A grief-stricken Carlos stumbles upon a few of his father’s items that indicate secrets that could have led to his murder; Judd and Wyatt face a bumpy adjustment period; and TK approaches Owen for help.
Tropes:
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The VHS tape of Gabriel’s debriefing report also features him comforting a scared young Carlos, who’d had a nightmare. Carlos visibly tears up at seeing his father’s compassion to him, clearly regretting what happened between them later in life.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: In tribute to TK, Carlos, and their families to round out the wedding ceremony, Tommy sings the Company (Sondheim) song “Being Alive” in a very moving performance.
- Bittersweet Ending: TK and Carlos finally get to have their wedding and honeymoon after the traumatic events they’ve went through (Gabriel’s death being the most recent one), while Robert gets to experience his extended family’s happiness before his death. However, the bitter parts are not unnoticed: Wyatt, while starting to regain motor function in one hand, still has a long road of recovery ahead, with Judd facing this as well after deciding to resign from the AFD; Owen has lost another younger brother in his family and has to come to terms with his grief again; and Gabriel’s murder, at least for now, remains unsolved and not yet properly investigated by either the Texas Rangers or the Austin Police Department.
- Blatant Lies: After TK seemingly reasons with Carlos about continuing his investigation later and taking some time to rest, the latter agrees with both points and decides he’ll call Detective Washington in the morning. His schooled demeanor, however, indicates that he doesn’t intend to do either.
- Condescending Compassion: Wyatt is visibly irritated after hearing Judd apparently make an airplane noise while trying to give him food.
- Given Name Reveal: Carlos’ mother’s full maiden name, which is part of the password that her son figures out to access the burner phone’s data, is revealed as Andrea Gloria Delgado-Estevez.
- Headbutt of Love: TK and Carlos exchange one after TK decides to push back their wedding date and assures his fiancée that he’ll still be with him.
- Heartbroken Badass:
- Hero of Another Story: Major Bridges tells Carlos that Gabriel worked with Martinez/ Guiterrez to identify and convict any corrupt officials— at least twenty to thirty years ago. So, apparently, the videotape was at least that old, and since the most recent development in the case saw one cartel leader take a plea deal just before Gabriel was due to testify against him in the present, it seemed unlikely that his murder was connected to this case.
- Mercy Kill: Robert euthanizes himself with Owen at his side after the brothers share one last drink.
- Never the Obvious Suspect: Pablo Martinez, the caller on Gabriel’s burner phone, left a series of messages about a cartel infiltration two days earlier with the ominous-sounding message “catch the flu or catch a bullet.” Later, it’s revealed that it was related to a past corruption investigation— Martinez worked undercover with the Rangers to identify any authorities inside the Rangers, the police force, and FBI who directly helped drug cartels.
- Obviously Not Fine: As Carlos continues to analyze the video tape and the burner phone’s contents for leads on his father’s shooter, he starts looking more unkempt and exhausted in the following days, which is not lost on TK.
- Tender Tears:
- Tension-Cutting Laughter: Paul ends his welcoming speech with a half-joking order for TK and Carlos to “stay out of the ICU for at least a year,” to everyone’s mirth.
- Touché: O’Brien calls out Owen about the unlawfulness of his intervening in cartel business just for Carlos’ sake. Owen in turn rebuts that the former did the same thing for his nephew with the Honor Dogs, which he can’t deny.
- Understanding Boyfriend: It being only several hours, if not days, after the events of the previous episode, Carlos shakily admits to TK that he doesn’t feel ready for their upcoming wedding, as much as they both want it. TK completely gets it, deciding to postpone the event.
- Unkempt Beauty:
- Vengeance Feels Empty: While Owen recognizes the cruelty and unfairness of Gabriel’s shooting, he tells Carlos that letting the anger behind his vengeance rule the rest of his life would be just as fatal to him.
- You Are Not Alone:
- You Killed My Father: While investigating the data on Gabriel’s burner phone, Carlos learns the identity of a caller named Pablo Martinez, who left a series of messages to Gabriel about a cartel infiltration two days earlier. On the thinking that Martinez was behind the shooting, Carlos confronts the man at his house at gunpoint and, despite Martinez trying to explain himself, refuses to hear him out until Owen talks him down and Major Bridges explains that Martinez was an undercover member who worked with the Rangers to help them find any corrupt officials working with the cartels— so the voicemails were warnings, not threats.
