cryptidiaz

[cryptidiaz]

can i be real with u all i would stick with the show for so many more seasons even if they never did buddie if their individual storylines and the other characters' storylines were still good. like. there was no mention of romantic buddie in seasons 1-5 and those seasons are my absolute favorite regardless because of how careful and intentional the writing was. because of how enjoyable the emergencies were. because of how well the relationships (platonic and romantic) were developed. because the show was able to make me feel the full range of human emotion in the span of one episode. because the show felt like it retained its heart no matter what happened.

and i was still loyal to the show after the epic crashout that was 6x18 (which actually made me Real Life Sad for multiple days) bc i was so excited for bobby and athena's cruise and for madney's wedding. i stayed after 7x10 and the whole dinner scene debacle (what a time lol) because i thought the longer season would give tim more time to pull together a strong character arc for every single main. but it's become so clear that he's lost sight of what made the show so beloved in the first place AND on top of that he's shown that he's willing to mess with fans in a way that just feels cruel. none of the characters feel carefully or lovingly written anymore — some of them didn't even have a real arc this season — and the emergencies aren't compelling anymore. and on top of that the stuff they've been doing with buddie feels weird as hell. so what's the point of sticking around if he's not giving us anything to stick around for

[cryptidiaz]

tim: we're going to have the el paso fire captain tell eddie about how their last hire left because he wanted to be with his wife, and then, 5 episodes later, we're going to have eddie finally get the call from el paso fire that he has a job

some crew member: omg genuis so now you can parallel eddie and the previous hire by having eddie chose to stay in LA for buck

tim: what? no???? chimney is just going to tell him to stay and he's going to stay. don't be an idiot

-

tim: we're going to dedicate the A plot in bobby's funeral episode to a real life story about how the mother was right and the kid was hers and really drive home the point that the casket was empty and the government was keeping bobby's body

same crew member: ooooh i see i see. and then it turns out the kid was actually hers and bobby's own coffin is empty and the government is still keeping him!

tim: no, you stupid fuck. the kid isn't hers and bobby is dead dead

-

tim: next episode is going to be called don't drink the water. and we're going to bring back the same actor that 11 episodes ago told eddie he was denying himself joy by drinking water instead of juice

crew member, through tears: so now eddie has another conversation with the priest and realizes the juice he's been denying himself is staying in LA with his family and buck?

tim:

crew member: they're not even going to interact, are they? and the metaphor is not going to be brought up again like you never brought up the competition line again?

tim: now you get it

[cryptidiaz]

Maddie received no pushback for telling a caller to kill themselves, Brad saying that his captain hotshots or whatever is going to live so the guy can’t kill himself, “don’t jump” being thrown around at Buck when Gerrard was captain in the beginning and the captain at the end is Gerrard (I know he’s leaving), guy who struggled with suicidal ideation ends up having to sacrifice himself after finally deciding he wants to live, Athena is building her dream home just to lose her husband and sell it, Chimney on top of the roof before the Bobby funeral only for him to appear headed for a job he’s never really seemed like he’s wanted, Hen having a whole episode about being forgotten and it being okay to take up space deciding that she’s not going to be captain actually. guys. I think the recurring theme of the season is that it’s good to give up on your dreams and maybe dying is okay actually.

[cryptidiaz]

would you care for a half assed eddiebody wants some edit in these trying times?

[cryptidiaz]

and how THE FUCK DID EVERYONE FORGET HER BIRTHDAY?!?!

And let's talk about Hen. :) Listen I saw something the other day about how no one's arc has been as messed up as Eddie's but um, at least he got multiple episodes this season focused almost solely on him. If I was Aisha, I'd be rioting. She didn't get to do shit the back half of this season. She didn't even get to grieve Bobby on screen as much as the others. And then she decides she doesn't want to be captain for? No real reason? And again, while Captain Chim was great, why couldn't Hen have been the one to do the same thing? She deserved it, when she got fuck all to do most of the rest of this season, and even adopting Mara happened in like 2 seconds shoved at the end of the episode.

[cryptidiaz]

s9e1 put peter krause in the crib. please im begging you

[cryptidiaz]

okay. it’s not even about like whether or not buddie happened. it’s actually the fact that they literally spent SO much time this season focusing on buck and eddie’s relationship to the detriment of BOTH of them having coherent and developed storylines—cannot overstate that buck had NO STORYLINE this season except to be weird about eddie and eddie had TOO MUCH texas storyline that ultimately led nowhere—and then. didn’t follow through even ON THEIR RELATIONSHIP? EVEN THEIR PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP? i said this before but “buck misses his best friend” is not. A PLOT. okay.

and this isn’t even touching the fact that. um. basically none of the characters did anything this season that led to anything for them because they were all these choppy self-contained one-offs—bobby? hotshots, then his mom showed up, then he died of ratpox. hen? brief confrontation with ortiz, denny nde with no consequences, everyone forgot her birthday, she decided she didn’t want to be captain. maddie? world’s shortest pregnancy and also kidnapped but she’s over it now. chimney? maddie’s short pregnancy and kidnapping and then bobby died and he was set up to become captain (WITH NO FOCUS ON HIS LEADERSHIP PRIOR???😭). athena? beenado plane crash, sparky the rookie, cart cop, then bobby died. buck and eddie are the only characters who actually had anything consistent happening across the season and it didn’t even end up being resolved. season 8 is watchable and in isolation most episodes are enjoyable for what they are but as a whole it’s disorganized and inconsistent and the storytelling is unsatisfying and that Sucks .

