14 Days of Swooon
‘9-1-1: Lone Star’: Ronen Rubinstein & Rafael Silva Break Down Tarlos’ Relationship Timeline
To say that T.K. (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos’ (Rafael Silva) journey to a happily ever after — which Rubinstein says the series finale “truly” gave them — wasn’t easy on 9-1-1: Lone Star would be an understatement. But aren’t the most worthwhile journeys the hardest?
The firefighter-turned-paramedic and the police officer met when the former moved to Austin with his father, Owen (Rob Lowe), after a heartbreaking end to a relationship and an overdose. And while T.K. tried to keep things casual, it quickly became apparent these two could — and would — have something special. What followed was a journey of ups and downs, leading ultimately to a happy ending, with the two becoming a family, having adopted T.K.’s half-brother Jonah.
“A big part for me about their marriage was I really wanted to treat it like a real marriage, and by that, I mean that even though these guys are so wonderful to each other and they’re so handsome, life isn’t perfect no matter who you are, and everybody has real struggles that affect even great relationships,” says co-showrunner Rashad Raisani. “And the true strength of a relationship isn’t the absence of challenges and problems, it’s how you grapple with them and encounter them and if they make your relationship stronger or weaker.”
We certainly saw that over the show’s five seasons. For 14 Days of Swooon, in the video above and below, Rubinstein and Silva break down T.K. and Carlos’ complete relationship timeline.
T.K. and Carlos Meet (Season 1 Episode 1)
T.K. and Carlos first briefly meet on a call, then later when everyone regroups at a bar. The first seeds are planted that something could be between them.
“It was the very beginning of the show, and I think we felt like we had something really special on our hands,” Rubinstein shares. “We obviously didn’t expect the explosion of what Tarlos is, but I think we just, from the scenes that we did in the chemistry read, knew that we had something special here and that these two characters were going to be really well taken care of by the writers. And that definitely bloomed into something that we could have never seen coming.”
T.K. Opens up to Carlos (Season 1 Episode 3)
The second episode shows the two hooking up, with T.K. trying to keep it casual, but Carlos having dinner ready when he comes over. In the following episode, after a bar fight, T.K. opens up to Carlos in the police station about his past (the failed engagement, relapse) and wanting to feel something.
“T.K. wanted to just sort of disconnect from everything that happened and just have strictly a physical relationship with Carlos in the beginning. And then he obviously realizes that he can open up to him,” notes Rubinstein. “And for some reason Carlos seems to care about him. That police station scene, in my opinion, still my favorite Tarlos scene we’ve ever done. It’s so loaded, and I think it holds up five seasons later.”
Adds Silva, “I think it’s the first time we see the two characters recognizing where each other are in their personal lives and still deciding to walk this road together … I think it’s the first scene that as an audience, we’re allowed to fall in love with these two characters because we’re going to find out what they’re going to be together.”
T.K. Goes to Carlos After Tim's Death (Season 2 Episode 2)
After the 126 loses paramedic Tim (Mark Elias) after a piece of volcanic rock flies into his chest, T.K. goes to Carlos, who holds him on the stairs. It’s the first time we see one of them be there for the other in such a meaningful way.
“T.K. wears his heart on his sleeve, but I think that was one of the first times we see him just completely just melt in front of Carlos,” says Rubinstein. “I just remember how they shot it. Carlos was sitting on the stairs, and it was like this angel light coming from behind him. I don’t know if they did this on purpose, but it very much symbolizes that this is going to be someone that will hopefully look after T.K. and T.K. could feel safe with.”
Carlos Awkwardly Introduces T.K. to His Parents (Season 2 Episode 4)
It’s in the next episode that T.K. and Carlos run into the latter’s parents (Benito Martinez and Roxana Brusso) … and he introduces the former as his friend and colleague. That leads to the couple discussing the very different reactions from their parents to them coming out, and T.K. assuring Carlos that he’s on board with whatever he needs when it comes to his.
“Carlos had so many firsts throughout Lone Star,” says Silva. “Truly, I think the very first time Carlos fell in love was with T.K. … And so with T.K., it was a whirlwind of experiences. It’s Carlos having to face himself if he wants to keep this person in his life. And he has to face not only himself, but his past and past relationships with the people closest to him,” starting with his parents.
He notes that in that moment, “we’re just humanizing two very opposite stories, but very real stories that both are legitimate and both take place because both are reality. I think it was a huge and very intimate and beautiful bonding moment, and they needed each other.”
Rubinstein also says it’s a moment “we see them really excel at communicating and hearing each other and being there for each other, which I think evolves so beautifully throughout the show.”
T.K. and Carlos Move in Together, Then Their House Burns Down (Season 2 Episodes 10-12)
T.K. moves in with Carlos, but it’s not long before an arsonist burns down the house to try to make both their fathers suffer. For Rubinstein, it’s a “really pivotal moment” for the couple because “that was the first time seeing Carlos drop all of his walls and be very vulnerable with T.K.”
Silva recalls it being “the first time that Carlos is put into a life and death situation. It’s so real that he can’t really contain it.”
Tarlos' Offscreen Breakup and Reconciliation (Season 3 Episodes 1-4)
When Lone Star returns for its third season, fans learn that Tarlos has broken up offscreen. It’s not until T.K. is in a coma (again) that we find out why: Carlos made an offer on a loft T.K. couldn’t afford and put his name on the deed, making him half-owner. T.K. panicked because things were going too well.
That move from Carlos is because he’s “dead set on having a family and being together and creating life with this person that he loves very much, and he will do whatever it takes to get there,” according to Silva.
