I was always sure we were going to see Buck still being a part of the Diaz boys’ life in 5b, but honestly, the whole dinner scene was more fantastic than I could have imagined. Taylor was right there, but the whole time, everything plays out more like Buck is Eddie’s bf than hers. When she’s not touching her food, Eddie asks her about it and quickly guesses correctly that Buck told her to eat beforehand. It shows how well Eddie knows him. Meanwhile, Buck is completely unconcerned about her not eating, he’s just happily stuffing his face with Eddie’s food (let’s not get into how emotional it makes me that Eddie has been trying to get better at cooking, and of all the ways we find out about it, it’s when he goes all out and cooks for a dinner with Buck). Then we get the mirror image reminder that Buck also knows Eddie really well, correctly guessing that he’s not okay ever since he quit, and then telling him he doesn’t need to pretend with Buck.
Eddie shows concern over whether Taylor’s eating not because she matters to him personally, but because she’s Buck’s gf, while Buck? He’s showing concern for Eddie. Their care is mutual. They’re so married! It’s honestly unreal. I also had to do a gifset to stress the romantic language Buck and Eddie both use when talking to and about each other in this ep, in this scene (“Buck, you need to move on. I have” is the kind of thing we usually see on TV being said to a romantic ex, not to a best friend), as well as during Buck and Hen’s talk to Bobby (“I had dinner with Eddie last night” when by all means it should have been “Taylor and I had dinner at Eddie’s” or “We had dinner with Eddie and Chris…”). As if that wasn’t enough, that convo with Bobby is when we also find out that the reason why Buck’s been okay during the time jump between 5a and 5b is because he has not, in fact, moved on, he’s been under the illusion that Eddie is going to come back to the team any second now. From the way Buck spoke, it could have been that he accepted Eddie leaving until he saw his best friend suffering, but Eddie correctly guessed Buck never moved on. It again demonstrates how well they know each other. ~~~
That montage of Eddie after he’s started his new job at the dispatch center is a clear callback to a similar one back in ep 204 (down to a shirtless shot of him), showing how he gets through the morning getting ready for the day after he just joined the 118. But look at the many contrasts! To start, the one back then showed him being cheerful and smiling a lot whereas the new one lets us know just how tired he is (we even see the change from Eddie waking up and rubbing his face from his sleep to the shots of him rubbing his face while trying to sleep and going crazy ‘coz he’s failing at it).
Ep 204 showed him connected to Chris, doing things together, while now he’s shown still doing his best, but being more separate from his son (for example, in the first montage, we had them “training” together, while in the new one, we see Eddie exercising on the treadmill alone. You can tell how things have shifted even more in the breakfast scenes: back then, they were both sitting at the table eating together, while in the new montage Chris is at the table eating, while Eddie either has to get up while his son is still eating or is already up at the counter, putting things away, implying he’s more rushed than he was as a firefighter in the field, that without having shifts which give him 48 hours off, this is taking a toll on the quality of his time with Chris).
And lastly, the music back in 204 was upbeat, though still having a leisurely tinge to it, while the soundtrack to this new scene is more strung out in comparison, the lyrics even mentioning “dark nights,” plus the song back then was in Spanish, a reference to Eddie’s heritage, telling us that he was in his element! No such indications now. Even the span of the montage shows a marked change: back then, we got slices of many scenes all taking place during one morning, while the new one condenses a lot of different days (and sleepless nights) into one sequence. That in itself gives us a sense of being rushed and weary. The contrast tells us that before, each day was unique, while now, the days and nights all blur into one… This is Eddie at his most unhappiest he could possibly be, and more than that, if in 510 he believed he was quitting the 118 for Christopher’s sake, in reality this is hinting that this move has probably been having a detrimental effect on their quality time together… Eddie is sacrificing so much, he’s suffering so bad, he’s trying so hard, and he’s still not really achieving the one goal for which he quit. He’s breaking my heart! ~~~
OMG! OK, I’ve mentioned before the parallels between Eddie’s current arc and Buck’s at the start of s3, but this ep really exceeded my expectations. Both story arcs start with Buck and Eddie quitting the firefighting profession following bad injuries on the job by a firefighters-hating psycho. Then in both cases, the team is still looking in on them (the kitchen talk in 301, Bobby asking May about Eddie in this ep), while we find out they’re both absolutely miserable without that job and their teams (Buck even freaking explicitly makes this reference himself). In both story arcs, their misery is also shown as being expressed in their disturbed sleep patterns. Eddie is not sleeping at night in 511, while in 301, we saw Buck sleeping late (possibly a hint that he needed to because he wasn’t getting his rest at night).
