Tim seem confused about how to use Eddie. We get that they want to ship him with Buck, but they’re dragging it out as much as possible to squeeze ratings from it. Still, it’s getting really tiring to see the character tossed back and forth like this. This topic had already started gaining attention through the Tommy & Buck and Buck & Maddie conversations. I guess they’re trying to make up for the potential drop in ratings next season—probably because of Bobby—by focusing on this storyline.
Honestly, I didn’t expect Tommy to openly admit that he sees Eddie as a rival, or for Maddie to tell Buck it wouldn’t be surprising if he were in love with Eddie. It’s literally turning from fan shipping into canon. They already made Buck’s situation clear—now all that’s left is Eddie’s sexual awakening. And we can say they’ve already laid the groundwork for that. The guy said he married the first woman he dated, was raised under heavy religious pressure from his father, and whenever his relationships with women started getting serious, he’d have panic attacks or break up for silly reasons. So yeah, they’ve already paved the way. I guess next season we’ll be watching him go through that struggle.
But again, I'm going to answer it because I see a lot of this exact thinking out in the fandom at large and I think a lot of people are setting themselves up for disappointment...and then the backlash from that disappointment makes this fandom a very unpleasant place to be.
TL;DR: As someone far more brilliant than I recently put out--we are watching 911 on ABC, not 911 on AO3. All the storyline decisions are going to be made to appeal to a GA that does not and will not think like this.
Too Long, But I Want to Read Anyway:
One thing that I feel like a large chunk of the 911 fandom just absolutely doesn't understand (or refuses to accept) is that 911 is not a niche genre show. It HAS a passionate fanbase of mostly young, liberal, and/or queer people who 1: understand and 2: EXPECT that kind of complex storytelling, but that's not the main part of its audience. 911 is not trying to please the genre kids, it's trying to please the middle-aged Average American NCIS audience who fall asleep in their armchairs with a beer in their hands after a dinner in which a cream-of-something-based casserole featured heavily.
I agree that a comphet or even demisexual storyline for Eddie would both work and be amazing. I can see where it would fit seamlessly into what they've done with him.
Casserole Mary and PBR Bill don't know what comphet and demisexual are, and if Eddie were to 'suddenly' be queer, it would be at best 'coming out of nowhere' and at worst 'woke nonsense' that makes them tune out.
But Hocus! Game of Thrones! House of the Dragon! Wednesday! Agatha All Along! "Genre tv" and "regular tv" have a lot of of crossover audience now, the rules don't apply anymore! Things can be both!
Mmm, yes, the rules are changing. The current political climate has had a major chilling effect, but they are changing. However, there's still a LARGE difference between the expectations an audience has going in to something like GOT and Wednesday, and going into a network first responder procedural.
And...very, very gently...how queer are those shows? I don't watch most of them, but through the power of Tumblr osmosis I know the basics for all of them. Agatha All Along is the only one I'd say is blatantly, unabashedly queer-friendly and unafraid to lean into their queer themes. ABC was heralded as more "friendly" than Fox when 911 moved (although LS had a main gay couple, a trans character, a main Muslim woman who wore hijab, and a NB guest character, sooooo). But again, how queer are there shows really? Do they have any where MOST of the main, heavily focused-on cast is queer?
911 has 6 main characters, now. If Eddie were to have a queer storyline, that would make half their cast some flavor of queer. On HBO, Netflix, Max, etc? Sure, maybe. On ABC, run by Disney, and showing at 8pm primetime as one of their better ratings-getters? No. They're not going to risk it.
But Hocus! They LITERALLY did it with Buck!
And I'mma be real with you, chief, I'm still shocked that they did. That was a huge risk and they're lucky it paid off as well as it did. At that point I WAS extremely hopeful for Buddie--why make Buck bi this late in the game if they weren't going to make the most popular fan ship canon? When there was no movement in that direction in s7, followed by the complete and utter killshots the ship received in s8, I adjusted my expectations.
But Hocus! They SAID it was originally supposed to be EDDIE with Tommy! Obviously they thought it would work, they were willing to do it!
And they didn't.
Why? I dunno. We don't know how true/set in stone the Tommy/Eddie storyline was supposed to be. As far as I can tell, there's one throwaway line in an interview with Lou Ferrigno, Jr. that mentions that. Did it make it to scripting? Were they building a plot line around it? Did they decide to give SOMEONE a bi arc and asked Ryan Guzman first because they were struggling (again) to find stories for him to be turned down? Did someone mention the idea to Lou and really it was just some brainstorming in the writer's room? We'll likely never know.
What we do know is they didn't go there. Truthfully, I don't think the storyline would've worked as well with Eddie as it did with Buck. Buck is the one that (whether intentionally or not) has had hints that he might not be as straight as he thought he was, going all the way back to season 1. I'm sure most of the incidents where Buck was hinted to be queer were completely accidental, but the fact remains that when Tommy kissed Buck, there was a LOT of groundwork for the GA to be able to say, "Oh...huh, you know what? That makes sense." (and probably a fair bit of, "what the hell? Ugh, he always did seem kind of fruity to me.")
Eddie doesn't have that. I'm sorry, he doesn't. To the eyes of the shipper audience? Sure, absolutely. Tons of hints! To the eyes of Casserole Mary and PBR Bill (who, please remember, are the people that ABC wants to draw in)? No. Eddie has always been framed as a fine, upstanding, red-blooded American hero who is in love with his ex-wife and can't get over her.
