#i hate ramon and helena for things

[thisissirius]

i would also like to add to the chris is 13! and he's choosing to go with THEM? discourse to add that chris does not know. because eddie is a good father and he does not let his insecurities and battles with his parents detract from the fact that ramon and helena cared for chris for a long time, that they loved him and he remembers that. they were a huge part of chris' life and he was safe with them. it wasn't perfect and we have a LOT to say about them as parents and as grandparents, but they're safety for chris. notice how all of the talks eddie has with them are away from chris. they're overbearing and have their faults (because i just know some of y'all will bring shit like that up) but chris doesn't see that.

at thirteen these choices are more than capable of being made. i have said it before and will say it again; children are wholeass human beings. they are young, but they're not without experiences. chris has dealt with a lot of stuff in LA. tsunamis, earthquakes, his father's constant brushes with death. he's making a choice to remove himself from a situation that he doesn't think is best for him right now because eddie is not making choices in his best interest. however much you like those scenes or this storyline as a whole, chris is not wrong for wanting to be secure.

and while it might not seem like it, this is also good for eddie. he needs to know he can exist in spaces without chris around. he might not want to, but he needs to learn that he can and that he is NOT in the right place, through grief and stress and ptsd and all the shit he's gone through. he is choosing to let christopher go because he knows this, deep down, where he doesn't want to look too closely.

this situation is about choices; christopher's AND eddie's.

[buckley-is-hotter]

We see El Paso in s8b not bc Eddie goes down there but because Buck does… to pick up Chris who desperately wants to come home after his dad gets kidnapped and his grandparents wouldn’t allow him to go back (but Buck has custody of him if anything happens to Eddie and that will come to light S8b)

Not saying it’s going to happen just what I want to happen personally 😂

[justchillandshipit]

I was going to post this last night, but I was tired. For Ramon to say, "The Diaz men," when referring to Chris and himself right after purposefully excluding Eddie from attending the match, makes me want to rage. The implication here is what? That somehow Eddie isn't a man. He couldn't go. (It was also clear they had not told Eddie about the chess tournament in the first place, even though he lives near them now. There is no way they should have even assumed that a parent would not want to see their own son in a tournament. There is no acceptable excuse for that. None. Also, when Eddie arrives at the tournament at Buck's encouragement, he learns that Ramon has been calling Chris his son.)

I know Minear has a habit of redeeming parents with no effort or change on the parents' part, but I don't feel like what happened last night should be the end of things with Eddie's parents. He claimed his rights as a Dad, but he desperately needs to claim his right to be treated with the respect of another human being, and yes, a man. It doesn't matter what his sexuality is. Eddie is still a man. I say this as a feminist. I hate the patriarchy, but I don't hate men, and Eddie deserves to have that respect. (That includes those who identify as trans.) People deserve the respect of their personhood.

There needs to be more confrontations. Period.

And yet another thing.

When you recall what Eddie said to Chris when he left about how he could always come home, whether it was 5 mins or 5 months etc., you really have to wonder what was being said in front of Chris. (as if he weren't capable of following a conversation.) We saw how Helena was. She wasn't outright confrontational. She was passive-aggressive and manipulative. I'd go so far as to say that she was gaslighting to get an outraged, angry reaction so she could play like she was the reasonable one or the victim. From there, she could accuse Eddie of behaving badly. And from Chris's behavior at the dinner table at Eddie's house. She has most definitely been doing the same to him. Even with the PS5, I think he gave the response that would avoid Helena being upset.

Seriously, what were they saying to Chris that he was thinking that Eddie wasn't his Dad anymore?

I swear, I really do adore and respect Tim Minear on many levels, but on this, I feel actively angry. Being a biological parent doesn't give you a free pass to do this. I'm not saying Tim should make all our firefighters hate their parents, but I think the parents should each have to put in the work with their actual children to repair the relationship. It shouldn't be Eddie's job to mend the fences he didn't break.

Eddie is a great parent. Chim, Hen, Maddie, and even Buck, if you want to include his co-parenting, are good parents. Bobby, obviously, is on the next level in parenting. They are not good parents because their parents taught them how to be good. They're good, first, because they are less selfish. Second, because they have been on the other side and know what they never want their kids to experience or feel. If any of these people do make mistakes, and they will because they're human, those mistakes don't come from the same place of selfishness. Eddie said it to Buck once, "I know you'll keep trying." That's what Eddie and the others do. They keep trying. Eddie's parents, Chim's parents, Buck's parents; I haven't seen them make the first attempt.

