exploring-the-cosmos

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The thought of Merlin living long enough to see gay marriage become legalized and immediately thinking of Arthur with a sad smile and stinging eyes because he was never allowed to love him when he was ali-*gun shots*

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sam, reading bilbo’s book: “well now, i’m sure he had a very nice voice, but that’s hardly a reason to go on an adventure with someone you just met”

sam: turns page to an illustration of thorin, with his dark hair and blue eyes

sam: “understandable, good for you mister bilbo”

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Me, selecting filters on Ao3

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Alright, alright. I know a lot of us are still probably riding the high of whatever was going on between them in the BuzzFeed Thrist Tweets video (+the other interviews from today), but I would like to take a moment before the finale airs to put out my predictions/what I would like to see in tonight's episode so here it goes:

One of the interviews mentioned that multiple members of the 118 may be considering leaving. Eddie currently isn't a member of the 118, so I do not think this applies to him atm. I think Ravi is a pretty obvious answer for who may want to leave. He has ready expressed doubts about if he can continue to do the job when talking with Buck, and I could see that conversation come up again while they are trapped together. The first time he was having doubts because he did not notice the child in the back of the car and blamed himself for making that mistake, even though there was no way for him to know and he was not the only one on the scene who could have checked more thoroughly. It would not supprise me if some of that same guilt came up with the recent passing of Bobby. Maybe he is in some way blaming himself because he didn't notice that Bobby's equipment had been compromised or that his condition was worsening. Again, it's not his fault, but I could see this as a thought process he latches onto as part of his own grief and self-doubt. I could also see Chimney being another person to consider leaving. We all know he took Bobby's death very personally, and he also experienced his own brush with death during the contagion emergency. With that in mind and with Maddie being as far along in her pregnancy as she is, I could see him maybe considering taking a step back to focus on his family for a bit. Maybe it's something he brings up when him and Athena are trapped together and eventually address the tension Bobby's death has caused between them. Idk. I'm not 100% sure on who else would consider leaving and for what reason, but Chimney makes the most sense to me out of everyone else in the 118.

I would love for Hen to need to step up in some way and really take up a leadership role again. Maybe this could lead to her reconsidering turning down the captain position. I would really love to see her as captain again and really hate the idea that she can't be a hands-on mother and an excellent captain. If not her, though, I would love to see Chimney step into that role. This is also assuming we don't get Bobby back (yes, I am still Bobbyalivemaxxing, and I will be quite pissed off if this is really the disrespect Peter Krause gets for all the years he dedicated to the show if Bobby is really dead).

I am not the only one to think this, but from the still we got for tonight's episode, it seems like maybe it will start with the suprise bbq party Buck had mentioned Han wanted to throw Eddie to celebrate his job offer in El Paso. It does seem like he has committed to taking the job as we see his luggage packed, and he has been given his turnouts to take with him (which I have heard is normal for firefighters transferring to a different station). We also see him having a conversation with Tia Pepa. I think the conversation may be overall supportive of Eddie doing whatever he wants, but maybe she also urges him to consider everything he will be leaving behind-- the family he will be leaving behind. I do think it would be cute if she meddled a bit and kind of tried to nudge Eddie towards examining his feelings for Buck-- similar to how Maddie did to Buck in 8x11. They are interrupted by Chris noticing the news about the current emergency and firefighters getting trapped. He somehow finds out it's the 118 and decides to step in and help. I think, ultimately, with this emergency, he is going to realize that everything that matters to him is here in LA. On top of that, he is still dealing with his own grief and guilt over not being present when the 118 lost Bobby. As he said, he'll wonder for the rest of his life whether there was something he could have done to change Bobby's fate; if only he had been there, could he have made a difference? The rest of his 118 family being in danger, and him not stepping in to do something??? Not gonna happen. And I think by the end of it, he'll realize that he never wants to be anywhere but with them, making sure they're okay and will make it back home to their families. I think Buck being trapped (and potentially injured) will also be a catalyst for this decision and, hopefully, him realizing that his feelings for Buck are romantic.

Realistically, I do not believe we are getting a kiss between Buck and Eddie tonight. I think it makes the most sense that we get confirmation of Eddie's feelings in the aftermath of the emergency. He has to call to turn down the job offer, and I think that's the perfect opportunity to make a call-back to his conversation with the captain when he was interviewing for the job. At the time, he said there was nothing that would prevent him from taking this job-- he's single-- but he realizes that that's not really the case. He does have someone to stay in LA for. Maybe Buck ends up also having his feelings realization at some point during the episode and has the "you were right, I am in love with him," conversation with Maddie. I like the idea that one or both of them realize and for those feelings to be explictily acknowledged by the end of the episode but for them to ultimately not confess. Then S9 picks up with them as roommates trying to navigate living together while struggling with their feelings for each other, thinking it's unrequited (Eddie) or couldn't happen (Buck).

