Latest Posts by loulover911 - Page 10

You keep using that word. I don’t think you know what it means. Plot Device Edition

What is a plot device?

A plot device is any technique used to move the plot of a story forward. Examples include:

Deux Ex Machina — An improbable event is used to resolve all problematic situations and bring the story to a (generally happy) conclusion.

Love Triangle — A conflict where two characters fight for a third’s love and affections.

Red Herring — Something that misleads or distracts the audience’s attention from something important.

Cliffhanger — An event wherein the plot is not resolved aimed to keep the audience guessing as to whether the conflict will be resolved in a manner they want.

Who was the plot device in 911’s “Buck, Bothered, and Bewildered”?

“Buck, Bothered, and Bewildered” is the 100th episode of the procedural, 9-1-1, on ABC. The summary for the episode was the following:

Upon her return to shore, Athena's son finds himself in trouble with the law. Meanwhile, Buck grows envious as Eddie forms a close bond with someone else, and the 118 rescue a woman who's stuck on receiving a rose at an iconic mansion.

The cold open (another narrative technique) for this episode is a rescue at the Bachelor mansion (crossover with The Bachelor) where a superfan has glued herself to the ground outside the mansion. The Bachelor is a reality dating show that sees women compete to win the “bachelor” for the season.

The cold open at the Bachelor mansion includes multiple attempts to foreshadow what lies ahead for this episode. Examples include:

A contestant vying for the attention of a bachelor does an incredibly ridiculous stunt to grab his attention.

A contestant named Ashley A says “Joey’s going to have to earn his wings with me” and then later asks Joey if he “believes in love at first flight” to which he says “you’re gonna have to take me airborne first.”

Contestants of the show approach Buck and Eddie saying that if they don’t get lucky in the mansion they may have a better chance at the fire station. Eddie immediately counters by saying he’s taken at the moment but Buck is single. Buck counters by saying he has a rule that he doesn’t date people he meets on calls. (Note the gender neutral usage of the sentence.)

Immediately following the opening title card, the show opens with Buck receiving a tour of Harbor Station by Tommy Kinard.

The scene establishes multiple things crucial for the storyline going forward. They include:

Tommy asks Buck, “Is that why you wanted the tour? Looking for a badass coffee mug?” Buck replies, “No. I’m happy where I’m at. I guess I just wanted to see the place during the day during the day. You know, when we weren’t stealing one.” Tommy pushes saying he knows Buck didn’t just want to see the toys, which he then asks, “You must be thinking of changing things up [emphasis mine], aren’t you?”

Buck asks what got Tommy into flying. Tommy says he was a pilot in the army. Buck says, “no way! Eddie was in the army.” Tommy replies, “Yeah, he mentioned that,” implying he’s had conversations with Eddie off-screen.

Buck then mentions he met an ex (note the gender neutral language used in this dialogue) responding to a helicopter crash “… which should’ve been my first clue.” Tommy replies that saving someone’s life and then dating them never turns out the way you expect it to (paralleling Buck in the cold open telling the contestants he doesn’t date people he meets on calls)

Buck says Tommy should let him buy him a beer, which Tommy says he’d love that but has to take a raincheck… enter Eddie who’s hanging with Tommy at a fight in Vegas. The scene ends with Buck looking pensively at the helicopter Tommy and Eddie fly off in.

So what does all of that do?

It establishes that the audience will move through this episode through Buck’s POV for his storyline.

It confirms Buck sought out the tour at the station of his own will without others with him.

It confirms Tommy is unsure why exactly Buck asked for the tour. (What’s driving Buck’s motivations in this episode?)

It introduces the main conflict of Buck’s storyline this episode: Eddie Diaz (the world champion cockblocker) and Buck’s insecurity/jealousy.

The next scene for Buck’s storyline involves a rescue with Buck, Eddie, and Ravi, and the scene furthers the conflict for the episode. Let’s work through this:

Buck asks Eddie how the fight in Vegas was. He asks how long it takes to chopper there. Eddie says Tommy’s friends with the promoter and got excellent seats. Ravi asks, “Who’s Tommy?” This confirms the fight has done and passed and that Eddie had not talked about the event with Buck until this rescue. It also reaffirms Buck’s jealousy (but at what? at whom?) and amps up the conflict as Buck feels left out versus Ravi who doesn’t even know who Tommy is.

Buck brings the conversation around the fight back up by saying he’s not surprised Eddie and Tommy had fun at the fight. He says Tommy and Eddie have a lot in common. (“Both in the army, both like watching half-naked men pummel each other.”) Eddie replies, “Tommy’s pretty cool. Been a while since I met someone who can go toe-to-toe with me in Muay Thai.” Buck’s confused and asks if they went to Muay Thai together; Eddie says Tommy has a setup in his garage and that they sparred a bit when he took the Chevelle over. Buck’s even more confused (“You-you took the Chevelle?”); Eddie confirms Tommy has a car-lift and made the engine purr. This relays to the audience information about Tommy (he likes MMA, practiced Muay Thai, works on cars) as well as how friendly Eddie and Tommy have gotten. This, to the audience, must mean that Buck’s jealous of all the time Eddie and Tommy are spending together. (But which one is he actually jealous of?)

Buck, very nervously, says, “Well listen. I think it’s great. You know you can’t have enough friends, right?” Eddie replies, “Right. You know it’s like that thing when you meet somebody and you just click. You know what I mean?” Buck replies, “I do… I really do.” You cannot say he’s talking about Eddie here because as an audience we know that Buck did not immediately click with Eddie when they first met. Therefore, Buck must be thinking about Tommy when he replies. (But will the audience catch this? Or will the audience forget exactly how Buck and Eddie’s friendship came to be?)

