buckleybltch

[buckleybltch]

EVAN BUCKLEY and TOMMY KINARD 9-1-1 (2018-) 8.06

[buckleybltch]

I actually have sooo many issues with 911 lately that haven't even got much to do with any ships.

Like. They wrote out almost all of the side characters. Chris is gone, Linda and Sue are gone, Athena's kids are gone (even though Harry just moved in with her and Bobby again? Seriously, where is Harry?), Ravi is gone, Carla is gone. I know the GA maybe don't care that much, casual viewers might not even have noticed that this many characters have just vanished from the show, but in my opinion this is one of the things that give a show running as long as 911 life. Having a big cast is a good thing. Otherwise things are going to get very monotonous very soon.

Actually, that's my second point. They keep repeating storylines! Every season Hen and Karen have to fight a custody battle over one of their kids.

Every season Eddie ends up realising he has a lot of repressed trauma and issues which keep him from leading a healthy happy and free life.

Every season Bathena realise that they have communication issues and they fight about it, but then something traumatic happens and they forgive each other without ever really talking things out.

Every season we are reminded that Maddie's most prominent character trait is "traumatised", the writers just alternatingly bring up Doug again and sometimes the ppd arc.

Every season we see Buck being somewhat restless, looking and searching for something that will bring him true happiness and cycling through love interests that never stick around and each time when you think "oh, there it is, he's getting somewhere now" the writers go "BEEEP! WRONG!" and we start all over again. [This is not just about recent events aka Tommy, the break-up and Buck potentially going back to his 1.0 ways, this also happened in season 6 when he had his "it doesn't matter what other people see in me, I'm enough" revelation only to suddenly be like "omg, Natalia just sees me".]

And Chimney- he had his moment last season with the wedding episode, Kenneth Choi really ate that episode up, but his most prominent character trait is "Maddie's supportive husband". There's really not that much going on with him otherwise.

Another point I briefly touched upon above is consistency. Like Harry moving back in with Athena and Bobby and then just vanishing. Or Gerrard being more like a slightly unfriendly grandpa than an actual antagonist in season 8 when he was still spouting slurs in season 7.

And the timeline! We talked about this before ("last March", Mara's fostering to adoption timeline, Tommy tranferring to harbour "5 years ago"), but the newest "Tommy was actually Abby's Tommy" twist just adds to that. Tommy was with Abby for over 2 years. They were engaged. This was at a time when he was still at the 118. Tommy dated Abby presumably because he was in denial or maybe because he was hiding. In either case, wouldn't his team at least have heard about his fiancée, Abby the dispatcher? Wouldn't that have rung a bell when Buck eventually brought her around only a year or two later? Tommy did talk about his private life at least a little at work, even under Gerrard. It just doesn't make sense. (Not to mention this seems wildly out of character for Tommy who around the same time also said about himself "being single is easier".)

Then there's the pacing. This was a huge issue in season 7. They jumped from one personal soap opera drama to the next without taking any breathers, had almost no procedural in their drama the whole season, still somehow decided to spend one third of the entire season just on the opening disaster and also squeezed in a "Bobby begins for the third time now" episode. But okay, it was a shortened season, there were strikes, they switched networks, they were under a lot of pressure - I'll cut them some slack. At least they set up a bunch of interesting stuff for the following season.

But we're in season 8 now. The renewal was announced very early, they had a lot of time to plan this time. Also they have almost double the episodes they had last season, there's really no need to rush any of the major plots. I am done cutting them slack.

They wanna do a 3 part opening disaster again? Okay fine, you have the time now. I feel like they could've easily done it in 2 episodes (especially 8x02 felt a little "eh"), but okay. Better than the breakneck speed you were going at befo- Oh, what's that? 8x04 flying in with a steel chair. You resolved 70% percent of the plots you set up last season in one single episode with no build up, no emotional pay off and no lasting consequences? And you also squeezed in multiple unrelated calls at the same time? Damn, okay then. Good-bye potentially interesting storylines. Fuck me for being invested I guess. I thought there would at least maybe be some follow up in 8x05, but no.

Now that Halloween episode wasn't bad, it was actually the best episode of this season imo, but instead of following up on previously established conflicts and developments they just hit us with new Wilson family trauma and conflict that was also immediately fixed again. And now 8x06 has speedrun and dumped another storyline that had potential to go to deeper and interesting places. Not gonna talk too much about that though because this post is about the show as a whole, not ships.

And I am not yet convinced that there will be much more to come on the only thing that's left from last season: Eddie's deep dive into his trauma and repression. It's totally possible at this point that being told "you deserve nice things" by a random stranger actually solved all of his problems, it would be very in tone with 911's new style.

What are they even gonna do with the rest of this season? Revisiting the Hotshots set sounds fun, but ultimately inconsequential. You know what's great about a regular old procedural drama with ~20 episodes per season that comes on weekly? You have time. You can let the viewers sit with their emotions and thoughts for a week and keep them engaged by stretching things out a little.

