somebodycall911onabc

[somebodycall911onabc]

tv writers really have done such damage to my reading comprehension bc I’ll be like “all the subtext and foreshadowing and obvious clues point to THIS” and then the writers will be like “ha ha I’m doing something completely different and also very stupid” Tim Minear don’t you know there is a reading crisis in this country

[somebodycall911onabc]

[somebodycall911onabc]

Something something Eddie telling Buck “this doesn’t change a thing between us” when he came out vs Pepa telling Buck “I didn’t get here by pretending that things hadn’t changed, I got here by embracing that they had”

[somebodycall911onabc]

the groceries detail of the kitchen fight has captivated me....obviously buck's storyline this episode introduced via a flashback of a classic 118 bobby meal (which then cuts to Buck alone at the table). buck also brings it up verbally to father brian as a sign that things aren't right (we don't even eat together).

THEN at home with Eddie we find out he's gone out and bought groceries when Eddie said he would do it. to me this detail hints at buck going into self-protective mode. we find out shortly after that he's JUST found out from ravi that eddie got the call from el paso fd. he's already told father brian he feels like everyone is spiraling away from him and here, it seems to him, is concrete proof--eddie is going to be going back to el paso. in that context, buck going to get the groceries is him "proving" that he doesn't need eddie. he's not going to rely on eddie to get the groceries (even though he said he would) because eddie's just going to be gone soon anyway. better to just do it himself rather than let eddie do anything for him.

then of course the storyline resolving with Pepa cooking dinner for Chris, Buck, and Eddie. it's a small thing, but to buck it's a symbol of everything that's wrong since bobby's death, and eddie, somehow, gives buck the one thing he's been yearning for since the beginning of the episode--a real family meal, complete with chris. it's eddie showing buck that he CAN rely on him, that eddie's not going to just leave buck alone in his grief, that he is going to be there to take care of him. and the craziest part is that eddie doesn't even know about the lack of family meals at the 118. he just knows BUCK and knows how much he values stuff like that--time spent with the people he loves. cooking with bobby and feeding his loved ones. and he found a way to give that to him

[somebodycall911onabc]

I do think we would have a lot less people fundamentally misunderstanding buck’s character if they just stopped projecting their own hurt and insecurity onto him. Like I’m sorry to tell you this but buck buckley hasn’t held onto the “you’re exhausting” comment with bloody fists for the past 5 years waiting for a moment to bring it up or still feeling the sting of that perceived “rejection”, because he had enough emotional awareness to realise that it wasn’t about him at all and instead about the insurmountable grief eddie was feeling after watching his wife die and almost losing his son to a tsunami.

buck and eddie have built a relationship on a foundation of trust and understanding. by being raw and honest and imperfect with each other. and we as an audience have watched that play out on our screens across multiple years. some people are just choosing not to pay attention.

[somebodycall911onabc]

need a buddie almost kiss in 8x18 that leads to a conversation in 9x01 with buck talking to maddie and eddie talking to henren. and the conversation is going back and forth between the two scenes like “i mean, he just—eddie almost—“ “kissed me! and i don’t know what to do about it you know because i didn’t even know—“ “he liked men. much less me, and i didn’t even know i—“ “like him. so much y’know? i feel like i’m a kid with a crush again, i feel like—“ “i’m losing my MIND, maddie. because we almost kissed MONTHS ago and—“ “nothing’s changed, karen, that’s the weird part. it’s like neither of us—“ “know how to admit that it happened. and he’s driving me crazy. i—“ “think he could be it for me, you know? i—“ “think this could be it for me, mads. and it—“ “scares the shit out of me.” do you guys see the vision. and then before they can talk to each other the emergency happens :D

[somebodycall911onabc]

Oliver and Ryan’s full segment on Spilling the Etea ✨

[somebodycall911onabc]

4.8 x 8.17

[somebodycall911onabc]

at the end of the day, it just comes down to the fact that buck and eddie have not been portrayed as "just friends" in a long long time on this show.

like. could you imagine hen surprising chim and apologizing to him for a fight they had, by bringing denny over? could you see athena and hen fight the way the fight between buck and eddie was shown? do you think that if maddie were to move to another state, linda would ask her when or how she would tell josh? exactly.

