Just three episodes in, the second half of 9-1-1 Season 8 is already making major strides towards the show’s fan-favorite pairing of Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman). Although it’s certainly been sad to watch Eddie move to Texas, this storyline is exactly what 9-1-1 needs to organically kick off the romance between the two of them – and it’s a true delight to watch it all play out. Last week’s episode, “Holy Mother of God,” shows Buck struggling to adjust to living in Eddie’s house while feeling his absence everywhere. How does Buck cope with this? Well, by spending his nights at Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chimney’s (Kenneth Choi) house, trying to fill Eddie’s absence with other people, and constantly talking about Eddie.
Each episode since the hiatus seems to be leaning more into the direction of “Buddie,” but this is the first one to actually address it outright. While out for drinks with Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody), Buck runs into Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) for the first time since their breakup. They then spend the night together, and they almost get back together the next morning, before the conversation finally turns to Eddie. After Buck’s storyline this week, one thing is clear: not only is 9-1-1 moving forward with “Buddie,” but the show has been working towards this for a while, particularly through Buck’s relationship with Tommy.
In ‘9-1-1’s Latest Episode, Tommy Drops a Bombshell on Buck
The morning after Buck and Tommy’s hookup, when Tommy suggests getting back together, Buck wants to know what changed his mind. Tommy tells Buck that he’s less worried about getting his heart broken “now that the competition’s out of the way.” This is a shock to Buck, who denies that there is anything between him and Eddie, while also accidentally admitting to having feelings for Eddie (and while admitting that he doesn’t have feelings for Tommy anymore). Buck’s conversations with Tommy and later Maddie in this episode show that 9-1-1 is paving the way for Buddie, but Tommy’s reveal also recontexualizes some major moments in Buck’s relationship with him.
It’s not a surprise that Tommy would have picked up on Buck and Eddie’s connection. After all, there has always been a certain subtext to their relationship. Buck’s initial dislike of Eddie (“almost a whole shift” he tells Ravi this week) completely disappeared the moment Eddie first complimented him. Additionally, Buck has always played an important role in Christopher’s (Gavin McHugh) life as well, and the three of them often act like a family. There was also the time that Buck didn’t correct a stranger in Season 2 who mistook them for a couple, not to mention the Season 4 reveal that Eddie had made Buck Christopher’s legal guardian in the event of his death. These are just several of countless examples over the years, but all of this is to say that, of course, Tommy noticed something between Buck and Eddie, and, of course, this affected Buck’s relationship with Tommy, as far back as the very beginning.
Tommy’s Reveal Recontextualizes “Buck, Bothered and Bewildered”
Tommy’s admission that he’s always been jealous of Buck and Eddie’s closeness recontextualizes many of the scenes in “Buck, Bothered and Bewildered,” the episode where Buck realizes that he is bisexual. In the episode, Buck is jealous of Eddie’s new close friendship with Tommy, and he panics when he feels like he is losing Eddie. He joined a pickup basketball game that he had no interest in just so that Eddie and Tommy couldn’t spend more time alone together, and then this all escalated into Buck hurting Eddie’s ankle. At the end of the episode, Tommy goes to Buck’s loft to clear the air. Buck told Tommy that he was trying to get his attention, to which Tommy said, “My attention?” Then, of course, they kissed.
While it was exciting to see Buck realize his sexuality, there have always been some holes in this scene. The main one is that the entire episode shows Buck trying to get Eddie’s attention, even when Tommy is not around. Buck worked out at the 118’s gym, ordered a basketball online, and obsessed over Eddie’s calendar in a way that seemed to all be about losing Eddie. It never made sense that Buck’s interest would be in Tommy instead. Additionally, Tommy’s surprise at Buck wanting his attention always seemed to have more weight than was revealed at the time. Now that Tommy has admitted to always being jealous of Buck and Eddie, it’s clear that each of the confusing aspects of that final “Buck, Bothered and Bewildered” scene was all intentional. In retrospect, it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch that Tommy picked up on Buck’s jealousy at the basketball game and then went to his apartment to apologize for going after Eddie, which is why he was so surprised when Buck expressed an interest in him
‘9-1-1’s Latest Episode Confirms That Tommy Meant Eddie Would Be Buck’s Last
When Tommy dumped Buck in “Confessions,” he said he was Buck’s first (boyfriend) but that he wouldn’t be his last. It was obvious for viewers who picked up the signs that he was referring to Eddie, but now, it has officially been confirmed. Tommy has always picked up on Buck’s interest in Eddie, and – based on Tommy’s scoff when Buck says that Eddie is straight – Eddie’s interest in Buck as well. Even after Buck and Tommy started dating, the three of them spent a lot of time together, as if Buck were just adding Tommy to his existing dynamic with Eddie. Additionally, when Tommy gives Buck tickets for their anniversary, he casually says that Buck could take Eddie instead. When Buck actually considered this, though, Tommy immediately backpedaled.
It’s unclear at this point whether Eddie has considered the possibility before that he might have feelings for Buck, or whether he will be as blindsided by his own feelings as Buck was by his. For Buck, though, it seems as though he hasn’t yet let himself consider the possibility. Both times that it comes up in this episode, with Tommy and later with Maddie, Buck’s default is to say that Eddie is straight. He hasn’t been able to think about what his own feelings mean because he doesn’t believe that they can go anywhere. Now that Tommy has directly addressed it, though, Buck will only be able to ignore his feelings for so long.
