he finds Iris is now working there and she assures him that she has her own health insurance now. All in all, this is a successful twist that adds so much to the characters and story. Can Iris be a recurring character in Carlos’ life, so we can truly see their friendship though?
9-1-1: Lone Star continues Tuesdays on Fox. Every episode is now streaming on Hulu.