[somebodycall911onabc]

okay so what I think is SO interesting and honestly incredible about the writing and cinematography of the kitchen scene is the fact that it manages to turn buck and eddie's entire relationship on its head in both a meta sense and a story sense in the space of just a few minutes. because yes they have had other partners off and on until recently, but "husband" is the space that buck and eddie usually inhabit for each other. and I mean this in an in universe way but also in a meta way, like they are each other's confidantes and support system, yes, but they are also 100% written as the fourth married couple on the show and always have been even in the past when they had other partners. they have always been given equal weight as the other main couples on the show.

so in a meta sense, yes they've always been written with the tropes of a couple for storyline purposes etc because they're usually paired off together. but this is THE first time that they have ever been so explicitly written as spouses, and it's done in conflict. they are in their shared home with their shared grocery shopping and having a fight that has the energy of a married couple teetering on the brink of divorce. the scene feels like something out of Marriage Story dropped into the middle of an episode of network procedural television. it is lit and shot in a way that has only been used twice before on this show, both times for previous breakups that buck and eddie have separately had in that same set. and it is SO raw and intense and close, like you can feel them clinging to each other and pushing each other away at the same time.

and then also like. in a story sense it is twisting this idea as well because they're fighting about a lot of different things (grief, loss, miscommunication, desire, shared anger, longing) but the thing that is sparking the fight in the moment or at least tipping it over the edge is the fact that buck is trying so hard to be what everyone needs at once. he's trying to be there for EVERYONE and trying so hard not to leave anyone out in the cold in their grief because that's what bobby told him to do (in his mind). and while buck is doing all of this and also processing his own enormous grief, he is missing the fact that what Eddie needs right now is not the same as what everyone else needs from him. everyone else has their families and their partners and their private grief, but what Eddie needs in all of this is for buck to fill the emotional role that he usually fills, which is – for all intents and purposes – his husband. and this is sort of the first tacit acknowledgement that what they are to each other and what they need from each other is something different than what they are to the other people in their lives.

[somebodycall911onabc]

THEY ASKED OLIVER ABOUT THE WANNA GO FOR THE TITLE SCENE AND HE SAID IT WAS GAY ASKDHSSHS

[somebodycall911onabc]

there's something really important in the way buck grieves in 8x16 that feels like it's being misunderstood. i keep seeing people say he was emotionless--that oliver himself gave us nothing--but i think that silence was the performance; that was the choice-- one made as protection.

last episode, we saw him collapse--on the ground wailing, can't hold himself up, can't draw a breath that doesn't feel like it's tearing him up inside. that was raw, unfiltered. that was what happens when the grief and disbelief hit before he had time to build the walls we see in this episode.

beyond an i love you, bobby's last words to buck were that the team was going to need him. and bobby's words have always carried a significant weight for buck, but these being the last? they clearly landed like a mission. a burden. a plea.

so what we get in 8x16 isn't a lack of emotion--its a man white-knuckling his way through unbearable loss because that's what he thinks he has to do in order to live up to what bobby asked of him. it's buck burying his own grief so deep he won't accidentally spill it on the people around him. it's him becoming that steady presence-- the one bobby said they need--even if it means locking away every part of himself. all the too-sharp edges of his own feelings, all the things he knows might take him under again.

because if he lets go for even a second? i truly think he worries he'll end up back on the ground again: helpless unable to fix or do anything.

oliver didn't give us 'nothing'. he gave us stillness. he gave us restraint. he's carefully calibrated, holding his breath, his posture, holding himself--because he knows if he slips, he might not come back from it. he's holding grief in his throat like it might choke him if he swallows wrong. he's trying to be what the team needs while neglecting what he needs. and it's devastating.

and it's all there if you look at him: the way buck's jaw clenches at times; minute changes to his expression before he smooths it over into careful neutrality; the way his every word feels deliberate and weighted, like he's rolled all them around in his mouth first before he speaks. nothing is effortless, everything is held.

it was heartbreaking to see. and i cant imagine how much more heartbreaking it will be when he finally breaks and lets go.

[somebodycall911onabc]

hen really said yes well unfortunately i need to turn down this promotion bc i love sex with my wife

[somebodycall911onabc]

mara ADOPTED madney BABY chris HOME eddie GAY buck IN LOVE hen CAPTAIN bobby ALIVE

[somebodycall911onabc]

Buck in green during his coma dream because it was not real 🤝 Buck in green the day of Bobby's funeral because it's not Bobby's real funeral because Bobby's not dead!!

[somebodycall911onabc]

I’ve figured it out - thank you synopsis!

Chimney and Athena have to work together to save a familiar face - Bobby - who is alive and hidden away. So chimney and Athena are gonna save him. Cart cop and the laundry is the key - it’s all a set up - cart cop is representing Chim and the angry people in the apartment buildings laundry are Athena - the missing thong is Bobby (911 is a comedy!) Cart cop figured out what had happened to the thong and went back into the laundry to explain where it is - that it’s not stolen (dead) but has gotten trapped in the machine (the military) and so Chim is gonna figure out the Bobby trapped in a military facility of it all and then him and Athena are gonna go and get him back (once they’ve rescued cart cop guy).

Even cart cop putting laundry into the lost and found is a play on Bobby being lost and then found again!

911 really does love a metaphor!

[somebodycall911onabc]

how quickly after the fight do you think Eddie was on his phone, texting Chris, getting flights booked. He really went "fuck, this requires a grand gesture" probably texted Chris "heeeeeey, dad fucked up lol, could use your help. how soon can you get to an airport?"