It's been a hot minute since I watched Chimney Begins or Hen Begins but here's a thought: Tommy also got to turn a corner in this episode, albeit we have to do more work to see the corner.
In earlier episodes with Tommy, he was *speculated* to be queer because of the ribbing about the girlfriend and all that. But he is! He's queer. So back then in the toxic culture the 118 used to have, Tommy was closeted and surrounded by homophobia and bigotry.
Obviously this doesn't excuse him also being an ass in those eps. But he wants community and belonging--he tells Buck as much in 7.04. He wanted it back then, too, maybe even more as a closeted younger person fresh out of the army (remember Eddie saying he missed the camaraderie and teamwork?). So he took what community he could get by blending in and going with the flow and participating in the toxic culture that was also actively harming him.
Being in the closet hurts you in so many ways, even when it can also be protecting you from real harm.
So now Tommy sees the accepting, family-like nature of the 118 that would do anything for one another. It's important that Eddie, Buck, and Chim showed up for *Hen* the way they did: someone Tommy harassed for being a gay Black woman. Now she has three comrades who would throw their lives and careers on the line to back her up. That's one price Tommy paid by not standing up for Hen and the others, by participating in the toxic culture. In the end, the community he got out of that wasn't worth much at all, and when faced with what he could have had, he wants it.
So he comes over to Buck's loft and he tries to set things right, and then Buck says, Nah you have it. You're part of it. You flew into a storm for us.
And then, only then, after repeatedly deflecting Buck's advances, does Tommy really open up to the flirting and, eventually, kissing. He gets his own queer moment.
Idk, I know he's not easy to love from the Before Times, but I think it's pretty lovely to see someone who went through his own horrible experience of repression and harassment get to have that moment, too.
