#Anti Helena Diaz

[chronicowboy]

okay see. did i want eddie full on yelling at helena? yes absolutely. did she deserve it? 1000%. BUT. i must say. i'm not mad about that scene because it was eddie turning helena's own tactics on her. a taste of her own medicine. i'm going to undermine all your carefully laid plans with a smile on my face so you can't do a damn thing about it. and there's a certain poetic fucking justice to that i think is just as delicious as a blowout.

[makorragal-312]

W-Was that our first non parental reconciliation on this show???

[lifewouldbebetteronmars]

Hey Helena, fuck off <3<3<3

Also while I’m at it, you too Ramon

[storygremlin]

By the way, I hope all the “Ramón isn’t so bad, it’s mostly Helena” stuff stops after this episode. It’s a solid reminder that just because Helena is usually the one saying shit doesn’t mean Ramón isn’t a fucking enabler getting exactly what he wants from it.

[kelbottumbles]

What do you mean give him time he'll come around, he WAS coming around but HELENA is pressuring him 😡😡😡

[vantherelentless]

There were literal serial killers on this show that I've hated less than Eddie's Bitch Ass Mother.

[stickdoodlefriend]

Considering how 911 has forgiven every terrible parent of the main characters, not forgiving Eddie who has devoted his entire life to Christopher since he was born would be absolutely ridiculous. Like Buck's whole speech to Chris on why to forgive Eddie is him forgiving his own parents who drove him to self-harm to gain attention? Which is way worse than what Eddie did. We've been told time and time again how much Eddie's parents messed him up in canon, and now suddenly they are the more 'stable' choice to parent a kid?

Another point if we continue with Eddie losing Chris is it would reinforce the very harmful lie that Eddie thinks: he cannot have joy, forgiveness, and identity outside of his son.

The blowout with Kim only happens once Eddie tries to find closure with Shannon in a very messed up form on non-consensual therapy. Eddie recognized what he was doing wrong and tried putting a stop to it. He was not going to go to Kim again after telling her about Shannon. But once he finds some sort of closure, he is punished harshly by his son walking in and then walking out of his life, making his worst nightmare come true.

He finds forgiveness with the help of the priest and joy in a very very long time? The newest clip seems to punish him immediately with now Chris might not even come back.

CHRIS'S POV

Even from Chris's POV, it doesn't make sense that somehow both the Diaz grandparents suddenly gained emotional intelligence and maturity to raise Chris in a healthy environment to get over his trauma when they couldn't do that for more than 30 years?! Chris is avoiding, I doubt he is getting therapy there to deal with it. It was traumatic and he is valid for being mad but staying mad is hurting him. Eddie's whole arc and issue stem from the toxic masculinity that he needed to unlearn which makes him the king of repression. You know who caused a silly goofy man (Eddie at his core is very silly and is forced to be serious) to repress? His parents who are now somehow better options to deal with Chris's complicated emotions?

They think Chris loves the water, but they don't know the enormous work Eddie did to help Chris get over the tsunami. Chris breaks down during COVID because he misses Carla and his friends which dredges up his abandonment issues? They don't know that it was Buck who supported him through it and how Eddie adjusted his relationship with Ana to make him more comfortable. They don't know that Eddie quit the job he loved so Chris wouldn't be scared of losing him. They don't know how scared Chris was when Eddie got shot. We often focus on how Buck broke down and how Chris hugs him but Chris is breaking down with him together.

THE WILL (DISREGARDING ROMANCE)

Eddie's not stupid. He didn't put Buck instead of his parents in his will out of spite. Because really when it comes down to it, Buck was the best option for the will in canon. In the very beginning, we were told Tia Pepa and Abuela can't take care of Chris full time (thus, Carla). But Carla is paid for her job, she won't be on the will. Eddie has no other family in LA and we don't know how his situation is with his sisters. However, considering canon implies then to be younger (thus his parentification), Eddie would consider them too young (subjective) to raise his son. None of the 118 is as involved with Chris as Buck is. In fact, a big reason is the fact that is that Buck allows the Diaz boys a safe space which Eddie was not allowed to have growing up.

Buck has respected Chris's autonomy (admires it even- canon from s2), supports and listens to him without making him feel bad, expresses his emotions and finds ways to support him (like finding equine therapy, accessible skateboard) and respects his decision even if he doesn't like it (going to Texas). And I'm not saying because of Buddie or anything. Even if they remain platonic co-parents (co-parenting as described by Oliver Stark and Ryan Guzman), they serve as parallels to things Eddie wouldn't have gotten from his parents if he was in Chris's position.