T.K. Proposes (Season 3 Episode 18)
Amidst making his will, T.K. realizes it’s quite simple, as he tells Carlos when he wakes him in the middle of the night: “I just leave everything to my husband. … Marry me.” Carlos worries it’s a response to a traumatic week, but T.K. assures him it’s about love.
“That proposal is T.K. to a T,” says Rubinstein. “It wasn’t going to be some big, planned out thing at a restaurant or somewhere with people. It was going to be super intimate, waking him up in the middle of the night.” He reveals that he and Silva had lunch before filming that scene and talked about everything and “had a really beautiful reflection moment of, ‘Oh my God, we’re at this point now.’ I remember meeting you at the chemistry read, not knowing what the hell we’re doing here. What is this show going to be? What is this relationship going to be? And then here we are hours from doing this major season finale proposal for the entire world to see for millions and millions of people to watch on Fox.'”
Silva also says that T.K. needed to be the one to propose after he was rejected in the series premiere. “Let’s assume that T.K. knew that Carlos is the love of his life, but there’s a difference in accepting and doing something about that. Carlos has always been like, ‘Yeah, I’m in it. Let’s go.’ But I think T.K. is the one that needed to come to the conclusion [he did].”
T.K. and Carlos Disagree About Kids (Season 4 Episode 12)
Leading up to the wedding, the couple realizes that while T.K. is ready to be a father, Carlos isn’t sure if he wants kids, due to his concerns about his relationship with his own father. (They do, however, gain a bearded dragon as a pet.) But while it’s a moment that could have broken other relationships, they stayed strong and together.
“When you love someone, you try to make it work,” Silva explains. “And I think we’ve seen these two trying to make it work from them very beginning. So I think it’s right on point with who they are and who they want to be for each other.”
T.K. and Carlos Get Married (Season 4 Episode 18)
The wedding almost doesn’t happen after Carlos’ father Gabriel is murdered. But in the end, Carlos proposes, and the couple gets married. For both Rubinstein and Silva, that was a fun day on set.
Rubinstein calls it one of his favorite moments of the show and his career. “What that moment means, not just the show, but just for television and showing that in that way, it was the big finale of this big hit show, and that’s what they chose to focus on, is this marriage of these two men. And it’s just so special,” he says.
But Silva also had to keep in mind that Carlos was grieving during the ceremony and reception. “Carlos had to deal with, am I betraying my father and his honor and his existence by celebrating my life right now? And that was something that was just constantly in my mind,” he shares. “I think shooting it for me was very methodical, and I had to keep myself just a little bit of away just to have that sensitivity to what this moment meant.” There were real emotions for an event he called “quite beautiful.”
T.K. and Carlos Go to Couples Therapy (Season 5 Episode 5)
Carlos’ obsession with finding who murdered his father begins to affect the couple’s relationship, ultimately sending them to couples therapy. In the end, Carlos offers as an anniversary gift a box in which he’ll put work away when he gets home.
It’s a complicated situation for Carlos, given he’s so focused on looking for his dad’s killer. “I think secretly, Carlos might think, ‘You’re taking time out of my day to talk about this selfishly while I could be working on trying to find whoever,'” admits Silva. “But in a way, Carlos doesn’t see that T.K. is just trying to hold the fort down and keep it together.”
As Rubinstein shared during TV Insider’s aftershow, First Response, for this episode, “My showrunners are very aware of my love for Brad Pitt‘s career, and they literally kind of recreated that scene based off of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. … I feel like that scene is extra special because we don’t really have many scenes where we get to let things breathe. It’s a very fast show. I feel like this is one of the few scenes where Rashad [Raisani] let us really sit in it, sit in the awkward moments, sit in the awkward silence, and I think it makes the scene so much more special because if you were just going to cut it up really quick, the silence and the awkwardness in between the words is really one of the best parts about that scene and about that writing.”
T.K. and Carlos Adopt Jonah (Season 5 Episode 12)
With T.K.’s stepfather (Henry Ian Cusick) in prison for, among other things, tax evasion and wire fraud, T.K. decides to step up and adopt his half-brother. Initially, Carlos isn’t so sure (since it comes at a time he’s focused on the hunt for his father’s killer), but soon gets on board. Then comes an issue with the fact that both work dangerous jobs. And so the five-month time jump in the finale reveals that they have adopted Jonah, and T.K. has become a stay-at-home dad.
“Because T.K. wants it so much, he knew that he would have to make the sacrifice,” says Rubinstein. “I think he’s at the point where his priorities are a little different. It’s now starting a family with the man that he loves rather than continuing his work as a first responder. And we know how much he loves that and how passionate he is about that. So it truly means a lot for him to step away from that.”
He continues, “I think it truly is a happily ever after. … I think Tarlos deserves a happily ever after. They’ve been through everything and have still managed to come out at the end as incredible men, incredible partners, incredible professionals, and then I would think incredible fathers. So yeah, it’s really beautiful for full circle, and I’m so happy with how they ended it.”
Silva agrees, adding, “I don’t think there’s ever a bad time to give visibility to families that looked like T.K. and Carlos. There was never a bad time to bring it to center and front and shine the spotlight on people that are in a same-sex relationship who are just trying to have more love in their lives by adopting kids, by having kids. It doesn’t make them extraordinary. In fact, I think the search is to explain how beautiful it is to be in an ordinary situation where you can just adopt kids without facing so much unnecessary adversity, so much false adversity because of a false narrative that has been created about a community that is based on love.”