AND I AM NOT SAYING THAT HE COULD NOT BE A FINE, UPSTANDING RED-BLOODED AMERICAN HERO IF HE WAS QUEER! I am saying the GA has certain expectations of a character that has been written the way Eddie has and "comphet" does not enter the conversation. HOWEVER you feel about it, however wrong it might be, it would be VERY out of left field for the GA if Eddie suddenly realized he was also queer and in love with Buck.
But Hocus! Why even bring up the idea that Buck could be in love with Eddie? Why make Tommy worried about competition? Why have Eddie say he's straight AFTER HE DENIED HIMSELF JUICE????
Guys. Guys. Aisha Hinds literally told us why in her interview post 8x11. They brought it up to acknowledge the "question about Buck and Eddie" that the fandom has been asking for ages AND ANSWER IT. Those words are right there on the page. The answer is just not what you wanted to hear.
Tommy? If I had to lay odds, I'd say it was something along the lines of them deciding that if they were going to spend time addressing Buddie once and for all, they might as well add another layer of drama to Tommy's insecurities as part of the reason they broke up (which, I'll freely acknowledge they did not do a good job of really laying out leading up to the breakup).
The "I'm straight" heard 'round the fandom?
My friends. My dudes (gn). It was set up for the "Cool. I'm celibate." joke. That's it. That's as deep as 911 ever gets.
Look. I get it. People want a ship to happen and in this day and age, showrunners and creators give the appearance of listening to fan wants more than they ever have. But I need people to understand that most of the time they're doing that in the same way your parents saying "We'll see." when you asked for McDonald's on the way home meant "No."
We live in a capitalist hellscape and it's getting hellscapier by the day. There is ultimately no question TV shows/networks take into consideration more than "Will this make money?" I promise you, if the premise of Buddie did receive actual consideration in the writer's room, and received enough to make it out of idle brainstorming, it WOULD have happened if the network thought the net benefits would outweigh any losses, if all parties were willing to do it. That it hasn't, and has in fact received a pretty brutal shutdown in-universe indicates that the idea has not only been rejected (if it was ever seriously considered), the network would very much like to move on from having to tactfully sidestep the question of whether it will happen.
I have said often that the monetization of fandom and BNF's is a HUGE problem in fan spaces. "Entertainment journalists" who engage with this fandom are by and large just engagement farming, have twigged onto the fact that Buddie gets a lot of engagement, and are behaving accordingly. The BNF's who purchase their checkmarks and then post lengthy videos about all the Da Vinci Code-esque hints and clues that the show has been laying about Buddie for seasons upon seasons (besides often not understanding the rules of the genre they supposedly have such superior media literacy in enough to make good theories) have either drunk too deeply of their own kool-aid or are cynically engagement farming.
Ship what you want. Curate your fandom space however you want to. Hell, keep the flame of hope burning however long you want to. But be realistic about what your chosen media is suggesting/promising/hinting at, and if it disappoints you, stop making it everyone else's problem.
Ok so I love that they're letting buck date men and women to show certain people in the general audience he's not "confused" or "turned gay" and he looks HOT ofc but also... we as fans know this won't be going anywhere, right? It feels a little pointless in terms of romance plot because no matter if they mention "the competition" again or do buddie or not, they clearly showed it won't work with anyone else. They spent 2 years on bucktommy, they could've easily made them last if they wanted to but chose not to - and had tommy dump him because of eddie. Like.. that won't just go away
(don’t worry I got that it was two season and not two years lol) sooo, hello anon 👋🏻 the thing is that they have been writing these two characters as two goddamn soulmates since the beginning, in my opinion. It has always been quite evident, but while during previous seasons some may have accused buddie fans of wearing rose-colored glasses, after buck’s coming out and the whole tommy’s competition thing, it is pretty obvious that buck and eddie are bound to end up together, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. That said, tho, I don’t think this means that they will eventually give us buddie canon (I clearly hope so obviously lol) because (especially after bobby’s death) I truly don’t have any faith in the showrunners but it does mean that anything else that is not buddie canon will not make sense and they did that to themselves with s7/s8. Anyway, I hope Buck’s bisexuality is treated fairly regardless of his relationship with Eddie but I would lie if I said that I actually wanted to see him with other people who are not Eddie, because— as we’ve established (and they established)— what’s the point if Eddie will always be competition? God, man I don’t know if this makes sense and I do apologize for yapping so much, so if you took the time to read this all, I say let’s pray for buddie canon we can do it!!!🙏🏻🙌🏻
The Gay Firefighter Show returned this week with an episode that picks up exactly where last week’s 9‑1‑1: Nashville episode left off—so before we dive in, let’s take a breath and catch up. Previously on 9‑1‑1, Phillip and Margaret Buckley rolled into town to announce their impending divorce and Buck and Eddie scored invitations to the 51st Annual American Firefighting Games. We also got some sexy shenanigans involving Harry finding out about his sister May’s hookup with fellow firefighter Ravi. All roads led straight into the crossover event we’d been waiting for, and our boys hopped a flight to the Music City to compete against Nashville’s Station 113, plus a whole roster of first responders from Boston, Kenosha, and beyond.
In this week’s edition of 9‑1‑1 Reaction, I will be diving into season 9, episode 13, “Mother’s Boy,” which originally aired March 12, 2026 on ABC. The episode comes courtesy of writer, co-creator, and showrunner Tim Minear and director Jonathan Lawrence.