Eddie was forced to manage his mother's emotions while his father was absent. Chris has a dead/absent mother but never has he had to manage Eddie's emotions. When Eddie has a mental breakdown, he calls Buck and is told to focus on his own healing (equine therapy). Time and time again, Eddie has said that his problems are not on Chris to help.

When Chris wakes up crying from a nightmare about the tsunami, Eddie gets him help and never criticizes him. What do you think happened when Eddie would wake up from his own nightmares after being discharged from the army? He was living with his parents, Shanon and baby Chris, there's no way his parents didn't know about it. We have proof in canon that Eddie never received any help and Shannon was at the end of her rope until she abandoned him. All his parents did was fight him for custody and applaud him for almost dying (aka silver star).

POSSIBLE FIX

One way to maybe fix this is by working with the theme of Eddie reclaiming his agency. If he goes to Texas to fight for his son, to have that communication, group therapy even, letting Chris know he is working on making himself better and that Chris needs to confront his issues and how running away and not feeling with grief is how the Kim situation happened in the first place.

Or, I understand that Gavin McHugh might want to take a break and return to the show except a few scenes. We can give him the Denny or May Grant treatment, where they are there but we don't see them anymore, just referenced. Like have a video call saying he wants to come back, show Eddie ecstatic and ready to hug someone at the airport, fade to black, and next time we can have Eddie on cloud nine but also scared of losing Chris again.

TLDR; It's unfair to punish Eddie when every main character's terrible parent has been forgiven and reinforces the idea that he isn't allowed to have joy, forgiveness and identity outside of Chris. Keeping Chris with his parents implies they are a better choice when they're the reason Eddie has these issues. There are better ways to handle the situation while minimizing Gavin's screen time.

[rosstrytobe]

HELENA DIAZ COUNT YOUR DAYS 😡🤬🔪🔪

[stagefoureddiediaz]

The Chris and water theming is still making itself known.

It’s making me wonder if that pool is gonna get built and Chris is gonna get into danger in it because Helena isn’t paying attention etc!

[dadbodbobby]

With as depressed as Eddie’s looking, I will fucking riot if we don’t get Abuela Goddamn Diaz on our screens Thursday. She and Chris are the only things he’ll actually enjoy about Texas.

When he inevitably breaks down, I NEED her to be the one to comfort him, because we know damn well Ramon and especially Helena aren’t going to do it.

And I don’t want Chris to, because he’s a CHILD.

[chronicowboy]

helena asking if eddie was really going to disrupt christopher's life by taking him home. by taking him ten miles down the road when she took him 800. oh you witch.

[makorragal-312]

I know that this show has a really bad habit of redeeming parents that don't deserve to be redeemed, AT ALL, but I really hope that the "Eddie in Texas" arc is the one where they finally break the pattern.

It doesn't even matter if there's no mention of the will or no custody battle like people are theorizing, there is no way in HELL that you can redeem two parents who emotionally abuse their son, use said abuse to guilt him into giving them his child, and take the opportunity to use an unfortunate incident to take their grandson away from his father without even attempting to take up for their son and purposely alienate their son from his child for literal months.

FUCK THAT.

[lifewouldbebetteronmars]

Buck telling Eddie what I’ve been yelling at the screen this whole episode makes me so happy

YOU ARE CHRIS’S DAD EDDIE NOT YOUR PARENTS

THEY ARE GRANDPARENTS NOT PARENTS

[gatergirl79]

If we go through all this and they dare redeem Helena fucking Diaz, I'm going to be so fucking angry. Of all the parents on this show, that woman does not deserve redemption. (And ramon can take a flying jump too for letting it happen.)

[kelbottumbles]

Oh I hate Helena Diaz so much. EDDIE FIGHT BACK!!!

[eddiestach87]

One of the reasons why I think things coming to light that the fans don't know about is Helena and Ramon being shitty is because of this-

Christopher needs a solid reason to FULLY trust Eddie again. I don't want him to be betrayed for another time. But he would feel a sense of betrayal if his grandparents were sabotaging their own son from having access to Chris. He already wants more bodily autonomy. That wouldn't help. Them making that decision FOR him

It would enrage him enough to move back with Eddie