Lord, sorry guys. I didn't plan to rant. I just got angrier as I typed. Bless you if you stuck it out until the end.

I haven't read any post-episode interviews yet. I'll do that after this post, so some of this may be discussed elsewhere, but here you have my two cents on the matter.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

You know what I have just realised and it’s making me hate Helena and Ramon even more. They are still being ableist.

They picked chess for Chris to do, not because Ramon likes it (I’m not disputing that he does but his enjoyment of it is somewhat irrelevant) but because they are still seeing Chris through his cp - as being disabled and are therefore deciding what is an appropriate activity for him to be doing and chess is all about sitting down and using your brain so it is suitable and safe.

But we know Chris goes surfing and skateboarding etc with Eddie because those are things he enjoys and wants to do. Eddie is a good dad who has found a way for Chris to be able to do them - finding adaptive lessons or equipment etc so that Chris gets to be a normal kid pursuing his interests rather than being pigeonholed as he has been by his grandparents and expected to win things

[marviless]

ok don't kill me but imagine eddie dies while in texas. maybe it's a car accident or maybe it's a building collapse or structure fire on a call—it doesn't matter. eddie dies somehow, someway, and everything shatters. buck's at the grocery store, thinking about eddie while he passes the aisles with his favorite protein shakes, when he gets the call. he feels the whole world go numb as they break the news to him, tell him that eddie's gone. and everything seems to end with those words, and for the first time ever, buck's faced with the idea that he can't always save eddie. eddie died, and buck wasn't there, and buck couldn't stop it. can't reverse it, can't bring him back. he didn't even get to say goodbye. he was in a grocery store, and hours before he was with maddie, laughing on her couch and pretending nothing was wrong, and all the while eddie was bleeding out somewhere, dying in a burning building without buck's hand to hold onto. he died without knowing buck loved him, and that's the hardest part. only a couple of hours later, buck gets another call, this time from helena. she tells him that the funeral is on friday, and that eddie would want him and the rest of the 118 to come if he can pass on the news. it happens so fast that buck doesn't even have time to argue, doesn't have time to say no, he would want to be buried here, in la. he's so confused that eddie's heart stopped, but the rest of the world didn't. how is Helena still talking on the other end of the line? how could she have moved so fast, to finalize the worst thing that has ever happened? how is she still even functioning? buck is too numb by everything to argue, so he says i'll be there, and he buys a plane ticket and he goes into his closet (eddie's closet, because he's still living in eddie's house, and buck is overcome with the realization that it will never be eddie's house again) and grabs the black suit he hasn't worn since abby's mother's funeral and bobby has to hold him through a panic attack when he breaks down before boarding their flight to el paso. he goes to the funeral, bobby and hen and chim at his side, three rows back even though eddie would want them at the front. and he watches as eddie's grave is lowered into the ground, into the dirt of the city that broke him, the city that he did everything to escape from. he watches as the grave disappears, and eddie is taken away from him forever. after the burial, everyone offers their condolences to eddie's parents. ramon and helena say "we're just happy he got to spend his last few months at home." and buck wants to scream. he wants to tear it all down. he wants to dig eddie's bones back up and sneak them into his suitcase and deliver him to the place he actually loved, that he would've wanted to call his final home. it's so fucking unfair. eddie sacrificed so much, lived with so much hurt, and this is what he gets in turn? to be frozen in time in the place he hated above all else? he came here to patch things up with his son, not to die here. and yet. buck wants to tell the diaz parents you don't know him. not like I do. you don't understand—he doesn't belong here. instead, he stuffs his hands into his pockets and suffocates on the silence.

[ask-physalia-prime]

So is this the beginning of the pipeline where we finally find out Chris never wanted to move to Texas?

I don't think Tim realizes how the "You'll be my dad again?" line changes everything:

1. He tells Eddie he's moving to Texas and calls Helena and Ramon. Not because he actually wants to, but because he's HURTING and needed Eddie to understand how MUCH.

And then instead of apologizing or literally ANYTHING ELSE, Eddie just...lets him go.

What else is the poor kid supposed to think except, "I hurt him so bad, he doesn't want to be my dad anymore."?

