Critic’s Rating: 4.6 / 5.0
4.6
Confessions have a way of bubbling out of you when you least expect it sometimes, something 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 highlighted throughout an overly busy hour.
We may be a third of the way into the season, but we’re just getting started in many ways because this was the first hour that really explored the personal lives of Maddie, Chimney, Buck, and Eddie.
To say the results will be the source of A LOT of debate would be putting it very, very mildly.
The decision over the past two seasons to start with a three-part opening emergency has meant that the action has been at the forefront, alongside some good character work for Bobby and Athena, who are the captains of this ship.
And while subsequent hours dove into Hen and Karen’s family (and seriously, NO more drama for them!), there wasn’t any movement on Eddie’s residual storyline from last season.
There was also no insight into what was going on with Maddie and Chimney outside of their fostering Mara while Henren was fighting to get her back, and there was nothing on Buck and Tommy’s relationship.
And no, 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 5 didn’t count in the sense that it was less about their relationship and more a showcase for Buck and to craft a story that had a little spooky, lighthearted tie-in to the Halloween theme of the hour.
Well, this hour was the one for these characters, as they took center stage and were interspersed with rescues that were just the right amount on the nose to connect to the character’s stories.
Maddie and Chimney have been riding the happy wave since their wedding during 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 6, and honestly, more power to them.
The drama train will eventually stop to pick them up again, but they deserve some time to exist in their bubble and enjoy their family.
While it was under less-than-ideal circumstances, Mara’s addition was good for them, and you could tell even in the limited interactions we saw that they loved Mara like she was their own.
Not that anyone would have thought differently, but she was family for those few months and now beyond.
But for little Jee, she got attached to Mara, and not having her presence in the house had to feel abrupt. It’s no wonder she was going through an adjustment period.
I admit, I hadn’t thought much about Madney having more children because I cannot remember them discussing it.
They went through so much before and after Maddie’s pregnancy, and it has seemed like ever since their reunion, they’ve just been focused on the here and now and being there for their daughter and one another.
Hearing Maddie talk about wanting more children was a surprise for both Chimney and me. But it’s such an intriguing direction for the Hans, as it’s not at all the same story we’ve seen before because they aren’t the same people they were during Maddie’s first pregnancy.
Outside of the obvious (their marriage), they’re different people in a lot of ways, especially after they went through their breakup and Maddie’s post-partum depression. They’ve grown a lot as a couple, and even though they didn’t immediately communicate with one another here, they got there in the end.
Chimney’s reluctance, if you even want to call it that, was more so born out of his fear of the past and what happened after Jee-Yun’s birth. He feared for Maddie’s health and let his fear take over when Maddie first broached the topic.
But life is full of fear, and it’s also full of joy and happiness. Jee-Yun is that joy and happiness that brings so much to Maddie and Chimney’s life, and another child would do the same.
9-1-1 loves a parallel as much as it loves to bring its characters pain (I kid, sort of). So, the emergency with the little brother stuck in the pipe, and the big brother going down to save him made Chimney think about the beauty of siblings and that bond.
Though, I think after their late-night conversation, Chimney was more or less second-guessing his initial fears.
When they zoomed in on Maddie after Chimney rolled over to sleep, Maddie’s already-present pregnancy seemed like a good possibility, but I wish she’d been more upfront about it instead of soft-launching the news through scenarios.
But much like her husband, Maddie had fears as well.
Even if it took both of them some time, their communication was beautiful when they finally talked to one another and decided to find the beauty in their family’s expansion instead of only thinking about what could go wrong.
Fear is a natural human emotion, and it’s not as if they’ll never feel that again as it pertains to this situation, but I love the idea of just existing in the moment.
Let the pregnancy be what it is: something to embrace and celebrate.
Madney has never been more connected and in love with each other. I have no doubt that they’ll be open and vulnerable with each other through this pregnancy and beyond because they’ve learned much from the past and much about each other.
I did not have a Madney baby on my bingo card, but I am excited to see their journey with baby number two.
Now, something I also didn’t have on my bingo card: Buck and Tommy having an ex in common.