So yeah those are my thoughts. I hope at least some of this happens but I guess we'll seeeee

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yall are throwing queerbaiting around a little too loosely. just take a deep breath and bathe in the glow of ryan calling oliver his love interest. it’s so much more fun over here than dooming. live laugh love. feels the rain on your skin. please i’m begging

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I wish I had remained as cautious as you this season cause I feel stupid for getting sucked in and having expectations.

listen i won’t lie and say that i am exempt from making exceptions too… im a pessimist- i got that from the amount of times i’ve been burned by network shows before, but even i have that small part of my brain that is like “but what if” which means even though i know something probably wont happen in an episode, i still get disappointed when it doesn’t

the thing is tho that i think fans should have expectations… this whole flying by the seat of tim’s pants thing that he does in terms of writing is something unique to this show and not in a good way (well- maybe not unique but definitely most prevalent here) it’s not fair to cast, crew, or fans, and to me it shows a lack of dedication to the craft, and in my honest opinion should get him blacklisted.

like- if he hates putting in effort on the show so much, why doesn’t he just leave? (we know why bc he’s a narcissistic pig, but ANYWAY)

i think what they’ve done with press this week **if nothing concrete happens with buddie (again- i’m literally stuck in limbo on whether or not i think smth’s happening) is really shitty and my hope is that fans start contacting abc executives, starting petitions, etc. to show them that we aren’t just here for whatever pops into tim’s brain. yes- to an extent there are things that we don’t expect and they work out and can be really good moments, i’m not saying he should do every little thing the fandom wants bc that would make a boring show (and only cause more derision among fans), but what i’m saying is that we need to show them that we are done falling for this formula of “oh, we need to build up ratings/viewership, lets write a buddie plot that really seems to stir the pot, tease it in interviews after the fact, and then completely drop it once we got what we want.”

something i personally find a little funny is that so many people this week have been going “if they wanted to shut buddie down they wouldn’t do all this” and im like…. but they dont want to shut buddie down… if they did that they’d lose too much of their main audience… they want to keep us around which is why they pull stunts like this. queerbaiting is an unfortunate part of media and it unfortunately is effective in what it’s used for, and abc, tim minear, oliver stark, and ryan guzman (no matter how much we love and want to trust them) are not exempt from doing it. i know they say they are, but lets be real who would actually own up to queerbaiting?

i love ryan and oliver but even i have to wake up and smell the roses that at the end of the day this is their job, and while they do genuinely love their characters, regardless of what their feelings are towards buddie or any other storyline, theybare going to do and say what they are told because it’s their job to do so- even if it means lying to our faces about buddie. it’s unfortunate, but it’s true.

i’m not gonna watch the episode live bc i’ll be in rehearsal, and honestly? i’m kinda glad bc even if something buddie does happen, i’d rather have the confirmation either way then forcing myself to nervously watch and getting disappointed in real time (again IF we don’t get anything)

i just feel like the fandom as a whole needs to realize that you can be optimistic and positive without placing complete faith in these people who in all actuality do not care about our feelings, and they need to understand that tim isn’t in this for the characters, he’s not in it for the fans, he’s in it for the massive paycheck disney gives him, and as long as they allow him to work unsupervised, the show is gonna be what he wants it to be

i don’t mean to bring anyone’s spirits down- i don’t want that to be my brand on here, but i do think this fandom can be a little (a lot) naive sometimes and while it’s okay and even sometimes beneficial to carry that bit of naivety, when you create expectations based purely on trusting a capitalist broadcasting company, you’re bound to be disappointed

i would not wish for ANYONE to have the viewing experience i donbc being entirely honest the way i navigated this season was utter HELL for me, and like most other people were having the time of their lives up until a couple weeks ago

so i say all of this not to be like “everyone should doom and close on buddie and never watch the show again” bc i don’t want that- i love this show and i want it to continue… but if it does continue then there NEEDS to be a change and i feel like fandom has to be the catalyst for that.

TLDR; don’t be like me, but everyone should learn to temper their expectations when it comes to queer ships on network television

sorry for kinda hijacking your ask 😭😭 i started yapping and a lot just spilled out

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so ryan said that more plaid shirts = texas, but a staple LA outfit for eddie has always been henleys…..

is there something meta about how eddie will take off the plaid shirt, leaving him in only the henley, to go help the 118

No, because this is something that has been happening, @stagefoureddiediaz touched on it on her costume metas for 8b, but like, when he's in Texas, he's in plaid, it's also a thing in Eddie begins.

But in 812, when he's questioning if it was the right decision, that is a henley and it is a very "Eddie in LA" outfit even though he is in Texas.

And in 817, the talk with henren we have the henley being hidden by the plaid. But it is a different style of plaid.