As always, this recap will contain spoilers. If you haven’t watched yet, bookmark this post, go watch the episode, and then return for the commentary you deserve.
So, readers, be a good boy and let’s watch this episode that only a mother could love. And no—that doesn’t mean the episode was bad. My metaphor just veered off the road for a second. Facepalm.
Alright. Enough flailing. Let’s get started.
Picture it: a long, dusty, desolate road. An overturned car glints in the sun. A firetruck screeches to a stop. The back of an ambulance swings open and out steps a paramedic, boots hitting the ground with purpose. A faceless firefighter sprints toward the wreck with a saw.
Silhouettes move in sync — first responders working as one. Metal groans. A door is torn free. A C‑collar snaps into place around the driver’s neck.
Then we see it: SILVA across the back of a turnout. Eddie, bloodied and unconscious, is lifted onto a backboard.
Wow. I think this cold open is somehow even shorter than last week’s 9‑1‑1: Nashville one — and that one barely lasted long enough to sip water.
Anywho… title card.
In true 9‑1‑1 fashion, we kick things off with a pre–cold open scene. Eddie is FaceTiming Chimney to report that all flights out of Nashville are grounded thanks to a software glitch. Chimney is pressed because Hen’s birthday is three days away and he’s planning a surprise party to make up for last year’s “We forgot one of the most important people on our team” fiasco. Eddie reminds him — politely but firmly — that he remembered Hen’s birthday last year, so Chimney’s guilt‑trip is not going to land.
Eddie also mentions he’s lost track of Buck, which is hilarious because Buck absolutely seems like the kind of man who could get distracted and lost inside an airport the size of Nashville International. Chimney orders him to find Buck and brief him on Operation: Hen’s Birthday Redemption.
Chimney ends the call… and immediately Harry materializes to ask if he was talking to Eddie. Before Chimney can answer, Hen pops up and wants to know if he was giving Eddie and Buck grief about tying with Station 113 during the Firefighting Games. Chimney, offended on principle, declares, “There is no tying for first. That’s just two second places,” and storms off.
We finally learn why Buck disappeared: he went to rent a car. And before anything else, can we acknowledge what our boys are wearing? Buck’s jacket game has been on point all season, and the earth‑tone palette — dark brown, terracotta, black — looks great on both of them. It’s almost like they knew they were about to get stranded somewhere in the middle of the country.
Buck tells Eddie it’ll take about 30 hours to get back to Los Angeles if they trade off driving. He insists it’ll be fun. Then we get a quick montage of the two of them doing their best Sam‑and‑Dean impression — only instead of a ’67 Impala, they’re in whatever Avis had left on the lot. A needle drop seals the Supernatural homage as Buck and Eddie sing and air‑guitar their way through “Carry On Wayward Son,” heading out of the South and toward the West Coast.
They also debate which Arnold Schwarzenegger movie reigns supreme, because of course they do. At some point Buck acquires a giant bucket of cheese puffs. What’s interesting is that Buck starts to doze off and Eddie immediately wakes him — which raises the question: wasn’t the whole point of this road trip that one sleeps while the other drives?
The two get sentimental about their last road trip, which was five seasons ago when they and Hen drove to Austin to help fight a forest fire. Eddie tells Buck that getting on the road and heading back to Los Angeles was a good idea. Smash cut to them stuck in traffic. Eddie’s convinced they won’t make it back in time for Hen’s surprise party, but Buck, ever the optimist, insists the accident ahead will clear and everything will smooth out.
Eddie brings up the storm headed for the Rocky Mountains. Buck counters that they can avoid the Rockies entirely by going south — I‑10, specifically.
Naturally, they get lost. Neither of them has a signal, and Buck guesses they’re somewhere in New Mexico. Eddie can’t believe he let Buck talk him into detouring. Buck fires back that if they’d stayed on the main road, Eddie would’ve complained about the traffic and then complained about the Rockies. He points out that Eddie’s been whining since the airport while he’s been trying to keep the mood up.
Kudos to Buck for finally getting a moment to air out his frustrations. Ever since the lawsuit back in season 3, Eddie has never hesitated to voice his gripes about Buck — and Buck, to his credit, usually just sits there and absorbs it like it’s part of the job description. So it’s genuinely satisfying to see Buck push back a little. He’s not being cruel, he’s not being petty — he’s just matching Eddie’s energy for once. And honestly, it feels overdue in the best way.
Eddie says there has to be a coffee shop or gas station where they can get actual directions. They pull into a diner/gas station/hotel hybrid — the kind of place that exists only in the middle of nowhere. Inside, a waitress tells them to sit anywhere. Buck slides into a booth and says Eddie will be less cranky once he eats. Their server, Bonnie Sheets (Melinda McGraw), comes over.
Buck, noticeably more cheerful than Eddie, tells Bonnie they’re heading to Los Angeles. She notes they’ve taken a strange route. Buck asks how to get back to I‑10, and she gives him directions. When she walks away, Buck immediately picks up on Eddie’s tension. He says, “You know, if you didn’t want to get off the I‑10, you didn’t have to. No one had a gun to your head.” Eddie replies, “No, I had a Buck in my ear.”
