‘9-1-1’ Boss: Exploring Buck’s New Sexual Awakening “Feels Like It’s About Time”
Over the course of seven seasons of 9-1-1 and five seasons of its spinoff Lone Star, co-creator and showrunner Tim Minear has consistently found new (and surprising) ways to deepen the relationships in his most successful television universe to date.
But Minear saved his biggest twist for the original series’ 100th episode, which aired last Thursday. In it, Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark), who started the long-running Fox-to-ABC drama as a promiscuous sex addict, gives in to Tommy Kinard (Lou Ferrigno Jr.), a former firefighter and now LAFD Air Operations pilot. The storyline has since become a topic of widespread discussion on social media, making 9-1-1 one of the few shows to become appointment-viewing television in today’s crowded television landscape.
In this week’s episode, titled “You Don’t Know Me,” Buck goes out to dinner and his first movie with Tommy. Having never explored his attraction to another man before, Buck is confused and unsure of how to navigate his new feelings for Tommy. “This is the first time I’ve been on a date with a guy, but I don’t feel weird. You know, I mean, I’m an ally,” Buck tells Tommy, not realizing that he’s not just an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.
Things get even more awkward when Buck and Tommy run into Buck’s best friend, Eddie (Ryan Guzman), and his girlfriend, Marisol (Edy Ganem), at dinner. After Buck says he and Tommy are going to see a movie and then go on a date to “find some hot chicks” together, Tommy decides to end their date, telling Buck that he thinks he’s cute but isn’t ready for a real relationship. It’s not until the end of the episode—after Buck comes out first to his sister Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), then Eddie—that Buck asks Tommy for another chance and invites him to Maddie’s upcoming wedding to Chimney (Kenneth Choi).
While taking a break from writing the last three episodes of the season, Minear took a quick call with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the exploration of Buck’s sexuality, why he chose to have Buck come out to Maddie and Eddie first, introducing a new character from fire chief Bobby Nash’s (Peter Krause) past, and the upcoming Maddie-Chimney wedding—which, as viewers can see from the final minutes of the midseason finale, is not off to a great start.
The 100th episode ends with the much-talked-about kiss between Buck and Tommy. Why did you choose to explore this bisexual storyline with Buck now? And did you ever doubt that this was the right storyline for Buck; did you ever consider giving it to another character?
I always think about different variations for each character, so it’s a hard question to answer because we’re constantly considering all the options for all the characters, but it really felt like, “No, this is Buck’s story.” It made sense for Buck. What I like about Buck is that it has a romantic comedy element to it. I wasn’t really interested in doing the bravest [coming out] episode of 1985, you know what I mean? I wanted something that felt contemporary and didn’t feel weighed down by so much angst. It’s an awakening for his character, but I think there’s fun in it, so I just love the romantic comedy element of it with that character.
It’s hard to dig into [why we chose to do this storyline now]. It just seemed like the right time. I just felt like Buck’s story was starting to feel like a hamster wheel. I just felt like he needed a slap, and I think that part of him has been encoded into the show since at least season two, so I don’t think it came out of nowhere. I think a lot of fans who follow the show closely have been following the breadcrumbs the whole time. So I feel like — and sometimes it’s funny — you’ll write something, and you won’t even realize that you’ve set something up that’s going to happen eventually. It just evolves naturally in a lot of ways.
In this week’s episode, viewers get to see the final minutes of Buck and Tommy’s first date, which takes place after Eddie and Marisol find them sitting together at the same restaurant. Much of the episode is about Buck coming to terms with his new feelings and then finally reconciling with Tommy, who doesn’t want to push him into something he’s not ready for. How did you want to approach writing this episode, in terms of that storyline?
I wanted it to feel authentic. To me, the way the finale ends is that Buck doesn’t even know what he’s doing until he knows what he’s doing,