Buck follows up by asking when Eddie will see Tommy again. Eddie replies that there’s a karaoke bar trivia thing on Wednesday. He asks Buck if he’s free, to which Buck eagerly says “me? Yeah no I’m-I’m free! Totally free. Wednesday is a clean slate.” and it’s the first hint at the audience that the conflict will resolve by having Buck be included in trivia night. Only for it to be shot down when Eddie asks Buck to watch Christopher. The tension is therefore rising as the audience sees Buck be excluded once again, an insecurity the audience knows is a point of contempt with Buck’s character.

So what does all that accomplish? What’s the goal of that scene regarding the larger plot? Where exactly are we at with this plot?

Buck’s storyline begins in medias res (in the middle of things); we as an audience have to jump in and use the context clues the narrative gives to fill in the blanks. Buck’s already made the choice to reach out to Tommy for the hangar tour prior to where this episode begins. In that way, we as an audience are as in the dark about why exactly Buck has asked Tommy for a tour.

If we use the cold open, we can fill in blanks to catch up to where Buck’s story begins. The opening image of this episode entails a character vying for another’s attention and acting in the the most insane way possible. It also includes foreshadowing (“Joey’s going to have to earn his wings with me… Do you believe in love at first flight?” to which he says “You’re gonna have to take me airborne first.”) and establishes Buck’s status quo (“I don’t date people I meet on calls.”)

The hangar scene therefore operates as the catalyst beat. Buck’s status quo is being challenged by the presence of Tommy, a problem he aims to resolve by seeking out the tour of the station and attempts to get to know Tommy more by asking how he got into flying and by asking him out for beers. This attempt to resolve the problem however introduces the wrench to the plan for beers: Eddie Diaz.

The second scene then acts as the debate and break into two beats: Buck interrogates Eddie trying to get him to talk more about Tommy to learn more about him, and the dialogue where Buck says, “Well listen. I think it’s great. You know you can’t have enough friends, right?” Eddie says, “Right. You know it’s like that thing when you meet somebody and you just click. You know what I mean?” and Buck replies, “I do… I really do” serves as the debate story beat. Buck is debating whether it’s worth getting this jealous over Eddie and Tommy spending time together, and Eddie unbeknownst reaffirms that it’s worth it to Buck by reminding Buck that Buck met Tommy and immediately clicked on his side at least.

When Eddie asks Buck to watch Christopher, Buck must make the choice whether to agree and ultimately continue down the path that lies ahead. If he doesn’t agree, the narrative ends. If he agrees, we’re moving into Act II. Buck agrees, and we’re therefore shoved into Act II.

We’re now firmly in Act II, and the next scene is Buck at Maddie’s complaining. Let’s break this one down:

Buck is immediately complaining about his problems to Maddie. He confirms that according to Christopher, Tommy has been over at Eddie’s over three times after meeting him two weeks ago, and Christopher thinks Tommy is “so cool.” Maddie counters by pointing out Buck previously also called Tommy cool to her. The dialogue evolves to Buck saying that Tommy’s made an impression (on Christopher, but the audience should also see this for Buck himself) in a very short time.

Buck continues by complaining about Star Wars opinions, and Maddie clocks him by saying it seems he got a lot of intel just from one night of babysitting. Buck attempts to explain it away by saying Chris wouldn’t stop talking about him. Maddie replies, “Christopher wouldn’t, or you were pressing him for information?” Given the way Buck talks in the scene as well as the knowledge of what happened in the scene prior, the audience should assume Maddie is correct in that Buck pressed Chris for information on Tommy.

Buck then confirms that he dug for Eddie’s fridge calendar with a quick line pointing out that the calendar on Eddie’s fridge was under a take-out menu. The calendar points out that Eddie has a game of pick-up basketball with Tommy coming up. He points out Eddie keeps asking him to go, and Maddie replies, “Well you don’t like basketball.” Buck replies, “Which is why I say ‘no’, but now he’s going with Tommy… and he’s got it circled.” Maddie pokes at the reply by asking if it’s circled with a heart around it.

Chim then enters the room having been eavesdropping. He then gushes about how cool Tommy is while Buck is even more green with envy.

This scene is a part of the “fun and games” beat if we stick with Save the Cat! beats. Buck is clearly disgruntled and bewildered, but he’s committed to this path. He now knows Tommy will be at a basketball court with Eddie Thursday. But the audience now wonders how he’s going to handle that information. Will he just show up? Will he ask Eddie for an invite? They just established he hates basketball, so how will he pull this off?

Thus we move to the next scene:

Buck’s on a shift and clocks Eddie very animated on the phone. The audience doesn’t know who’s on the phone, but we can imply given the setup that it’s likely Tommy on the phone. The audience does hear Eddie say, “We’ll get him next time, alright?”

Buck, meanwhile, is lifting weights trying to get Eddie’s attention so that he will feel obligated to spot Buck and Buck can therefore ask about the basketball game he wants to go to… but Eddie won’t get off the phone.

Buck then gets a delivery from Amazon Prime (ad placement) that is a basketball. He tries to get Eddie’s attention with it, clearly telling the audience the goal of this charade is to get an invite to the basketball game. When Eddie doesn’t take the bait, Chim (who spots Buck with the basketball and asks what he has there) becomes the next best option, and Buck chooses to capitalize on it. “Hey what are you doing on Thursday?” clearly tells the audience what Buck’s goal with the lifting weights was: he wants a reason to go to the basketball game.

This scene acts as the midpoint: Buck thinks he’s finally cracked the solution and gotten what will clearly be a false victory. This is the false high before it all comes crashing down.