Before long, they’re bickering like an old married couple — loud enough that the entire diner takes notice. They especially catch the eye of a table full of rough‑looking, small‑town locals who seem like they ride tractors to the grocery store and haven’t seen a dentist in a decade. One of them throws a snarky comment at Buck and Eddie, which only makes Eddie angrier. “What the hell you looking at?” he snaps, itching to let out some combination of frustration, adrenaline, and testosterone. Another guy at the table insinuates that Buck and Eddie are g‑g‑gay, which is all it takes for Eddie to hop out of the booth, ready to swing.
Buck wants absolutely no part of this escalation and tries to get Eddie to ignore it, but Eddie is too far gone to hear reason. The main instigator, Harley Wilcox (Joss Glennie‑Smith), calls Eddie a “princess.” Buck gets up, trying to stop things before they explode. Then a man named Earl Sheets (Jeff Kober) stands, pulls out a shotgun, and yells at Harley to think about his wife and kids.
Cooler heads prevail, and Harley and his crew back off.
Cut to Buck and Eddie back in their rental, back on the road. Buck apologizes for calling Eddie gloomy. Eddie tells him to forget it. And this is where Eddie loses me a little. Last episode showed the best of their friendship, but Eddie has a habit of taking his frustrations out on the person who deserves it least. Buck didn’t need to apologize — he simply pointed out Eddie’s sour mood. He didn’t call him selfish or exhausting or anything remotely cruel.
Buck also apologizes for getting them lost. In a rare moment of accountability, Eddie admits they both agreed to take the back roads. A brief peace settles over them… until bright headlights fill the interior. Buck looks over his shoulder and sees a truck behind them. The truck speeds up, cuts in front of them, and stops dead in the middle of the road. Eddie swerves off to get around it and floors it. The truck rams them from behind. Eddie loses control. The car flips.
Everything goes black.
When Eddie wakes up, he’s in a hospital room, scraped up, bruised, shoulder clearly banged up. He immediately asks the ER doctor, Dr. Kenner (Tony Sancho), about his friend. The doctor looks confused. “Which friend?” Eddie clarifies: “The other guy… in the car.” He explains that he and Buck were driving back to Los Angeles. Dr. Kenner gently tells him he has a serious concussion. While Eddie was unconscious, they ran a CT scan and ruled out subdural bleeding. The doctor suggests Eddie might be confused — because there was no one else in the car.
Eddie tries texting Buck, but nothing.
Just then, Sheriff Woodson (Chris Bauer) strolls in, looking like every small‑town law enforcement stereotype rolled into one: older, tan shirt, brown pants, gold badge, the whole “hands hooked on the belt” posture. Deputy Torros (Brian Michael Nunez) follows, giving off strong Deputy Dewey Riley energy.
Eddie asks if they’ve found Buck. Sheriff Woodson says they’re still looking. They’ve already combed a ten‑mile radius with K‑9s and ATVs. Which raises the question: how long has Eddie been out?
Eddie insists they need more resources. The sheriff sits at the foot of the bed and asks Eddie to walk him through what happened before he “drove off the road.”
Eddie corrects him immediately — he didn’t drive off the road. He was forced off. The sheriff already knows this; he’s spoken to Eddie before. Eddie describes the truck: older model, floodlights on the roof and grille. The sheriff asks if he caught the license plate. Eddie didn’t — they were blinded.
Then Eddie says he has an idea who ran them off the road. He recounts the argument at the diner and suggests one of those men took Buck. Sheriff Woodson tells him they’ll follow up on any promising leads. He also informs Eddie that the doctor wants him to stay put for at least two days so an orthopedist can evaluate his shoulder.
Two things about this scene really stand out.
First: Sheriff Woodson is way too calm about the whole situation. His tone, his questions, the way he keeps circling back to Eddie’s memory — everything about him suggests he thinks Eddie is either confused, unstable, or somehow involved in Buck’s disappearance. And then there’s the moment he just casually picks up the pudding (or yogurt?) from Eddie’s food tray and starts eating it mid‑conversation. Who does that? It’s such a bizarre power move, and it only adds to the sense that something is off.
Second: as he gets up to leave, Sheriff Woodson mentions that Deputy Torros will be stationed outside Eddie’s room. Torros actually seems competent — or at least more competent than his boss — but the implication is clear. They’re not just “keeping Eddie safe.” They’re keeping an eye on him. In their minds, Eddie isn’t just a victim. He’s a potential suspect, or at the very least someone whose story they don’t trust.
We head back to Los Angeles, where the LAFD and LAPD are wrapping up a call involving a violent workplace dispute — which, honestly, I wish we’d gotten to see. As they clear the scene, Athena reminds Chimney that Hen’s birthday is coming up. Chimney assures her he hasn’t forgotten this year. “Oh, it’s in my calendar, scrawled across my walls, and tattooed to the back of my eyelids.” As they split off toward their vehicles, Chimney gets a call from Eddie. We don’t hear Eddie’s side, but whatever he says makes Chimney immediately call out to Athena, who’s seconds away from getting into her cruiser.
Over at dispatch, we get our first Maddie tears of the episode. She fills Chimney and Athena in on everything she’s learned about Eddie and Buck’s accident. Maddie wants to know who’s looking for her brother. Athena explains that local law enforcement has already searched the surrounding area. Maddie starts to spiral. Athena tries to reassure her — someone could’ve found Buck and picked him up. “Then why hasn’t he called?” Maddie asks. It’s the question hanging over all of them. Buck is missing. He could be anywhere.