Listen, it’s time to get real about Buck and Tommy’s relationship because the truth has always been that it felt like a right-now kind of thing and not something meant to last forever.
You could tell that by how they didn’t develop Tommy beyond being Buck’s boyfriend, and even then, they devoted very little time to building their dynamic.
Why were we watching the pair celebrate their six-month anniversary even though we barely saw any part of their relationship? And I don’t say that lightly at all.
They met during the cruise ship rescue, and then there was the whole attention-seeking thing, which resulted in their first kiss. From there, we witnessed their first date gone wrong during 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 5, followed by their making up, his brief appearance at the bachelor party, and the hospital kiss on Madney’s wedding day.
Tommy then got his medal alongside the 118 and had a brief run-in with the bigoted Gerrard before his final appearance during a one-minute check-in dinner with Buck that season.
Thus far in 9-1-1 Season 8, Tommy was at the Zoom party for Chris and then wasn’t seen again until the Halloween episode.
I give you that recap to sum up how little time and investment there was in Tommy’s character and the relationship with Buck as a whole. There was so much missed between them, and it felt like a retread of many of Buck’s previous relationships.
So, there was no reason to believe there would be a different outcome than a breakup.
The decision to bring Tommy back was always a curious one, and essentially retconning his past and acting as if nothing we’d seen from Tommy ever happened was indeed a choice.
Do people change? Yes, absolutely. But Tommy was dropped in, and everything from the past was handwaved away with nothing done on-screen to show the audience how Tommy changed.
To show heartfelt conversations and acceptance of guilt.
Tommy could do no wrong since he returned, which felt so disingenuous.
That hero-like characterization played heavily during this hour, during which Tommy and Buck celebrated their six-month anniversary at the same restaurant where they had their first date. Tommy even gifted Buck with Lakers tickets to celebrate.
During this date, they had a conversation about Tommy’s past, which came about after Buck found himself a little flustered by a woman coming over to ask him to take a picture of her and her friends.
It had Buck asking Tommy if he’d ever looked at a woman basically, and Tommy reaffirmed that he was gay. It made me wonder what conversations have been happening between them in the last six months.
It’s not as if you must blurt out your entire dating history or anything else when you first enter a relationship. Still, considering where the hour ended, that was the first sign that perhaps the relationship wasn’t as serious as either of them realized.
The Abby reveal felt like the most 9-1-1-like thing ever. It was like a cheeky throwback, and they expected it to cause everyone to gasp.
Like, OF COURSE, Tommy dated Abby, and now he’s dating Buck. OF COURSE, the show that brought doppelganger extraordinaire Kim aboard would do something like this.
If you remember, during 9-1-1 Season 1, Abby’s Tommy was mentioned a handful of times, and the consensus was that he broke her heart.
Based on how Buck’s face immediately fell when Tommy said Abby’s name, he was more scandalized by the fact that he must have remembered Tommy through Abby’s eyes and not that they had an ex in common.
Buck chose not to say anything at the moment. He internalized his feelings until he couldn’t take it anymore and had to talk to Maddie about it.
Josh gave Buck an impassioned plea after he expressed his doubts about Tommy’s past cruelty. Josh spoke to him with an almost tough love, which Buck needed to hear.
Part of Buck’s journey involves unearthing new things about himself, listening to others in the community, thinking outside of himself sometimes, and recognizing that bigger things could be at play.
The pre-Glee versus the post-Glee worlds (nice nod to Ryan Murphy) were clever ways to explain that Buck is living in his truth now, but now is a different time than it was for Josh and Tommy.
Josh telling Buck that he needed to stop judging Tommy felt like he basically wanted Buck to extend him grace and take steps to understand why Tommy may have done the things he did with Abby instead of immediately thinking poorly of him.
It was a heartfelt speech, and Buck took every word to heart, as evidenced by his subsequent actions. But it was interesting first to hear Buck say that he saw a future with Tommy because I believed that, but was that something he and Tommy ever discussed?
And why did we never see much of Buck’s perspective throughout his first relationship with a man? As I detailed earlier, Tommy’s appearances were sporadic and mostly brief, so hearing Buck be so committed felt odd because we hadn’t seen the development.
