Haven’t even watched the new episode of 911 but I’ve been spoiled a bit. What do you mean Buck isn’t opening up to Eddie??? Oh man. Could it be because every time he does Eddie tells him he’s selfish? Probably doesn’t want a 98th act of trial and tribulation. This whole season (and the end of last season) Has been people slowly pushing Buck away. Hanging out without Buck. Complaining about Buck. Geez. I wonder why he’s not chomping at the bit to talk it out with y’all. 😒🙄
Also, the irony of Eddie telling Buck he needs to talk to a therapist. Honey… please. Practice what you preach. You’re like 5 seasons overdue.
Why Eddie is a bad dad (from an education worker’s perspective)
(Thanks for your encouragement/enabling @sad-girl-hours23 and @beanarie, @betterthanfakemouthstatic and @planetesastraea please enjoy I guess?)
Okay. Education worker (teacher) thoughts on why Eddie is a bad dad. (quick caveat that I teach in Canada and yeah, things are going to be different province to province and state to state in the US but I’m looking at things that should be fairly consistent across school boards, based on conversations I’ve had with fellow educators).
So, we meet Eddie when he joins the 118. That means he has already gone through the LAFD academy, so they’ve been in LA for about six months, give or take a little bit depending on when they moved into Eddie’s rented house. We pretty quickly find out that his only childcare is his grandma and his aunt (Abeula and Tia Pepa) and that he has been struggling with grants, etc. for assistance.
The struggling is not what makes him a bad dad, it’s the fact that he didn’t get it sorted out BEFORE he started the academy. Heck, even before they moved! We’ve had numerous kids move in and out of my school with a variety of disabilities and special needs, and we ALWAYS connect to the school they’re moving from or the school they’re moving to. Chris is school aged by the time they move, yet there’s no indication that Eddie got help from a past school. Or his wife. Or his parents. We know you were gone for most of Chris’s early life. Why are you not seeking assistance from people that have gone through this before?
Your plan for moving to LA really should have been 1) make sure you have a job, 2) make sure you have a place to live, 3) make sure Chris’s schooling is looked after. Like. My guy. (It wouldn’t make sense to do the schooling before steps 1 or 2 in case you don’t get into the academy. That part is fair).
Social workers — I think social workers often get a bad rap in media, because we have a tendency to see them taking kids away from families in media, but they’re actually there to HELP. My school even has a social worker attached to it that we can call in to meet with families for a variety of reasons, including assistance for things like grief counselling, translators, general counselling, etc. Yet another resource that Eddie either doesn’t know about or hasn’t used, and yes, social workers are overworked and underpaid and it would probably be hard for an individual to get set up with one, but again, it's that planning ahead that is completely lacking here.
Something that we see over and over again with Eddie is that he has to do things for himself, often to the detriment of himself or people around him. He’s not a guy that easily seeks out help (see season 3 fight club, season 5 breakdown, talking to any of the numerous parents in his social circle about being away from their kids, etc etc.) It starts early, here, and continues throughout the series.
We know he gets Chris into a school that’s better suited to him, but it takes a long time and really requires him to blindside Shannon to get her there for the interview. Again, he couldn’t have researched schools before moving? He couldn’t have found this place sooner? You’re moving Chris out of the state already and now you’re moving him to a second school in under a year? What kind of consistency is that providing for him?
And then at the end of Season 7, Chris moves back to El Paso. What kind of school was he at there? We could have had even a LINE about him sending his parents Chris’s school documents (IEP/504) that would show actual good parenting.
At what point was it decided that Chris was staying in El Paso for the start of the school year? Schools with specialty programs often have a cap on how many students they can admit, and special education resources are also underfunded; did he have any support there? Did the school know that he was coming and would they have had time to assign or hire a support worker/support staff? Did anyone take him to the school before the first day so he could find his way around? Did teachers know he would probably need extra time to move between classes? Was the school accessible? If it had a second floor, did it have an elevator? The funding for special education resources in my province is based on butts in seats (ugh, the worst, and the funding models are not accurate), so if he wasn’t enrolled right away or there on the first day, the school would be fighting to get someone in or forced to have an aide/assistant/support worker split their time between multiple students to allow him to get at least some support.
And Eddie bringing him back for the “apology” for Buck but never actually going back to El Paso? How much school did that kid miss? We don’t have timelines on this show because damn why would we, but depending on when it is, Chris could have missed 2-6 weeks of school at the end of the school on what is essentially a whim of his dad’s? We don’t see either of them go back to El Paso between the apology and the finale. Perhaps it’s implied but…
And now that Chris is back in LA? Is the school that Shannon and Eddie worked so hard to get him into holding his spot? (in fairness it is unclear what grade that school goes to, but because Eddie never mentions having to find a new school in LA, I assume he’s still at the same one, and there are schools that go from kindergarten to grade 12).