Meanwhile, Buck wakes up in an unfamiliar room — bland walls, model airplanes, and the world’s ugliest cowboy‑themed pajamas. He hears footsteps. He tries to sit up and sees the woman from the diner: Bonnie. At first, he doesn’t seem to recognize her. She tells him he’s been in an accident. Buck looks around, vision blurring. Posters on the wall. A toy firetruck on a dresser. A tiny football helmet on the bedside table. It all feels wrong.
Buck asks why he isn’t in a hospital. Bonnie insists there’s nothing a hospital can do for him. She tells him to lie down. Buck finally places her — the waitress from the diner. Bonnie calls him “Derek” and says she’s his mother. She mentions a motorcycle accident and says she’s grateful he’s still in one piece. Buck asks about Eddie. She pretends not to know who Eddie is.
Buck tries to find his phone. Bonnie tells him it was smashed to bits… just like his bike. Buck insists he doesn’t have a bike. Pain hits him hard, and Bonnie tells him to lie back down. She also casually threatens to tie him up if he doesn’t cooperate. Before she leaves, she tells him everything will be okay.
Once she’s gone, Buck drags himself out of bed and crawls to the window. He pulls back the ratty curtains — and sees bars.
Our sweet baby boy is trapped.
Back at the call center, Athena, Maddie, and Chimney — the trio of sleuths I never knew I needed — update Eddie on what they’ve found. Maddie tells him she was able to pinpoint the last time Buck’s phone had service. Eddie asks for the location. “Diner off Route 280,” she says. Eddie tells them the authorities have already been there. He then fills them in on his conversation with the sheriff. “I don’t know if he’s lazy or just protecting his pals. He’s not taking this seriously.” Then he adds, “He thinks I murdered Buck.”
Athena immediately takes the phone from Chimney and demands the sheriff’s name.
Smash cut to Sheriff Woodson, parked in his cruiser. And here’s where things get weird: the side of the car reads Los Nietos County. A quick bit of sleuthing reveals Los Nietos is actually an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County. So either Buck and Eddie are somehow back in L.A. without realizing it, or the writers invented a fictional town. If it’s the latter… why? 9‑1‑1 almost always uses real locations — Hershey, Boston, Nashville, Austin. Why suddenly get creative now? And yes, it’s hard not to wonder if this was done to avoid offending any real small town with the show’s stereotypical portrayal of “middle America.”
Anyway, Sheriff Woodson tells Athena that he and his department have combed every inch between the diner and the crash site. It’s a big area, he says, and his resources are stretched thin. Athena tells him to call for backup. She also mentions the three persons of interest he should be following up on. Woodson claims he’s already checked them out and they all have alibis. According to him, the only suspect they have is Eddie.
“Eddie Diaz is no killer,” Athena says through gritted teeth. Woodson replies that he’s done some digging and discovered Eddie is a combat veteran — and from that, he leaps to the conclusion that Eddie has “pulled the trigger before,” so doing it again wouldn’t be a stretch. Athena tells him he doesn’t know anything about Eddie. Woodson agrees — and says his responsibility is to the 863 residents of Los Nietos. Athena tells him to do his “damn job.” He says he will… after he eats his lunch. Then he hangs up on her.
We cut back to Bonnie applying a cold compress to Buck’s forehead. Buck keeps asking about Eddie. Bonnie dodges the question and tells him he needs to rest.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Athena is coaching Eddie on how to make his escape. If Los Nietos law enforcement isn’t going to look for Buck, Eddie will.
Back to Buck: he’s out of bed, searching the room for anything he can use. He breaks off a sharp piece of a model helicopter. (And yes, BuckTommy truthers immediately latched onto that helicopter as a possible Easter egg hinting at Tommy Kinard’s return. As a BuckTommy fan myself, I’m skeptical — but with this show, you never know.)
We see Eddie jump out the window of the thankfully one‑story hospital. He calls Athena to confirm he’s out. She tells him he needs to get back to the diner. Eddie spots a man on horseback. His ride has arrived.
Meanwhile, Bonnie tases Buck. In a heartbreaking moment, Buck repeats “I’m Derek” over and over, desperate to avoid being shocked again. Bonnie seems pleased. She tells him that when she comes back, he’d better be back in bed. Buck curls into a fetal position on the floor, shaking, repeating “I’m Derek.”
Back at the hospital, Sheriff Woodson tells Torros they need to confiscate Eddie’s phones to keep his L.A. friends from “bugging him.” Truly a stellar human being. When he enters Eddie’s room, he discovers Eddie is gone.
Eddie arrives back at the diner on horseback. He thanks the rider and heads inside. He talks to Janelle (Natasha Galano) about the previous night. She’s reluctant to give him anything — and honestly, towns like this drive me up the wall. Why let a handful of bad actors hold so much sway? Still, Eddie manages to get a sliver of information. He tells our trio of sleuths that Bonnie Sheets was the waitress on duty during the previous shift.
Maddie gets to work at her computer and starts digging. She finds a landline registered to Bonnie Sheets — and an address. Eighteen miles from where Eddie is currently standing. That’s close enough to be reachable, far enough to feel ominous.
Outside the diner, Eddie spots a beat‑up sedan parked a few feet away. Faded yellow, random maroon back door, missing hubcaps — the kind of car that looks like it’s survived three tornadoes and a divorce. Not ideal, but it’ll move.
Eddie tells Maddie to send him the address. He’ll call back when he gets there.