It’s obvious that we didn’t see it because it was never meant to last.
The Buck and Tommy breakup came out of nowhere in the context of their conversation, but it was also inevitable and was always headed that way. I’ll know someone is meant to be Buck’s endgame when they treat that person like more than just a cursory piece in Buck’s life that mostly exists in the shadows of his loft.
Many people will proclaim that Buck’s back on the hamster wheel when it comes to his relationships, and from a television-watching perspective, you wouldn’t be wrong.
We’ve seen Buck date someone, commit, and go all-in before it all falls apart. It’s very much ‘I’ve seen this movie before, and I know how it ends.’
But so much about Buck’s journey is relatable. He’s a thirty-something guy who’s fulfilled in his professional life and surrounded by people who love him. And he’s been unlucky when it comes to romantic partners.
Though not for a lack of trying.
We’ve seen Buck give his all in relationships and then ultimately fail, and that’s very much what happens here. So many people have gone through that.
Not everyone marries their high school sweetheart or ends up marrying their first or second significant other. Many people date and date and date, and with each breakup and heartbreak, they learn and hopefully put themselves closer to finding their person if that’s what they desire.
And that feels like the journey Buck’s been on.
His asking Tommy to move in with him felt incredibly impulsive. It almost felt like he was overcompensating for doubting Tommy and spiraling about the Abby reveal. If there was one thing I learned in that final conversation, it’s that these two were not remotely on the same page.
Buck had no business asking that man to move in, but it was very much in character for Buck, who has always jumped right into things without thinking them through.
Tommy was right to turn him down if it was not what he wanted, but his explanation begged the question: Why was he dating Buck if he didn’t see a future?
If he was more-or-less having fun and living in the moment with a cute boy he liked, that’s fine, but why didn’t Buck know that? Buck clearly had a different perspective on their relationship, whereas Tommy was already prepared for the end.
You can not tell me that all those reasons came to his head on the fly. He knew what it was for him, and at the first sign of Buck trying to take it to a more serious place, he cut his losses and decided to end things. I was waiting for him to explain his thoughts more and maybe talk about his experiences, but instead, he just walked away.
The idea that your first is rarely your last may be true for many people, but not all. Tommy could have taken that gamble on Buck if he had wanted to, talked through his fears, and taken a chance, but he chose not to.
Based on how quickly he walked away, it seems fairly apparent that Tommy was in a much more casual relationship than Buck. And all he could see were the ways in which it would eventually end, so the idea of something more serious wasn’t a risk he was willing to take.
Buck was left utterly confused and understandably hurt. You invite your boyfriend over, thinking he’s going to move in with you, and the next thing you know, you’re being dumped, but this opens up such vast avenues of storytelling for Buck through the rest of this season.
There’s much to learn from this specific breakup, which Buck will eventually remember as memorable.
As Oliver Stark told me when I spoke to him previously, “…whether or not Tommy ends up being the forever partner for Buck, he will always have been his first. And there will always be, I think, huge importance placed upon it for those reasons.”
Tommy’s presence in his life has helped him in numerous ways, and it will always stay with him. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that Tommy’s goodbye felt very much like a giant exclamation point on their short-lived union.
“I’ll see you around, Buck,” felt very much like I’ll see you never.
Some may wonder if Tommy will return one day, and it’s 9-1-1, so who the hell knows? But that switch-up from Evan to Buck was deliberate and felt pretty damn clear to me.
The romantic side of their relationship is irretrievably broken, and it isn’t coming back, people.
Buck’s dumping led him to the exact place you thought it would. To the one person who allows him to always take up space, be himself, and provide comfort. All while not even saying a word.
But before we get into THAT moment, let’s talk about Mr. Diaz, shall we?
Even though they’ve been more or less showcasing Eddie being in a lighthearted mood whenever we saw him at work or surrounded by his friends, there were plenty of quieter moments where you could see the pain and sadness just lingering under the surface.
He misses his son.
He misses his son more than anything in the world, and it’s not like it’s a new revelation, but going to confession was the first time we got a chance to hear him talk about what happened at the end of last season and how he’s been processing things.
