love this episode confirming guard dog buck and eddie as buck's biggest weakness
buck was FINEEE with tommy's treatment of him. he literally did not complain about tommy refusing to use his chosen name. he didn't even tell tommy that his anniversary gift sucked because buck doesn't like basketball
but as soon as tommy implied it was good eddie moved because he didn't have competition anymore, buck got mean. he got defensive and told tommy he slept with him without having feelings for him! like this is an event that is WRECKING buck, and tommy thinks it could be considered a good thing because buck's favorite guy(s) moved away?!?!
i think the writers were brilliant to have buck go off on an eddiepraise tangent before tommy got reintroduced because it showed such a contrast to how he reacted when he felt tommy said one (1) questionable thing about eddie. in buck's eyes, eddie is beautifulcompetentperfectamazing and can do NOTHING wrong because he has a SILVER STAR. anyone who speaks against eddie is not someone buck wants to associate with
Bobby told this captain I’d always have a job at the 118. You think that’s true, or was he just saying that? You’re thinking of coming back? Don’t worry, you’re not getting kicked out of the house. I may need your couch, though. But what about Christopher? At least when I was there, I could send him some money. And be a firefighter. Which is the only thing I know he’s proud of me for. Hey, come on, that’s not true.
Sweet Jesus it's high-key hilarious laid out like this.
Q. But like it can go either way, you get that right? They have set it up to where you can decide it's about Tommy or Eddie depending on which way you want it to go. They've written it to be viewed as about Eddie or Tommy. We're not making that up???
A. My brother in Christ you are 100% making that up. That is unequivocally, one hundred percent not what the story is doing. The fact that I have to do this is shameful and proof of utter, willful ignorance, but you asked for it so here it is:
*Tommy comes in for the cruise ship rescue. We found out that he is former military, likes basketball, MMA, and Muay Thai. All things Buck VERBALIZES to the audience are things that he has in common with Eddie. MEANING THEY WERE CHARACTERISTICS GIVEN TO HIM TO SPECIFICALLY HAVE THEM IN COMMON WITH EDDIE.
*Buck acts like a lunatic for the entirety of 7x4 then inexplicably decides it must be about Tommy, despite the episode showing that it was very much about Eddie, so much so that Tommy himself is confused when Buck says he was trying to get his attention.
*They go out, Buck is understandably nervous, and then run into Eddie. Buck panics because he's not ready or sure what to tell Eddie yet. Tommy gets annoyed because Buck won't say they're on a date, he makes a closet joke, basically trying to force Buck to out himself in that moment, when Buck doesn't do it, Tommy gets upset and leaves him stranded at the restaurant.
*Buck apologizes to him, and invites him to Chim's bachelor party and wedding. For plot reasons Tommy accepts.
* Buck and Eddie decide on 80's theme for the party and decide to coordinate their outfits and go as Crockett and Tubbs. Tommy doesn't dress up, he offers up the fact that he is on call as his reason for not dressing up. He then leaves to go fight a fire. Leaving Buck and Eddie to spend the rest of the episode partying together. The show later releases a deleted scene of Eddie telling Christopher how he met his mother and that story proves to be a parallel to what we saw of Buck and Eddie during the bachelor party.
* Tommy shows up at the hospital where he and Buck kiss for the 2nd time. Eddie's reaction to the kiss, along with Buck's parents, are the reactions the show chooses to focus on.
*Tommy then disappears until the season finale. We see them have a dinner date at the end of the episode where Bobby nearly died, and Buck spent the entirety of it with Eddie dealing with Christopher and Bobby. Buck attempts to start a conversation about how he's feeling. Tommy turns it into a daddy sex joke.
*Tommy shows up again in 8x1, but only for one scene between him, Buck and Eddie where Eddie is trying to throw a birthday party for Christopher over zoom. He then disappears until episode 8x5
*In between that we see Buck struggling with Gerard as his captain. We get a shot of Eddie's voice being the voice he hears when he's trying to calm himself down.
