Here’s the thing: when Eddie (Ryan Guzman) told Buck (Oliver Stark) in the mid-Season 8 finale of 9-1-1 that he was planning to move to Texas to join Christopher (Gavin McHugh), I never thought for a second that it would actually happen. I figured that, faced with the possibility of losing each other, Buck and Eddie would be forced to confront some long-buried feelings. And I’m more confident now than ever that that is, in fact, what 9-1-1 is doing with the second half of Season 8. However, unfortunately for me (and for Buck), this move is no longer hypothetical anymore.
While Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has spent the first two episodes back from the hiatus dealing with unimaginable horrors, Buck and Eddie have been dancing around their feelings about Eddie leaving. I enjoyed every bit of last week’s “Buddie” storyline, from Buck pettily trying to replace Eddie with a dog, to Eddie looking at Buck with an interesting expression on his face when he learned that Buck was going to be subletting his house in his absence. Now, though, the other shoe has dropped, and 9-1-1 is in fact delivering on the angst and devastation that was promised by Eddie’s move. This Buck and Eddie storyline is already breaking my heart – and I’m having the time of my life dancing among the pieces.
‘9-1-1’ Continues to Address Buck’s Issue With Eddie Leaving in This Episode. In this week’s episode, when Chimney (Kenneth Choi) realizes that Maddie is missing, Buck and Hen (Aisha Hinds) show up to his and Maddie’s house to help. Buck calls Eddie, and when Eddie gets there, Buck insists on being the one who answers the door for him (there are certainly more pressing issues in that scene, but I still found this detail to be noteworthy). Later, Eddie and Buck go out driving to look for Maddie. While they are in the car together, Buck reflects on how things have finally gotten good again after Bobby (Peter Krause) came back and replaced Gerrard (Brian Thompson). He sites the moments when everything started falling apart, bringing up Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) dumping him, Maddie disappearing, and Eddie leaving.
This conversation is the perfect segue into the anger and abandonment that Buck is still feeling, even after he decided to put this aside to help Eddie. Buck says that Eddie is just moving “like it’s nothing, it doesn’t affect anybody else,” and he tells Eddie that it does affect him. Eddie points out then that it is not nothing to him, and it’s clear that he is holding back, but this is still a big thing for him to admit. I love this scene, because it brings up the issue of Eddie’s move very naturally, and it also calls back to the events from earlier in the season.
Eddie easily could have fought back with Buck here like last week, but he doesn’t. Buck makes it clear right away that he didn’t mean for it to come off that way, but Eddie lets it go because they’ve been up all night looking for Maddie. They are on good terms the ending of last episode, and they are still attached at the hip throughout this episode. This storyline is still not resolved, though, and it won’t be until Eddie returns – and even then, until they finally address their feelings for each other.