And now we’re on to the infamous basketball scene:

The scene enters with Chim asking why Buck’s suddenly into basketball, reminding the audience that Buck doesn’t like basketball, so why’s he here now?

And then we immediately see the real reason Buck’s there. You can immediately see Tommy in the frame. As the audience, your eyes lock on him before Eddie comes in frame. We also hear Tommy, further driving home the focus here.

Eddie asks Chim how he got Buck to agree (“He always says no to me.”) again reminding the audience that Buck didn’t get invited because he doesn’t play basketball. And after, Chim says, “So I’m your basketball beard. I feel so bonded.”

Insert Topgun-like montage where Buck is getting increasingly frustrated because here he is playing a sport he hates and likely losing to the team Tommy and Eddie are on. They include a scene where Buck bumps into Tommy (again highlighting how bad he is at this game and clueing the audience in to the source of why Buck’s acting like this). We then see Eddie and Tommy high-fiving in front of Buck, driving home even more that Buck’s failing epically. He hasn’t gotten the attention he wants. In all of this, the tension keeps amping up and we’re about to tip over…

Ladies and gents, we’ve reached the all is lost beat: Buck hip checks Eddie after Eddie taunts him (“You ain’t getting past me!” and then he steals the ball from Buck) and Eddie gets injured. Buck clearly feels awful and tries to resolve it by saying he’ll take him to get the foot x-rayed only for Tommy to say he drove Eddie and can take him. Chim’s “Well you really bucked that up didn’t ya?” reaffirms this is the lowest point for Buck. He’s been acting just like the person from the cold open and has hurt his best friend in the process.

Cue the dark night of the soul beat with Maddie:

We get confirmation that it’s just a bad sprain and Eddie will be out of commission for a few days. We also get confirmation that Buck hasn’t really talked to him. Buck assumes Eddie doesn’t want to hear from him since he’s the one that did this to him. Buck when confronted with the idea that surely he didn’t purposely mean to hurt his best friend replies, “I dunno… I was pissed you know? Seeing him and Tommy being such good friends after only two weeks. I felt left out, and I guess I was trying to get his [emphasis mine] attention.” Maddie immediately calls him out for it, and Buck reaffirms that he feels awful.

Maddie then reaches out saying she knows how he feels. Maddie, as the voice of reason, says that when she acted out in what she thinks is a similar situation, all it did was make her look desperate and pushed people farther away because she didn’t tell them how excluded she felt and it blew up in her face. Buck replies, “Well I’m not a 14 year-old girl,” and they both say “So stop acting like one.” This is thus the break into three needed.

And thus we have the final scene for the episode:

A knock at the door. The audience will assume it’s likely Eddie because he’s the one Buck just maimed… Instead we’re treated to none other than Tommy standing there. We can call this a bait-and-switch.

The blocking for this scene is crucial because Buck and Tommy start essentially on other ends of the room, physically demonstrating the distance that’s between them.

Tommy affirms he wants to clear the air and that he feels he’s the cause of bad blood between Buck and Eddie and that that was never his intention.

Buck replies saying there’s no bad blood only bad behavior on his part. Buck says, “You and Eddie as buddies makes perfect sense.” Tommy says, “Yeah, we do. And you know he can have more than one friend, right?” This parallels with what Buck was trying to tell himself at the beginning of the episode. Tommy follows up by saying it’s not like he could ever replace Buck because Chris for one would absolutely have something to say about it. In doing this, Tommy eases what the audience knows to be a major problem for character: being left behind/excluded.

As they’re talking, Tommy is slowly moving closer to Buck. Buck moves from behind the island, symbolizing that they’re physically getting closer as they’re finding common ground. The tension is finally being eased.

Tommy indicates he and Eddie talked about this situation and they both feel bad because nobody meant to exclude him. That them hanging out wasn’t about Buck. Buck replies that’s usually his problem because he can get pretty jealous… Tommy says he’s not the only one (and moves closer), that he was jealous of the 118 and how it’s like a family. He admits he wanted to be a part of that, which Buck immediately says he was and that he even made fake mouth static at the fire chief. By this point they’re closer than ever. They’re admitting their insecurities and bonding over it, and as the audience, you should catch on at this point that something is in the air. Buck here admits he thought, “Wow, that guy’s cool. I like that guy” and that this is why he called for the tour; he didn’t want to transfer, he just wanted to get to know Tommy. We now as the audience get an answer we had from the start because we, like Tommy, couldn’t figure out what Buck’s motivation in the tour was about.

They start flirting a wee bit more and as the audience you should be cued in and putting the pieces together that Buck’s done all of this for Tommy. Buck even affirms if when he says “‘Cause trying to get your attention has been kind of exhausting.” Tommy, then, is cued in like the audience that oh my god all of this has been about Tommy hence why Tommy’s shocked. He thought it was all about Buck feeling excluded (likely guided by whatever Eddie told him), not at all about him. And once Tommy gets confirmation, you can see him work it out and take the plunge to do what needed to be done (kiss the daylights out of that man).

Buck’s reaction (“yes, I—I am free”) and the breath of relief at the end of the scene shows the audience that the tension has been resolved and that the weight that plagued him has been virtually lifted.

So, now having looked at the entire episode, let’s go back to the question: Who was the plot device?

The episode employs multiple techniques to keep the audience on our toes. We’re not supposed to know that it’s Tommy he’s after (and neither does Buck fully understand, hence why he’s confused as to why he’s acting the way he does in this episode). This includes things like foreshadowing, in medias res, plot twist, and red herring.

We spend this episode assuming that Buck’s feeling neglected, left out, just like Tommy assumes in that scene. We assume that the problem is Eddie spending all his time with Tommy. In this way, Eddie’s presence operates as the red herring for the episode. We’re meant to put the pieces together as Tommy does when Buck admits he was trying to get Tommy’s attention.