2. All the botched FaceTime calls. Not because he didn't want to talk to his dad. Because Helena and Ramon are telling him who knows what about Eddie when Eddie isn't there to defend himself. Eddie already abandoned him in his mind, and now he's doing the bare minimum where he's never done it before, thus enforcing it.

3. Buck's not talking to Chris either, as confirmed by Oliver. Same as when Eddie cut off all ties with Tommy when they broke up. Missed that, didn't you? We can make the argument Chris should've stayed with Buck so he could calm down all we want, but Buck NEVER OFFERED. So now on top of no dad, he doesn't have his Bucky, the one that saved him from the tsunami, either.

Everyone that made LA his home is gone.

4. He has grandparents treat him like his disability is the only thing about him that matters. He hates it, but they're there. So he plays along. Lets them belittle him.

Until Eddie comes to Texas for him.

And he starts to hope maybe, just maybe, there's a chance his dad still wants to be his dad.

And then he does.

[redlestat]

i don’t know who’s idea was it to have eddie kiss helena even though he was lecturing her but this is perfect.

when you lecture narcissistic parents they tend to think that you are completely against them, that you hate them and everything you’re doing is to piss them off. they think your whole life revolves around them and having eddie doing that gesture is a way to show her that this is not the case. this isn’t about hating helena or ramon this is about eddie being a father to chris. he even made sure to say that this whole thing doesn’t take away the fact that they’re still his grandparents and chris still love them but they aren’t his parents.

it’s a small detail but i love 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 🙄)

[hopecorps]

i know people love a villain (especially an evil or emotionally abusive parent) in a network procedural but the helena diaz hate train is a little unfounded if not misogynistic

i am on eddie's side and i love him and im so excited for him to confront his trauma and his mistakes and for the characters on the show to show up for him. he's had a genuinely concerning mental health crisis basically once every other season since we met him and i want him to focus on himself instead of worrying about being a perfect father all the time and hindering his own healing in effort to put chris first

that being said sometimes children are betrayed by their parents and go to live with their grandparents for a while. chris has been whisked away and abandoned several times growing up by both of his parents including the time his mother died. eddie is basically put on suicide watch in season 5 due to an EXTREMELY TRAUMATIZING MOMENT FOR CHRIS. the thing with kim as a whole is a result of his inability to process his own trauma and pain and it keeps happening. at the end of season 7 CHRIS calls his grandparents because he cannot trust his father and it is not uncommon or unreasonable for a kid his age who has gone through what he's gone through to live with his grandparents

like this isn't "i'm mad at my dad for cheating on his girlfriend" it's "a woman who looked identical to my mother who died suddenly and tragically when i was like seven years old was in my living room embracing my father while i was hanging out with his girlfriend who babysits me regularly due to the fact that my father is a firefighter and i am a disabled teenager"

helena and ramon are presumably wealthy, presumably retired, presumably have a stable marriage, and chris trusts them. and im not saying that that's a requirement to take care of a child but that's clearly what chris wants and needs right now

being like "helena is taking advantage of the situation because she was never a good parent to eddie and should in fact be pushing chris back to him" is

1. ignoring chris' agency and the legitimate reasons he had for calling his grandparents in texas vs like buck or someone

2. USUALLY ignoring ramon's hand in it even though ramon was the parent to eddie that was neglectful and arguably emotionally abusive on some level

3. a bad faith reading of a nuanced situation where helena and ramon ON SCREEN IN TEXT believed, supported, and empathized with eddie when they were picking up chris

i understand the desire to have a bad guy in whatever situation but also like. a genuinely really lazy boring reading to me to be like "and no one has done anything wrong except for this horrid woman who has bad intentions and probably never loved her son"

PS i know no one is going to read this let alone agree with me but if anyone uses this as an excuse to say anything bad about eddie diaz. don't

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

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132 or 1k for ⚖️:

---

“I’m sorry you’re feeling lonely, Chris,” Buck says. “I hope it’ll get better soon. But, you know, you can tell your dad that.”

Chris shrugs. “I… I can’t.”

“Why not?” Buck asks. 

“Because then… Then he…” Chris sighs. “He wins, I guess?”

If Chris admits he’s lonely, in his mind, it’s like admitting he was wrong to come. That he’s happier with Eddie. Oh, shit.

“Oh, Christopher,” Buck says. “He doesn’t feel, won’t feel, like he’s won anything at all. That’s not the way he’s thinking.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” 

Chris nods. “I’ll think about it.”