But the fight, he has an overshirt, but no plaid and the shirt is just a regular black long sleeve.

And at the end of the episode is also not a henley. But we have the plaid. And how odd the shirt fits. And that rust type orange.

And it's interesting because when playing with it in a positive light, it's a color used to invoke warmth because flames, so it can be a comforting tone, it's about resilience. But it's also associated with headstrongness, and that paired with the emotional turmoil that's always associated with checkers and patterns on the show got me 👀👀 (it being Buck's therapy color also got me perking up like a dog, because it can also be about creating stability, which is what I assume they wanted to invoke with Buck there, how he craves stability) (the scenes here are Buck therapy season in 403, when he tells Eddie he should've been the one who got shot in 414, when he talks to the lawyer and the scene at the station where finds out Lena is there, leading to the lawsuit, when he saves the guy in the windshield and finishes the lawsuit arc for real, when he finds out about Daniel, when he tells Maddie he is in therapy and when he talks to Chris about being a player and Shannon in 701, this all plays with Buck wanting stability but being stuck in his ways)

The orange is one of the colors of the season tho and he conveniently matches Buck's furniture and while my deranged ramble about how the kitchen represents El Paso, the living room represents LA and the dining room is the limbo of "i want to reach you but i can't" is a deranged ramble, Eddie having the conversation with Pepa in the living room while all packed is interesting. And the fact that we are picking the orange thread back up. Considering Buck starts 817 in orange just for Eddie to end in it and still be in it.

Not to mention the white henley connotations.

After Shannon's funeral, when he stands up to his parents about wanting to be in LA, conveniently with Pepa's support, before the tsunami, something that triggers what could've been the biggest loss of his life but ends up establishing him and Buck as partners, and the beginning of Eddie's breakdown happens in a white henley. The white henley opens cycles for him.

White is historically transformative for Eddie, another example of the white is the Kim scene, and while this isn't a henley, this does have a similar fabric to the henley he's wearing in those stills.

I don't know if we are gonna get him in just the shirt, but holy fuck I'm excited if we do end up getting the symbolic moment of him taking the flannel off just to put on his lafd turnouts and have some mayday moment.

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The contrast between buddies being excited af about this press tour and bummies being absolutely sure we got "shut down" is so funny to me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm fully prepared to re-live my SPN and BBC Sherlock era after the finale. But babes, then this press tour will be blatant queerbaiting and it will kill the show.

If they wanted to shut buddie down, they would do that. No questions asked. Sending Oliver and Ryan together to do press is either baiting or making sure GA knows who these people are and what buddie is.

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"You want somebody who is going to be there for you when it's good but also when it's tough"

ostarkk I see you going home and reading through your old scripts:

MADDIE: I think it’s supposed to be romantic. You know, the idea that the guy would work hard every day making her fall in love with him over and over again.

BUCK: So, every day is the best day ever. Is that really love? Right? Shouldn’t it be when you’re at your worst, they’re at their worst, you have every reason to give up and you still decide you want to try again.

MADDIE: I guess it is.

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"But here’s the thing, right, like genuinely when you’re playing those scenes that was not in our head at the moment. Looking back, I do see how it was taken." – Oliver Stark on Smith Sisters Live

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maddie cutting through chimney’s spiral of grief and guilt to say that she will always be grateful for the choice bobby made to save chimney. god. and the thing is that chimney needed to hear that. but also. maddie needed to say it. it’s so messed up when your grief over your friend is in battle with the relief that the love of your life is still here. and she comforted chimney in a way that prioritised both those feelings. madneymadneymadney forever.

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Eddie looking at s2 buck: I think a kid can fix him and make him feel better

Eddie looking at s8 buck: I think a kid can fix him and make him feel better

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i know that this show is sometimes haha silly funtimes and we like to make jokes about freeway sharks and beenados. etc. but it does actually make me a little genuinely sad that people who haven't watched it but have maybe formed an impression of what the show is via gifs think that it's ALL silly goofy emergencies + a two guys standing next to each other ship + a network procedural that their mom watches. when really it is a character-driven dramedy that explores grief and suicide and sexuality and identity. and ALSO has beenados and freeway sharks. and the ship is not just a two guys standing next to each other ship like. at all.

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We've had multiple shots of Buck and Eddie framed with a wall as a barrier between them. And it's just occurred to me, they need to break down the metaphorical wall to get to each other, to move to the next stage of their relationship. We're going to see Eddie breaking down a literal wall to get to Buck next week, in turn breaking down that metaphorical wall. Calling it now.

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9-1-1 as The Onion Headlines - s8b edition (Part 4) (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

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I think the most heartbreaking part of this episode is the fact that Eddie wants to grieve with Buck.

Not at him

Buck wants to be there for him but Eddie just wants someone to cry with him.