*In episode 8x5 we see Buck buy what he believes is a prop skeleton but turns out to be a real skeleton. We get a lube joke between Buck and Eddie before Buck slips on pumpkin guts and separates his shoulder. Eddie rides to the hospital with him and stays with him, even talking to the doctor while Tommy hovers in the hallway. Once Tommy comes into the room, Eddie finishes a couple of Buck's sentences while he's telling the story to Tommy. Buck gets released from the hospital and goes home with Tommy. He wakes up with boils on his face, believing that the skeleton has cursed him, it was really an allergic reaction to the ibuprofen that Tommy gave him, because Tommy didn't know Buck was allergic. One of them calls Eddie to come over and tend to Buck's boils and despite the fact that Eddie and Tommy are both roughly saying the same thing Eddie is the one they show Buck reacting to and listening too.
*In 8x6 we see them have their 6 month anniversary date. The table next to them is having a divorce party, something the show makes a point of making the audience aware of. Tommy gives Buck basketball tickets, Buck has already told the audience he hates basketball. Tommy makes a joke about Buck taking Eddie to the game if he wants to. Buck didn't get Tommy a present at all. Buck realizes that his ex Abby is Tommy's ex Abby as well.
* Buck goes to talk to Maddie and Josh to get some advice. Josh gives a speech about how to know if he's in love or not, he says lots of things but one of the things Josh mentions is that Buck should honor the queer generation that came before him.
*Buck tells Tommy he is also Abby's ex and asks him to move in with him. He can't give any other reason other than what Josh said about honoring and respecting the queer generation that came before him. Tommy says no and breaks up with him by telling him that he knows how this ends and he's Buck's first, not his last.
*Buck goes directly to Eddie's house immediately following the breakup
*Buck is upset following the breakup and decides to start baking as a way to keep him preoccupied enough not to call Tommy. Buck finds out at the end of 8x8 that Eddie is looking at houses in El Paso
*8x9 opens with Buck and Eddie cleaning the locker room glass at the station and Eddie showing Buck a picture of the hose he put a down payment on in El Paso. Buck is upset by this news, but offers to help Eddie try and find a renter for his house. Buck sabotages all the showings to the point that Eddie tells him to leave. Before leaving Buck overhears Eddie telling the applicant that everything that matters to him is in Texas and Buck leaves upset. During a fire at an animal shelter Buck bonds with the beagle he rescues and shows up at the firehouse with him the next morning. Buck reveals to Bobby and the rest of the team Eddie's plans for moving, despite Eddie asking him not to. Buck tells Eddie that the dog is his new best friend and that unlike him the dog knows how to stay. Buck also reveals that he overheard what Eddie said about nothing L.A. mattering. Later we see Eddie accusing Buck of trying to force Eddie to choose between him and his son, something Buck absolutely did not do, but Eddie says it anyway, indicating that Eddie is the one who feels like he's being forced to choose. Then Buck reveals himself as the new renter for Eddie so he won't have to worry about anything and can move to El Paso and just worry about Christopher.
*8x10 deals with Maddie's kidnapping. We see Eddie driving Buck around and Buck has a mini spiral and tells Eddie that he is just moving back to Texas like it's nothing like it doesn't effect anybody else but it does. Eddie tells Buck that it's not nothing. The next time we see them is the goodbye scene at the uhaul. Both of them are awkward, and unsure of what to say or what to do. Eddie tells him that he knows this thing between them has been hard and they both could have handled it better. It is raining and soft music is playing over the scene. Buck says he baked chocolate chip protein cookies for the drive. They hug and the camera takes close ups of each of their faces. Both men are noticeably upset and struggling. Eddie looks back one more time before climbing into the truck and driving away.
*which brings us to 8x11. Buck can't sleep in Eddie's house and doesn't want to unpack because what he believes it means long term for Eddie and Christopher. Maddie tells him he needs to make new friends. He talks Ravi into going out drinking with him and talks about Eddie the entire time. Eddie sees Tommy and drags him over as a way to escape. Tommy asks Buck how he is and Buck tells him about Maddie and Eddie moving away. Tommy tells Buck he was unaware of this because Eddie basically stopped talking to him after they broke up. Camera pans to Buck smiling upon learning that. After learning that Eddie has moved away Tommy starts to flirt and Buck invites him back to his place. We see them arriving at the house and kissing and Tommy realizing that it's Eddie's house. Cut to the next morning, Buck wakes up alone and finds Tommy making breakfast in the kitchen. Buck tells Tommy that last night was fun but he understands that it changes nothing. Tommy tells him that it can change something and asks what he's doing on Saturday. Buck is confused and asks him why he doesn't believe Buck will break his heart anymore. Tommy tells him he is less worried now that his competition has moved away. Buck realizes he's talking about Eddie and tells him that Eddie is straight, Tommy openly scoffs at this statement which makes Buck even more upset. Buck then says he doesn't have to sleep with everyone he has feelings for and doesn't have feelings for everyone he sleeps with. Tommy leaves and we see Buck telling Maddie, TELLING MADDIE THAT HE USED TOMMY AS A WAY TO DISTRACT HIMSELF FROM MISSING EDDIE. He asks if he should call and apologize and Maddie tells him to learn to be alone. Tim confirms in an interview that Buck did not call Tommy.