But why should I bother getting emotionally invested in problems the characters are gonna solve within the same episode anyway? Or rather, even if I wanted to, how am I supposed to care if you don't give me the time to develop any feelings about anything that's happening? "Henren lost in court and are now completely forbidden from seeing Mara at all!" Damn, that must be so har- "JUST KIDDING! Ortiz is exposed and everything is perfect again now." Oh. Okay then, I guess.

Bottom line: The characters are all stuck in their own hamster wheels, they keep cutting side characters that could bring a breeze of fresh air (I'm honestly surprised they even kept Josh until now), they rush through all the storylines a such a ridiculous speed that I don't even have time to feel any sort of way about it, they don't even try to keep a consistency or sensible timeline going and they seem to strongly prioritise random funny bits that'll entertain the very casual viewers right now in this moment (tiger call, Billy Boils, Bee-nado, the 'Stache tm, "wait, it's the same Abby?", Gerrard being a fangirl at heart) instead of playing the long game and catering to people who actually pay a little attention to the show.

[On that last remark: I'm not talking about hardcore fans who analyse every single frame here, I mean casual fans who've watched the show on and off again for a while and who may not be involved in fandom but genuinely care about the show.]

I mean. What am I even still doing here? The show is treading water and I end up disappointed more often than not. I'm still holding out a little hope that they actually will do something interesting with Eddie and his sea-monkeys, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

[buckleybltch]

❤️Let Me Build a Life With You💙

A BuckTommy Smau

Watch Buck and Tommy’s life together through their instagram posts and texts. Join them on major milestones through their lives and everything in between.

December 2025 (Part 20)

Also on Twitter and AO3

Entire Series Here

[buckleybltch]

this whole thing will always be crazy to me because if i was watching this show without the post-interviews (i don't read them, but the quotes end up on my dash) i'd really be expecting buck to be chasing tommy down next episode, telling him he loves him, retracting the offer to move in, seeing if he can change his mind etc. that's what the show left us with. an aborted almost-love confession that needs to be finished. and it's completely batshit that the only reason i know that's not happening is some stupid quotes in an interview, entirely separate from the story actually playing out on screen.

[buckleybltch]

the open-ended and abrupt nature of their breakup is haunting, actually. it’s what makes things so difficult to process because they both want each other so much. they see a future with each other. but tommy didn’t let himself have that and buck didn’t get up and fight for it in that moment. but they want it. they want each other. that’s how it left off. with both of them wanting more with, possibly everything, with each other. the narrative didn’t conclude their relationship. it didn’t kill their relationship. it only left the possibility for more, and the more could be so fucking good, and that’s what hurts.

[buckleybltch]

[buckleybltch]

❤️Let Me Build a Life With You💙

A BuckTommy Smau

Watch Buck and Tommy’s life together through their instagram posts and texts. Join them on major milestones through their lives and everything in between.

November 2025 (Part 19)

Also on Twitter and AO3

Entire Series Here

[buckleybltch]

9-1-1 – 8.06: Confessions

[buckleybltch]

BuckTommy Instagram Series 17/?

[buckleybltch]

one quick thing i need to put out there uh as funny as it is to be like "omg the Glee namedrop bc he produced both shows" or whatever i DO need to inform you that pre-Glee/post-Glee era IS an actual academic discussion point. that is a genuine unit of cultural measurement and had been long before this. that piece of dialogue was not pulled out of nowhere it was pulled directly out of existing queer discourse.

[buckleybltch]

Red string of fate

[buckleybltch]

❤️Let Me Build a Life With You💙

A BuckTommy Smau

Watch Buck and Tommy’s life together through their instagram posts and texts. Join them on major milestones through their lives and everything in between.

October 2025 (Part 18)

Also on Twitter and AO3

Entire Series Here

[buckleybltch]

And if you asked me to, if you asked me, I would lose it all Like petals in a storm 'Cause, darling, I was born to press my head between your shoulder blades, at night when light is fading

"Fair" by The Amazing Devil

[buckleybltch]

❤️Let Me Build a Life With You💙

A BuckTommy Smau

Watch Buck and Tommy’s life together through their instagram posts and texts. Join them on major milestones through their lives and everything in between.

September 2025 (Part 17)

Also on Twitter and AO3

Entire Series Here

[buckleybltch]

oliver did also say in an interview a few weeks ago “IF buck and tommy ever go on a break”

he said IF and on a break. not when and break up. 👀👀👀

“Who he is and who he wants to be with”……….. ya that door isn’t firmly shut at all. This to me along side Oliver’s comments about slow burns tells me that they’ve shut the door on bucktommys first arc there will be a break (with some longing from Buck - thinking about him saying Buck thinking do I or do I not call him) and then second arc in 8b. This is my prediction could be completely wrong but I feel good about it.

You see the vision

[buckleybltch]

it's my bday soo here's a little gift 🫶🏻

[buckleybltch]

The best seat in the house is on his lap ♡