Coincidence? I tend to think not.
Because there were A LOT of ways to film this scene (more zoomed in, different angle for the group shot, etc.) but they chose this one. Consider even how the last person to grab the rope in the scene is the tallest person, so they’re situated at the edge of the group, precisely like you can see in the famous image that the hands of the person at the edge are the last ones to grab the pole, because they’re still mid-motion.
And I kind of love it, that they took this image, with its symbolism of heroics, but they turned the meaning of what it means to be a hero from a triumph in battle to a triumph in saving lives (Buck) and being there for a loved one when they are most in need of help (the rest of the team).
Buck’s a hero and his found family are heroes and I love all of them, okay?
And for the record? I am never going to be over this scene. Buck’s silent scream and fall to the floor, his breaking point when he realizes he’s not immortal after all… because he’s spent his entire early life defying death in an attempt to get some attention (since he couldn’t get love from his parents and that was the closest thing), getting away with it physically, his body healing and the scars never leaving any permanent signs of damage. He gained a false sense of invincibility, which was a part of why he could be so reckless when doing his job.
That’s why his breaking point is this moment when the fire in the factory is consuming all of the oxygen around him and he’s starting to suffocate, his strength and ingenuity remarkable as always, but for once, they don’t cut it and soon, soon he’s going to pass out. He saw death for real for the first time, I believe. So that bit where he lowers his head to the ground in surrender and we only see the letters on the back of his jacket? That bit will forever break me.
Just like the next shot will forever revive me, the swell in the music (OMG, once again the perfect use of a score in a climactic scene) as Eddie comes into the shot and together with the rest of the fire fam, they lift the burden from Buck, physically and metaphorically. And for once he gets away from death not because he’s a lucky bastard, but because he’s loved and treasured and has people who will run for him into the fire. He doesn’t have to run into it alone anymore. And if you think I’m ever going to be over it or even be able to think of that scene without tearing up, you’re dead wrong.
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