“Okay,” Buck nods. “I’ll go tell them to stop.”

He ruffles Christopher’s hair affectionately, then walks back towards the scene of the argument, stomach twisting. They’re going back and forth about nothing, really. Whose fault something is. Eddie’s or his parents’. They need to stop.

“Hey!” Buck calls, interrupting them. Everyone stops to look at him. “He can hear every word of this.”

Eddie’s face falls. He rubs a stressed hand across his forehead, expression pinching.

“Crap. You’re right.”

“Great,” Helena says, looking almost triumphant. “Another thing he has to thank you for.”

Eddie looks lost. Buck can see the conflict running through his head. He’s right. He knows he’s right, about his mother lying to him. But he’s wrong, carrying on a fight Chris can hear. Like Buck had sort of warned him. He knows his parents will twist this against him, no matter what. He’s misstepped. 

“Okay,” Eddie sighs. “I’ll go. I’m going.”

“Good. Don’t just show up again,” she says. “We need to plan these visits appropriately, Eddie.”

“Yeah, okay,” Eddie mutters. “Whatever. Come on, Buck.”

Buck follows after him like a faithful dog, avoiding looking at or accidentally coming into physical contact with Ramon or Helena. He would love to send a little punitive future their ways, but he’s not going to do that without Eddie’s permission. And, hey. They don’t get to keep Chris forever. Maybe that’s enough. 

Eddie pauses in the open doorway. He looks back over his shoulder.

“Goodbye, Chris. I love you,” he calls, loud enough for Christopher to hear, but gentle enough to feel soft. 

He waits, just a moment, to see if Chris will reply. The house is quiet. So they go. 

⚖️

Buck drives the truck. Eddie’s in no state to be behind the wheel.

He’s… Well, Buck has seen him in worse states. Much worse states. Buck has seen him take a bat to his whole life, after all. This isn’t quite that. He’s crying, but he’s still. He’s looking out the window, eyes red and distant. He looks like he wants to disappear. He’s heard Buck’s reassurance. That Chris will come home. But he can’t feel it the way Buck does, because he hasn’t actually seen it. 

“Do you want to go back to the motel?” Buck says. “Pay for another night, just in case?”

Eddie shakes his head. 

“Come on, Eddie, he might-”

“Please, can we just go home?” Eddie cuts him off. His voice is strained, like it hurts him just to talk.

“Yeah, okay,” Buck says. He feels misery creeping into him. Utter misery. He sets his course for the exit that’ll take them back. “We’ll go home.”

“Thanks,” Eddie mumbles. He closes his eyes. A fresh flow of tears fall down his face. 

Buck has the sudden urge to hold him. To wipe his tears away. To do anything he can to make him feel better. But he’s driving. He can’t. And even if he could, would Eddie really want that?

They drive for maybe five more minutes before Eddie’s phone starts ringing. It rings twice before Eddie, still sort of frozen and dissociated, bothers to check it. 

“Fuck,” he breathes when he sees the caller ID. 

“What? Who is it?” Buck asks.

“Christopher.”

Buck’s heart jumps. “Well, answer it!”

Eddie does, but he looks nervous. Like Chris might be calling to say he hates Eddie and never wants to see him again. Buck knows better. 

“Chris?” Eddie answers, voice sort of trembling. “Is everything okay?”

He turns the phone on speaker, so Buck can overhear.

“Dad, I’m sorry,” Christopher replies. He’s clearly crying. “Come back. Please come back.” 

Buck is already planning to turn around at the next exit. He nods at Eddie. Like, yes, on it. Don’t worry. 

“Okay, we’re coming. We’re coming back,” Eddie promises. “What’s wrong, buddy? What’s happening?”

“I want to come home. Please don’t leave without me. I’m sorry.”

[texasbama]

I am so conflicted about this episode yall. I slept on it and I still feel the same. On one hand, I loved that we got so much Eddie and Chris. Truly. Eddie was going through it but he was still being silly and you could tell that his one goal was to make Chris happy. but. That has always been Eddie's goal in life. From the moment we met these characters in s2 we've known that Chris is Eddie's heart, that he would do anything for him.

