One More Thing Though. So Let's Say This Episode Was Supposed To Just Be About Athena's Grief, And The

‘bad credit score shopaholic’ buck and ‘just let me buy this shed real quick’ eddie are made for each other, i don’t know what to tell you. i hope they make horrendous financial decisions together for the rest of their lives

hollywood's insistence on portraying people with (presumably) DID as inherently violent or dangerous is genuinely cruel and harmful to the understanding of an already misunderstood and misrepresented community. it's the lowest of lowhanging fruit, targeting an already vulnerable population. people with DID (or any other "scary" mental illness) are not inherently dangerous or violent. they're not serial killers. or abusers. they just are. this has been a psa

Buck choosing to say “Eddie’s straight” “my straight best friend” ok what if he wasn’t.. what then

OH MY FUCKING GOD NO NO NONONONON MADDIEEEEE. I SAID NO MADDIE NDE ON MY PREDICTION HOW DARE YOU 😭

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.

I think I've figured out why Eddie's "you really did that for me?" is different for him compared to all the other times someone else, or even Buck, has done big things for him.

Because we can all point out endless examples of how this isn't the first big thing that Buck has ever done for Eddie. Hell, their friendship really took root due to the big ways in which Buck helped Eddie early on in s2 and s3. HOWEVER. Here's where the big difference comes in.

This is the first time Buck has ever done something like this for Eddie whilst they're in the midst of Active Conflict.

All the other times Buck has done something amazing for Eddie and Chris have been during relative times of peace, or times when Eddie and Buck were already on the same page about what they wanted. It's not hard for Eddie to accept because his and Buck's wants align in those moments.

Not the case in 8x09. Buck and Eddie's desires are on opposite sides now, or at least that's how Eddie perceives it. Eddie has to do something that he knows Buck won't like, and he thinks "This is it. This is the moment where everyone shows their true colors and leaves me high and dry to deal with my mess by myself." Think about it. Most people leave Eddie high and dry the first instance their goals don't align.

That's why Eddie's so surprised Buck wants to help him in the first place back in 8x08 and again in 8x09. For once, Eddie lets himself believe that someone will help him, even if it's something the other person doesn't want. And when Buck gets upset and petty, it almost feels like confirmation that Eddie is only worth helping when it's something that other people want too.

But Buck, in the midst of their fighting, before they even got a chance to talk or yell it out, before Eddie can even explain that he doesn't want this either, but he has no choice, Buck has already managed to figure it out for himself and decide that even though Eddie can't do what Buck wants him to do, it doesn't matter. Buck puts his desires aside and helps Eddie because it's what's best for Eddie and Christopher. I don't think Eddie has ever known what it's like to have opposing desires with someone and not come out on the losing side, to have to be the one to compromise or put someone else's wishes before his own.

This is the only time someone has loved Eddie unconditionally enough to put Eddie first.

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.

there is simply no world in which they’d have buckoliver doing All That if buddie canon wasn’t happening - like, they would not even touch this if it was just going to be one-sided?? not only would that upset people who want buck and eddie together, but also the people who want them to remain friends because unrequited feelings would permanently hurt their dynamic, and ripple through the rest of the team. not to mention, it puts one of their main characters in a position of being the ‘bad guy’ for not returning buck’s feelings. it wouldn’t make sense for them to blow up such a significant part of their show when there’d be no winning for anyone. and when you take a step back and put down the interviews and just look at what’s actually playing out in the show, it’s clear what’s happening.

they didn’t have to so heavily lean into focusing on buckandeddie since the switch to abc. they didn’t have to tie eddie to buck’s relationship with tommy. they didn’t have to make buck’s 8b arc all about grappling with losing eddie! say what you will about some of the writing on this show, but they’re not totally incompetent. these things didn’t just accidentally happen. it was always going to be either all in on canon, or nothing at all. and they’re all in.

let the story play out. it’s coming.

911 season 8 episode 9 could alternatively be called “the buckley siblings being fucking crazy, but like, you kind of get it”

Literally Buck being Eddie’s biggest supporter is so important, Eddie feels so alone and isolated and like he’s on the outside right now, but he’s got Buck. No matter how far away he always has Buck like!!!!!!!!!!!!