#chris and eddie

[pineapplehazard]

It.

[saveahorserideaneddie]

DISCLAIMER: i have not watched the full episode yet because i was not home (i’ll be watching tomorrow and might live post i might not it just depends lol) but i do wanna say this about eddie confronting helena (spoilers ahead)

while it would have been satisfying to see eddie screaming at helena, i think him just plainly spelling it out for her is so much more poetic and shows just how much he’s grown as a father and as a character

in earlier interactions with his parents where he is either attempting to stand up for himself or tell them off for something, eddie gets very defensive and argumentative- it’s a trait that a lot of us who grew up in any kind of abusive household, both emotional or physical, tend to develop, and eddie is the poster child for defensive reactions rather than standing firm. we’ve seen this in so many other situations where he’s immediately jumped into the fight willing just for the chance go get a jab at the other- he did it with shannon, with his parents, with buck, with bobby… he constantly is throwing himself into the fight, adding fuel to the flame rather than standing firm on his feet, remaining steadfast in whatever situation he found himself in.

that’s not what he did here.

here, he stood his ground and didn’t become accusatory or defensive in his confrontation with helena- he brushed off her attempts at tearing him down rather than reacting to them, something he has not been known to do before. it shows a level of emotional maturity and control that we have not seen from him before, because usually his defensive reaction stems from an inner voice telling him that whoever he’s arguing with is right- that he is a bad father, that chris is better off without him- he truly believed these things about himself, and as a trauma response, he would escalate things.

it wasn’t until buck and christopher (mainly christopher as his son because right now that’s what he needs to hear the most) sat him down and told him what a great dad he is that he actually started to believe it

and in that moment of helena attempting to drag him down again, he instead stood tall, took her words in stride, and calmly told her she was wrong- even explaining how she was wrong. he didn’t let her words get to him and rile him up. he remained stable- which is what helena has been shouting at him for years: “chris needs stability”

and finally, eddie has that stability and has shown that he has that stability and that strength to finally say “no- i am a good dad! a damn good one too. chris doesn’t need you because now i know i have everything he needs and i now trust that i have everything he needs.”

and that to me is all the more poetic and satisfying because it means helena has no room to try and twist it back on him this time- he’s taken all of her cards, and left her with nothing else to play.

(also- i think him not screaming at his parents in front of chris is also a great tool to showcase just how different he is from them, especially since we know ramon was always harsh and angry with him as a child; he refuses to let chris ever see that side of him because he doesn’t want to be a copy of his dad)

anyway like i said, im just going off the gifs and clips ive seen, as well as other people’s posts, but i was actually very very happy with how they handled that confrontation. ik i complain about the writers a lot, and i do think if they had dedicated the whole episode to eddie (even though i would have hated missing out on a rare henisode) they would have been able to explore a lot more without stretching this arc out even more which is just going to lead to them not having enough time to fully flesh out the whole arc by the end of the season- which means we’re either faced with this arc continuing into 9a (which… so unnecessary) or it gets rushed and then we’re left with another half-assed conclusion to an eddie arc (but then tim wouldn’t have been able to force another one of his fusion fics into the season so 🙄)

[boasamishipper]

unpopular opinion but i think a ship that's not canon but both halves are canonically insane about each other is infinitely better than a ship that's canon and boring

[colmiillo]

I'm not just a bitch, I'm a bitch with a backstory

[babymangosworld]

Me when y/n is acting like a little fucking child for male validation

[hoechlinth]

eddie for literal months: I can’t ask chris to come home, I deserve to stew in my misery.

eddie the literal second he makes buck sad: chris you have to come back home rn, buck is sad.

[coccag]

It definitely wasn’t an accident.

I haven’t recovered yet from 8x11. What an episode…

[that-one-fangirl69]

you ever read a fic so good you just gotta sit there and contemplate your entire existence and everything you’ve ever read before?

[mid-knight-black]

This scene was like straight out of a fanfic 😭😭😭

[pineapplehazard]

Chris realizing in Texas that his grandparents always talk about his love life with gendered terms

"do you have a girlfriend back in LA?"