That's it, anon. This is Tommy's entire arc on the show. Where, at any place is anything whatsoever that indicates any of this has anything at all to do with Tommy? Where is it? It doesn't exist. They had 31 scenes together and only 6 of those scenes didn't directly include Eddie or involve Eddie in some other way. Read that again. They had 6 total scenes that weren't about Eddie or didn't involve Eddie. But you expect me to believe that it's really about Tommy because Twitter says it is. Give me a fucking break. It could not be more cut and dry.
Thank you Nonny!
Yeah, we've been saying this for ages now. None of this was about Tommy, it was always Eddie. So yeah... nothing to add here. I think Ali was very clear and precise in her answer. 😋
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I'm so sorry to all the people who are closing but like. If Tim wanted to shut the door on buddie he could've made Buck say 7 very simple words:
"Eddie is like a brother to me."
There. That's it. Door shut. Case closed. That's how you establish that there's no romantic potential.
Here's how you don't do that:
By having Buck repeatedly insist that there's no way he's in love with Eddie, because "Eddie is straight". Buck who, up until a season ago, also thought he was straight. Buck who had a whole character arc that proved to us, the viewer, that sexuality is a complex subject and sometimes your perspective on it can change.
By having Buck say the absolutely wild line "I don't have to want to sleep with everyone I have feelings for" when confronted with the possibility of him cheating with Eddie, who he was accused of having feelings for.
Okay, welcome to Anna writes a framing meta for the first time in who knows how long. This got long as hell, so strap in.
Okay, first up, first buddie scene of the episode, the locker room, at no point you can see both of their faces clearly at the same time, either one of the faces is out of focus or they have their backs to the camera (tiny images for me to stay within the image limit, but you should be able to zoom in).
And if we get a wide shot, they have something separating them in the frame.
The not allowing the camera to focus on both of them really works to highlight how they're not seeing eye to eye, and helps the scene feel awkward because they are obscuring their real feelings, Buck doesn't Eddie to move and Eddie doesn't want to move, but they are both trying to act excited about it. And the physical divider between them highlights the way the move is getting between them. Literally. The show did this the other 2 times they fought. If something really is getting between them, we end up getting a physical display of it.
And before you get all "oh but the show is not that deep" on me.
Okay, moving on, something very interesting that I've seem a bunch of people point out is this shot specifically, they are very close, some would say within kissing distance *wink*, but the glass is between them, but the lafd logo is only obscuring Buck's face.
Since the logo is backward when we look at if from inside the locker room, it almost makes it seem like the only thing stopping them is Eddie not being in LA with Buck.
At the house showing, there's always a few steps between them, at least, but the way Buck starts the sabotage by peaking over Eddie's shoulder, to fully stepping in front of him to the point that the camera stops focusing on Eddie is the fun part here for me.
Because that's when Buck fully takes over, the meth lab story is the most intentional part of the sabotage, at least in my opinion, and the way Buck takes over when he sees someone he thought would actually go for it, the little "man, I thought we had her" before Eddie calls him out gives that impression, it really shows the way Buck escalates inside his own feelings. It also highlights the way the scene is in Buck's pov. It's pretty obvious when we consider the way we see Buck talking to the potential renters alone, but we only hear Eddie talking to them alone.
Not really relevant here but love that Buck is the only person we ever saw in that back door. New angle of the Diaz kitchen too.
Love that painting of waves behind Buck, both for the symbolism of the way this is about to crash into him and his relationship with water and life-changing stuff, the tsunami, the well, the lightning, y'all know what I mean.
Okay, before I move on I need to take a detour to fully explain why these next two scenes had me going fucking insane.
