#eddie and shannon

[simplylupin]

Vertigo and Eddie Diaz

because the connection has been made between eddie's current arc and hitchcock's vertigo, i thought i'd give my two cents on the topic as a mediocre film student whose had to study vertigo for two years of her life

so here's a basic (very over-simplified) summary of vertigo for those who are unfamiliar

The protagonist, Scottie, is a policeman who took a break/was discharged/retired because he couldn't save a fellow police officer from falling off a building to his death

Because of this he suffers from vertigo and/or fear of heights

He's hired by his old friend Gavin to follow Gavin's wife, Madeline, for fear that she's been possessed by someone called Carlotta Valdez

He does so, and slowly falls in love with Madeline - and her him

We also learn that Scottie's best friend Midge is in love with him, but he's too obsessed with Madeline to notice Midge

Him and Madeline go to a church bell tower where Madeline seemingly offs herself by jumping off

Some time later, Scottie goes to Madeline's old hotel room, and finds a woman called Judy who looks exactly like Madeline

She agrees to go on a date with him

We, the audience, find out that Judy actually is Madeline (and vise versa). She was hired by Gavin to pretend to be Madeline.

Scottie grows more and more obsessed, forcing Judy to change her appearance to look like Madeline

He makes the connection that Madeline and Judy are the same person, and drives her to the bell tower

He forces her up the tower, over coming his fear of heights

Once at the top, they have a confrontation

A nun appears, scaring Judy and she once more falls to her death (really this time)

So, from what I've gathered, the loose connection between characters is:

Scottie = Eddie

Madeline = Shannon

Midge = Buck

Judy = Kim

The Nun = Marisol

Scottie's unable to save his fellow police officer. Eddie was unable to 'save' the people he pulled out the helicopter: "I pulled them out. But I didn't save them." Because of this he suffers from immense guilt and PTSD (as seen in his season 5 arc). He's unable to move on and this hinders him to a certain extent - just like Scottie.

After Shannon's death, he's thrown through the loop again, with the added bonus of him not having been able to save her too. Scottie's job was to save Madeline, and he failed at that, resulting in her 'death'.

Eddie is constantly trying to find a woman to fill that role of Shannon in his and Christopher's life; we see this with both Ana and now Marisol. He's looking for her in them. Scottie does the same - he visits the places he went with Madeline, he goes to her old room.

Eddie finds Kim, Scottie finds Judy.

For a little while, Judy helps Scottie get over and get closure on Madeline. She fills that empty space and allows him to move on. This is what I think Kim is going to do for Eddie.

She looks so much like Shannon but she simply isn't her. We know in later episodes that Buck is going to meet her and proclaim that she's "nothing like Shannon." There's a clear distinction there - Eddie is only seeing Shannon in her because he wants to, because he's still holding onto that idea. I think Kim is going to be the closing point of this ongoing search for Shannon's 'replacement'; someone who looks exactly like Shannon should be perfect, right? But when she too doesn't 'fill' that role that surely must spark some sort of realisation in Eddie, because if not her then who.

For Scottie, he feels betrayed by Judy. He brings her to the last place he saw Madeline, and ultimately, indirectly, causes her death. Obviously I don't believe Kim is actually going to die, but more the idea of her. She's the final chapter of him pursuing Shannon's ghost.

Midge is Scottie's best friend. They met in college and were engaged for a few weeks before breaking up. They spend a lot of time together, staying at each other's houses and going out. She helps Scottie through his vertigo and acrophobia, and tries to 'bring him back' in his grief. At one point, Midge paints her face onto a painting of Carlotta Valdez, showing that she's there and ready for Scottie's love, if he's willing to give it to her.

I believe, in this scenario, Buck takes on her role (for seemingly obvious reasons). Him and Eddie are best friends, they do so much together, he helps Eddie when he's struggling etc etc. Midge is the idea of the 'other woman', someone who is right in front of Scottie's eyes, someone whose always been there for him. However, Scottie is too obsessed and fixated on Madeline that he can't see this and continually brushes it away. You see where I'm going here...

Although Buck potentially doesn't even realize it himself, he has taken on Shannon's role in the Diaz family for years. Eddie already has the 'replacement' for Shannon that he's so desperately been searching for right in front of his eyes.

In Vertigo, Judy and Madeline are the same person, whereas Shannon and Kim are obviously not. However, the comparison still stands.

Scottie meets Judy and immedietely latches onto her because she looks so much like Madeline (duh) and he is so desperate for anything that'll keep Madeline's memory with him. He makes her undergo a series of phsyical changes (dyeing her hair, changing her wardrobe, her style etc etc) so that she appears more like Madeline - so he can get that closure and pretend.

Eddie clearly isn't going to do this to Kim. However, whatever way you spin it, he is projecting Shannon onto her. He saw her, and thought of Shannon, he pursued her because of that, he's doing all this because of Shannon. He is chasing that closure and that moment were he can be like 'Ah. I've finally found someone who can be Shannon for me and Chris.'

I doubt Kim is going to be around particularly long. As much as it sounds diminishing, she really is just a tool for Eddie to have this realization that nobody can replace Shannon, and that that's okay. He doesn't need to find Shannon 2.0.

Now, in Vertigo, when Scottie and Judy are arguing on the bell tower, a nun appears from the shadows and startles them - causing Judy to fall to her death. It's a very abrupt and out of nowhere.

The character of the nun, I think could represent either one of two things. Marisol, as we know, used to be a nun (i'm still not over this btw). That's a pretty straight-forward, clear cut comparison. The nun causes Judy to die, Marisol causes 'Shannon', and the idea of Shannon, to 'die'. This interpretation leans more heavily on Marisol and Eddie staying together, however, so I'm not sure.

