Goodbye Happy Eddie? 9‑1‑1 preview shows ‘significant’ call with son Christopher
“It stings,” co-creator and showrunner Tim Minear tells Entertainment Weekly of Ryan Guzman’s character realizing his son has established a life in El Paso.
Well, 9-1-1 had Happy Eddie for a moment.
The 118 firefighter (played by Ryan Guzman) ended last week shaving his mustache and putting some of his guilt and sadness behind him, seeming to make peace with his son Christopher’s decision to move to El Paso and live with Eddie’s parents after the dad was caught embracing a woman who looked like Christopher’s deceased mother but wasn’t (though she was played by the same actress, Devin Kelley).
Understandably, shaving facial hair and dancing in underwear can only work for so long, and in a season 8, episode 8 preview clip exclusive to Entertainment Weekly (below), Eddie is seen fully realizing how much Christopher has grown and created a life for himself in Texas. Not even a signed photograph of Hotshots star Brad Torrance (Callum Blue) seems to woo him back to Los Angeles.
“What really strikes me about that scene is just how, in just a brief time, how mature Gavin [McHugh, who plays Christopher,] has become,” says 9-1-1 co-creator and showrunner Tim Minear. “We see he’s really starting to turn into a teenager. I think it really plays on camera when you see him talking about being in the chess club. And he’s clearly in a room that feels lived in, that feels like a kid’s room. And he just looks and he sounds different, which I think would be enough to make Eddie panic.””It’s like, ‘You are literally — in just the course of a few months — turning into a different person, and I’m missing it. I’m missing all of it,'” Minear shares of what Eddie is thinking. “On the other hand, he’s also seeing how Christopher is thriving with these new interests. But it stings when Eddie says ‘I can get you a signed picture of Brad Torrance for your room’ and Christopher just assumes it’s the room in El Paso. There’s just so much to unpack just in that short little FaceTime call, and that is going to be significant as the show continues.”
9-1-1 season 8, episode 8, “Wannabes,” airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. It serves as the midseason finale, with the drama returning for episode 9 on March 6.
