okay this might be the craziest 911 take i’ve ever had. But. Walk with me.
We all know that Eddie juice and sweet treat theory is real, right? He’s been eating more and more of Buck’s cooking and drinking more sweet things since the hot priest “you deserve joy” conversation in 8x06. This is not in doubt.
But. Uh. I think we may not have reckoned with one important thing: Eddie is Catholic.
And. uhhh. there is quite a famous thing in catholicism about food and drink becoming the physical body and blood of a deity during worship.
This is to say: I think Eddie eating Buck’s baking is TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
He’s literally taking Buck’s essence into his body, accepting Buck into his heart as his own version of holy communion. Because he was looking for love in the wrong places before! But now he’s not!
I think this take would have caused me to be executed in the 16th century so apologies about that but I genuinely believe the writers are doing this on purpose.
Eddie says “Buck is here in spirits and cookies” in 9x16 - he is clearly making the ‘Buck’s baking = Buck’ communion joke connection. And then he DUNKS THE COOKIE IN MILK AND EATS IT. He’s accepting Buck’s spirit into himself! EDDIE KNOWS!
We as a fandom are currently sleeping on a lot of possibilities wrt horny blasphemous lapsed catholic Eddie who wants to worship Buck!
They had Tommy express his confusion about Buck being able to afford his loft on purpose. Buck shouldn't be able to afford that place.
Eddie's U-Haul is too small for a reason. There's no way it's fitting a house's worth of furniture in there.
Eddie isn't selling his house, Buck’s going to move in there instead (because at that point Eddie has no plans on moving back to LA). Buck also doesn't want Eddie to sell his house because then he really WON'T ever come back. Moving into Eddie's is both fiscally responsible AND keeps the door open for Eddie to come back home with Christopher.
And won't it be fun when Christopher wants to go back to LA much faster than anticipated and now *OOPS* we are roommates! 😅
Eddie is back from Texas. He and Buck are in some sort of roommate situation. They're in the kitchen, in the warm orange glow of the evening. Eddie is finishing cleaning up dinner while Buck is having a beer, his back to the countertop. Buck is shining from the inside out. His best friend is back. He's telling Eddie what has happened while he was gone.
"And yeah at first I had a hard time moving into your place - or I guess I guess our place - but then everyone, even Maddie, kept implying that I was in love with you!! Can you imagine?? That's crazy right?? Because you're my best friend and you're straight and-"
"What if I wasn't though?"
"What?" Buck freezes.
Eddie dries his hands on a kitchen towel. He takes a big, stabilizing breath and rubs at his eyes before repeating.
"What if I wasn't." He takes a step closer "What if I had a big revelation in Texas." One more "What if I realized I was gay." He's now standing toe to toe to Buck. "Would that change something between us?" His voice is quiet. Tentative.
Buck is still frozen in place, his eyes staring deep into Eddie's. Eddie is looking right back at him. The moment feels fragile. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything. He's about to take a step back, laugh it off, when his eyes dart to Buck's lips. Buck notices the movement and that breaks the spell. He realizes. He closes the distance. He kisses Eddie. Eddie kisses him back.
To preface, I believe both Buck and Eddie are already feeling "in love" feelings towards each other, but at this moment in time I still don't think either of them recognizes what those feelings actually are. I am not on the team that believes Buck and/or Eddie already know they're in love with the other and just haven't said anything. I think that this is a TV show, and the TV show is going to want to SHOW US those moments on screen so that we (but more specifically, the GA) know without a shadow of a doubt that this is the romantic path they're on. So, no, simple staring or loving gazes is not going to be enough confirmation. Words need to be spoken out loud and made textual. We're far beyond accepting subtextual crumbs now.
Here's what I think could be reasonable in terms of the trajectory of Buck and Eddie's feelings realizations as well as the timeline of Eddie's gay realization arc and potentially when they could tell each other their feelings. Strap in for another long-ass dissertation by me.
Can't they just realize on their own?
First of all, of the two of them I think that BUCK is the closest by far to recognizing what his feelings are. HOWEVER, I think that he will require an external catalyst to actually break the glass and open the Pandora's box and finally put it in front of his face. As we've seen, subtle does not work for Buck or Eddie. Hinting doesn't work, trying to steer them in the right direction doesn't work, and hoping they'll realize on their own doesn't work. NDE realizations don't work either. At this point in time I feel like both need to be told with words by someone. Buck by a third party, and Eddie by Buck.