We’re also supposed to then realize alongside Buck that Buck has been pursuing Tommy all along unknowingly wanting something beyond the platonic with him. Before the kiss, Buck couldn’t put that piece together.

And even more, we as the audience can go back and see it clearly mapped out for us:

Buck calls up Tommy himself to ask for a tour. He also brings up exes mid-conversation completely unprompted (sir, don’t talk about exes before you’ve even had a date!). He’s sad to have to raincheck beers, and all this happens before Eddie’s even arrives.

He prompts Eddie to talk about the fight in Vegas specifically so Eddie will talk about Tommy. And Eddie does: he tells Buck everything almost unprompted.

He clearly presses Chris to give him more intel on Tommy and then proceeds to dig around Eddie’s house looking for clues as to what he’s up to with Tommy. The intel gathered here gives him the idea to try and show up at the basketball game because Tommy will be there.

The episode makes it abundantly clear Buck hates basketball with a burning passion. Multiple characters point out that Buck doesn’t go to the basketball games with Eddie because he doesn’t like the sport. But Buck goes out of his way to find a reason to show up because Tommy’s there.

Buck’s frustration mounts during that game because the goal (get Tommy’s attention) is failing majorly because Eddie and Tommy are demolishing them, and he takes his frustration out on the person getting in the way: Eddie.

If any character acts as a plot device, it is Eddie himself because he operates as a red herring that keeps the audience confused about Buck’s actual intentions this episode. The contestants in the cold open can be claimed as plot devices as they serve to give the audience foreshadowing (love at first flight and then the episode ends with Buck kissing the character that’s a pilot).

Tommy Kinard is not operating as a plot device. The narrative arc of Buck discovering his sexuality has been completed and Buck and Tommy are still together as other narratives take the forefront for the back-half of this season. Buck wanted Tommy from the get-go and still wants him. Stop acting like Buck doesn’t understand his feelings when we literally watch his realization to all of this play out live in the episode.

Thanks for coming to this TED Talk.

And for the love of all that’s holy please learn 3-act structure and storytelling elements.

Oh and Tommy likely isn’t going anywhere in the next handful of episodes. The scene with Gerrard in 709 is a blatant attempt at foreshadowing where we go for season 8, what conflicts likely await at least Buck and Tommy since they’re both in that scene alongside Chim, and some of y’all are laughing at a man that literally called an openly gay man a slur.

“Just uh, Just watch where you step alright? Pumpkin likes to dart out infront of you.” Tommy warned as he unlocked his front door.

“And what IS pumpkin? You know I still havent been told what kinda animal you have.” Buck pouted and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Baby I wanted it to be a surprise- besides he’s not er.. well a conventional pet..”

“Thomas. What do you have? Is it illegal?” Evan gasped

“No! No - it’s not like that- I have a permit to own him.”

“I swear to god if I walk in there and see a tiger-”

“Evan. Just relax.” Tommy rolled his eyes and opened the door, walking inside as Evan cautiously followed behind him.

“Pumpkin! Tch tch come here boy.” Tommy called out as he switched the lights on.

Buck heard the scurrying of paws, and a bell jingling on the creatures collar. Poking his head over Tommy’s shoulder he watched as it emerged from the kitchen.

It was..

just.. a possum?

“Oh.” Buck laughed and stood up straight, no longer feeling anxious about the situation.

“I found him in my garage a few years ago- just a tiny baby at the time- I waited and waited but the mother never came back- and by then he had imprinted on me and well..” Tommy sighed and Buck watched in amusement as the possum climbed up Tommy’s leg to be held.

“I just dont really tell people about him cause- well you know people think possums are dirty.” Tommy frowned and ruffled the animal’s fur.

“I do know that yes. But Possums actually groom themselves quite regularly- they also eat ticks- which is good because I hate ticks.” Evan reached over to gently stroke the possum.

“Can.. can i hold him?” He asked and looked up at his boyfriend.

“Of course.”

Tommy handed the possum over to Evan, who immediately clung onto him.

“So.. adorable.” Evan couldnt help but smile.

“Yeah- you are pretty cute.” Tommy hummed and kissed his cheek before walking towards the kitchen to start dinner

Tommy loses Buck in IKEA

Okay, so this is a little inspired by @dazzle02's post right here. Enjoy! 🥰

"Let me move in with you," said Evan.

And.

And Tommy looked up at Evan.

Blinking.

There wasn't anything particularly special about tonight. Neither of them had that bad of a shift the day before, all things considered. It was after dinner. They were both in pajamas watching Shark Week. Besides Shark Week, there wasn't anything life-altering or important that would have made Tommy remember this lazy Thursday night.

But then again, something amazing always happened with Evan around.

Life-altering was Evan's modus operandi.

They met when Tommy was flying them into a hurricane. They got together after Evan maimed one of his best friends. Their second official date was at a last-minute hospital wedding when the original wedding had been canceled.

Dating Evan was nothing Tommy had ever experienced before.

And Tommy never wanted to stop.

"What?" Tommy laughed, not sure if he heard that right.

He was staring up at Evan. His head was in Evan's lap and Evan just - he kept playing with the curls in Tommy's hair; staring down at Tommy like he never wanted to look away from Tommy as he said, "Let me move in with you."

And it harkened back to that beer Evan still owed Tommy.

That Tommy was never going to let Evan give him. No, Tommy loved the idea of still being tied like that. To forever joke about the beer Evan still owed him.

"You want to move in with me?" asked Tommy.

And it wasn't that Tommy was against it. The moment Evan brought it up, all Tommy wanted to say was yes, yes, of course, Evan, yes.

