#911 critical

[peppermintquartz]

I guess the fire fam doesn't want the "golden retriever"anymore now that he's no longer a puppy but they keep him around because he used to be Dad's favorite and they'd feel guilty surrendering him to the shelter

[laracrofted]

yeah no i love my favorite show where the main 118 is currently entirely men and the young traumatized girl whose family abused her is actually a crazy stalker and the main female paramedic is benched with an incurable chronic disease and may who used to have real meaningful plot and canonically a close relationship with bobby was brought back to be background in her brother’s plots and athena lost the love of her life for a third time and maddie hasn’t had a solo plot outside dispatch since last season and the therapist who has appeared twice must be eddie’s new girlfriend because well, she has a name and they’ve said she’s pretty so obviously what else could she be there for, haha why else would a woman be there?

[mintedwitcher]

Maybe Maddie notices first.

Buck's been off for a while. It's understandable, she thinks, he's still grieving, still mourning Bobby. Howie tells her that he's not really present at work, either. That's when she starts to watch him a little closer.

He talks to the baby a lot. He can't say Bobby's name, but he talks. He talks so much that Maddie's pretty sure her son's first word is going to be "one-eighteen". She keeps watching.

Howie glows with praise for his team, talking about Eddie's daring rescue that saved the day, how Hen had been so effortlessly cool that it'd made him feel a little foolish in his Captain's hat. How Ravi had been solid, and Harry had fit right in. He doesn't mention Buck. When Maddie asks, Howie frowns.

"Buck's been Buck, you know how he is," Howie says.

Maddie doesn't like that. She starts digging.

"Buck's fine," Hen says, rolling her eyes. "He's still just hung up on Tommy, honestly, it's getting annoying. He's like a dog with a bone."

Maddie doesn't like that, either.

"I saw him a few days ago," Eddie says, shrugging. "He's fine, I guess. You'd know better than me."

"He's your best friend," Maddie says, frowning. Eddie just shrugs again.

"He hasn't acted like it, lately," Eddie says.

Maddie really doesn't like that.

Then Evan gets hurt.

Suddenly, his hospital room is overflowing with noise, with flowers and balloons, and everyone's there. Maddie watches, and she sees how Buck stares at them all, this team, this so-called 'family' surrounding him - crowding him. She's seen that look on his face before. She used to see it all the time, whenever Evan got hurt. Whenever Mom and Dad would rush over and comfort him, wipe away his tears, patch up his injuries and dote on him.

Maddie feels sick. She should've seen it sooner.

"Get out," she says, cutting through the celebration happening in the room. Buck looks at her, and he looks... grateful. Everyone else just looks confused.

"Come on, Mads," Howie says. "We're not just gonna leave. We're family."

"Oh sure, you're all acting just like family," Maddie says. "Just like my family. He doesn't need more of that."

"That's crazy," Eddie says.

"Yeah, come on, we love Buck," Hen adds.

"I'm sure you do," Maddie says. "But you only love him when he's hurt."

[eleye31]

I like analysis videos on YouTube about my favourite show. Once this girl was talking in depth about 9-1-1 and she said that it was obvious that RG was a model before, because every time he tried to act sad he was more worried about his look than conveying emotion and I think this is so well said. Look at Hen, Chim, or Buck when they are in pain or sad. They look bad in a realistic way. If I were under a firetruck, caught in a tsunami, or sad about someone's dying, I wouldn't be preoccupied about looking good, I'm grieving or surviving not modelling.

[alicentsbutterflies]

my conspiracy theory also is that the foster/adoption was vague on purpose so tim still has room to walk it back if he changes his mind lmao

[thevoiceofriesling]

Fondly remembering the time Buck screwed up on a first date and then thought about what he really wanted and then actually fought for it and the crowd went fucking wild, fans were so damn happy to see him actively pursuing a relationship instead of just letting it happen (or not happen), this is the turning point for Buck, they said, our boys all grown up and finally "making it" instead of just letting life happen to him.

And now we're here

Anyway here's wonderwall

[unfuckablebogtroll]

But then I remember Buck being excluded from Hen’s birthday dinner (to do yard work), being excluded from the gender reveal, having his heartbreak over Tommy treated more or less as “oh that silly Buck Guy! Can’t keep a lover! He ought to be used to this by now!” and remember that he started being pushed out of the group well before Bobby died, it’s just that Bobby’s death made everything even worse because it was startling and shocking how little comfort and support he was offered. Like damn you guys were being kinda-bad friends before but now you’re genuinely terrible 🫠

But also somehow that’s not what the show expects you to take from it, it’s supposed to read as comedic I suppose. And maybe it does to the majority of their audience, idk. But it’s so dissonant to me.. wtf do you mean this is supposed to be funny?

[dmvlesbians]

As hiatus is almost over I keep thinking how every prominent queer character either was passed over by team or gave up career advancements for their families

Karen paused her dream of space- and watched her wife and friend go without her mind you- for family .

Hen gave up both medical school and captain position.

Josh was shown as too emotional and couldn’t delegate. Even though Sue never had this conversation with him on screen.

Buck - is a special case- the narrative has always shown him as impulsive and immature. He got a little bit of mentor responsibilities with Ravi and Harry. The team will still continually remind audience they think he is a goofball kid brother though. I cannot imagine him even being considered for interim captain if he was only one available. (It would go to Eddie or even Ravi first if Hen& Chim are out i am guessing)

Also , Maddie and Chim* never were considered unfit for their positions based on having a family (2 kids under five) . They both work same long hours as Hen & Karen and are in management roles.

*Chim was also shown to have leadership issues and insecurities in past multiple times BUT he was given chance in narrative to grow beyond that. Afaik Hen, Karen, Josh and Buck may get one big moment than forgotten about.

Josh had Maddie’s current position before! He managed well for the most part! He trained Maddie and has been leader in very high stakes moments at dispatch!! (RIP season 5 growths)