9-1-1: Lone Star's Gina Torres Was 'Warned' About the Connection That Left Her (and Tommy) Speechless
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9-1-1: Lone Star fans are used to watching the graphic Fox procedural from the spaces between their fingers, but Monday’s episode gave us the most cringeworthy moment of the season — and there was no blood involved.
Let’s just talk about it: After confronting her brother-in-law about missing Charles’ funeral, Tommy and Julius (guest star Nathan Owens) shared an emotional moment, one that led to a kiss no one saw coming. Well, except for Gina Torres.
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“I was warned,” she tells TVLine. “[Executive producer] Tim Minear called me about this plan, and I think my initial reaction — as a fan of Tommy and the show and Charles — was ‘Oh, no! Really? I think it’s too soon!’ But then I read it, and I saw all of the history that he created around us. We have that come to Jesus moment where all is revealed, and by the time we get to the kiss, it doesn’t even feel like a kiss. It feels like a hug that went too far, a hug that got interrupted by their lips. And it’s all born of grief, a need to comfort and a familiarity of love.”
Torres says that Tommy and Julius’ initial reactions were “completely on point” and admires their ability to quickly pivot after the awkward encounter.
“There’s this whole shift that has to happen because she recognizes that he is someone of value, and that her girls need him,” Torres says. “So they can be grown-ups about this and they can put it away in that moment.”
As for what the future holds (or doesn’t) for Tommy and her hot, estranged brother-in-law, the two “have gotten to a lovely place and understanding,” when we see them together again in future weeks. “It may move forward, it may not, but I believe that by the time we get to that particular crossroad, it has less to do with the grief and more to do with who Tommy is trying to get back to, which is… herself.”
“Part of her journey now is figuring out who she is if she’s not Charles’ wife,” Torres says. “We’ve met her as a mom, we’ve seen her as a kick-ass professional, and we love these things about her. This is true of so many women. As we get older, we take on more titles. I think she’s got to come full-circle now. At some point, however you get there — whether you’re an empty nester, or you’re widowed, or you’re divorced — you have to figure out who you are without all the titles. Are you still the same person, or do you need something different? And that’s what that is for Tommy.”
A call gone wrong also put things into perspective for the 126, including Nancy and Mateo, between whom we definitely detected a spark. So of course we asked Torres how she thinks Tommy would feel about that potential workplace romance.
“Tommy loves and believes in love,” Torres says. “As long as nobody gets hurt and we can all be professionals about it, I think she’d be on board.”
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