But.

They had only been dating maybe four months at this point. Tommy wasn't against the breakneck pace Evan seemed the most comfortable in, but at the same time, that was a big decision. And that wasn't to say that Tommy didn't believe that Evan would want this, but it was always good to be absolutely sure.

"You've got a kickass garage. You've got the best beer in town. I heard a beast lives here. Why wouldn't I want to too?" asked Evan.

"Evan."

"Tommy."

Tommy snorted.

"Tommy, I hate my loft. I hate my fucking loft. I got it with my girlfriend Aly because she liked it, and then she almost immediately broke up with me. I haven't been able to decide on a damn couch in that place. I don't know why I have two balconies," said Evan, "But none of that is even why I'm offering this."

Tommy laughed.

"Offering?"

"Tommy, I - I miss you," said Evan with all his heart; a little broken.

Tommy reached out; placed a hand on Evan's cheek.

"Evan. I'm right here," said Tommy softly.

"I miss you when I wake up and you hadn't slept over. I miss you when I try out a new dish and you're not there to taste-test it. I miss seeing you just randomly reading Chef's Choice or The Dos and Donuts of Love or - or How to Find a Princess or Better Than People or The State of Us on your couch whenever I walk into your house with the key you gave me. I miss the lavender you insist on making your house smell like. I miss you when I get in my car and realize we won't be carpooling. That you won't insist on driving and I won't get to play you music as we start our drive early so we can take a scenic way to my work or yours. I just miss you. All the time. I want to fucking live in your pocket. Which is a lot. I know. But I want that. I want you. And I'm so sure you want that too."

And.

And okay, if they were being honest.

"Evan, I - I wake up and it feels empty if you're not here. If you're not sprawled on top of me when I wake up. If you're not laughing and insisting that we take a shower together. That if we do, we'll be saving water. Despite the fact that you know full well that it takes double the time with how distracted we get. I miss you when I walk up to my coffee maker and you're not there to play the 'guess how Tommy takes his coffee' game that I think you're failing on purpose at this point - "

"No, I'm not," said Evan like a liar.

"Oh, I know you are," laughed Tommy, "But I kind of love that because it's still fun. And I miss you when you're not there to get into my Mustang with that jerry-rigged contraption of yours that somehow forces Bluetooth to work on my stereo. And how you keep showing me all these new and amazing songs I never would have dreamed of finding on my own."

"People are sleeping on Kehlani," said Evan.

"Yeah. I know," agreed Tommy, "And - and I miss you when I don't get to kiss you goodbye and hear you say you'll see me after your shift. And I miss you when you're not there to pick me up or if I'm not there to pick you up and you kiss me hello and ask how my day was and tell me all about yours. And I'm not saying we need to be glued together. But I am saying that every moment I get with you makes my whole day better. My week. My month. My year. My life. And, uh. I don't know, maybe you owe me moving into my house."

Evan laughed.

"Oh, I owe you now, huh?"

"I mean, you offered. Pay up. Move in."

Evan laughed harder, leaning down to kiss Tommy. And it was an awkward angle, and the kiss was a bit messy, but it left Tommy breathless; left Tommy swimming in overwhelming yes.

"Okay. I guess I'm moving in," said Evan happily, his smile soft and so excited.

"Yeah, you are," said Tommy as he pulled Evan back into another mind-blowing kiss.

What if Eddie had been a little less oblivious and had invited to Buck to trivia-karaoke night.

They’re all three going to hang out at the karaoke bar, and at first Buck’s nervous because Tommy is super cool, but once the trivia quiz actually starts, all the nerves go away, and Buck’s sponge of a brain has a chance to shine.

He gets question after question right, barely having to consult the two others. Eddie’s probably used to this side of Buck, but Tommy gets to sit there, mesmerised because not only is Buck exceedingly attractive but he also has brains (does Tommy have a competency kink? Who’s to say).

By the end of the night, Tommy’s probably forgotten all about trying to answer the questions, too busy watching Buck’s eyes light up every time he knows an answer (and those eyes light up an awful lot). Overall, the night goes well, and Buck’s amazing brain probably wins them a pitcher of free beer or something.

Because that night went so well, all three of them start hanging out more and more. Maybe Tommy somewhat discreetly suggests to Eddie that they invite Buck along, just so he has the opportunity to stare in Buck’s eyes some more.

But Tommy doesn’t do anything at about his developing crush, at least not right away.

Firstly it’s because Tommy’s trying to figure out just what the deal is between Eddie and Buck. Are they dating? Are they the most healthy divorced couple of LA? BFFs? Platonic soulmates? Not-so-platonic soulmates?

Maybe it doesn’t take him that long to figure out that those two are not together, but then he still needs to make sure that there isn’t some unrequited or very-requited-but-they’re-both-oblivious crushing going on between Eddie and Buck.

My guess it takes him a while to finally decide that they’re some flavour of queerplatonic life partners (he decides on this after a lot of subtle and not so subtle questions; Christopher is probably his most helpful informant).

(Realistically, Tommy would have probably just straight up asked one of them if they were together because Tommy seems pretty good at communication, but that’s no fun for me.)

But then, once he’s figured out that Eddie and Buck are definitely not a thing, he still needs to figure out what exactly Buck’s sexuality is.

Because, sure Buck’s only ever dated women and is such an ‘ally’. But Buck spends way too long looking at other men’s asses. Tommy notices this because he’s probably caught Buck staring at the same asses Tommy himself was just looking at (remember the hanger scene when Tommy very blatantly checks out Buck’s ass).