What frustrates me is the lack of depth with their story. I don't necessarily want to harp forever about the Kim of it all but it did happen! And the direct result of the Kim thing was Chris leaving. Why is that not something we see Eddie and Chris talk about? It's relevant. Before 8x12, the last time we saw Chris was 8x08 and he was on FT barely talking to his dad. Before that we only saw him one other time in 8x01 and again he was not speaking to his dad. So how did we go from that to Chris just being like "I am proud of you"??? It's not the act of forgiveness itself cause we know Chris is the sweetest angel but how did we get to a point of forgiveness??? Eddie had just lied to him AGAIN.

Now I know Tim is allergic to actually writing things that make sense, but of all the funny and endearing Eddie we got last night, I would have happily taken 5 mins less of him Ubering around if it meant we got ONE scene of Eddie and Chris actually talking about the root of their issues. Instead the focus appears to have been shifted to conflict with the Diaz parents. And I know we hate the Diaz parents (Helena specifically) but they weren't the problem. Chris called them because of what Eddie did. Helena and Ramon didn't kidnap Chris is the middle of the night.

So again, while I loved seeing Eddie and Chris together again, their reunion felt unearned. As I feared, their resolution got swept under the rug like so many other stories in this show.

[house-elf-magic]

Buddie Royalty AU… kinda

Idea: instead of a presidency, America has a monarchy, and Helena and Ramon Diaz have just stepped down as king and queen following King Ramon’s heart attack. Eddie reluctantly takes the throne at his parents’ behest, though they seem to be constantly hovering over his shoulders, waiting for him to mess up. Unfortunately, they’ve also talked him into this silly… competition? No, everyone was calling it The Choosing.

Eddie was to pick from the women candidates ages 25-35 his new wife and new mother of his son Christopher. Each candidate was to bring just one friend or family member along for support during the following weeks when he would choose the best woman for the job.

Just barely securing a spot through her parents’ signing her up against her will… Maddie Buckley, three years’ widowed after she killed her abusive ex in self-defense. Contractually obligated to see it through, Maddie chooses Buck as her person.

The thing is: Maddie doesn’t want to win.

The thing is: Eddie doesn’t want a woman.

The thing is: Buck loves kids and maybe really likes this one’s dad.

The thing is: Prince Christopher loves his new friend Bucky.

Enter Eddie and Buck falling in love at perhaps the worst time, Chris making a new best friend, political schemers trying to end the Diaz dynasty, Isabel Diaz trying to help her son and grandson find true happiness, Ramon and Helena being a pain per usual, and Head-Advisor-to-the-Throne Athena Grant-Nash being utterly fed up with everyone’s bullshit.

Some story beats:

- Chim is the on-staff head emergency medic. Once he, Maddie, and Buck meet, he sneaks them into some of the more restricted sections like the library or staff gym

- Buck meets Chris in the library after Christopher ditches his new tutor (Mrs. Flores?). They become quick friends, but, since Chris has been kept almost entirely out of the public eye, Buck doesn’t know who Chris is for a while

- Buck and Eddie meet by accident in the palace. They try to stay away from each other for very obvious reasons but are drawn to each other like magnets and form a clandestine relationship with a fast-approaching deadline

- Helena and Ramon are trying to lead The Choosing so Eddie will pick an appropriate woman to be his queen, like lovely Miss Marisol

- Eddie throws out most of his old advising team and restaffs with people he trusts, promoting Athena to Head Advisor since he knows she isn’t under his parents’ thumb and is damn good at her job

- Eddie hates the throne and Chris does too, but he doesn’t see a way out until Chris is accidentally poisoned when the political dissenters were trying to kill Eddie. Buck catches it quick enough from his firefighting work and ensures Chris gets an epipen in time

- Eddie decides it’s the final straw and he’s choosing this family he’s made with Buck once and for all, so he calls a press conference after talking with Athena and announces her as regent in his place

- Eddie steps down with Chris and goes to live with Buck as civilians. Maybe he takes on a dispatch role to support Buck without anyone seeing his face. Chris goes to real school and thrives socially. Buck proposes only a few months later :)

Someone else is welcome to write this fic! I don’t have the bandwidth right now to do it justice, but I hope someone does and makes it their own! Free to use with credit

[fromxxthexxashes]

I know people wanted Eddie to yell at Helena (me included, but that was mostly because I was projecting my own desire to yell at her) and I think a lot of us came out of 8x13 with the consensus that it was in character for Eddie to confront his mom in the way he did.

