Caution: Minor Spoiler Ahead for 9-1-1 Lone Star
9-1-1 Lone Star made the bold choice to separate their characters after the closure of station 126 in season 3, but that decision might end up hurting the show. The beginning of 9-1-1 Lone Star season 3 shows the station 126 regulars separated and dealing with their own storylines with the goal of giving each character their own moment. However, this has just ended up making the show feel disjointed and unconvincing.
At the end of 9-1-1 Lone Star season 2, Owen Strand (Rob Lowe) turns down an opportunity to be Deputy Fire Chief, and Billy Tyson ends up taking the position. One of Billy's first decisions as Deputy Fire Chief is to close down station 126 due to the budget cuts from Owen's financial reports. By the beginning of season 3 of the Ryan Murphy show, the characters have splintered off to do their own things. Tommy, T.K, and Gillian have moved house, Judd and Grace are focused on their baby, and Owen has sequestered himself to the woods. It seems as though the group has split off into their own stories.
This split ends up being a major problem for the season's storylines, though. Without station 126 tying all of the characters together, it feels like there are too many pieces to follow what's going on. The stories of Tommy, T.K., and Gillian feel separated completely from Owen, and both of those feel very distinct and distant from Grace and Judd. Executive producer Tim Minear mentioned wanting to give each character their moment in the spotlight and each story the room to breathe, but it seems like the separation has done more harm than good.
Most shows with similar premises, like Shonda Rhime's Station 19, are successful because they are able to interconnect and weave everyone's individual storyline throughout the season of the show. Expecting viewers to be able to watch each character's storyline separate from the rest of the characters makes it feel like it's actually three or more different shows instead of one big piece that all comes together. Even abstract ideas like themes and motifs are able to tie storylines together in shows with similar set-ups, but right now, 9-1-1 Lone Star's cast seems to only be sharing the snowstorm devastating Texas in the first few episodes. Unfortunately, this isn't enough to make the show feel cohesive.
It seems like the synopsis for the next two episodes airing on January 24th and January 31st of 2022 that the show might be moving in the right direction. By season 3, episode 4 ("Push"), the characters of 9-1-1 Lone Star have come back together to find Grace who is in labor in the middle of a snowstorm. Additionally, Minear has mentioned that he saw season 3 as a way to break the group apart to bring them all back together again. Tying all the stories back together is a good sign that the show will bring back the 126 for future episodes. Regardless of the fate of 9-1-1 Lone Star's station 126, in order for the show to work, the characters need to bring their stories back together instead of tearing them apart.
New episodes of 9-1-1 Lone Star air Mondays on FOX.