bucksdaffy

[bucksdaffy]

what i find particularly interesting about the flashback from the last episode is not only that they didn’t have to have tommy save bobby. if you think about it, they didn’t need anyone to save him at all. they could have had the floor collapse before bobby even stepped into that room. hell, they could have even set this flashback in season 1, when buck was still a probie. bobby was still deeply consumed by guilt at that point, so it would have made perfect sense. you see, if they didn’t want tommy to be that connected to the 118, they had plenty of other ways to go about the situation. i think it’s definitely interesting that they chose this specific scenario.

[bucksdaffy]

unfortunately, i do believe the car scene is gone gone, and we'll never get to see it, and precisely because of that, nothing and no one can stop me from believing this is how it unfolded: they got into the car, buck looked over at tommy to say or ask something, but sadly didn't get the chance, because tommy suddenly leaned in and placed a gentle, loving kiss on buck's lips, showing just how little he cared about the boils on buck's face and leaving buck so pathetically giddy and happy you'd start to wonder if he's actually a 15-year-old girl trapped in a grown man's body :)

[bucksdaffy]

this is just me speculating, so don’t take it too seriously, but with the way 8x06 unfolded, i truly think the original plan was for buck to try moving on from tommy by dating—unsuccessfully—at least one woman and one man, and then, by the end of the season, he’d meet tommy again and realize he doesn’t want to explore things with anyone else anymore, because he already knows what he wants and it's tommy. (yes, i still think a long-term relationship for bucktommy was the original plan. sue me.)

but then we happened, and the massive feedback came in, with many people pushing back on the idea that someone has to “prove” their bisexuality through enough experience. so they backed out of that arc, leading to a sort of rewrite in 8x11, making the breakup less about buck���s inexperience and more about tommy’s insecurity. (which, if true, was a good call, in my opinion, even if i'm not a huge fan of how they went about it. i do consider it a win for bisexuals, though, so i can't really complain.)

[bucksdaffy]

oh my god, we're so fucking back

[bucksdaffy]

bucktommy proposal with the words "will you be my last?"

[bucksdaffy]

listen, maybe i'm just delusional. maybe i'm too optimistic for my own good. but i don't really care at the moment because i truly feel like tommy is meant to be it for buck.

like i find it so hard to believe tim and co would create such a compelling love interest for buck, someone so deeply interwoven into the fabric of this show, only to decide that buck actually needs someone else. and i find it especially hard to believe considering how they framed the breakup.

"i love you so much it scares me. because why on earth would you choose me? there are so many people better for you, and maybe you don't see it yet, but when you get to know the real me you'll know. and you'll run."

and after letting buck mope for a while, they'll push him to start dating again. they'll put him out there, and through trial and error, he'll figure himself out–but no one will compare to tommy. and when they finally bring them back together, hopefully in a life-or-death situation, they'll make buck prove tommy wrong.

he'll tell him that actually no–i've spent some time away from you, and all it's done is make me realize how much i want you by my side. i'm bisexual. kinsey scale 2. i'm generally more attracted to women, but since meeting you, i can't imagine ending up with one. because you are the only one that i want. and yes, you were my first, but i'm confident that we can make this work. you may not be my in-between, but i'm certain you are my last. please don't give up on us before we even try.

and tommy will take the chance. because they've shown already that tommy truly does love buck–boils and all. he's seen him at his worst, and he was still willing to choose him. he'll take it because he'll realize that buck might truly love him too. he'll see that while buck admires him, he also sees him for who he really is. he knows about his not-so-perfect past, but it doesn't matter, because the tommy he is now is not the tommy he once was. he knows he's not perfect, and that's okay, because buck isn't looking for perfection–he's looking for something real. and tommy checks all his boxes.

you see the potential, right? you can't tell me tim and co didn't strike gold with tommy as a love interest for buck, and you can't tell me they aren't aware of it. the choices they have made so far feel too deliberate to be coincidental. and i just find it so hard to believe they would throw it all away just like that. you don't throw it all away just like that. you'd have to be really fucking stupid to consciously get rid of such a compelling story.

[bucksdaffy]

today, i'm thinking about buck's "is that really love? shouldn't it be when you're at your worst, they're at their worst, you have every reason to give up, and you still decide you want to try again?" and how, even after learning about tommy's past with abby, which ultimately shattered buck's idealized image of him, he could still very easily imagine a future with tommy and even admitted it before josh managed to talk some sense into him...

