Installments where we get a real sense of this squad as a family are the best ones.

And while it was still absent a few members, 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 3 Episode 10 was one of those installments with Mateo balancing being there for two of his firehouse families and the other rallying around Paul.

One can never get enough of the 126 family feels.

Julian Works is fantastic.

Every time they give him a significant story arc, it makes you wonder why he’s often so underused. Mateo is such a sweet character, but it’s always lovely when we get to see more depth to him.

We already knew he was a star at 129, so leaving the chapter of that book opens led to an emotional arc with Tatum. Mateo developed a strong bond with Owen from the moment he moved in.

However, he also developed something akin to a father-son connection with Tatum. Tatum was always a bit of a hardass, but Mateo earned his respect and fondness and seeing another side of that relationship was great character development for Mateo.

Dementia is a terrifying thing. It’s upsetting when someone you care about slowly loses their memory and fades away. But in a field like firefighting, it’s horrifying because of how it can jeopardize lives.

Initially, it seemed as if Tatum’s behavior was solely due to the loss of one of his men. It wasn’t shocking that he drowned his sorrows in alcohol, but by the time he was losing track of his words during the eulogy and forgot where he was, it was evident something was more serious.

The last time I went through his door I had to kick it in. I’m not doing that again. This time he needs to open it.

Marjan

It’s unfortunate that Mateo went from a probie to a lieutenant and then downgraded again within the year, but everyone sees something in Mateo.

It shows how noble he is that he took the job, not for the promotion and the money, but because he thought it was the best way to help Tatum. He couldn’t guarantee that the others couldn’t see what he did when it came to Tatum.

Of course, Owen and Marjan instantly thought Mateo was enticed by the promotion more than anything else. It even led to a nasty exchange between Mateo and Marjan.

The worst moment of all was when Tatum made that bad call when they were at first. If Owen hadn’t trusted Mateo over Tatum at the moment, they would’ve lost more people.

Poor Mateo still didn’t want to blow in his former captain, but he didn’t have any other choice in the matter. It was for his safety and well-being, and everyone else’s to do so. But it’s a relief that Tatum saw it for what it was, and he got to return the favor, coming full circle, picking Mateo up at the bar and reassuring him that he would be fine.

And Mateo is back to where he belongs at the 126. Mateo probably isn’t ready for lieutenant just yet, but his growth as a firefighter is remarkable and deserves more recognition.

Of course, they also had to deal with some in-house issues when everyone had to rally around Paul.

It was a bold choice to give Paul this heart condition that requires a defibrillator. It’s hard for the writers to, well, write themselves out of that corner. It’s not the type of thing you can handwave away.

Paul moping around is on-brand for someone off the job and on the mend. It’s too bad that we never got to see everyone else’s reaction to what happened to him.

The way the doctors were talking, it sounded like Paul’s career as a firefighter was over, so it was a bit jarring when everyone sailed past that and tried to focus on getting him back in shape to return to the job.

More focus was directed toward him falling into some depression, and Judd also mentioned that it was PTSD, too. I loved that we got those moments with Judd and Owen reaching out to Paul and doing everything they could to get him in the right frame of mind and peak condition.

Judd doesn’t talk about his battle with PTSD often, so you could appreciate the bit of continuity in acknowledging it and having him connect with Paul from a place of familiarity with it. It would’ve been easy if they stuck the onus on Marjan and Mateo to get through to Paul and get him back into shape.

I think Captain Tatum has dementia.

Mateo

It’s refreshing that they broke up the Three Musketeers to explore different dynamics in that way. The workout scene with Paul, Owen, Judd, and Tommy was genuinely fun to watch.

And it was also great to see some difficult conversations and exchanges between Marjan and Mateo. It sucked that they wanted her to come around to reaching out to Paul when she did all she could do. But you also never stop pushing for family and the people you care about.

The two of them are best friends. They aren’t even themselves when they aren’t getting along with another. I’m relieved that they made up, and Marjan showed up to be there for Paul and root him on during his testing.

But what are we supposed to make of that?

The last time I went through his door I had to kick it in. I’m not doing that again. This time he needs to open it.

Marjan

He got in under the necessary time during his practice run. However, wouldn’t the defibrillator knocking him down have affected his timing? And if it didn’t, wouldn’t it kick him into gear, disqualify him or have him deemed unfit for duty?

The emotions surrounding this arc are top-notch, and Brian Michael Smith is absolutely killing it here. Again, like Works, it always makes you wonder why they don’t take full advantage of him more.

But I don’t know where we’re headed with the storyline, so it’s hard to know how to feel about it. You just want Paul Strickland fighting fires as the universe intended it to be, dammit!

Over to you, Lone Star Fanatics. Did you love all this Mateo focus? Are you happy Paul and Marjan made up? Hit those comments!

You can watch 9-1-1: Lone Star online here via TV Fanatic!

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