Despite this, they are still personally connected even after their professional paths have split up (Eddie coming in to check on Buck and drop Chris over in s3, in 5b we learn Buck is still coming over for dinners at the Diaz home). They also each end up being there for the other man in a crisis. Buck was there to save Chris in the tsunami eps, while Eddie steps in to help with the emergency Buck’s on now. But oh, it doesn’t end with this! Just like Buck was there in 304 to see his team seemingly moving on without him with a new female firefighter taking his place as Eddie’s field partner, making Buck feel left behind, now Eddie is there at the pub to see his team seemingly moving on without him with a new female firefighter that takes his place at Buck’s side, making him feel like an outsider looking in, I am just watching these parallels and they’re even more on the nose than I thought they would be? INSANITY.
And like that’s not enough, when they’re both ready to fight to get their jobs back, it’s Bobby who stops it from happening, insisting that they first have to fully heal before they can come back to the field, causing both men to lash out in response. In both arcs, Bobby’s past is also mentioned (think of 305) as a way of pointing out that they felt betrayed by him, like they were supportive during his time of need, believing he isn’t doing that in return. And then both men spiral when they feel truly without their partner (Eddie when he can’t talk to Buck in 305, while Buck in this ep realizes Eddie is really not coming back… and just remember, Buck’s the guy who we repeatedly saw is terrified of being abandoned, of people leaving and never returning to him. The fact that he held on to this belief that Eddie IS coming back for as long as he did is remarkable and speaks volumes of how much trust Buddie have managed to develop, and in a sense he’s not wrong 'coz we know that if Eddie could, he would have returned to his partner in this very ep, but Buck’s belief in Eddie coming back for so long only makes his eventual spiraling worse). That’s when they do some stupid, self-destructive and uncharacteristic things, that happen in connection with the new female firefighter who has joined the team. Lena introduces Eddie to street fighting while Lucy stirs Buck down the path of cheating and lying to his gf (…I might make a separate post later about Buck and his consent). Beyond the fact that the arcs so perfectly align, they also show just how much Buck and Eddie have in common. It’s one of the reasons why they know and get each other so well, why they fit so perfectly. ~~~
During Lucy’s introduction, Buck compliments her, while she only rates his work during that emergency call as a 7. It made me think about how almost every long term partner Buck has had in the past has belittled, dismissed or not been there for him in some way. Abby called him “boy toy” and seemed to look down on some of his beliefs, Ali wasn’t there for most of their r/s, Taylor told him off far too harshly IMO when he didn’t wanna be on his own at a dinner where his ex date was hooking up with his roomie/brother-in-law, and now Lucy condescended him. The only one who didn’t do that, the only one who lifted Buck up right away, who complimented him and valued being partnered with him from the very get go was Eddie. Even when they had a fight and Eddie said some harsh words in 305, they were literally his way of saying how much he needs Buck and can’t handle not having him around. I’ve been saying this since my meta about s2, but the show keeps highlighting that they are the perfect match for each other.
(to save people’s dash, the rest goes under a cut. HUGE thank you to @judsonryder and @whosoldherout who are legends for stepping up and helping with the gifs!) ~~~
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