Oliver is a pretty big guy, right? He's the tallest main, he is built like a fridge, he is a person who will usually be the biggest person in the room. That ends up giving Buck the power. So when Buck is emotionally distressed, they usually exaggerate that. Like when he is yelling at his parents and everyone is sitting down but him, or when he's standing up when telling everyone about Daniel, when he's sitting on the stairs talking to Maddie about being the one who's always left behind, or how they gave Buck the literal high ground when he's waiting for Taylor so they can breakup.
There's also the way that Buck likes to sit on top of stuff that will make him taller, the counter, the top the firetruck.
They play with that a lot, Maddie conversations when she's actually getting through to him tend to have both of them sitting down, since Jennifer is that much smaller, or talks with Bobby have them both standing up since Peter is the closest in height to Oliver.
But since Oliver is really tall, Buck doesn't look up at people a lot. It usually happens with love interests in emotionally heavy scenes that, like the breakup with Ali, when he tells Taylor he cheated, the breakup with Tommy. There are a few scenes with Bobby and Maddie.
And then there's Eddie.
The gym scene and the 204 scene, well, 201 Buck is about to get up and puff out his chest, try to look as big as possible, so it doesn't count in this, and 204 is being there for Eddie, but the rest he's looking for guidance. Something I used to talk about a lot is that Buck's admiration of Eddie clouds his judgment, it forces him to this space of following Eddie's lead, it put him in a position where he was literally looking up at Eddie when he needs reassurance or validation. Which is not really good for healthy relationship, it would make Buck bend to what Eddie thinks it's best and that's not good in the long run in a romantic relationship. The conversations they had about Buck's feelings, they were on different levels in the frame, and Eddie was always higher, and Buck is putting Eddie in a space where he needs reassure him. Funny enough, if they are talking about Eddie's feelings, they are usually both sitting down, so they are equalized there.
They broke that pattern with the coming out scene. In fact they broke it so hard they have Eddie looking up at Buck while wanting Buck to reassure him that hes not being unreasonable and he can hide in the loft.
But they are both sitting down for the part of the conversation that is about Buck, and Buck needs reassurance from Eddie there, but he is not looking at Eddie for guidance, he’s looking at Eddie for acceptance. And he would only get that if they were on the same level. So monumental moment. (read more about my freakout about the coming out scene here)
Now that we are all caught up, the station scenes, they're unleveled again.
In fact, Buck is so low he's on the fucking floor. But he's not looking up because he needs guidance or reassurance or because he thinks Eddie has the answers, he's on the floor because he's about to throw a low blow. He's being unfair and he knows it.
It is about Eddie having power over Buck, but it is also about how at that moment Buck doesn't want to accept that, he wants to land a punch that's gonna put Eddie on the floor with him.
He doesn't start the first scene on the floor, but he is on the floor once he tells everyone about the move.
And he is sitting on the floor when he says the "I don't need you either" so he is physically as low as he can be as he goes for the hit that's gonna hurt Eddie as much as he's hurting.
That had me SALIVATING. Buddie will never work if they keep assuming they can read each other's minds, it is why I was so adamant about the need of another divorce era, why that's the core of half the fics I write, they need to talk when they are hurting. And this was messy, they're being intentionally hurtfull but it all ends up equalizing in the biggest show of how they have the it's you and me vs the problem not you vs me down to an art if you just let them talk.
But moving on, at the end, when he realizes that he is succeeding in hurting Eddie but it's not gonna make feel any better, they're on the same level.
Side note, they tend to be on the same level when they are talking about them. (Yes, I'm counting the cemetery scene, this convoluted breakup that went nowhere is about their relationship, I don't care).
And that obviously leads up to the final buddie scene of the episode.
Just to get this out of the way, they are positioned the same way they were when Eddie tells Buck to leave the showing, but from the other side, because now we're on Eddie's pov.
The giveaways from that for me is the fact that the house is back to the usual warm lighting, and we are learning the information with Eddie, in contrast to the cold lighting and the way we learn the information with Buck in 808.
So our running joke to put a light on Buck if we ever got a scene from Eddie's pov? Yeah.
The 2 lamps almost give Buck a glowy aura.
Anyway, the thing with this scene is the way there's a lot of space between them at first, at some point Eddie is even holding onto the door and Buck even starts adding more space, the couch between them is a nice touch too.
And Eddie keeps his distance while they're fighting, up until when the crew arives and he steps back closer to Buck. It's not really necessary, they could walk around him the same way Buck did to get in the house.