So now Tommy’s having to figure out just what Buck’s sexuality is. Is Buck gay? Is he closeted? Is he as straight as he claims to be? Is he repressed? Also what’s with all the flirting (because of course Buck’s going to be unknowingly flirting with Tommy; Buck just can’t help himself).

Eventually, Tommy and Buck are going to have some one-on-one bonding time without Eddie.

Buck takes him up on those flying lessons which means Tommy gets trapped in a confined space with Buck on a regular basis, having to deal with his growing feelings towards what can only be a golden retriever in human form. Buck is kind and sincere and so so earnest, Tommy has no choice but to fall for him.

But Tommy still doesn’t know where Buck’s sexuality lies, and he’s getting to the point where’s pulling his hair out in frustration, trying to figure it out. Because no way can a heterosexual man stare at Tommy’s lips that often. There is no straight reason for that, right?

He then makes the mistake of also offering Buck Muay Thai lessons.

He doesn’t realise his mistake until they’re both sweaty and shirtless. Buck looks very good sweaty and shirtless. But it’s fine, Tommy manages to cope, he just avoids looking at the large expanse of wet skin right in front of him. He’s not distracted by all that skin. He’s fine.

(Luckily, Buck doesn’t know enough about Muay Thai to notice how badly Tommy is fighting.)

Somehow they both get tangled up and they fall to the ground (I don’t know shit about Muay Thai). Buck lands flat on his back and Tommy ends up on top of him. Tommy goes to get off Buck immediately because Tommy’s not exactly light, but then he makes another mistake: just as he places his hands on either side of Buck to push off the ground, he looks at Buck’s face

Buck’s cheeks are nice and red (because of exertion? Because of Tommy’s close proximity? Both?), Buck’s breathing heavily, his breaths getting faster and faster the longer Tommy stays where he is. Buck’s eyes are near black, his pupils leaving only the thinnest band of colour.

Buck’s staring at Tommy, and Tommy’s staring at Buck. Then Buck once again glances down at Tommy’s lips as Tommy is lying over him, their sweaty chests pressing against one another.

And Tommy cracks.

He throws himself off Buck, getting to his feet, and crosses over to the other side of the mat to put some distance between himself and Buck.

When he turns back to look at Buck, Buck is still lying on the ground, now leaning back on his forearms, looking up at Tommy. Which is a sight Tommy would love nothing more than to see again.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Tommy says, “but are you really straight?” Which is definitely not how Tommy wanted this conversation to start, but sue him, he’s having a breakdown. “Sorry,” he repeats, “It’s just there’s been a lot of flirting and a lot of starring at my various attributes,” he tries again, poorly, “Not that I’m complaining; I would love nothing more than to have you stare at my lips and flirt with me for as long as you want. But I need to know where we stand before I lose my mind trying to figure you out.”

And the thing is, Tommy’s not the only one who’s been struggling these past few weeks.

Buck’s been dealing with these weird feelings towards Tommy since day 1. At first he just figured it was because Tommy was so cool (which he is), and then he thought it was because he was jealous that Tommy was spending so much time with Eddie, thinking maybe Tommy was trying to steal his spot in the Diaz household. But is wasn’t either of those things. Buck’s been wracking his brain for weeks, trying to figure out just what he was feeling towards Tommy.

And here’s Tommy, all sweaty and shirtless, so much glistening skin on display, and Tommy’s offering Buck a possible answer to all these feelings he’s been unable to name.

And what Tommy’s implying makes some sense. Buck thinks over all the instances he’s hung out with Tommy, compares his behaviour to the times he’s had crushes on women, and thinks maybe Tommy’s onto something.

Buck, who is a big believer of the scientific method of experimentation, figures there’s an easy way to test Tommy’s theory.

Buck slowly gets up from the mat as his brain goes into hyper-drive, processing the fastest sexuality crisis known to humanity.

Maybe Buck flexes a bit as he gets up because Tommy’s watching him and he’s always liked attention.

By the time he straightens up, the sexuality crisis has been dealt with and he’s ready to act on these newly revealed feelings.

He likes Tommy’s theory a lot.

“I have been staring at your lips a lot, haven’t I?” He says, purposeful flirty.

(Once again they have both been (knowingly or not) starring at each other longingly for weeks, they are both shirtless and covered in sweat, and had their naked chests pressed up together just moments ago; neither of them are thinking very rationally.)

And Buck (flirty Buck who made picking woman up into an art-form) walks/stalks over to Tommy, leaving enough room for Tommy to back away if he wants to.

“Maybe you should do something about that?” Buck suggests, and very deliberately stares down at Tommy’s lips.

Tommy knows they should have a more thorough discussion about where both of them stand, but he’s only one man.

Tommy closes the gap between them, places two fingers underneath Buck’s chin, and slowly leans in to finally kiss Buck.

The kiss lasts no more than a moment, not nearly long enough for either of their tastes, but Tommy needs to be sure that Evan’s sure.

“So?” he asks simply, fingers still under Evan’s chin.

“Yeah, definitely not straight.” And Evan leans in to kiss Tommy again. Tommy does not mind at all.

(They then spend the rest of their Muay Thai lesson making out.)

Buck and Tommy as text posts part 1/?

Okay, so I've been thinking a lot about some of the choices the writers made in season 7 re: Buck, Tommy, and Eddie, and about the conversations people in fandom are having about them. This is really long and tedious as hell, and I'm sorry for that, but I kind of needed to spill all my thoughts somewhere to organize them in my own brain.

Huge disclaimer: I am not Tim Minear's secret BFF, so I'm talking out my ass with the spec about writers' motivations and thought processes. Season 8 could air and prove me wrong on every single point.

