Hi, longtime Buddie shipper who gave up at the end of last season when season-long narrative arcs for Buck and Eddie strongly indicated TPTB might finally pull the trigger--and then both characters swerved into random relationships with women in the last episode. I actually swore off watching 911 after that--and then lo and behold last Thursday all of a sudden Buck is bi, my friends are texting me about it and I'm drawn back in again.
I never gave much credence to the argument that Fox didn't do Buddie because of executive homophobia. For one, even I know Fox Entertainment is VERY different from Fox News. And second, as you noted, one of the other main characters is a lesbian whose wife is a recurring character, and a few other recurring characters are queer as well and have had storylines around that. In addition, the Lone Star spinoff featured a gay couple (possibly partly as a response to early Buddie rumors) and a main trans character. These shows are very gay (inclusive)!
However, I never thought they'd do Buddie for another big reason that's sort of related to broader societal homophobia: Straight male viewers. Buck and Eddie are the hotshots on the team, the young, buff guys who do a lot of the big stunts and always get flirted with by bystanders. I would imagine a lot of the straight men who watch this show identify with them. If those characters ended up together, how many viewers would be turned off by losing their surrogate on the show and subsequently tune out?
I understand where you're coming from regarding breadcrumbs for Buck's bisexuality but less of the same indications for Eddie, but I think there's more than enough around Eddie to justify a queer storyline for him as well. The mere fact that Buck is practically co-parenting Eddie's son and has been for years is a kind of intimacy you don't normally see. In season 5 (I think) Eddie had an arc in which he had panic attacks when he thought about being with the woman he was dating long-term (and specifically because she was *too perfect* for him...). And I think there's a great argument to be made for Eddie being susceptible to comphet -- he came from a conservative family with lots of cultural stigmas, got a girl pregnant young, then joined the Army to support them. His relationships since then have been relatively few and far between, despite the fact that he's a very attractive man who could obviously have no trouble finding a partner. I know plenty of people who argue Eddie's behavior screams repression, and I have to agree.
I also think the Buddie stuff wouldn't have frothed up as much if the show hadn't made the narrative choices it did over the years in how these characters interacted and intertwined their lives. Not to mention the fact that Oliver Stark and Ryan Guzman have CHEM 👏 IS 👏 TRY. That probably wasn't intended from the jump--Eddie only joined in S2--but when lightning strikes, TV writers should really consider pulling out the bottle.
All that said, and I'm sure you're sick of me by now, but I'm watching again and will be happy to watch Buck become a massive bisexual disaster even if it doesn't lead to Buddie. Would Buddie be more satisfying? Yes. Obviously I'm biased, but yes, it would culminate a relationship that has been richly and interestingly written over many years. This isn't a case of fans smashing two Ken dolls together because they're hot. There's *something* between Buck and Eddie, and in 2024, it's time to consider broadened horizons.
PS thank you for recognizing Oliver Stark's comments here. His thoughtfulness and enthusiasm over the years and in the past week have really impressed me.
I see we've been going down exactly the same rabbit hole this past week! As someone who's watched 9-1-1 since day one, I was shocked by last week's episode because fandom and at least some of the people running the show have been in a standoff for years now re: Buddie (the introduction of TK and Carlos in Lone Star felt like a direct response to fandom's fervor for Buck+Eddie), and I never expected the writers to budge on their position. I found the same quote by Stark, and also found it fascinating; obviously, he previously wasn't able to say "I also thought this was the right development for Buck," but I really appreciate that he said it now.
Last week's episode is worth watching, too, for the way they construct Buck's bi awakening. Buck seems extremely jealous of Tommy as Eddie's new friend, to the point where he complains to everyone around him about how much time Eddie spends with Tommy. The reveal that he was actually trying to get Tommy's attention seems to come out of nowhere (Tommy literally says, "MY attention?"). Also, there's a basketball scene that is 100% modeled on the infamous Top Gun volleyball scene (someone knew what they were doing!).
I feel insane because I don’t get the Buck/Eddie canon thing?
I actually started to watch the show because I kept hearing about how this procedural built this epic ‘ship about two guys who come out later in life – and that sounds cool. But actually having binged the series over the past year, there were definitely moments. There were things that the writers could have leaned into. But they didn’t.
As a result, canonically, while I do see how Buck could be into Eddie, he’s always been teased about that, I don’t think it’s a shared sentiment. It could have been. But whenever 9-1-1 seemed to go in that direction, they’d pull back.
Of course there’s an opportunity now. Interested to see if the show goes there.
Re: the Traitors question, I presume were deciding between UK S2, Aus S2, and NZ S1…UK S2 is absolutely the best of those three. NZ is very pleasant with some fun characters (and interesting as a lot of the cast goes in knowing each other in real life). Aus S2 is one of the most infuriating seasons I’ve ever seen…it might be worth it from a critical perspective, and it becomes kind of luridly fascinating after a while.
I was cautiously on-board with the first episode of Elsbeth, but felt like there was a noticeable dip in quality for the next two. At this point, I'm going to bow out and see how other viewers are feeling as the season goes on.
Personally, per my own Traitors ranking on Vulture, UK S1 > AUS S1 > UK S2 > NZ S1 > CAN S1 > AUS S2.
HOLY MOLY THANK YOU for writing about this!