And he hasn’t been processing. If anything, all he’s been doing is punishing himself.
He didn’t feel worthy of forgiveness because, in his eyes, he failed his son in every way imaginable. He stopped putting Christopher first, fell into the Kim situation, and ultimately hurt him so badly that he felt like he needed to leave his home.
I think we can all understand Eddie’s plight and the guilt and shame he’s experiencing. He entered the Kim situation flying on instinct and ignoring how it was wrong. He was lying to the people around him and hurting them.
That’s not the kind of person we’ve known Eddie to be, and it’s not who he’s ever been. And that’s partly the reasoning behind the mustache that has garnered so much attention this season and been the butt of a few jokes.
The mustache was a mask and something to hide behind so he could see someone different when he had to look at himself. In his mustache disguise, he could make it through the day. He didn’t see the failure he believed himself to be, even if he still felt that in many ways.
The whole juice versus water analogy was a bit silly, but the priest was rightfully calling Eddie out on how he was punishing himself for his actions.
Eddie knows he made a colossal mistake, which he can’t take back, but it’s time now to start dealing with what happened and begin doing the work to earn the forgiveness he doesn’t feel worthy of.
This whole storyline felt like the first step in Eddie’s journey because he still has so much to unpack about what happened with Kim, and subsequently Chris, and his continued complicated feelings about Shannon.
So much comes back to Shannon. Understanding his emotions and properly grieving her and that relationship is wholly necessary for moving forward.
Hopefully, we’re leading to that and they don’t bypass that critical piece of the journey because so much of Eddie’s life has revolved around Shannon and now the specter of her.
I want Christopher back as much as the next person, but Eddie’s got to do some internal work on himself before that happens. Shaving the mustache certainly felt like a step toward that work as he shed the mask he put on himself to hide his shame.
I loved how they gave Eddie the moment to chop it off quickly and then parlayed that directly into him having that moment of joy he didn’t feel worthy of.
Eddie has to work on himself, understand himself, and give himself some grace before thinking about bringing Christopher back home.
There have been many attempts at the Risky Business dance scene, but Ryan Guzman, of Step Up fame, did one of the best I’ve ever seen.
It was a little comedic and the perfect encapsulation of Eddie shedding his stache and, probably for one of the first times, trying to enjoy that empty house by running around in his underwear and letting loose.
Of course, it wasn’t empty for long, but for those few minutes, he had a little fun.
Eddie’s a great father who made a mistake. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t get to smile.
Now, fresh off his breakup, there was only one place Buck was ever truly going to go.
While he most certainly had many places and people to turn to in the immediate aftermath, he was always going to Eddie’s.
With Eddie, he knew that he wouldn’t ask him any questions he may not have wanted to hear or offer unsolicited advice. He knew that with Eddie, he could pull up with a six-pack, walk right in, sit down on the couch, and receive comfort.
Eddie and Buck don’t exchange a single word, and they don’t have to. Eddie doesn’t question Buck’s presence, and Buck doesn’t ask why Eddie is sweaty and in his underwear.
They don’t need to speak to one another to feel at peace. And the beauty of their dynamic has always been in the things left unsaid.
Best friends, partners, whatever may come, they’ll always have each other’s back, even in silence.
Loose Ends
- Um, are we going to talk about how that first emergency was clearly old, and they just popped it into the beginning of the episode like we wouldn’t question it?
- Sneezing your literal guts out because you’re a lying liar who lies. Never change, 9-1-1. Never change.
- I love that Buck goes to Maddie while she’s at work to have these personal conversations with her. Could you get away with that at your job?
- The pipe emergency was one of the best of the season. It had so much heart, and it hit me right in the siblings’ feelings. They can aggravate you like no other, but there’s something special about that sibling bond.
- That was a VERY loaded conversation between the priest and Eddie. Lots to think about.
- So, is Buck going to take Eddie to that Lakers game now?
This one may have gotten away from me, but there was just so much to digest and process! So, let’s do just that in the comment section.
Drop all your thoughts below so we can discuss them!
You can watch 9-1-1 on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.
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