As someone who started watching 911 in season 3, I latched on to the potential of Buck/Eddie as a ship right away. I was never somebody who necessarily expected or believed that it would become canon, but I loved the characters, and I loved the pairing. I was content to enjoy it as a well-fed fanon ship, but I’ll admit I did have moments where I thought they could have gone there: the shooting, Eddie’s breakdown, the lightning strike/couch theory era, etc. The season 6 finale poured cold water on the small hope of it ever going canon for me, and I think season 7 has put the nail in that coffin (which is fucking wild for me to say, considering one half of the pairing is now canonically bisexual).  

Here’s the thing: I had a moment before 7x04 when the press was clearly hinting at a bisexual Buck arc and we suspected a Buck/Tommy kiss was going to happen where I thought, Oh, man, they could do it! They could have Buck come out and discover he has feelings for Eddie. My assumption was that if they did, Eddie would return or at least acknowledge his feelings for Buck an episode or two later, because the idea of two totally separate coming-out arcs has never made sense to me in the context of the business of television.  

Although the fandom itself leans young and queer, 911’s general audience is heterosexual, middle-aged, and unfortunately has limits about how much queerness it believes is ‘realistic’ in a procedural genre television show (see: all the backlash on social media after 7x04 about how 911 is “woke” because they “turned Buck gay” despite the show always featuring queer characters; see also: all the het women whining on Facebook and Instagram about how Buck is now unattractive because he’s “gay” and thus unavailable to them, despite him being bi and not a real person, lol.) Like it or not, the show’s survival depends on this middle-of-the-road audience of casual viewers, not a few thousand passionate fans on the internet, and the network is always going to prioritize keeping its biggest demographic happy. 

I think it’s clear that the writers had a hell of a time fighting for queer Buck, and we now know that they were flat-out unable to manage it on Fox. ABC was willing to take the risk, although I do find it very interesting that they greenlit two more queer male characters, Buck and Tommy (one main, one guest/recurring) after the show had already lost two queer male characters, Michael and David (one main, one guest/recurring.) It was a lateral move. Just food for thought. 

In any case, getting two queer mains -- both Buck and Eddie -- would be much harder to pitch to a money-focused executive suit. Given Oliver Stark’s comments on a queer Buck storyline being considered in season 4, the (dubious) Twitter leaker’s supposed knowledge of queer Eddie being pitched in season 5, and Lou Ferrigno Jr.’s comment about Tommy being floated as a love interest for both Eddie and Buck at various points in the planning process, I think that paints a pretty solid picture of what might have happened: Fox shut down the possibility of making either Buck or Eddie queer, and ABC okayed it for one of them, not both. And the writers sat down, thought about both characters’ storylines and queer-coding, and decided that Buck made the most sense for the story they wanted to tell with Tommy. 

Let’s consider the other option, though -- that ABC was convinced in season 7 to greenlight Buck and Eddie coming out, with the understanding that it would lead to a relationship. The fandom would be thrilled, of course. But how would you, as writers and producers, sell this to the very important general audience? 

If the show was really going to go there with their two most popular “hot guy” male leads and they wanted to get the general audience’s buy-in that they would badly need, they would probably want to frame the arc from the beginning as a story about two friends who discover that they love each other. (As a queer person, I don’t love the tired old trope of “I thought I was straight but maybe this person is my exception and/or I don’t know what my sexuality is but I love you,” but I could definitely see them thinking that would be more palatable to an audience that had never considered Buck and Eddie to be anything more than platonic friends. In fact, they actually did kind of use this method with Buck/Tommy, in that Buck’s arc is focused on one person and he hasn’t yet explicitly called himself ‘bisexual’, but I’m somewhat optimistic that they’ll remedy this in season 8.)  All that’s to say, if they wanted to make Buddie work for an audience that wasn’t already primed to scour the material for subtext, they would need to make Buck and Eddie’s realizations explicitly about each other. They would need the audience to accept the idea of them being romantically linked to each other early on even if they didn’t immediately have the two of them get together. 

The show didn’t do that. They linked Buck’s bisexual arc to another character. And not just a new, throwaway character that could be easily discarded  – a character who already fit into the 911 universe, a fellow firefighter who would be easy to integrate into future storylines, and a character with a distinct and established personality (love him or hate him, you can’t deny people feel strongly about his character).  

So now Buck has come out, and he’s in a relationship with Tommy. This arc was thankfully received well – or at least wasn’t controversial enough to have an effect on the ratings, which is what ABC cares about – and for the general audience and new viewers, this facet of Buck’s journey is associated with Tommy. In real life, of course, it’s reductive (if not offensive) to say that somebody’s sexuality is about one person; if he were a real person, Buck would be bi whether or not he met Tommy and whether or not he ever dated a man. But because Buck is fictional, and this storyline was written specifically in the context of Buck discovering his feelings for a particular person, that person is now linked to Buck’s bisexuality in the minds of the general audience.  

That choice alone gave me pause. If you wanted to convince a skeptical audience that Buck and Eddie were meant for each other, why would you introduce such a solid rival? Still, a love triangle could work. After 7x05, there was speculation in the fandom about setting up a jealousy arc, in which Eddie would realize his feelings after seeing Buck and Tommy together. Theoretically, this could be a way to ease the audience into the idea of Buddie, if you did it early enough in the story. But there are two big things the writers did in the ensuing episodes that pivoted the characters in the opposite direction:  

The writers doubled down on Eddie being in-your-face heterosexual in a way that he wasn’t in his oddly chaste relationship with Ana. They used valuable screentime on postcoital scenes demonstrating that he’s happily down to pound town onscreen with Marisol; it's the nun thing that throws him off, not her being a woman. He very much seemed to enjoy having sex with her before that and is sexually frustrated when his religious guilt prevents him from continuing to have sex with her. More significantly, the arc with Kim at least implied, if not outright confirmed, that Eddie is still in love with Shannon – his feelings are strong enough to blow up his entire life for the chance to recapture even a pale imitation of what he believed they had together. The writers made an effort in season 6 to reframe Shannon as the great love of Eddie’s life, where it was sort of messier and less rose-tinted in previous seasons. The fact that they doubled-down on this in season 7 makes it extremely unlikely that the general audience would believe that Eddie could go from pining for his wife years after her death to secretly in love with Buck the whole time. Not only did seeing Buck with Tommy not trigger any latent feelings for his friend in Eddie, but he spent the entire second half of the season stewing in his unresolved feelings for Shannon instead.  

