#also said this in another post but buck won't blame eddie for his decision to leave

[morganski-19]

What I don't want to happen with a Buck NDE in 8b

Minor spoilers for 9-1-1 8b under the cut

This is kinda old news, but Oliver's stunt double was on set for episode 12, which lead to the talk of a possible Buck NDE. The stunt double doesn't equal an NDE, but that is an interesting thought that many people have, and I have some thoughts about it.

Mainly, how this NDE would effect the Eddie storyline in El Paso.

I do not want Eddie to come back because Buck got hurt. I don't want that at all.

Do I want Eddie to be affected by Buck getting hurt and him not being there, yes. Do I want to see the spiral Eddie could have because of that, yes. Do I want him to maybe go and visit LA, or speed up the move-in date because of it, if it's done right, yes.

But Buck getting hurt should not be the sole reason that Eddie leaves El Paso to go back to LA, he needs to decide that for himself.

Why?

Because it would take all of the agency out of Eddie's decision. While Eddie and Buck's storylines are intrinsically linked to each other, they have to grow, change, and have their own plotlines as well. Eddie going back to El Paso is one of those. He needs to use the opportunity to fix things with Chris, and needs to do his own self-reflection on why moving to LA was the best decision for him.

Eddie needs to make the decision to move back to LA because it's the best decision for him and his son, to put distance between his parents, and for him to get out of an environment he hates and back to an environment he thrives. He needs to make this decision FOR himself BY himself.

If Eddie figures out about Buck's injury AFTER he makes the decision to move back, I think that would be ok. Because his decision was already made, now it can just speed up the process. But the decision has to be made first.

Now, for the Buck side of it.

He cannot get rewarded for getting hurt with Eddie coming back. He can't. That would be awful for his narrative, and only solidify what his fuck ass parents made him believe. They better not write that into the storyline, otherwise I will have choice words and some rocks to throw.

Buck needs to be chosen. Whether that be romantically or platonically, he needs to be chosen. Eddie needs to come back because it's his decision, and because he wanted to be there for Buck during his recovery. It needs to be explicitly stated that Eddie did not come back because Buck was hurt, for both his own and Buck's narrative.

That being said, if this is the route they're going, it sets up another Because Evan moment.

This season is really bringing back a lot of Buck's themes throughout the earlier seasons. Tommy broke up with him in a manner very similar to Abby, and now Eddie's leaving. They first name drop Abby and therefore bring back the abandonment issues that she caused, and then that is amplified by Eddie leaving. (which, if the way we saw them shoot that in the leak is how it will look in the final edit, is an exact recreation of Abby leaving)

By bringing up these old narratives, it brings up the need for another moment in which a character states that Buck is wrong.

What makes the "Because Evan" moment so special is that 1. the one and only time Eddie calls Buck by his first name 2. explicitly states that Eddie doesn't view Buck as expendable, which is something that was heavily dealt with in season 4.

His recklessness was and still is present, however, that mindset of being the person on the frontlines because he doesn't matter is significantly minimized.

That isn't the same for his abandonment issues. Especially with how heavily they are brought back up in this season.

With Bobby leaving the station, thereby leaving the 118 with chaos under Gerrard, Chris leaving, Eddie leaving, Maddie getting kidnapped, and Tommy bringing up the Abby trauma, it's the climax of this issue.

If they do it right, they could have a moment that has the same impact as the "Because Evan" scene.

If they do it right.

Will it happen with the possibilities of an NDE? I don't know. Do I think it is important to the Buck and Eddie narrative, yes. It all depends on how the Eddie in Texas storyline ends.