Who could tell Buck?
I think the most likely option is Maddie or potentially the return of an ex. Some people speculate Taylor, personally, I'm speculating Tommy. He's more recent, and his breakup with Buck was so vague that it definitely left the door open for Tommy to come back in and have to clarify what he really meant. Especially given the vague "Buck is running into people" thing in one of the interviews. I think at this point the big thing Buck learns in 8x11 that shocked Oliver "by how directly it's being addressed" and Buck feels is "Ludicrous" and makes him uncomfortable will be someone pointing out Buck's feelings for Eddie. This all is feeling very reminiscent of the time last season when most of us felt like Bi Buck was on the horizon (and we were right), except 100-fold. In 7x04, Buck had to be told (or shown in this case) that men are an option for him too. That was easier for him to accept. Accepting his feelings for Eddie will not be such a walk in the park.
That then places Buck in a place to have to come to terms with and accept his feelings and also make a decision on how to handle his feelings through the end of 8b. Putting a pin in Buck for now.
Will Eddie realize he's queer in El Paso?
I don't think Eddie is going to have his gay realization in Texas. I think his time in Texas needs to address three things 1.) His relationship with Chris 2.) his unhealthy romanticization of Shannon and 3.) his unhealthy relationship with his parents, his mom in particular. I simply don't think there's enough time for Eddie to realize he's queer while in Texas. There's just too much ground Eddie needs to cover and I fear if we try to shove the queer realization into it as well it will feel rushed.
Here's my El Paso counterproposal
Through addressing Shannon, his parents and healing his relationship with Chris, my hope is that we get Eddie letting go of his compulsive need to find a Wife & A Mother Figure for Chris. He will stop forcing himself into a Heteronormative lifestyle. I want him to rise in his own power and admit to himself, his parents, and Chris that he's no longer going to force himself to do what he doesn't want to do. No longer will he force himself to date (women, but most likely that will be subtextual still at this point) when he doesn't want to, no longer will be trying to replace Shannon (I think this is the core of what hurts Chris the most), and no longer will be letting himself fold to his parent's manipulation. How he gets there is anyone's guess, but I think once he admits to himself that he's happier raising Chris in a non-heteronormative, non-nuclear family, and it's the healthier option for both himself AND Chris, he will finally set himself free from the shackles of living up to Expectations. This, I think, will set up excellent groundwork for what comes next: the return to LA.
Eddie and Christopher come back to LA. My guess is that this will happen somewhere around episodes 16-17. Putting a pin in Eddie for now.
To Reveal or To Not Reveal Feelings
Buck, meanwhile, has come to terms with his feelings but has made the choice to not say anything to Eddie while he's in El Paso because he knows Eddie needs to focus on healing his relationship with Chris in Texas. Once Eddie and Chris are back, Buck will be forced for the first time to be around Eddie while knowing his feelings and actively not saying anything (ie. not making this about him). This will be compounded by forced proximity and the push-pull of whether or not Buck will stay living in the Diaz house.
Here's the crux of where Buck's decision comes in. I think Buck will have made a solid decision before this that he will never tell Eddie his feelings. This is for a myriad of reasons that the show may or may not address, but I feel that bringing up the "you're making it about you again!" line in their big fight in 8x09 and bringing back Buck's severe fear of losing Eddie was purposeful in order to set up Buck's reasoning to keep his feelings to himself until the last minute.
Buck will present Eddie with the options again: water or juice?
Ultimately, something will have to be a catalyst for Buck to reveal his feelings to Eddie. My guess is an NDE disaster of some sort near the end of the season. I think, at this point in time, Buck will not tell Eddie his feelings unless he feels Eddie will be taken from him permanently. He'll have a revelation along the lines of Chim's "time is never guaranteed, so if you love her, tell her". He has an opportunity presented to him, but the consequences could be devastating.
I think Buck will then tell Eddie his feelings near the end of the season, either in the penultimate or finale episode.
I think that Buck's reveal of his feelings to Eddie will be the glass shattering for Eddie. I think this would be the strongest catalyst that could make Eddie have to force himself to sit with himself and think "this is the person I love most in the world aside from my son but is the love I feel for him romantic? Is that why it nearly killed me to be away from him for so long?". Once queerness and a loving relationship with Buck are presented to Eddie as an option, that will be the moment that Eddie goes on his true journey of realizing that not only is he not straight, but he never romantically loved a woman. He's been forcing himself to drink nothing but water his whole life, but here's his chance to choose juice, to choose joy. This won't be an immediate thing though, no.
