Okay So. For People Not Watching 911 It May SEEM Like Gifmakers Are Exaggerating How Buck And Eddie Interacts,

Even Bobby can’t separate BuckandEddie, their names are just meant to be said together

Eddie's going to leave his parents' house after a huge blow up fight with his mom and he's going to be alone in his truck and he's going to look longingly at the passenger seat and sigh because Buck should be there.

And then he's going to call Buck on his drive home and Buck will have Eddie's back when he tells him about the fight. And when Eddie gets home he'll park the car and sigh and close his eyes and Buck will still be talking and Eddie will pretend Buck's in the car with him (where he belongs) for just a few seconds and then he'll tell Buck he's home and they'll hang up and Eddie will be alone again.

And he'll realize that the person who has always had his back is over 800 miles away and he misses him more than he ever thought he would. And it'll hit him like a ton of bricks that Buck is the first person he calls after a bad day and after a good one. That Buck is the voice he wants to hear when he's spiraling. That the reason it's been so hard to look directly that his relationship with Buck is because it's something beyond friendship. He loves him to the core.

eddie saying he's sorry that buck couldn't keep the dog, that he had to give him up and it's said so sincerely and deeply and yeah it's about the dog but it's also about him, it's him saying im sorry i can't stay im sorry i can't let you keep me here im sorry that we have to let each other go, im not sorry for going to be with my son who i belong with, but im sorry you won't be there with us too

seeing people get mad at fictional characters for handling their grief differently or trying to moralize it is so weird. especially when it happens with buddie. they both think they're losing their best friend, snd the most solid parts of their support system, and someone they might be in love with, even if they haven't completely figured it out yet. can we spare both of them some sympathy and empathy and stop acting like it's a competition in who's sadder about it? and yes, that includes extending sympathy and empathy towards eddie, too. eddie who’s leaving so much he’s grown to love and lean on behind. eddie who’s literally willingly stepping back into the wolf’s den with his own throat bared because that’s how selfless he is when it comes to his son. eddie who’s trying to power through all of it because he thinks he doesn’t have any other choice. i don’t know how to even try to explain it to anyone but his pain and fear are just as human as buck’s, just as big, just as fragile. if you can see all those complicated layers in buck’s behavior, because there are so many layers to it, you should be able to see them in the way eddie’s dealing with that whole situation, too. not just because he’s objectively in a more precarious position. but maybe just because he deserves it, too.

and if you can’t do that. well.

hot take but its possible to enjoy the angst of buck being sad wet dog abandoned in the rain AND acknowledge that his grief is not Eddie's responsibility and that eddie is in fact not a horrible person for putting his son first by leaving and maybe some of yall need to stop infantilizing a fully grown man again

Okay so I'll just say it because I've been thinking it for a while, but the weird dislike or sometimes even hatred for Eddie Diaz (and Ryan Guzman) that is present in this fandom feels (at times) incredibly forced at best and downright racist at worst. And he's already a pretty white-washed character as it is. This is not in any way meant as a call-out to any one person in particular, and certainly not me saying he's a perfect character above critique, but my god, I need people to inject a little bit of nuance into their views of these characters. I love Buck as much as the next 9-1-1 fan, but he is not this perfect angel who can do no wrong like some people act like he is. Likewise, Eddie has made a lot of mistakes and done a lot of shitty things (some of which Buck himself has done, too). But at the end of the day, I think he is a very complex character who is doing the best he can with what he has and means well. I don't know why some of you are in this fandom if you dislike these characters as much as it appears you do.