"you could meet some nice girl at pool club"

etc

And one night he remembers his talk with his dad, who used neutral terms "someone" "they'll love you"

And from that point he hates everytime his grandparents mention his love life, up until the point he explodes and tell them why he hates it

"It feels like you're not giving me a choice! Either I can like a girl or I'm not liking anyone!"

"But you like girls!"

"Yes Christopher, you do like girls, you've told us you do! What are we even talking about right now"

"I mean I yes I do but if I could like boys too or only boys"

"Are you trying to tell us something son?"

"Yes! B-but not THAT! (and don't come me son!!)"

"You've lost me Christopher, if you're not gay what is this all about"

"I- I wouldn't feel confortable telling you if I liked boys"

____

Then later Adriana comes by, and since Chris is still mad at his grandparents, she goes to speak with him

But when they talk she doesn't seem to realize what he's mad about either at first, not until he explains that his dad was always careful to make sure he knew it was okay to love anyone

"oh... Sorry I didn't.. I didn't get it at first because that's just how we grew up but you're right, Eddie is right, it's good that he always gave you that safety"

"so you never had it when you were young?"

"hm well, I didn't feel unsafe, of course! And I'm sure Adriana and your dad never felt unsafe either! But yeah no, I'd doubt if l had have a sexuality crisis, I would have felt like I could confide in them... I would probably have told Edmundo though. Because when he loves you, he loves you forever ad no matter what, you know? "

"...yeah I know"

____

Then Chris starts wondering how different exactly have his and his dad's childhoods been.

On a TOTALLY UNRELATED note, he starts sending texts to Buck

Chris : did you only realized you liked men recently because you grew up with people not giving you another choice than liking women?

Buck : oh wow

Buck : i mean, it depends who you call people? are we talking specific or just like ✨society✨? because I never really had problem of feeling like my family wouldn't accept me, my parents bc i didn't think they cared about me enough to be bothered by who i'd date, and Maddie bc she loves me no matter whats. but sex ed was mostly about how not to get a girl pregnant, and in middle school 'gay' was still used as an insult so maybe that played a role subconsciously?

Buck : but honestly I just didn't realize that what I felt towards some men was the same attraction I've felt for women

Buck : can I ask why you're asking?

Chris : just like that dw

Buck : you know your dad will always love you and be there for you?

Chris : i know

Buck : and me too! I'll always be proud of you

Chris : i'm not trying to come out buck

Buck : ok!!

Buck : but if you did it wouldn't change a thing

Chris : i know i know

Chris : thanks

____

And maybe after that, Chris starts wondering if his dad would've been confortable to be queer growing up the way he did. And when the answer is an obvious no, maybe Chris starts thinking about how his dad used to keep it all in when he was sad about Mom, and if maybe he also kept it all in when he was young and sad about not being accepted

[saveahorserideaneddie]

whatever you do don’t imagine eddie and chris’s first halloween in texas without shannon and them dressing up as curious george and the man in the yellow hat

[chronicowboy]

[stolenkissesdiaz]

i hope buck, eddie and shannon are haunting helena through chris rn. i hope when chris rolls his eyes and snarks back helena freezes reminding her damn well who his father is. i hope when chris bites the inside of cheek and is suddenly really interested in his hands when he’s nervous about something helena scrunches her eyebrows in confusion bc she swears she’s seen it before and her eyes widen as she recalls eddie’s friend, the same friend who was there when they picked up chris, having the same mannerisms when eddie and his team came to texas. i hope when chris asks for the ice cream from the store 45 minutes from their house near the park and he picks rocky road helena swallows roughly bc shannon would do the same when she missed eddie and/or was sad. i hope she’s violently reminded no matter how much she pretends, that child will never be hers in the way she’s so desperately been trying to make it be for years. i hope she’s reminded of her damn place in chris’ life.

[colmiillo]

When y/n does something so cringe that i have to look at the invisible camera for a sec.

[sadgayeddie]

Buck... There's nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you.

[azertyrobaz]

"Wait, "Wild Wild West" has its own line dance?"