Heroic actor of the week (5/10): Ronen Rubinstein and Rafael Silva

Ronen Rubinstein and Rafael Silva shine in the Tarlos-centric episode that 9-1-1: Lone Star fans had been waiting for, earning them our Heroic Actor of the Week award.

Television is heating up across the board as a multitude of TV shows hurtle towards their season finales, other prepare to bid farewell for good and some are still preparing to kick off with season premieres in the summer. In this week alone, Batwoman dropped a bombshell, The Flash produced some real lightning and Supergirl brought an end to its current storyline in its midseason finale.

But no show was quite as, uh, hot as this week’s installment of 9-1-1: Lone Star, as a finale-esque episode allowed two of its primary stars to deliver two of the best performances you will see across television this season. And that has earned them both this week’s Heroic Actor of the Week award.

Ronen Rubinstein and Rafael Silva – 9-1-1: Lone Star

The 9-1-1 spin-off’s latest offering saw a serial arsonist taken down by Captain Owen Strand (Rob Lowe), who was busy playing Jessica Fletcher instead of taking time off work to recuperate from surgery. Though he and Texas Ranger Gabriel Reyes (Benito Martinez) were successful in stopping the assailant, the pair’s sons, T.K. Strand and Officer Carlos Reyes, were caught in the crossfire of it all.

Traumatic an episode as it was, it placed the focus on two characters who often don’t get enough focus of their own and, in doing so, highlighted just how formidable Ronen Rubinstein and Rafael Silva are as performers. Standing out isn’t anything new for this pair (who have single-handedly turned “Tarlos” into a phenomenon because of their on-screen chemistry alone) but “The Big Heat” highlights how they can be trusted to carry the emotional heart of the show as well.

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Rubinstein has had some great material to work with before but he shined here as T.K. struggled to process his father’s nonsensical arrest, with the young star doing an excellent job of highlighting that inner turmoil his character was feeling. It isn’t easy to see T.K. upset but the way in which Rubinstein managed to convey his helplessness over the fact that he was literally stuck in the middle of a situation he had no control over was nothing short of magnificent, and it made us ache that much more for T.K..

And speaking of helpless, there was something truly heartbreaking about the look in Carlos’ eyes as he turned to T.K. when their bedroom caught on fire because he, a police officer that would do anything he could to protect others, wasn’t able to protect the person he loved the most. It was a brief moment but one that Rafael Silva then built upon in the episode’s closing moments as Carlos reflected on what happened after the fire. A quietly powerful performance, Silva said so much with so little and, even now, it’s hard to fully put into words just how moving it was.

Episode 12 may have been the long-teased “Tarlos episode” (and it certainly delivered on that front) but it also highlighted how strong Rubinstein and Silva are as solo performers. And if we could get more episodes focusing on the pair, that would be sensational… just like their performances here.

Come back next week to find out who the next Heroic Actor of The Week will be. You can check out previous winners here.