Through the whole thing, Buck is in the same place he in the center of the room.
And then Eddie is the one to close the space, because even when Eddie is going in for the hug, Buck is not moving. Eddie has full control of the movement with them even though he was the only one who didn't have the full information.
And it's fun because there are 2 other scenes like that, where one of them is stationary and the other is doing all the movement, but while here Buck is letting Eddie make the choice to come to him, the other one Buck is forcing Eddie to let him in. Coincidentally (read absolutely intentionally), it's the other times they are clearing the air, 306 talk at the station and 309 kitchen talk. In both scenes Eddie is in a spot and Buck is doing all the moving closer.
And I think that indicates a lot of the way their relationship grew since s3, it's almost exemplifying the way Buck knows he doesn't need to force his way in anymore, that that door is already open and he can let Eddie come to him.
Well, I guess he already did in season 5 breaking the door down, but like Eddie says, Buck doesn't to break the door down, he wants to let Eddie open it. If he lets Eddie know he's there, Eddie will make the choice to let him in. And it is what happened. Eddie was upset because he thought he couldn't count on Buck and not being able to count on him always get Eddie off balance, it's why Buck fully disarms him telling him about renting the house, he was ready for anger but Buck just reminded him that he's got him. And I think that's beautiful.
This adds nothing to nothing but I need to say that "if you need to be pissed off at me to make it easier for you then be pissed off" most romantic thing I've ever seen. "Be mad at me if you have to, but stop faking it", you don't need to pretend with me on crack, had me screaming crying throwing up.
Some random things to point out, with the 2 fist bumps and the hug this is the episode they touched intentionally and without of them being mortal danger the most.
Also, the last scene has the same color pallete of the coming out scene.
In the still, the blue of Buck's jacket looked a bit too light, but when I put them side by side, that's Buck's blue. But the fit is a bit too big and the black shirt and the black color offset that. There's also the way that in 809 both of them are in the warm background. The yellow elements aren't that intense, but Buck mismatching is making me 👀 because while Buck is pulling the ultimate grand gesture as a clinger can do by doing that thing that will allow Eddie to leave him, I don't think living in that house alone is going to be easy for Buck. And Eddie stays in the warm background with a black shirt. So yeah, that's fun. Buck is in his color but in the wrong fit, Eddie is just no color at all yet but it keeps looming behind him.
This is long as fuck already and I just hit the image limit so I will shut up now, but I'll be back at some point about colors. As always, if you read this I love you.
“the breakup was bad writing” WHAT DO YOU MEANNNNNN?!?! the relationship was PEAK 9-1-1 writing yall just don’t like that it wasn’t written with tommy as endgame! they were always going to have troubles at micelli’s!! eddie was always going to haunt their narrative!! they never make it to the movie together!! tommy was always going to have to fight for a “spot” in buck’s life and the moment buck finally lets him in (ie he gets a good parking spot) he’s not willing to put in any work to keep it. he never learned that buck doesn’t like basketball he never indulged buck’s love of deep dives even in the breakup he called buck impulsive but the thing is buck isn’t impulsive by nature! he can be self destructive and throw himself into danger for others but actual decisions in his life are so often made by committee. the only time he acts impulsively is when he’s clinging to dying relationships. and he wouldn’t even call him by his name! the only time he calls him buck is right before he leaves when for ONCE he sees him completely. the bucktommy breakup was some of the best work the writers have done in a while im sorry that yall fell in love with a plot device and got mad that he was used as a device for the plot but the writers led you to the water it’s not their fault when you don’t drink
Bree, you should seriously consider going into comedy. This is genuinely hilarious. Do you have a white cat? You should consider getting a white cat if you wanna pull this evil villain shtick. It’ll sell it so much better.
Honestly, go for it. Message these people. Message these people I haven’t worked with well over in a year and a half. (Over two in Leia’s case!) Bryan doesn’t even know what I look like because I worked from home and he worked at the HBO offices.
I do ask that when you message them, be sure to let them know that this is all because you’re upset I deigned to speculate over why Lou Ferrigno Jr isn’t gonna be in season 8 of ABC’s 9-1-1. Just so they know who the real crazy person is.
Also, the fact you think these are still my coworkers/boss when The Idol was canceled a year ago 😂😂😂😂 god, you’re so funny
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