Spoiler alert! This story contains spoilers for the Season 3 9-1-1: Lone Star episode “Prince Albert in a Can.” Consider yourself warned!
Sometimes Texas and California can play nice with each other, and 9-1-1: Lone Star just proved it by welcoming Angela Bassett’s powerhouse Sgt. Athena Grant in for a fun cameo on the latest episode, “Prince Albert in a Can.” Seeing Athena help Carlos and Grace track down a criminal might have been a light-hearted moment, but for the rest of the hour, the first responders were really going through it, including some trouble for Owen and Catherine that seems to just be getting started.
“Prince Albert in a Can” opened with Grace (Sierra Aylina McClain) taking a call, seemingly from a domestic violence victim hiding with her baby from her tweaked-out boyfriend. On the scene, Carlos (Rafael Silva) gave chase, using his Taser to bring down the suspect, who was holding a butcher knife. Unfortunately, the man fatally fell onto his own knife, throat-first. Adding insult to lethal injury, the call turned out to be a prank, and an angry Grace and Carlos set out to find out who was responsible for the false report.
Lone Star's elite learned their victim had enemies in the gaming world, and traced the fake 9-1-1 call back to…wait for it…Los Angeles! Enter Athena Grant for the classy finish, making the arrest while Carlos and Grace watched via video call. As the Texas duo thanked Athena for the assist, the sergeant deflected the praise with a pretty meta summation:
You guys did all the hard work. I showed up just for the fun, Detective.
Carlos may not be a detective, but Rafael Silva told TV Insider that his character got a major boost in confidence from the kind words. The mini-crossover of the two 9-1-1 shows celebrated Lone Star’s new time slot, now airing immediately after 9-1-1 on Fox, and Silva was psyched about the chance to work with Angela Bassett and what the new Monday night block means for the 9-1-1 franchise. Silva said:
It’s beautiful Monday nights now are gonna be thunderous. We’re gonna have two hours of 9-1-1, two of the biggest shows on network television and Fox’s biggest shows right now. Just having that interaction with their energies, Carlos and Grace and Athena working together, is beautiful.
It was nice to see the departments working so well together, and hopefully that kind of crossover is something we can see again — even if it’s something small and light-hearted like this. Not every crossover has to be a big disaster episode.
Speaking of disasters, Owen (Rob Lowe) and Catherine (Amy Acker) seem to be in the midst of one after “Prince Albert in a Can” saw Catherine suffering a scare when she received a card with powder in that read, “Now you’re really toxic.” The powder turned out to be corn starch, but the episode ended with Owen finding a dead pig in his bed with the words “Toxic Pig” written on the wall in blood.
We’ll get more of that action in next week’s episode, “Negative Space.” Check out the episode description:
Owen fears the past is back to haunt him when a stalker targets him and Catherine (guest star Amy Acker). Meanwhile, Tommy and Gillian face consequences when Gillian saves the life of a woman wearing a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ bracelet.
9-1-1: Lone Star Season 3 continues in its new time slot next Monday, March 28, at 9 p.m. ET on Fox. Be sure to check out our 2022 TV Schedule to see what new and returning shows are premiering soon.