Back in the twilight zone, Buck is still struggling to get himself back into bed. He spots a framed photo of Bonnie with a young man — presumably Derek — and starts searching through the dresser drawers. We cut to the living room, where Bonnie has poured herself a glass of something strong. She hears Buck call out, “Mom,” and immediately heads for the bedroom.
She’s stunned to find Buck dressed in a red‑and‑white striped shirt and blue jeans, looking like he stepped out of a vintage Archie comic. Buck leans into the performance, pretending to be Derek. And Bonnie buys it completely. He tells her he’s hungry, and she agrees to make him something to eat. But first, she insists he lie down. She heads to the kitchen and prepares a grilled cheese sandwich, tomato soup, and a few dill pickle spears — the kind of meal you’d make for a child, not a grown man.
Bonnie returns with the tray, warning him the soup is hot. Buck flips the tray, sending the soup into her face. He springs up, tackles her, locks her in the bedroom, and makes a run for it. But the front door is locked. He tries to force it open, but he’s too injured, too weak.
He retreats into another room — and finds the real Derek, unconscious and kept alive on a ventilator. As Buck turns to leave, Earl Sheets appears and knocks him out with the butt of his rifle.
We flash back to the night of the accident, to the diner. We see Buck and Eddie’s arrival from Bonnie’s perspective. The moment she sees Buck, she freezes. Earl calls from the kitchen, asking if she’s okay. She stares at Buck and says, “I swear, Earl, when he walked in, for a minute I thought it was him.” Earl reminds her it’s not Derek. “Oh, but it could be,” she says. “This time. Maybe it could be.”
Back in the present, Buck has been moved to a shed. Bonnie stands guard with the rifle while Earl duct‑tapes Buck to a chair. Earl tells her they don’t have to do this. He’s clearly the reluctant one. He suggests bringing Buck back to the house and reinforcing the room so he can’t escape. Bonnie says it’s too late. Buck ruined the fantasy. She wants to get rid of him. Earl pleads with her not to. He takes out a revolver and a handful of bullets, sets them on a table, and says, “You know I can’t be around for this part,” before walking out. Bonnie replies, “I know. Why I divorced you. You were always weak.” And just like that, the picture becomes clear: Bonnie and Earl were married once. Derek is their son.
Back at dispatch, Chimney tells Maddie that Athena got the name of someone at the New Mexico State Police. So yes — they’re in New Mexico. Finally, some clarity. Maddie says she tried calling Eddie but he didn’t answer. She decides she’s going to look for them herself. Buck would do the same if the roles were reversed. Chimney knows better than to argue with a Buckley on a mission, so he doesn’t fight her on it, even though the plan is half‑baked at best.
Back in New Mexico, Buck tells Bonnie he’s sorry about Derek. He brings up the motorcycle accident. He says he knows what it’s like to lose someone and not get the chance to say a proper goodbye. And this is where the show quietly shines. It reminds us that grief isn’t linear. It doesn’t resolve neatly. It loops back on itself. It lingers. Even though it’s been almost a year since Captain Bobby Nash’s death, Buck is still grieving his captain, his mentor, his father figure. That loss is still shaping him, still surfacing in moments like this — moments where empathy becomes his only weapon.
Buck tells Bonnie that the only way to move past grief is to face the truth, no matter how painful it is. Bonnie says she doesn’t know how — and raises the gun at him.
Just then, Eddie pulls up in the car he “borrowed.” He checks the house, calling out, listening for any sign of Buck. Inside the shed, Buck and Bonnie hear him. Bonnie keeps the gun trained on Buck, shocked Eddie is still alive. Earl appears and insists that he and the other men never intended to kill anyone. That was never the plan.
Bonnie wants to know how Eddie found them. Earl explains that Janelle from the diner texted him — a heads‑up that Eddie was looking for Harley, not them. Buck panics, terrified they’ll hurt Eddie. He tells them Eddie has a son — a fifteen‑year‑old boy named Christopher who is all Eddie has. “I’ll do anything,” Buck says. “I’ll be Derek. Just convince him to leave.”
Bonnie heads outside to intercept Eddie. The revolver is tucked into the back of her jeans. Eddie tells her he’s looking for the guys from the diner. Bonnie says they work at the oil fields and gives him directions. Eddie turns to leave, but something catches his eye — a vehicle under a blue tarp a ways off.
Inside, Buck tries to appeal to Earl, the weaker link.
Outside, Eddie walks over and yanks the tarp off. It’s the same jacked‑up pickup truck from the night of the accident. Bonnie rushes him, gun drawn. Eddie manages to wrestle it away. He demands to know where Buck is — asks if he’s alive.
Earl arrives with the rifle. He orders Eddie to let Bonnie go. Bonnie tells Earl to take the shot. Eddie holds Bonnie in front of him and yells for Buck.
Then Earl drops to the ground.
Buck stands behind him, holding the taser Bonnie used on him earlier.
Finally — finally — Sheriff Woodson and the cavalry arrive. The sheriff immediately goes to pat Eddie down. Eddie asks how he found him. Woodson says he went to the diner looking for Eddie, and Janelle told him Eddie was asking about Bonnie. Eddie points to the truck — the reason he came back.
Then Eddie sees Buck collapse and rushes to him. He yells for Woodson to call EMS. Eddie tells Buck he’s going to be okay. Buck, groggy, tells Eddie he looks like hell. Eddie replies, “You should see the other guy.” Buck laughs and says he is the other guy.