The nun could also just represent religion as a whole, and Eddie's Catholic guilt particularly. Eddie tells Bobby that he only really married Shannon because he felt like he had to, he felt pressured into it because of his religious guilt. Despite this, "There was still a part of me that loved being married to her."

There's no doubt in my mind that Eddie loved Shannon. He did, they loved each other, and he still does love her - he always will. I do think that the choice of focussing on his marriage to her and how he "loved being married to her" is interesting though, he doesn't try to clarify that he was in love with her. This could just be because it's a given orrr

Whatever, not really the point.

The point is, the fact he's now "awakened" his Catholic guilt by finding out Marisol was a nun, must mean something for his upcoming arc. In Vertigo, the nun kills Judy. Here, his religious guilt 'kills' the idea of Shannon??

I'll definitely have more ideas about this later but this was my word vomit for now! Let me know what you think please.

(Also something I find funny is that the actress of Madeline/Judy is called Kim!)

[gayofthefae]

Thinking about Shannon saying "I needed someone to have my back" in reference to caring for Christopher and how angry Eddie was when Buck left him alone while Christopher was dealing with PTSD.

"I needed you to have my back."

"Do you even know how much Christopher misses you?"

[zahlibeth]

okay so if Shannon was only 26 when she died in season 3, and Buck was 26 in season 1, then how old is Eddie?! We've been assuming he's 3 years older than Buck to match Oliver and Ryan's age difference right?

someone do the maths on the ages that we know about. How old is Chris in season 3?

911 give us Eddie and Shannon's backstory I am begging you

[hirakiyois]

you're laughing. beloved network tv show 911's resident single dad with repressed homosexuality is dating three people at once and you're laughing.

[fruitydiaz]

Eddie's selective memories vs the full picture

[faithinmovies]

eddie: im a nester i nest

eddie with shannon: enlists before chris is even born

eddie with ana: panic attack at the thought of marrying her

eddie with marisol: kicks her out one day after she moves in

eddie with buck: there is nobody i trust more with my son

[cinematicnomad]

9-1-1 ▸ 2.10 merry ex-mas || 5.03 desperate measures || 7.05 you don’t know me

[catdadeddie]

when I was still the one you want cross-legged in the dim light, everything was just right

[tommykiinard]

i am so excited because as messy as this is, it humanizes eddie in such a wonderfully complex way. a beautiful disaster, in a way. we have seen him consistently heal with everything. his friendship with tommy, being able to talk about sex so openly, being happy and carefree and playful

but the season was very clear from the start: the ghost of shannon will always haunt eddie. he has not gotten the chance to process it. he has tried to deal with it (s3) and continue to deal with it (s5), but the shannon of it all was always pushed aside, needling deep into his psyche and his heart

and as soon as he saw shannon's face. not shannon, but the ghost of her, the idea of her, front and centre and alive, everything came to the surface, and his love for her, his love for the idea of her, the magic of what she brought to his life when everything was new and good, was so strong that he just, risked it all

and it's all for the wrong reasons sure, but in that moment, eddie diaz wanted to cling to the part of his life where shannon was alive and breathing, and he made the step to lie and say he was single

he lied, and he's on the way to cheat

but by god, for the first time in a long time, eddie diaz is doing something, selfishly, for himself

[tevanbuckley]

everyone at harbour is stoked about bucktommy because it means they get to hear all the insane drama from the 118 without having to worry about getting mixed up with it.

[neverevan]

9-1-1 • S7E01 || S7E07 // No, Eddie, he did not. // ↳ for anonymous

[roseapothecary]

#can't even look at him ( based on this post by @outoftheburninghouse )

[gayofthefae]

Watching 512 and it’s not only interesting to think about the Maddie and Shannon parallels but more importantly, the respective Chimney and Eddie parallels. It speaks to the turmoil in their relationship before Shannon left that, unlike Chimney, Eddie, to our knowledge, didn’t go after Shannon or even attempt to contact her when she didn’t come back. While they were different situations, it’s still interesting to note that he doesn’t seem to even have called to ask when she was coming home or any other questions he likely should have had. This is not against either of them - more an observation on the relationship dynamic and their faith in it and willingness to work on it as a whole. He moved close to her when the time came, but he took no direct action.

[zahlibeth]

Season 2 down! I watched most of these a few days ago but i did it on my sofa with my knitting rather than at my computer ready to bingo so I mostly just have some scribbled notes here and there

Chimney saying he's "thus far unscarred" in 2x16 😭😭😭

Everything about Eddie and Shannon on the beach is spinning round my head, her characterising him as 'broody'!!! His own characterisation of himself as dumb but pretty!! His entire inability to talk about Anything. Fascinating to see this Eddie vs the Eddie who learns to Use His Words to reach for Buck, or to bring Bobby back in 5B. I'm also just screaming for more detail about "these last few months" what HAVE Eddie and Shannon been doing, did she meet Buck???

Also, my sympathy for Shannon as a mother is waning more this rewatch I think. I still feel for her in so many ways and absolutely she is correct to ask for a divorce and not try to be Everything. However. What does she mean by "if I try to do this again before I'm ready"? Is she leaving or is she going to keep co-parenting? Because frankly when is she going to be ready to be Chris' mom? Time away from your kid does not make you any more ready, you need to be in there parenting. Eddie has been fully single parenting for so long that this is the least stressful reintroduction to parenting you could ever have because they already have whole routines set without you. Anyway.

"Maybe it's all over" says Buck. Fool!

Also date!Buck with Ali is so fucking cute I adore him. I will never ever be mad when they put my guys on dates because they're adorable. He's all giggly and smitten and cute.

[thegayestdiaz]

so the only woman eddie’s ever really wanted is… an unattainable idolised illusion he created in his head?

[fruitydiaz]

I'm just...