Spoiler alert! This story contains major spoilers for the 9-1-1: Lone Star episode “Negative Space.”
This week’s episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star continued Owen and Catherine’s troubles from the previous episode, as they dealt with a stalker who sent them both scary “gifts” and labeled them as toxic. After Catherine (Amy Acker) endured a biohazard scare and Owen (Rob Lowe) got a dead pig in his bed, all suspicions turned to dirty Deputy Roy Griffin (Brian Letscher), whom they’d already seen kill a man in “Shock & Thaw” earlier this season. Considering he'd only recently been released from prison, it seemed pretty cut and dry — maybe even...too easy. And sure enough, the ending got us, with a killer twist that would make Dexter fans proud.
That’s right, Dexter alum Julie Benz returned to the Austin series as Sadie, Owen’s friend who also just happened to be involved in Griffin’s arrest. She may have played a Trinity Killer victim as Dexter Morgan’s wife Rita on the serial killer series — 13-year old spoiler apologies — but the same can’t be said for the 9-1-1: Lone Star artist.
Everyone was laser-focused on proving that Griffin had sent Catherine the corn starch-filled card, and Marjan (Natacha Karam) even made a scene at a grocery store by announcing to the customers that the security guard was a murderer. Seriously, all signs pointed to Griffin, especially after Sadie’s art studio caught fire. It could be said that Griffin filing a restraining order against Owen was a sign that maybe Griffin wasn’t the stalker, and maybe that’s when we should have realized something more was going on.
Owen and Catherine decided to stake out Griffin’s house, only to have the deputy catch them in the act while gleefully taking photos to prove that Owen had violated the restraining order. When Griffin decided to celebrate by going for tacos (as one in Texas does), a bomb went off in his car, leaving Griffin horrifically burned, but still alive.
The truth was quickly revealed from there, as T.K., Carlos and Sadie continued to comb through security footage from the capitol attack. Just as T.K. saw Sadie on the video suspiciously exiting a room, he and boyfriend Carlos realized they’d been drugged. The old oxy-in-the-pho trick! Dexter certainly never went that route! Marjan arrived just in time to figure out what was going on, thankfully, and she knocked Sadie out, though not before taking a knife to the shoulder in the process.
Just like that, Owen and Catherine’s stalker drama was over. It was also revealed that when police searched Sadie’s cabin, they also found the severed head of her ex-husband. Lovely. I’m left with two burning questions: 1) How did we not see this coming? and 2) How in the world did that woman get that huge dead pig into Owen’s bed?
Quite possibly the most truly tragic takeaway from the episode, though, was that T.K. being drugged with Oxycontin meant he had to start his sobriety journey anew from Day 1. Damn you, Sadie, that’s just adding insult to injury. Also, do we think she drugged the pig's pho as well, or what?
9-1-1: Lone Star returns in two weeks on Monday, April 11, at 9 p.m. ET, following 9-1-1 on Fox. In the meantime, check out our 2022 TV Schedule to see what shows are premiering soon.
