Coping HARD Rn

Eddie Diaz, Queerness, and Faith

So I've had this idea floating around in my head all day following the most recent episode and with Buddie canon seemingly closer than ever, I thought I'd share it with y'all.

An interesting storyline I would absolutely LOVE for them to explore with Eddie is his relationship with Catholacism/Christianity as a whole and his sexuality, both in childhood and as an adult. I think it's inevitable that his relationship with religion would be brought up if they decide to go the route of Eddie being a repressed gay man. It's kind of unavoidable given his family history and his resurfaced Catholic guilt. I mean, growing up in Texas in the Catholic church as a gay kid??? As a queer atheist, it sounds like my own personal hell.

That being said, I think it would be really cool to see Eddie's journey to self-acceptance coincide with a restored faith in God and the church. It's not a storyline I've personally seen very often with gay characters (the only example I can think of atm is Eric from Sex Education), and I think it could be a really valuable form of representation for both progressive forms of Christianity and queer BIPOC Christians.

I don't think it's realistic given Eddie's decades-long repression for him to have this realization of feelings for Buck and just be okay with it without taking the time to interrogate all of his past relationships (romantic, familial, and religious) and how they have contributed to his repression. I would love to see him come back to LA post-feelings realization and for him to have more conversations with Father Brian about all of this. I want there to be a conversation between them about how Father Brian can reconcile being a gay man (because let's face it, he likely is, despite being celibate) and his faith in God, as well as being an active participant in the church who is guiding other people in their faith. I want to see the juxtaposition of Eddie growing up with a faith that is, at it's core, based in guilt and shame, to stepping into a faith based in love, acceptance, and affirmation (as, imo, Christianity SHOULD BE but all too often is not). I want more bonding and one-on-one conversations between Eddie and Bobby about faith, too. It would be really nice to see them bond more over something they have in common outside of their profession, especially with Bobby being a father figure to Buck.

I think his relationship with Buck could also be a way to explore inter-faith relationships. Now, I could be completely off-base with this, but Buck strikes me as a character that, while superstitious, is not religious. There hasn't been anything I've seen up to this point, that I can remember anyway, that suggests Buck believes in God. If it is the case that he is an atheist or agnostic, I would love to see how they navigate their relationship surrounding the topic, especially given the long and difficult history surrounding homophobia in the church. I don't even necessarily mind the topic becoming quite contentious (between them or brought on by external circumstances), but at the end of it all I want to see them get to a point where they approach this potential difference with love and mutual respect.

Idk I think it would just be really cool if they made this decision with Eddie's character. I know I've seen a few clips of Ryan in interviews talking about his own faith journey: growing up in the church, becoming distant from it as he got older, and then later coming back to God and religion. It would be awesome to see him being able to pour some of his own personal experiences with religion into this character, especially with how their journeys with faith would be kind of paralleled (though not entirely the same).

Anyways, if anyone wants to send me pre-existing fics or even write some based on this premise, I would love to read them 😊

the difference between this eddie and the eddie from buck's perspective last episode. and they're both real. eddie IS so cool and so funny and so good and he has a silver star and he's a loser and a yapper and a liar and the best dad in the world. he is all of this mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie.

My thoughts on the episode:

• ⁠I’m so angry that Eddie wasn’t there, whether Bobby’s death is real or a fake-out. He’s a main character who’s been so sidelined it’s insulting, an integral part of the 118, and maybe the character most similar to Bobby himself, with their connection to Buck, their Catholic upbringing, being both widowers and having PTSD/PTSD-type issues.

• ⁠For real. They could’ve shown Buck answering Eddie’s videocall and Eddie immediately understanding that something went wrong from Buck’s devastation. It would’ve taken one minute at most and said so much. But no.

• ⁠I’M NOT A BIOTERRORIST. But if I was one, I would have FOUR doses ready: two of the superstrain and two of the antidote. a. 1 superstrain to unleash onto the world, b. 1 antidote to use on myself in case I catch the superstrain, and c. 1 dose of superstrain and 1 dose of antidote to sell to Big Pharma for millions so they develop both the antidote and a vaccine. But I guess crazy clouds your mind.

• ⁠They could’ve just escorted Moira out of the building before she had the chance to do anything.

• ⁠So Bobby caught the illness from a tiny tear in his breathing system but Hen didn’t catch it from having HER CHEST CUT OPEN AND INTUBATED??? Ok

• ⁠THEY COULDN’T HAVE TRIED A HAIL MARY OF DOING A TRANSFUSION OF CHIM’S NEWLY CURED BLOOD TO BOBBY? If he was gonna die anyway, couldn’t it have been tried?

• ⁠I guess Athena now will have to pretend she didn’t just try to kick her children out of the house.

• ⁠Also, how will Athena stay connected to the rest of the cast?

• ⁠If Bobby’s death is real, it’s a terrible decision on Tim Minear’s part. 9-1-1 is comfort TV, and striked gold with the cast from season 2, but now they’re messing with the formula. The GA watches mainly for Athena and Bobby (who’s now dead) and the fandom watches mainly for Buck and Eddie (who’s being sidelined). It’s a New Coke situation - if there’s a moment for executive meddling on ABC’s part, this is it.

"dad would be so proud of you" is literally not a complement considering he was an abusive acholic asshole and bobby was the one who found him dead. not a complment and most likely a way to try to manipulate bobby. fuck that actualy

Being on this website is fun because you can absolutely tell when a blorbo clicks in someone's brain. You're scrolling, and suddenly out of nowhere there's like 12 posts about the same character back to back reposted by the same person, and you just know "oh. They're a permanent part of their psyche now." and honestly it's a vibe go off king

Eddie’s pov of buck is Buck supporting him and caring for him and encouraging him. I’m soooooooooo

WHERE IS SHE?

WHERE DID THEY TOOK HER?

Eddie got a phone call OFF SCREEN. Eddie’s talks with Chris were OFF SCREEN. HE IS A MAIN FUCKING CHARACTER, WHY THE HELL CAN’T WE SEE HIM DO THESE THINGS ON SCREEN?! FUCKING HELL.

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.

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.