If Chris did have support at his school in El Paso and you pulled him without notice, who were the kids missing out on support because that aide/assistant/support worker was waiting to find out what was going on with their charge? These things that he does impact people outside of him and Chris.
There were moments of Eddie being a great dad— therapy after the tsunami, talking to Chris about his own therapy in season 5, also the implication that Chris is still in therapy during that conversation. But there are more instances of Eddie leaving the hard stuff to other people, especially Buck having to have so many talks with Chris about dating and his mom and people leaving, Eddie blaming his parents and Buck for Chris going to El Paso instead of acknowledging it was his actions that caused Chris to leave, Eddie making Buck Chris’s legal guardian in his will without talking to him (or presumably Chris) about it — does Chris even want that? Why are your feelings about his care after your death more important than his?
The one time we hear that Eddie has to have a tough conversation with Chris (about Bobby’s death), he’s angry that he had to have that conversation with Chris. He’s angry that someone else didn’t do it for him. We actually see more anger from him about that then we do sadness for Bobby dying.
In Season 9, when Chimney comes over for beers after he and Eddie fight, there is zero mention of Chris — no “Chris is out at the movies”, “Chris is in his room”, etc. For someone who spent so much of Season 8 being really put out that his kid doesn’t want to see him, it’s weird that the first time we see him at home in season 9 there is no mention or sign of his kid.
A lot of this is actually a larger, overarcing issue of 9-1-1 treating kids as props for their parents on the show, and their storylines are there to further their parents’ in some way, but the few plot lines that Chris gets work to emphasize that Eddie doesn’t know how to be a dad and isn’t doing anything to fix that.
We rarely see him talking to other parents on the show — my kingdom for a scene in season 8 where he would have talked to Hen or Karen or Maddie or Athena about being separated from their kids (the one with British guy had no emotional impact because we didn’t even know he had kids before then and we don’t care about him). We don’t see him reading parenting books or taking classes or anything like that. And especially as Eddie’s plots seem so… repetitive, why not branch out in some way like that? Why is the solution “get Chris a mom figure” as opposed to “Eddie learns to be a better dad”?
Season 8 was particualrly egregious for not talking about people unless they were on screen — Hen never mentions Denny’s accident after the episode it happens in, whereas in season 6 when Karen got injured in the lab blast, Hen’s first scene back at the fire house establishes that she’s been off work for a month looking after Karen. This ‘feature’ of season 8 serves to make Eddie look like a terrible dad because we get so few mentions of Chris without Chris being on screen before he decides to pack up and move to Texas. We don’t see what Eddie has done or is doing to try and repair their relationship.
(We see the birthday party and the facetimes but that is when Chris is on screen so they don’t apply to the above point).
The halloween mention of Chris is one of the weirdest ones because it seems like Eddie is sad that he’s missing out on a singular experience with Chris and not, you know, living with him? He’s sad because he’s missing something. It’s about Eddie — again.
He’s become an incredibly frustrating character because the character growth they afforded him in earlier seasons has in many ways been walked back, and he comes across as selfish and self absorbed, not caring about how things turn out unless they turn out badly for him.
tl;dr: bring back season 5 eddie when he was self aware and working to be a good dad, friend and coworker
struck by how buck was a honorary member of the grant-nash and the diaz families in addition to legal and biological ties to the hans but despite having the most connections in the main cast is literally the loneliest character on the show
"Buck broke Eddie's ankle an no one cares! they're just excusing it"
There is nothing to excuse because that never happened, anon. There was a sports injury, yes. one that might have been avoided, yes. Or it might not have been avoided, because basketball among amateurs is stupidly dangerous for ankles and knees. But it wasn't even a fucking sprain because Eddie was at work the next day.
When certain people stop over-exaggarating things, we might be able to start having an actual conversation.
Also why is it the man who got shot and was like anywho but his ankle gets a little rolled and RG decides to act like they took him out with a hammer to the knees? Insane lol
Buck hurting Eddie on purpose??? More like weak ankled Diaz
And even if Buck did it on purpose in the show both Tommy and Maddie called Buck out for the childish behaviour and he says that he will apologise to Eddie. When Eddie behave like a dick he is always excused because he's grieving or a closeted gay (which is fanon). He is never called out by anyone and the fandom treats him like a princess who can do no wrong. Also he never even apologisied for anything.
