Since moving to Texas in the episode “Voices,” Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman) has missed a lot, from his best friend Buck (Oliver Stark) attempting to remedy his absence by hanging out reconnecting with his ex to Hen’s (Aisha Hinds) birthday and Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chim’s (Kenneth Choi) gender reveal. Not for lack of good reason, of course – Eddie went to Texas to fix his relationship with his son. But now, Eddie has missed something that will change the 118 forever: his captain, Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) just died in a shocking twist. And if you ask me, by leaving Eddie in Texas for the most major moment of the series so far, 9-1-1 really missed the mark.
Okay, let’s just dive right in—Bobby Nash, one of the most iconic characters on ‘9-1-1’, finally gets his emotional send-off… and Eddie Diaz, one of his closest comrades, doesn’t even show up? That’s a narrative crime, right there. We’re not just talking about a missed cameo—we’re talking about a huge missed opportunity for emotional impact, closure, and fan service.
Eddie’s Texas Arc is Resolved. Listen, I actually think Eddie going to Texas was a good thing for a number of reasons. For one, Eddie has shown again and again that his son Chris (Gavin McHugh) is the absolute most important thing in his life, but after traumatizing him with a look-alike of his dead mother, Eddie needed a chance to prove that once more. Most of Eddie’s arc since his introduction in Season 2 has been focused on his relationship with his son, starting off as a single father moving to LA after his time in the military, to figuring out whether reconciliation with Chris’ mom was the right thing, to eventually mourning her loss together.
While Eddie had major work to do to win his son’s trust back, Eddie really stepped up for Chris and has shown him that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to be a present father for him: even if it means being an Uber driver in El Paso and dealing with his overbearing family to spend time with Chris. In the episode “Invisible,” Eddie finally stood up for his son after Chris confessed that he wanted Eddie to “be (his) dad again.” Now that his relationship with Chris has been resolved, there’s no reason for Eddie to remain in Texas, much less so now that Eddie has been left out of major plot arcs.
Bobby deserved a legendary farewell. Fans deserved closure. Eddie’s absence was more than just a casting gap—it was an emotional chasm that could’ve been filled with one powerful scene. ‘9-1-1’ dropped the ball, and we all felt it.