Back in Los Angeles, Maddie is still packing to go search for them when Chimney gets a call from Buck. Maddie snatches the phone and talks to her brother as he’s being loaded into an ambulance.
We return to New Mexico, where Bonnie and Earl are being arrested. Good riddance. Sheriff Woodson heads inside the house. He sees the room where Buck was held. Then he sees the photo of Bonnie and Derek. Finally, he enters the room where Derek lies — the truth of the entire nightmare staring him in the face.
In our final moments, we head back to Los Angeles, to Athena’s house. There’s a fire going, and the living room is decked out with balloons and streamers. Maddie checks in with Buck via FaceTime. He tells her he’s been cleared to travel — no blood clots, no fever. The doctor wants him to stop every ninety minutes to walk around, just to be safe.
Buck asks to talk to the birthday girl. Chimney says she’s not there. May explains Hen isn’t coming. Athena reveals that Karen already had a surprise birthday weekend in Napa planned. Eddie is surprised Karen didn’t mention it. Chimney jumps in to say Karen was afraid he’d ruin the surprise. Harry appears on the call to point out that Chimney didn’t tell Karen about his surprise party either. Eddie asks why not. “I was afraid she’d ruin the surprise,” Chimney says.
Eddie is instantly annoyed. He and Buck could’ve waited for their flight instead of driving halfway across the country. Maddie tells them to drive safe and promises to save them some cake. Buck says he’ll see them in ten hours. Then he does the cutest thing — “Bye‑bye‑bye‑bye” — and blows Maddie a kiss before ending the call.
Buck hands Eddie his phone and asks if he wants to call Christopher. Eddie says he already did while Buck was in the gas station getting snacks. He adds that he didn’t FaceTime because it’ll be easier to explain the cuts on his face in person.
Eddie asks if Buck’s ready. “Never readier,” Buck says. “I can’t get out of this place fast enough.” The two of them walk slowly toward the car, both nursing their injuries. They get in. Buckle up. Buck asks if the car will make it all the way back to Los Angeles. “It’s a ten‑hour drive,” Eddie says. “What can go wrong.”
As the episode closes, “Carry On Wayward Son” plays one last time.
Whew is exactly the right word. This episode leaves you wrung out, breathless, and staring at the screen like, “Can this man please catch a break for once in his life.” Evan Buckley survives to be in danger another day, but at this point it feels like the universe has him on some kind of cosmic punch card. Survive ten near‑death experiences, get the eleventh free. The list of things that have tried to take him out is absurd. Dinner rolls. Rogue waves. Ladder trucks. Lightning. And that’s not even counting the emotional hits: Chimney getting stabbed, Eddie getting shot, Maddie nearly dying, and then losing Bobby. It’s a miracle he’s still capable of smiling, let alone being the sunniest person in the room.
That’s why this episode is so hard to watch. Seeing Buck curled on the floor, shaking, whispering “I’m Derek” just to avoid more pain — it’s brutal. He didn’t deserve any of it, and the show knows exactly how to twist the knife by playing it straight. No humor. No quips. Just raw fear. The trauma from this isn’t something he can shrug off. If the show has any emotional integrity, they’ll let this follow him for a while. Buck’s grief over Bobby is still fresh, and this episode presses right on that bruise.
And then there’s the Buddie discourse. It is wild that Buck and Eddie spent most of the episode apart, yet somehow this becomes the new holy text for the Buddie faithful. It’s almost funny how predictable it is. They could be in separate states, separate timelines, separate planes of existence, and someone would still insist it’s proof they’re about to confess their love. Meanwhile, the actual dynamic on screen is two men who bicker like brothers, irritate each other constantly, and would absolutely not survive a week as a couple. The “old married couple” label is fandom shorthand, not narrative intent. And the way some fans cling to the idea of Buddie going canon really does feel like watching people predict the Rapture every year. It’s earnest, it’s passionate, and it’s completely disconnected from what’s actually happening.
Bonnie and Earl, though — they were genuinely compelling antagonists. Bonnie’s grief is twisted and terrifying, but you can still see the human pain underneath it. Earl is the reluctant accomplice who doesn’t know how to stop her. And Derek… that’s the part you can’t dwell on too long without sinking into a pit. The show gives you just enough to understand the tragedy without forcing you to sit in it.
As for the episode as a whole, a 7 feels fair. It’s tense, well‑paced, and emotionally heavy, but it’s also familiar territory for this show. Outside of Bobby’s death, the stakes for main characters rarely stick. Buck’s plot armor is practically mythological at this point. I never worry about him dying — I worry about what each new trauma does to him. And this one is going to leave a mark.
This episode was packed, and I’m already looking forward to the next one. Until next time …
I'm really gonna need people who are saying Buck ending up with Tommy would be his happy ending but Eddie wouldn't get a happy ending if he wasn't with Buck to make up their minds because these are contradictory statements.
It's either BOTH Buck and Eddie COULD have happy endings with new/separate characters as long as they're developed well OR both Buck and Eddie would only have narratively satisfying happy endings with each other.
Because both of them are seeking love/a romantic partnership so it wouldn't really make (narrative) sense for either of them to end up alone. But just because Buck's found a good potential relationship in Tommy right now doesn't mean that he's being written to be Buck's endgame and doesn't automatically mean that Buck's found his happy ending with Tommy just because Tommy is a man and allowing Buck to experience his first queer relationship. It does seem to be a sweet/healthy relationship so far but that does not automatically mean a happy ending is with Tommy.