i hate being hyperfixated on a show where a character is isolated and treated poorly despite being the first to step up for others again and again, and the justification is that he's annoying and needy as though that's objectively the worst thing a person can be
another point: Oliver should just look at Ryan to see what not giving af about Buddies has done to his support from fandom. What did him openly advocating for Edy to return, getting bts pics with her or Devin, lobbying for a "goow woman" for Eddie do to his support from fandom? That´s right. Nothing. They still adore Ryan (more than Oliver!) and bend over backwards to defend him from any critisicm even after his slow descend into the manosphere. Oliver stans wouldn´t permanently turn on him if he was openly excited for a storyline not connected to Buddie and even if they´d get annoyed for a bit they would return. Crucially though, they would understand that he can´t get bullied. Same with the media btw. If Oliver and Tim had not always acted like they are ashamed of a storyline they did because Buddies and their pet writers prefer talking about their fanon ship, if they just proactively talked about other stuff we would not be here. "He never gets asked!" is a ridiculous excuse. He can open his mouth and direct the interview with the way he answers questions or pivots away from them. Ryan does it, too. I´m not a Ryan fan but he has way more balls than Oliver who even in 2024 still could not bring himself to openly say that how the fandom treated Megan, Arielle or Annelise was disgusting
I think the difference between the "fans" reaction to Buck and Eddie is a simple thing (that many others have pointed out) - buddie fans are Eddie fans, not Buck. It's why the story lines they want always revolve around Eddie, they get angry if Buck "takes storylines away from Eddie", they throw hate at things that Buck does and blame him for Eddie's reactions yet Eddie can do no wrong. And that translates over to the actors - even if Ryan keeps shutting down buddie, even with his questionable online behaviour buddie fans excuse it because HE'S their man crush. And if Ryan says anything in a interview that doesn't suit their narrative, they'll tell other buddie fans who haven't seen/read it "oh don't bother with it, there's nothing worth seeing there", basically helping to contribute towards keeping their fan base ignorant to the fact that Ryan is basically saying buddie is never going canon. But they'll HAPPILY pile on Oliver the second he says something they don't like.
Do I wish Oliver would/would have talked more about Tommy and the relationship with him? Absolutely. Is it his fault that he doesn't? I don't know, I don't know how the interview process work. Does he have to stick to set questions? Is he perhaps mentioning Tommy but the buddie "journalists" he's had tondeal with these last couple of years who hate Tommy with a passion choose to cut out those questions and his answers where he is mentioned? Or is it Oliver is so focused only on himself and his character that he just doesn't bother mentioning him? Again, who knows. At least in the few times he HAS been asked about him and Lou, for the most part he has spoken highly of Lou and working with him and of the relationship.
And I can understand him not wanting to fuel the fires and stirring up hate with the deranged fans by keeping quiet on him because acting CAN be a dangerous job if fans decide to take things too far. Like I've said before, not excusing all of Oliver's behaviour, but a lot of what goes on behind the scenes is all guess work on our behalf, and I'm sure everything is not all black and white.
Eddie has been displaying positive feelings towards religion for what...like 4 seasons, now, & Ryan Guzman (the actor) has shown himself to be a RACIST, SEXIST, TRANSPHOBIC HOMOPHOBE, and the Buddie crowd will still swear on their life that Eddie's GAY and dealing with CATHOLIC GUILT
- Finally a dialogue between Chim and Maddie. I understand he has some dubts, but Chim has already prooved to be an excellent captain.
- The emergencies were okay. Except for the rope one, which was ridiculous.
- The locker room scene reminded me of the old times, their dynamicwas back (a scene where Eddie doesn'tshoutat Buck? What a shocker). It works when they don't bully Buck, but Ravi was missing.
- Was it necessary to bring up another of Athena's traumas with the suicide story? Anyway, it was obvious it was the girl's mother, but at least we had an interesting conversation between Athena and May.
- Harry and Buck were the best subplot of the episode, especially the montage for Harry's training (Clipboard Buck is back!).
- Hen's plotline disturbed me the most, especially the fact that she didn't talk to anyone about it (and from what I understand she won't even in the next episode), I'm worried about her. Still, wasn't it a bit hypocritical to go to the place she criticized in the beginning?
- I love that Buck encouraged Harry to talk to the chief (their hug❤️🩹).
- More than the ceremony itself, I was moved by the gift and the team's words to Chim.
- This episode was interesting, but if they kill off Hen too, I'm out.
the number of people crying in richard siken's replies because, "What? So you're saying I can't relate to art anymore!?!"
no. obviously, nobody is saying that. but relatability isn't the endpoint of artistic interpretation. stop treating art as if it exists solely as a vehicle for your self-instert!
i relate to this art because of x =/= this piece of art is about x
The way Eddie was looking at Buck in the firehouse loft scene killed me. Just a very bland expression, no feeling, no care, borderline looking at Buck like he was a nuisance.
Also can’t help but notice that he only agreed with Buck and sort of took up for him while he was considering his own feelings on spirituality, but the moment he starts doubting it he tears into Buck. Like he can only consider Bucks feelings and view point when they align with his own.