And I’m thinking more and more about it, and it also showed so much growth on his part. Because he has yelled at his parents in the past (“Eddie Begin”) and nothing really came of it because the emotions were way (understandably) too high. Now though, he didn’t yell at her (even if she more than deserved it, as did Ramon btw), instead he marched into the house confidently, armed with a bitchy comment because he’s Eddie and no one does perfectly timed petty comebacks quite like him, and was calm and gentle towards Helena.

How does this show growth? Eddie is already generally a very level-headed, kind, and gentle person, which is why the way he confronted Helena was in character for him. However, the growth comes in not letting his mother manipulate him, not letting her guilt trip him, and instead setting clear boundaries and recognizing how harmful she and Ramon have been to Chris and Eddie.

Helena is an emotionally manipulative person, and Ramon is right there with her. Ever since they took Chris, they have been using Eddie’s emotions, pain, trauma, mistakes, etc. (god I HATE the Diaz parents so much). They’ve used Eddie’s insecurities and Christopher’s hurt to keep them apart. It shows tremendous growth that Eddie was able to just blow past Helena’s attempts to manipulate him into not getting his son back instead of allowing her barbs to ferment and cause even more self-doubt—as a continuation of the self-love things that’s been going on since 8x06.

This whole episode was about Eddie recognizing that his parents were perpetuating the same toxic cycles for Chris as they did with Eddie. He never wanted to be like his parents. He wanted to break the cycle. And he did. This episode was him finally allowing himself to admit “I’m his father. I’m what’s best for him. And these people who stole my childhood from me don’t get to steal my kid and steal his childhood too.” This was him saying “You hurt me, and you were hurting my kid, and you don’t get to do that anymore.”

Even though I think Helena and Ramon deserve so much worse and deserve to be cut off from Eddie and Chris, I don’t Eddie would do that (love and family are so very complicated). But I do think it was pretty powerful for him to see the cruelty she and Ramon threw at him and didn’t rise to the bait. He gave her kindness in return and showed her that he was the bigger person, all the while admitting that he and Chris don’t need either of them.

[ranbling]

I hate the Diaz parents more, because the Buckley parents are like... cartoonishly evil. Like it's no secret they're shit parents. Maddie knows it, Buck knows it, I'm pretty sure even if they themselves know it. But the Diaz parents are not like that. They put everything into a tight little "we just want to help" package and slowly manipulate the things. And I see a lot of hate towards Helena (totally justified btw), but Ramon is just as much to blame. He might not be as vocal as Helena, but he's a 100% going along with her.

[chaoticornot]

Chaotic ramble 9-1-1

s08e12 Maddie is back at dispatch my love. This music means bad things coming. I knew it. It's a nightmare, isn't it? I think going back to work is going to help her. Then she can prove the dream wrong.

Eddie, baby, hai? He looks so formal. Ass, sorry. Aww, Bobby supporting him. No darling, you poor thing, haha. You will never regret it, but I will leave, lol.

Josh catching her up on the gossip. He's so supportive, cuties. What is going on with her voice? She lost it, complication with her neck? That is so scary.

Chris and Eddie omg, my babies, and fucking Helena. Of course, you're proud now you vicious women, fuck you. Edmundo who is that, you weirdo? The promo, haha. This is that awkward scene from the stills. It is not going to be just a formality is it? Shut your mouth, Helena, shut it. At least Chris is happy. You are telling him his son runs hot, like he doesn't know, fuck you. Sure Helena of course you would say that. Ramon I hate you, but thank you for telling him that. It is your fault though so fuck you still. His shirt bunching up above his ass, lol.

Poor Maddie, oh darling that sucks.

He didn't get the job, shit. Of course, he facetimes Buck. Not him pushing his tits towards Buck, lol. Now we can get a stripper arc, I am joking. Buck is so right, but it's so sad.

Is that Chuck? Idiot. Not the car half sticking out, oh no. Buck in a harness, aaah. Sassy British princess onscene. How did you see that, Chim wtf? Why would you park your car there?

He is so sweet, supportive hubby Chim.