Hi, longtime Buddie shipper who gave up at the end of last season when season-long narrative arcs for Buck and Eddie strongly indicated TPTB might finally pull the trigger--and then both characters swerved into random relationships with women in the last episode. I actually swore off watching 911 after that--and then lo and behold last Thursday all of a sudden Buck is bi, my friends are texting me about it and I'm drawn back in again.
I never gave much credence to the argument that Fox didn't do Buddie because of executive homophobia. For one, even I know Fox Entertainment is VERY different from Fox News. And second, as you noted, one of the other main characters is a lesbian whose wife is a recurring character, and a few other recurring characters are queer as well and have had storylines around that. In addition, the Lone Star spinoff featured a gay couple (possibly partly as a response to early Buddie rumors) and a main trans character. These shows are very gay (inclusive)!
However, I never thought they'd do Buddie for another big reason that's sort of related to broader societal homophobia: Straight male viewers. Buck and Eddie are the hotshots on the team, the young, buff guys who do a lot of the big stunts and always get flirted with by bystanders. I would imagine a lot of the straight men who watch this show identify with them. If those characters ended up together, how many viewers would be turned off by losing their surrogate on the show and subsequently tune out?
I understand where you're coming from regarding breadcrumbs for Buck's bisexuality but less of the same indications for Eddie, but I think there's more than enough around Eddie to justify a queer storyline for him as well. The mere fact that Buck is practically co-parenting Eddie's son and has been for years is a kind of intimacy you don't normally see. In season 5 (I think) Eddie had an arc in which he had panic attacks when he thought about being with the woman he was dating long-term (and specifically because she was *too perfect* for him...). And I think there's a great argument to be made for Eddie being susceptible to comphet -- he came from a conservative family with lots of cultural stigmas, got a girl pregnant young, then joined the Army to support them. His relationships since then have been relatively few and far between, despite the fact that he's a very attractive man who could obviously have no trouble finding a partner. I know plenty of people who argue Eddie's behavior screams repression, and I have to agree.
I also think the Buddie stuff wouldn't have frothed up as much if the show hadn't made the narrative choices it did over the years in how these characters interacted and intertwined their lives. Not to mention the fact that Oliver Stark and Ryan Guzman have CHEM 👏 IS 👏 TRY. That probably wasn't intended from the jump--Eddie only joined in S2--but when lightning strikes, TV writers should really consider pulling out the bottle.
All that said, and I'm sure you're sick of me by now, but I'm watching again and will be happy to watch Buck become a massive bisexual disaster even if it doesn't lead to Buddie. Would Buddie be more satisfying? Yes. Obviously I'm biased, but yes, it would culminate a relationship that has been richly and interestingly written over many years. This isn't a case of fans smashing two Ken dolls together because they're hot. There's *something* between Buck and Eddie, and in 2024, it's time to consider broadened horizons.
PS thank you for recognizing Oliver Stark's comments here. His thoughtfulness and enthusiasm over the years and in the past week have really impressed me.
Meant to add, Miles, thank you for writing about this. It was great to see it addressed so directly from a critical perspective.
I see we've been going down exactly the same rabbit hole this past week! As someone who's watched 9-1-1 since day one, I was shocked by last week's episode because fandom and at least some of the people running the show have been in a standoff for years now re: Buddie (the introduction of TK and Carlos in Lone Star felt like a direct response to fandom's fervor for Buck+Eddie), and I never expected the writers to budge on their position. I found the same quote by Stark, and also found it fascinating; obviously, he previously wasn't able to say "I also thought this was the right development for Buck," but I really appreciate that he said it now.
Last week's episode is worth watching, too, for the way they construct Buck's bi awakening. Buck seems extremely jealous of Tommy as Eddie's new friend, to the point where he complains to everyone around him about how much time Eddie spends with Tommy. The reveal that he was actually trying to get Tommy's attention seems to come out of nowhere (Tommy literally says, "MY attention?"). Also, there's a basketball scene that is 100% modeled on the infamous Top Gun volleyball scene (someone knew what they were doing!).
I feel insane because I don’t get the Buck/Eddie canon thing?
I actually started to watch the show because I kept hearing about how this procedural built this epic ‘ship about two guys who come out later in life – and that sounds cool. But actually having binged the series over the past year, there were definitely moments. There were things that the writers could have leaned into. But they didn’t.
As a result, canonically, while I do see how Buck could be into Eddie, he’s always been teased about that, I don’t think it’s a shared sentiment. It could have been. But whenever 9-1-1 seemed to go in that direction, they’d pull back.
Of course there’s an opportunity now. Interested to see if the show goes there.
I don't even watch 911, but this was a fascinating discussion and I'd be keen to hear thoughts on how they handle the storyline.
Re: the Traitors question, I presume were deciding between UK S2, Aus S2, and NZ S1…UK S2 is absolutely the best of those three. NZ is very pleasant with some fun characters (and interesting as a lot of the cast goes in knowing each other in real life). Aus S2 is one of the most infuriating seasons I’ve ever seen…it might be worth it from a critical perspective, and it becomes kind of luridly fascinating after a while.
I was cautiously on-board with the first episode of Elsbeth, but felt like there was a noticeable dip in quality for the next two. At this point, I'm going to bow out and see how other viewers are feeling as the season goes on.