I think Eddie will be shocked. Because, like Buck felt initially, this is an uncomfortable truth finally brought to light. Eddie will have to sit with his feelings for a minute. He has an opportunity, but the consequences of any choice could potentially be devastating.
Up in the air choice, setting up conflict for s9
We're getting into wish fulfillment territory here, but I would love it if Eddie does NOT reject Buck right away but instead asks "Can I get a bit of time to think about this?" in a direct parallel to when he asked Shannon for time and she instead left him high and dry. But this time, Buck grants Eddie his time, telling Eddie he's not going anywhere. In the meantime, they remain best friends, co-parents, and partners living together in the Diaz house, just with the equal knowledge that they can choose to turn it into more if they want. This will be Buck and Eddie's main conflict of season 9.
What about the summer hiatus?
I could then see the hiatus between s8 and s9 as a stasis period where Eddie does his thinking and the whole time they've been living together, and neither really wants Buck to leave, but they haven't yet addressed the elephant in the room. This way, we won't miss out on big moments, and the writers can continue to show us ON SCREEN development.
Enter season 9
We then have the whole next season for them to finally address everything ON SCREEN. Mainly:
1.) Eddie season 9 conflict: realizing that Buck has already been a part of their family, a father to Chris, and a life partner to Eddie this whole time, and he wants to keep it. But is he physically attracted to Buck? I want to see Eddie grappling with his new-found physical attraction to Buck, and then realizing, holy shit, it's been men this whole time. And now fully processing why he's held onto Shannon for so long.
2.) Buck season 9 conflict: does he push for what he wants, or does he wait for Eddie to come to him? Does Buck make more active choices to help Eddie along or does he "fall into it" like he always does. Is he torturing himself by living with Eddie? By having everything he wants an inch away from him but being unable to grasp it firmly? Who is he to Chris?
3.) Buddie season 9 conflict: Both of them making the choice, will they or won't they? Will they finally actively decide to choose each other? To make the final jump and cross the line into relationship territory?
Of course, the answer to all of this is yes, they most definitely will. Why? Because I firmly believe the second they made Buck bi that they were going down this path, and so far I haven't been proven wrong. And now, I firmly believe the second they have one of them realize their feelings, Buddie is imminent and endgame. There's plenty of time for all of this and more in season 9.
Anyway, this is just speculation and I feel like this timeline would be satisfying for me as a viewer who's been watching and wanting Buddie canon since season 3. Not too fast, not too slow. With adequate time for both Buck and Eddie to address their individual issues as well as their couple issues. What do y'all think?
Buck can handle this. No matter what anyone else is thinking (in the case of most of his family) or outright saying (in the case of his parents) Buck can handle this.
It doesn’t matter that a few months earlier he was in withdrawals so awful he genuinely thought he was going to die. It doesn’t matter that some days he wonders if he really did die after the lightning stuck him, because losing Bobby was a hurt he felt so deeply he thought he must’ve been in hell. It doesn’t matter that Buck’s brain feels like a mess of yarn that even his new knitting circle friends wouldn’t know how to untangle it. Buck can handle this. He can.
He has to, because who else will?
Not Connor and Kameron, because they’re dead. There will be a funeral next week, one that Maddie is helping Buck plan. Buck has to plan it because he learned through a kind eyed social worker that his friends had no family, that most of their friends became distant after Theo was born, if they’d been all that close to begin with.
(How could they have been that close, if Connor’s first thought for a sperm donor was his old roommate? How could they be that close if the only person Kameron could run to when she and Connor fought during her pregnancy was Buck?)
There will be a funeral with two caskets in one week, which seemed like a tragedy until he was facing multiple funerals.
Gunshots weren’t a familiar noise to Buck, at some point. They were a sound for tv shows and movies, not for sunny days downtown or brightly lit hospitals.
A horrible, twisted part of Buck wants gunshots to stop meaning Eddie getting hit with a bullet. Athena getting shot was devastating, a hurt that ached in Buck’s stomach while he tried to comfort Harry and May. But Eddie? Eddie’s blood, sticky and warm under Buck’s hands? Eddie’s eyes, looking up at Buck and asking him if he’s okay again, like Buck wouldn’t take the bullet for him in a heartbeat?