And the SHIPPING WARS MY GOD STOP IT. I usually stay out of shipping discourse because I think it's ridiculous and unnecessary most of the time. Ship and let ship is always an option, and I think most people would benefit from choosing it. And listen, I will admit my bias and say I am primarily a Buddie shipper. But I have no issue with Bucktommy shippers as a whole nor the ship itself being popular. Do I ship it? No. I don't even particularly like Tommy as a character, but I don't care if other people like him and the ship. What I do have an issue with, however, is the way some of y'all act with such vitriol towards Buddie shippers, Buddie as a ship, and, specifically, Eddie Diaz as a potential love interest for Buck. This is where I think some people's underlying racial bias really becomes apparent, and no, I'm not talking about all BuckTommy shippers, only those that are explicitly anti-Buddie because they don't like Eddie. Because why, WHY are you so insistent on seeing these two white men together, who have had so little time together on screen and, in my opinion, have been shown to have very little in common with each other other than the fact that they care about and are interested in each other romantically, but so against Buck potentially being in a relationship with a different man who he has been best friends with for the better part of a decade, who wrote him into his will, cares deeply about him and who he cares about just as much, spends a lot of his free time with, and who also happens to not be white? Look, I'm not gonna sit here and say every single one of you is a raging racist or anything. I don't know you. But I think a lot of y'all would benefit from a little bit of introspection as to why you feel the way that you do about some of these characters and ships. Also, yes, Buddie shippers can be toxic and racist, too. I am not saying Buddie shippers are above those behaviors as well, only making an observation specific to some people's anti-Buddie and anti-Eddie sentiment.

Also, this is an aside, but the way fandom and shipping culture in general has gravitated towards strict adherence to canon content is.... weird. Like, why are some of y'all so allergic to engaging with or creating content outside of the confines of what the canon material has offered you? Have fun, be creative, go wild, and also be respectful to the folks around you who see things differently. We all share this space, and we should all care about making it as positive and welcoming of an experience as possible.

i would love to know what the people complaining about their acting choices would want them to do. like do you want them to stand there and announce every emotion they're going through at any moment? it's in the look back. it's in the slight twinge to their smiles. the awkward waving of the arms. the eyelashes fluttering. the nervous scratching. the writing choices. the confusion as the distance grows. it's all there and if you can't interpret that, it's on you

calm down guys, it's only the 8th

I think the conversation about having stakes in the show with Bobby's death is ultimately irrelevant to the issue at hand and doesn't make sense as an argument in this case because it's not what people are actually upset about. Me personally? Love a show with stakes. I have other shows I watch where I actively root for a character death at times, even if it's a character I enjoy, because I think it would make for narratively interesting consequences. The difference with that though is those are shows where the stakes have always been there. Where they're baked into the DNA of the show and the universe it's existing in. This is not true for 911. Yeah sure there have been some minor character deaths, yeah there's a lot of dangerous situations the main characters are in, but it is a huge tonal shift to kill off one of the most central characters to the show in a very sudden way with an extremely depressing ending for him that does not match the previous themes of the show about found family and being there for each other. So I don't enjoy Bobby's death playing out the way it did even if that means the stakes are more exciting because that's not the story we've been told for 8 years now and to me is just yet another sign that the production team has lost sight of what made 911 the show it is.

Ok I need everyone to understand that Buck and Eddie are both products of their upbringing. Buck was a child of neglect, which led to him having abandonment issues. While Eddie was a child forced to grow up too fast, which led to him having hyper-independence. Two different kind of traumas. Two different kinds of trauma response. Which would require two different kinds of help.

Buck and Eddie help each other overcome these things and because they are two different kinds of problems, the way they help will ALSO be different. Ever since they met, Eddie has always been there for Buck (don't even fight me on this) and Buck has always given Eddie what he needs. It will look imbalanced, but it's really not. They both need SOMEONE in their lives, just in different ways.

Buck doesn't need someone to take over his lease, or to take care of his son, or to help him figure out childcare, he needs someone to Not Leave Him Alone. Eddie doesn't need someone to tell him he's not expendable, or to be reassured he's trustworthy, or to be promised he's not going to be abandoned, he needs someone to Give Him a Helping Hand. And the moment they became friends they have been those SOMEONES to each other.

They are each other's persons. Equally.