[bucksdaffy]

you know what's tearing me up inside every time i think about it?

the way tommy is meant to parallel abby as buck's "first" big love.

and yet there is such a clear difference between him and abby (aside from gender, obviously).

because abby had never entertained the idea that her relationship with buck was or could be something more than just her having fun.

and i think it's pretty clear even in their first goodbye scene. she knew she probably wouldn't come back, not to him, and she tried to set him free.

and it's just as evident in the subsequent episodes, where she eventually started ghosting buck.

tommy, on the other hand, admitted to wanting a future with buck. he wishes buck was his last.

yeah, when he breaks up with him, he sets him free just like abby did.

but we know that even after the breakup, he's yearning. he's fucking yearning, you guys... he wants to reach out to buck just as much as buck wants to reach out to him. he doesn't think he can, so he doesn't, but his relationship with buck was clearly never for the fun of it for him.

and what's tearing me up inside is not the fact that it's framed in such a way because, GOD, this could be so delicious if executed properly.

it's the almost certain possibility that i'm simply reading too much into it. and that i'm setting myself up for disappointment, secretly hoping for something that most likely will never happen, and if it does, then not in the way i expect it to.

the tragedy of having a good story potential in the wrong hands.

[bucksdaffy]

i don't have much hope for this episode or the next. but, by god, tim minear, let buck and tommy find their way back to each other one day, i beg of you.

[bucksdaffy]

i appreciate all of you for removing the boils from buck's face in those screencaps. does anyone have the time and courage to remove them from actual videos, though?

[bucksdaffy]

@bucksdaffy

DING DONG! Let me in... someone ordered a special surprise for you...

You've been TRICKED! 😈

Call 9-1-1! Someone left a Flaming Pumpkin on your doorstep! (It's made of candy!)

We hope you enjoyed your spooky surprise! Happy Halloween!

[bucksdaffy]

hang it in the louvre!

[bucksdaffy]

tim minear, please let me into the writers' room, i beg; i can work for free!

[bucksdaffy]

the way the entire bucktommy nation has set their hopes so low now after missing out on tommy in the opening disaster 😭

[bucksdaffy]

tommy really doesn't like halloween. any reason? well, plenty, actually.

first, the spooky theme just isn’t for him. horror movies? no, thanks. his day-to-day life is already stressful enough—he doesn’t need to add fake scares to the mix. when tommy sits down to watch something, he wants to relax, to get lost in a good story, not be on edge. why would anyone choose to make themselves anxious for fun?

second, people act really fucking reckless on halloween. the streets are full of kids pulling pranks, and half the time, it feels like common sense goes out the window. that means tommy and his team get stuck responding to ridiculous emergency calls all night. it’s just unnecessary chaos.

third, the whole dress-up thing. finding a costume is a hassle, and once you’re in it, you’re stuck sweating all night. and for what? to pretend to be something you’re not? tommy’s spent enough of his life pretending—he doesn’t see the appeal in doing it for fun.

fourth, halloween has always been tied to painful memories for him. it’s a bit embarrassing, but when he was little, his mom told him a terrifying story, trying to appease his insistence that he was brave enough to handle something scary. it backfired spectacularly, leaving him with nightmares that still haunt him as an adult.

but the worst part? halloween was his father’s favorite holiday, and when his dad celebrated, the entire household paid the price. tommy can still hear his mother’s screams and feel the bruises forming under his father’s fists. to him, halloween wasn’t just spooky—it was a time of danger and fear.

so, yeah, tommy hates halloween. if he could, he’d lock himself inside and wait for the madness to pass. unfortunately, his shifts often fall on halloween, forcing him into the chaos, so he can't always avoid it. but this year, he got lucky. his plan? stay home, avoid everyone, and spend the night alone.

that’s why, when buck invites him over for a halloween movie night, tommy hesitates. buck loves halloween just like everyone else, doesn’t he? tommy’s not sure he can handle that. but still, he agrees. after all, it’s evan—maybe it won’t be so bad.