Buck can handle this.
He can handle this because Eddie is alive, laying in Buck’s bed asleep, bandages around his torso. He can handle this because Theo and Chris are sharing Buck’s guest room, both a little wary but more or less able to cohabitate despite the age gap. Buck can handle this, because he’s a father now. A father, with legal custody over Theo but not Chris, because Eddie is alive and breathing.
He would have handled it if Eddie died. Not well, not at all, but he would have done it. He would fight Helena and Ramon tooth and nail. He would deal with them throwing everything they could find in Buck’s face (and oh, there was so much to be found now) in court. He would deal with maybe losing Christopher, the first child he ever loved with his whole being.
He doesn’t have to, though, because Eddie is alive. Eddie is alive, and Buck just… he needs to see it, again.
He checks on the kids first, of course. Kids, plural. Christopher Diaz and Theo McCalla. Maybe Buckley, now, Buck hasn’t decided. Buckley isn’t the last name of anyone Buck really loves anymore. Maddie is a Han and his parents are… not talking to him, not since he told them about the Theo and Chris and Eddie of it all.
Buck can handle that, too. He has parents, in Bobby who isn’t here anymore and Athena who still is and Maddie who has always, always been here. He has family in Hen and Karen who have come by every day to help, in Chim who has somehow managed to get coverage for a two firefighters and a paramedic so that Buck could take paternal leave while Eddie rested and Harry looked after Athena. He has people, family, outside of Margaret and Phillip Buckley.
He has Eddie, who opens his eyes when Buck opens the bedroom door, and manages a half-smile-half-grimace. Eddie, who refused to take home pain medication stronger than Tylenol so Buck didn’t have to deal with the temptation of opiates in the house. Eddie, who beckons Buck to his side with an outstretched palm.
“I can handle it,” Buck whispers, kneeling at Eddie’s bedside. He’d prostrate himself if Eddie let him, but isn’t going to try his luck. “I’ve got this, okay? I can take care of all of us.”
Eddie’s hand in Buck’s hair, brushing back his curls. Eddie’s voice, soft but audible in the quiet of the night that surrounds them. Eddie’s trust, written on a will the better part of a decade ago and reiterated just the other day.
“I know you can. But you don’t have to, not right this second.” Eddie cups Buck’s chin and guides their eyes to meet. He’s there, mentally and physically present, the only proof of a higher power Buck has ever known. “It’s just me. Just us. You can let go, now.”
Buck breaks. Tears, snot, and muffled sobs. He presses his face into the mattress next to Eddie’s hip and his fingers into the skin below Eddie’s bandages. He holds onto what he can with as much care as he’d give to a butterfly’s wing.
Eddie holds him back, a hand on the back of his neck and the other pressing Buck’s hand more firmly into Eddie’s side. A reminder, that Eddie doesn’t break easily. Not with four bullets in him now, or the heavens caving in on him, or his demons tearing him apart from the inside out. Eddie Diaz is made from tougher stuff than Hercules or Samson. He is made from love and stardust and scar tissue.
There will be a day, not too far from now, when Buck does more paperwork than he’s ever wanted to see in his life. Forms to change his name legally, on everything. Forms to change Theo’s name too, after he asked.
Buck Diaz.
Theodore McCalla Diaz.
Buck can handle that, too. But not tonight. Tonight, Eddie will hold him through it.
Hi! This is not my speculation thoughts on 9x17, but rather the elephant in the room - that call sheet for 9x18.
I'm honestly 50/50 on whether it's real or not. Like this is the show that had the fake Bobby Alive scripts, but it is also the show that literally spoiled the death of Bobby Nash. And the call sheet was for the 13th of April - the person who posted this waited for two days and then decided to post the image? That feels weird and that makes it more intentional - it wasn't a spur of the moment post. They would have had to actually go to their photo roll, pick out that image and then post it, which makes it far less likely to be something that just wasn't thought through. (And if it were a fake, it allows time to consolidate all the social media posts relating to the last day and ensure that the details on the sheet line up with what's posted) But it honestly feels a little too detailed for it to be fake, if that makes sense? I spent far too much time squinting at the details and looking up what they meant and it's all reasonable. This could realistically be the call sheet for that day. And all the details - the props, the actors, the call times - all line up. Like it's all plausible, but it could also be that I just don't know enough to pinpoint any inaccuracies on the call sheet. (An interesting deviance that I noticed - the number assigned to Deidra's actress is 243 on the call sheet. The issue is that her character was introduced in season 4, which would imply a smaller number judging by AB being 1 and OS being 4. Like Officer Branford, who's been on the show in a named role since season 2, was assigned the number 55 on this call sheet. Even Detective Hooks was given the number of 213 and Theo was given the number of 241K, both of which are smaller than hers. Don't know if it really means anything, but it's definitely interesting.)