Additionally, the writers COULD bring in a new good character to be Eddie's endgame. I know none of us like Marisol but that doesn't mean that the writers couldn't, if they wanted, introduce a new male or female character that would suit Eddie. For many of us it would fall flat just inherently due to how deep his relationship is with Buck, but look at how well received Tommy was. To the point where many people are now like okay BuckTommy endgame without any nuance. If that can happen for Buck, it can happen for Eddie too.
HOWEVER
Narratively, Buck and Eddie are STILL being written to be each other's endgames and this is still the case even in episodes where Tommy is very present. It's still the case with the most recent episode too.
My personal opinion: Buck and Eddie narratively only make sense with each other (and only each other) in the long run and kind of have to be each other's endgames unless the show wants to undo 6 seasons worth of relationship development.
BUT I respect other people's opinions and people are allowed to ship and root for whatever they want. Just don't be hypocritical and say Eddie could NEVER find happiness unless it's with Buck but Buck would have his happy ending in Tommy. It's just messed up.
again, even if bucktommy does breakup and buddie gets together, y'all are still bullies. like that doesn't change the fact you spent months calling the ship "bummy" despite gay men telling you not to, sending death threats to people, "infiltrating" other people's spaces, disrespecting other fans, calling women hags for the crime of being over 30, using homophobic language and hoping a gay man dies/gets beaten for making a daddy kink joke to his boyfriend, creating accounts dedicated to sending cp to people who enjoy bucktommy, and overall creating an environment equivalent to that of being trapped in a room with a high school mean girl who thinks its funny to put gum in your hair and trip you in the hallway
I've been catching up on 9-1-1 which means also reading fan comments...ect.
So whenever there's a m/f friendship on a show, the writers can't seem to keep them from f*cking. But the SECOND there's a m/m friendship fans ship...people are all up in arms and "just let them be friends!"...?
Serious question. Tim Minear just confirmed in an interview that he was a Buddie fan and that he has been baiting Buddie. Here's a quote from a Deadline article (https://deadline.com/2026/01/9-1-1-oliver-stark-ryan-guzmans-buddie-heated-rivalry-1236675238/):
“It is a very difficult subject because I love the Buddie fans, and I am one of them,” He continued, “This will probably piss off people, but whatever, this is what I think. I think the possibility of [Buddie] is what’s exciting.”
Since Tim is a Buddie fan, I doubt he wants to make Buck and Tommy together again. Most likely he will bait BT fans till the end, just like he bait Buddie fans. So, why are you still optimistic about Buckyommy getting back together? Do you just ignore what Tim has said?
Okay, serious answer.
First off I am ONCE AGAIN going to point out that this show is not being written for the shipper audience. None of the story decisions are being made to please the shipper audience over the GA. The GA doesn't even READ these interviews, so they have no idea about any of this.
However, insofar as this interview is meant to tell the shipper audience something:
You have an interview with a man who has been at this for literal decades in which he says he is a fan of fans that net his network procedural a genre-tv level cult following with the engagement that follows, in a changing entertainment industry where social media influence and engagement is increasingly important. He further went on to say that his network procedural was not the same type of show where romance and sex and relationships are the centerpiece. He then said that the possibility was what was exciting.
Combine this now with allllllllll the other interviews where this man has said over and over that he is not writing Buck and Eddie any different to the vision of their relationship he conceived, that what you see on screen is what you get, that people should let the show speak for itself, that people can take what they will from it but he's not changing how he writes, and that he wants people to be kind to the Buddie fandom.
Combine all THAT with the exact same party line of "we appreciate the enthusiasm, we would be willing if it's where the story takes us, we see why people ship it" that I have observed in discussion of popular fanon ships for longer than a LOT of the people freaking out over this singular interview have been alive, and which has always, always, ALWAYS translated to, "We're not going there, but you have fun with your fanfic and please keep engaging with our show."
Combine all of THAT with the textual shutdown of the possibility of canon Buddie that we were given last year, both in-universe and out.
Like...what do people expect? That a man who has been in this game as long as that man has is going to look a journalist who is BLATANTLY putting their agenda on full display with their questions in the eye and be like, "Nah, fuck those guys, we ain't doing that!"
As diplomatically as possible, that interview continued the line of, "We're not doing this, and really I think people enjoy the fanfic versions of these characters more than the actual versions, so they should keep doing that. I love how much online attention this gets my objectively mid network procedural though."
Does Tim Minear himself like the idea of Buddie? I dunno, maybe? He's never really been one to go for fanservicing on his shows, so it's hard to say. However, the conditions that make the possibility of Buddie going canon SO remote (not impossible because nothing is impossible on Al Gore's internet) have not changed, so I don't know how much that would even mean.
I also think there is some misconception about "optimistic" vs "sure" here. No one in MY circle of the BuckTommy fandom thinks them getting back together is assured. I think it more likely than not, because Tim uses personal relationships as sources of drama for his characters outside of the emergencies, and to have relationship drama, one must be in a relationship. But they've also got to a point with Buck that putting him with a brand new love interest over and over again is going to have diminishing returns with audience engagement. The drama can't drama if no one cares. With all the markers we got last season and the recent mentions of Tommy in the show, I think it has gotten even more likely, and therefore I'm optimistic. I'm well aware I could be wrong.