but when tommy arrives, he’s immediately overwhelmed. buck’s apartment is decked out in halloween decorations, and the stack of horror movies buck’s excitedly prepared feels like way too much. tommy’s stomach churns. he tries to push through it because he really, really likes evan, but the longer he sits there, the more agitated he becomes. the decorations, the movies, the memories—they all weigh heavily on him. he can’t focus on buck; his mind is racing. he fidgets, feeling more trapped by the second.

buck notices and asks what’s wrong, but tommy is too overwhelmed to explain. instead, he resorts to passive-aggressive comments, hoping to deflect. but when buck presses for more, tommy finally snaps. he blurts out in frustration that he really doesn’t like halloween and doesn’t even know why he showed up; he should have told buck that before accepting the invite. without elaborating, he stands up, apologizes, and leaves. tommy knows he’s being selfish, but at that moment, he just can’t handle it.

buck is left confused and hurt, not just because tommy left so suddenly, but because he didn’t say anything sooner. tommy clearly had a bad time, but instead of talking about it, he shut down. buck doesn’t know whether to give tommy space or reach out, but he knows one thing for sure: he wants this relationship to work.

after talking it over with maddie and josh, buck realizes that he needs to let tommy know he’s not going anywhere. tommy doesn’t have to open up if he’s not ready, but he can’t keep shutting buck out.

so buck shows up at tommy’s door. he apologizes, but more importantly, he asks tommy not to give up on their relationship just yet. he tells tommy he’s here for the long haul, that he wants to be there for him, even if tommy’s not ready to talk about what’s bothering him.

and tommy’s eyes well up, and he pulls buck into a tight hug, not wanting to let go. after a few moments, he opens up a little, mentioning how his childhood and halloween are deeply intertwined with bad memories. buck’s heart breaks for him, but he holds tommy closer, pressing gentle kisses to his head.

buck promises that from now on, they’ll celebrate halloween their way—no horror, no stress. just the two of them, baking tommy’s favorite cake, watching romcoms or silly animated movies, creating new memories that have nothing to do with fear.

and tommy doesn’t realize it just yet, but maybe halloween won’t be so bad anymore. in fact, with buck by his side, it might even be something he can actually look forward to.

[bucksdaffy]

okay, so tim did mention in another interview that it was tommy who did the water drop.

"So I went to the next logical place, which was Tommy. It's even mentioned in [the season 2 episode] Broken that he's the one who does the water drop. We don't see him on screen, but it's Chimney who calls him." (x.)

i'm super glad that's been cleared up, though i'm still not entirely sold on him actually flying the plane. i've heard there could be quite a few people onboard during such maneuvers. the pilot only operates the plane, while another crew member handles the water drop. which one was tommy?

tommy can fly planes — tim confirmed it was him flying the air tanker in s2. the issue is more that the story they are trying to tell does not involve tommy in this way

i saw the quote, and while i get why people say it's him confirming that tommy flew the plane, i think there's still room for interpretation.

"We established that Tommy had moved to some air service unit in the fire department, so you never actually saw [Lou Ferrigno Jr.] in that episode, but it’s Tommy that he calls." (x.)

nowhere does he explicitly say that tommy was the one who flew the plane—just that he was the one chimney called. but i'm also not a native english speaker, so maybe i'm missing some nuance. unless you're referring to a different quote?

i mean, you're most likely correct, and i'm like 75% sure this is what tim meant. but i'm going to need him to say it more explicitly to fully believe it. might be a silly logic, but that's how i operate. but you're free to believe anything you want.

[bucksdaffy]

honestly, from a character complexity standpoint, i'd love to get behind oliver's theory that buck wasn't trying to save gerrard's life and just happened to get lucky. it would make for such an interesting character arc.

but there's one detail from that scene that makes me believe the opposite is true—that he really did try to save his life in the end—and it's the fact that buck went down with him. if he only wanted to hurt him, he could have just pushed him "out of harm's way", but instead, he grabbed him and fell with him, risking his own life in the process. that saw could have easily hit them both. why would anyone who wanted to hurt someone risk their own life doing so? sure, there are plenty of cases like that, but the circumstances are usually rather different. if his first instinct was to risk his life, i think there's a strong chance he didn't actually want to hurt him. or maybe he did, since he admitted he wanted to punch him, but yeah, he definitely didn't want to use a flying saw to do that, lol.