I'm personally against the idea of Buck taking in the kid. I think it completely undermines the concept that while he was a part of the conception, that it's not actually his child. Like it would be interesting to see him interact with the kid and use that to confront the idea of having a family one day, but I'm against the idea of Buck taking in the kid as a permanent guardian.
Hope you have a great day! (I will send in my thoughts on 9x17 soon!)
Ah, the call sheet... yeah. I don't know what to think of that one either. I'm on the fence about it. Would someone risk their job so blatantly by posting it? I'm not sure.
But just like you, I've read it and it seems plausible and feels real. So who knows? I admit that I didn't notice the numbers though, but that's interesting for sure. 🤔
As for the child...
Listen, I have many many many reasons for not wanting a possible 'Buck gets custody of the donor child' story myself. I won't go into it here, because ultimately, the show will do what it will do and I'll have to go along with it.
It's a TV-show, so I'll be fine, but if they do go ahead with a storyline like this, I hope they put their best writers on it and they thought everything through before they started filming. If they do it right, it has potential to be an interesting storyline for Buck, and even Eddie.
Personally, I still think that this child will not turn out to be the donor child, but Buck will end up as a temporary 'foster' for the kid. Why and how? I have no idea.
But regardless of whether or not the child will be the donor child, I do suspect that this kid might possibly be on the autism spectrum. I have nothing to back that up though, so take it with a big bag of salt. I could be reaching!😆
The reason I think that, is because the child seems very focused on that red balloon and he seems oddly calm up on that electrical tower for such a young kid.
I have had a few pupils on the spectrum in my classroom. All lovely kids, one by one. But some of them had hyperfixations on stuff that I never even thought of or with very specific objects and subjects. I once had a kid in my class who was so hyperfixated on the era of 'Classical Antiquity' that he could have taught my history class for me. He knew so much about Roman history specifically. It was amazing.
Based on the -admittedly- limited experience with children on the spectrum that I have, it wouldn't be out of this realm to theorise that this young child could be fixated on balloons or the colour red.
So I don't know why, but I just have a hunch that this 911 child might be on the spectrum. It's only speculation, but when Ryan talked about, and I'm paraphrasing here, the fact that Buck would lean heavily on Eddie because he would be the only one with experience and who would understand or something like that, it got me thinking.
There are a lot of people with children on 911. Henren know everything about fostering and how adoption works. They would arguably be better consultants than Eddie when it comes to things like this. If Buck needs information about raising kids? Sure, he could talk to Eddie, but he could also talk to his sister. So, why specifically Eddie?
Well, Eddie is the father of a child with a disability. It wouldn't be too crazy to think that Buck's 'foster' child might have a disability of some kind, like a form of autism. Then it would make sense for Buck to talk to Eddie about his experiences as a father of a child with CP and maybe talk to him about possible government assistence or schools... stuff like that.
Of all the 118 family, Eddie would be able to relate best to Buck in this situation and just like Buck stepped into his world to help him out in season 2? He would gladly step into Buck's world to help him out on this. Him and Chris would 100% be there for him and his foster child. It would create the ultimate parallel and bring everything back to season 2.
(Question from a non-native English speaker to the native English speakers reading this: When I was writing the above answer, I kept getting stuck when I wanted to talk about children with autism or CP.
I first wrote down a 'disabled child', but that didn't feel right somehow. Too harsh almost. So I thought about 'child with special needs' or 'special needs child' as well, but I wasn't sure if that was an appropriate term to use either, so I finally went with 'child with disability'.
But I'm not sure if even that is the appropriate term to use in English. I've tried looking it up online, but all of these terms are used frequently and I couldn't find an adequate answer.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me? What term is most respectul to use in English? Are they all okay to use? I'd be so grateful. That way I can use the correct term in the future. Thanks 🤗)
