The 118 just said goodbye to one of its own.
While most of the latest 9-1-1 episode is centered around finding Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who’d been kidnapped by a serial killer, it also ends with, once she’s been found and is recovering in the hospital, Buck (Oliver Stark) saying goodbye to his best friend Eddie (Ryan Guzman) as he leaves for Texas. The move has been in the works since the midseason finale, during which Eddie revealed he’d started looking at houses in Texas to be closer to his son; Christopher (Gavin McHugh) moved in with Eddie’s parents after catching his father with the doppelgänger of his late mother.
In the midseason premiere, Buck first sabotaged Eddie’s attempts to find a renter for his house before ultimately subletting it (and giving up his loft). He knew that Eddie was ultimately going where he belongs, with his son. Now, in Episode 10, as they’re out looking for Maddie, Buck remarks to Eddie that it felt like everything was finally getting back to the way it should be — Gerard (Brian Thompson) out as captain, Bobby (Peter Krause) back — but then Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) dumped him, Maddie is missing or ran away, and Eddie’s moving back to Texas like nothing, like it doesn’t affect anyone else, when it does. Eddie assures him it’s not nothing.
In the final scene of the episode, Buck helps Eddie pack up a U-Haul, and Eddie thanks him for helping him get back to Christopher. Eddie knows the whole thing between them has been messy and hard and both of them could have handled it better, but he wants to make sure Buck knows he matters to him. Buck does. Eddie reminds him he and Chris are just a phone call or FaceTime away, and Buck gives him chocolate chip protein cookies he baked. Both say they’re going to miss each other, then after a moment, they hug, and Eddie drives off, leaving a sad Buck behind to watch him go.
That tracked with what Stark told TV Insider about this goodbye while discussing Episode 9: “It’s finding that line between emotional and sad, but also, ‘You have to go and do this thing, and I understand that and I’m happy for you.’”
Looking ahead at how Buck will be dealing with everything, Stark also said that Buck would continue to bake, as we saw at the end of this episode. “That baking thread has really lasted on the show. The baking thread has lasted longer than certain injuries on the show have lasted,” he noted. “There’s definitely still baked goods in Buck’s life, which I enjoy because at the end of the day, they get to come home with me, if I so wish, or I get to give them out to people. He is going to look into the possibility of finding new friends and working out, if Eddie’s going to be away for a while, who am I going to spend my time with? And that’s going to take him down some fun avenues.”
But just because Eddie’s left LA doesn’t mean Guzman is off the show. Showrunner Tim Minear told Decider that “he’s got a great story in Texas in Episode 12.”
What did you think of Buck and Eddie’s goodbye? What are you hoping to see with Eddie in Texas? Let us know in the comments section below.