[cryptidiaz]

the way they ultimately didn't even let eddie make this one decision (to move back) himself after a STORYLINE LASTING A YEAR LONG IN REAL LIFE. just crazy work. every emotional beat of this plotline happened offscreen. the kimshannon root issue of it all was not mentioned even once. i'll lock back into the roommates era/sitting on it summer soon but someone's head should roll for this and we should be saying it with our whole chests.

[cryptidiaz]

ughhh this show's marketing is at the very least irresponsible and at most cruel and vindictive

[cryptidiaz]

they wasted so much time what do u mean we spent all episode on the disaster and spent 4 minutes collectively on mara being officially adopted, second han baby born, eddie moving home, buck looking for a new place, and athena selling her dream home that she built with bobby. FOUR MINUTES.

[cryptidiaz]

another INSANE eddieshannon parallel... i just realized eddie was SHANNON in the fight. 'i don't need a provider, i need a partner.'

buck was clinically trying to manage eddie's grief while closing himself off. he was trying to provide what he thought eddie needed from him. meanwhile, all eddie wanted was the person he loved most (aside from his son) to let him in. eddie wanted to step into the mess TOGETHER. to grieve together and know that even when the whole rest of the world felt awful and sad, at least they were buckandeddie. at least they were partners who could help each other get through this... which is exactly what shannon was begging eddie for in eddie begins.

this scene was so masterfully written..... i feel insane

[cryptidiaz]

eddie trying to find the perfect, sexy yet nonchalant, pose to be waiting for buck in their gay house after he tricked him into thinking he was leaving

[cryptidiaz]

where they belong💕

[cryptidiaz]

INT. EDDIE'S KITCHEN. DAY. buck putting away the groceries. enter eddie. immediate tension. 'said i was gonna get the groceries' annoyed. his annoyance irritates buck. 'it's fine' <- said every person WAITING for the fight they know is gonna happen ever. more tension. buck crosses the kitchen. waits. looks at eddie. WANTS eddie to tell him. can't wait any longer. brings up the el paso job. 'congratulations' in the tone of someone who would like to spit in eddie's coffee. 'who told you?' avoiding the elephant. buck's little speech breaking down that he's the last person to know, which is ofc his actual gripe. eddie on the defensive. 'i was gonna tell you' 'but you didn't did you?' which cracks open buck's can of worms, his loneliness in the wake of losing bobby, the way he feels so disconnected from the team, his family, and eddie is reinforcing it by keeping distance between them. especially awesome for mr. abandonment issues. buck trying sooo hard to be okay and be there for everyone turning him into someone his family doesn't feel like they can connect with. oh the traps we set for ourselves. 'can you blame us? look how you're acting now' eddie's defense game is so good. bc he's not wrong about buck even if he's wrong in this moment about buck. some of the most banger lines ever drop 'you make it all about you - the trials and tribulations of evan buckley! a tragedy, in 97 acts!' <- insane thing to say to your also grieving friend, completely understandable considering eddie is drowning in guilt and all he wants is his best friend to pull him out except buck is also drowning next to him. 'sorry i'm sad that bobby's dead' SHOULDER GRAB. the nerve hit. bc part of eddie's grief is that he feels like he can't feel it, that he doesn't have a right, because he wasn't there. buck is sad the way eddie wants to be sad but the guilt chokes everything. of course buck knows eddie loves bobby. of course. but he doesn't See It until 'you never asked what it was like' buck feels alone but eddie Was alone. when bobby died. ("died") well and then. buck says 'i'm sorry...i know he was important to you to' and the mask slips. eddie fights not to completely break down bc that's literally all he's been trying to get out of buck the whole time but now that he has it it's too much. and then the most delicious of all willful misinterpretations. eddie's guilt over not being there locking horns with buck's guilt over being there and not being able to stop it. 'you don't think i did everything i could to save him?' 'i don't know buck. i wasn't there.' awesome. showstopping. eddie is so mad at himself and he takes it out on buck. buck is so sensitive he takes everything as a slight, which in this case even if it wasn't at first, it's definitely twisting the knife at the end. all because they love each other so much that they want the other person, more than anything, to reach inside and make the pain go away but they. can't. bc bobby's dead (well. "dead") except then eddie does, a little bit. bc he brings chris home. brings pepa, to their home. he brings the family buck needed back to their home. that's what they both needed the whole time. fade to black...

[cryptidiaz]

Eddie Diaz: The Sip Saga

[cryptidiaz]

the reverse eddieshannon fake out was incredible. like we were led to believe that eddie ran because it got too hard. eddie has said himself that reenlisting in afghanistan was him running from shannon. and then she ran from him. it was a cycle they both got caught up in, and then their marriage failed. shannon yelled at him. she didn't need a provider, she needed a partner.

this time, things got hard too. eddie pointed his finger in buck's face and he yelled and he was so so so angry. but instead of running, he brought his son home because he knew buck needed chris. he was able to push through everything else to be the partner buck needed. because buck was feeling isolated and like he was lacking connection, so eddie brought him family. family who may not be biologically related to buck, but who accepted him in their diaz ranks a long long time ago.

eddie broke the cycle. instead of doing the same things that destroyed his relationship with shannon, he took a step back and realized what buck needed. what they both needed. their family, in tact and together again. and so eddie made it happen.... eddie's first. and his last.

[cryptidiaz]

no dna test needed buck buckley you ARE the mother