Changed the wheel myself, of course, you did, haha. Selling his car, got to do what you gotta do. His Chris background aww. Uber driver Eddie is back in business or is that a headcannon? Or did he do delivery or something? But car accident Eddie nde is back in business. Stop bothering him baby, please. His blushing, girl. Girl stop yapping, omg. Why are acting like that? I know for fact you have cleaned up barf before. Honestly, thank you, girl, he needed to hear it. He is so cute when he is happy, like why are you so giddy? Oh no, not Chris, damn, why is Eddie always unlucky? Buck don't make me cry, he knows his biggest nightmare damn. Appreciate you, that is love confession right there. That is less casual than I love you.

Athena and Maddie, yayy. Girll, cuties. If something happens to Jee I am rioting. But I think she is going to get her voice back that way. I knew it.

He looks so good in that outfit. Chriss, hey. This parallel, aah. He is so big, aww. Eddie is so self-deprecating. His Bambi eyes are so cute and so sad. He has his baby back, aww.

Go Maddie go, rockstar.

Eddie and Maddie focussed episode, but no Maddie and Eddie interaction, we win some we lose some. Next episode, Chris realises how terrible his grandparents are to his dad and they go back to LA, please.

[nquesoxlies]

sorry to vent a little before new ep tonight, queso, but im kinda tired of two mindsets. one is the whole idea that buck wouldn't naturally come the conclusion about his feelings for eddie but would have to be TOLD about them, and the other is the continuous "helena diaz led the charge to steal christopher away!!!!" because... wtf did we not watch the same show?

like. i don't believe buck has romantic feelings for eddie at all, but even if he did, it's just SO weird to me that i keep seeing people be like "maddie has to tell him!" and "tommy will tell him it's actually eddie!" and whatnot. like... buck's a grown man. if anything, he might talk to someone like maddie and she would ask questions that would make him think deeper about the situation and come to his own conclusion. whyyyy do BoBs keep treating buck like he's this big stupid idiot who could never realize his own feelings and has to be TOLD them? has he ever had someone point blank tell him his feelings before? i'd have to rewatch the show but it feels like the most anyone (bobby, maddie, etc) has been a listening ear when he needs it and asked him questions to help him figure himself out. i don't think anyone's had to say "buck ur clearly in love with [whoever] you dumb shit" :/ like idc abt ppl who ship peacefully but u would think some ppl might want a modicum of respect to one half of the ship to know himself well enough to figure out how he feels.

and ugh the helena (and ramon, but helena gets the most strife from fans) diaz thing. at first i thought "maybe they have a point" because i hadn't finished season 7 until very recently, but i watched those episodes and like... chris wasn't talking to eddie. chris didn't want to see his dad at all because he was so hurt and angry. he calls the people who he knew would drop everything to come to him AND have the power to put their foot down and do what he wants. while i think i know as a viewer that if chris HAD brought the subject up to eddie, eddie would have heard him out and tried to talk it out... but why would chris know that? i would have done the same shit as a kid and would have deeply appreciated having an adult who will stick up for what i need right now. i just dont get why people constantly think that helena is this evil witch who masterminded a way to steal chris away when chris himself told them (not buck, who he likely thinks would have taken eddie's side; not eddie, who he wasn't speaking to) that he wanted to go back to texas. like, yeah, eddie did have a strained relationship with his parents, they did doubt his ability to raise christopher... but wasn't that plot literally resolved at the end of season 2 with them accepting chris and eddie staying in L.A. or am i misremembering??? its been a while

its just. its frustrating, and i get that its the normal fandom shit of people having different interpretations, but sometimes it feels like some people don't even watch the show or understand how shows work. like. sometimes something is a plot for one season, and then it gets wrapped up and we're supposed to go "okay, this plot is over, things are good now" or "this plot is over, it could have been handled better, but we're not supposed to go move forward thinking these people are horrible and evil" or even the one i feel toward other shows "this fucking SUCKED im gonna write fanfic about it because the shows not gonna bring it up or address it better."

The problem is that both of these mindsets are firmly planted from fanon.

They treat Buck like he's some stupid guy that can't make his own decisions. The woobify him to a degree that is so very cringe that, at least me, I couldn't even read Buddie fanfiction when I thought I'd give it a go.

And when it comes to the hate flung at Helena it's so unwarranted. Yes, when Eddie left to LA with Chris Eddie's mom didn't think it was a good idea but what people don't look at is the fact that Eddie had JUST gotten back from Afghanistan and suddenly he's going to take Chris to another state and be a single father? That's tough.

The Diaz parents obviously love Chris, and them bringing him back to Texas is what CHRIS wanted. It was his decision. No one else's.