The writers portrayed Buck as being fully “in” with his budding relationship with Tommy. He is explicitly attracted both sexually and romantically to Tommy. He doesn’t express any doubts or reservations about his choice after 7x05 and in fact is the one to pursue it as something serious. They didn’t have Buck choose time with Eddie over Tommy, even when the blow-up with Chris would have provided them with a perfect narrative reason to do so. They didn’t have Tommy express any jealousy about Eddie or even seem slightly concerned about his friendship with Buck, even though there were opportunities to do so. The writing went out of its way to frame Buck’s friendship and his relationship as two separate parts of his life that aren’t in conflict with each other. Eddie has been openly and enthusiastically supportive of Buck's new relationship. Eddie likes Tommy. Christopher likes Tommy. Tommy likes both Eddie and Christopher. Buck loves them all. There’s no drama there, and if this was supposed to lead into a love triangle ending in Buddie, I really believe they would have made that clear to the audience with blatant foreshadowing.  

All that’s to say, this show isn’t subtle. If they were intending to convince the general audience to buy into the idea of Buddie, they would be working hard to muddy the waters surrounding the Buck/Tommy/Eddie of it all from the beginning; they would want the audience to have doubts about Tommy as soon as the relationship began and establish Eddie's jealousy right away. Why on earth would they take the trouble of getting their viewers (many of them new to the show after the network switch) attached to Tommy as a character and get them invested in Buck and Tommy as a couple in a happy little romcom if they were going to turn around and jettison it all and say Surprise! It was Buck/Eddie the whole time!? From a writing perspective, that’s a bad twist. If you want that reversal to work, you need to build it up beforehand and plant seeds of conflict from the start. And for that casual, general audience, there are no seeds; they aren’t scrutinizing every word and glance for proof that Buck and Eddie have feelings for each other. They’re not pulling from past episodes to draw parallels in the narrative. The vast majority of them probably don’t even have an inkling that Buck/Eddie is a thing that people ship. They’re not reading Tommy’s every action in bad faith and looking for hints that he’s actually terrible for Buck. They sit down to watch an episode, take it at face value, and then don't think about the show again until the next episode. For them, a Buddie twist would be unsatisfying if not outright unbelievable, because it would come out of absolutely nowhere. 

911’s writers have been known to make baffling and offensive choices, but they are capable of creating a careful story, and I don’t think they would fumble this so badly when so much is at stake for the future of their creative choices. ABC took a risk with bi Buck, and if the writers and Tim have any sense at all, they wouldn’t want to invite backlash from the audience or from their bosses.

If they were going to go forward with queer Eddie and a love triangle in season 8, they could and should have set it up in season 7, given that they actually had their renewal in the bag early enough to plan ahead for once. To me, season 7 read as Eddie being finally and definitively cast into the role of platonic best friend, while Tommy was cast into the role of romantic partner. If Tim and Co. truly wanted to make Buddie canon this whole time and finally got permission to go ahead, I don’t believe they would have made any of the choices they made in season 7. 

WHY I DON'T WANT EDDIE DIAZ TO BE QUEER

There is a lot of discourse online about Eddie's sexuality. I fall in the camp of Eddie is heterosexual - although admittedly I've read more than my fair share of Buck/Eddie fanfiction. As a queer man, it is my sincere belief it is more meaningful and interesting that Eddie be straight and no, it's not because I think there's only a set number of queer characters allowed on this show or I'm championing a BuckTommy endgame (my endgame is Evan Buckley being happy regardless of who he is romantically involved with).

When I was younger, I was the only queer person in my all-male friend group. I spent most of my teens and my early-20's hiding my sexuality out of fear that my straight guy friends would turn their back on me. Currently, I've fallen out of touch with those guys but there are times where I wish I'd been braver and come out to them.

Evan Buckley coming out as bisexual was such a special moment for me and countless others. However, there is another pivotal moment that seems to get overshadowed. Eddie Diaz accepting Buck without question and assuring him that nothing would change about their friendship was such a powerful, revolutionary moment. It's a moment I wish I got years ago from the young men I called my best friends.

So, this is why I don't want Eddie Diaz to be queer. I know that's a weird sentiment to have coming from a queer person and I may be in the minority when it comes to this particular opinion. However, I stand by my words. I don't know what will happen in season 8 or the seasons that follow, I just hope they we continue seeing Eddie being an amazing, supportive ally and friend to Buck.

My trc community is still pending, but in the meantime;

I made 911 community that did get approved! I'm sick of seeing so much infighting between BuckTommy and Buddie shippers, so this is specifically a place for people who ship BOTH (and people who ship all 3 together!)

It is a private community.

Members must be 18+.

No fighting, bullying, etc. Shipping is fun so let's have fun.

No Tommy or Eddie hate. In this house, we love and respect them both.

If you want an invite, send me an ask/dm or reblog/reply to this post. Likes don't count and reblogs are appreciated. You don't have to be following me but I'm always looking for new friends and i usually follow back ❤️