#also unlike op I am a filthy unrepentant bt as endgame desirer so I do have a bias

[frogsinflannel]

Great thoughts here, and I just wanted to add a little to what OP said here because it’s something I’ve been thinking over. I also was very unsatisfied with how they ended things. I was absolutely expecting some variation of what we got, at least as far as the “I’m your first” but I really expected them to resolve it. For Buck to fight. And I hadn’t quite been able to articulate it, but this kind of gave me that “aha” of what I’d been thinking/feeling.

Like OP said, how could Buck get off the wheel when he keeps trying to “[fold] himself into the lives of other people and [make] himself into someone they want around.” But I really liked Tommy for exactly this reason! Because he had been portrayed as this independent, disconnected (that’s more speculation, since we know nothing about his relationships with Harbor or other friends - going off his desire to reconnect with the 118, wanting to be part of something, the group chat, bad relationship with at least his father, etc) guy who repeatedly showed up for Buck - and that seemed to indicate that he would not let Buck fold himself in. If anything, Tommy was the one inserting himself, which I saw partially because of logistics (him being a side character) but also as a defense mechanism. I didn’t think, based on their interactions and what little Tommy characterization we got, that he would let Buck fall into that pattern! Maybe he recognized in from himself or it was a defense mechanism, but I was excited that we’d see them have to grapple with this and maybe get to see Tommy open up. Even in the deleted scene with Hen and Karen, Tommy was reactive. Buck was the one setting the pace, he was the one Tommy was shaping himself for.

Even in Masks, I saw that as Tommy taking care of Buck because yes, that’s how he shows care/shows up for a partner, and also because reaching out for Buck’s heart meant he didn’t have to so quickly offer his own. He seemed to be falling in love. The timing of the “protect myself!” overcorrection made sense to me, but not how it was handled, and not Buck’s response.

Okay sorry. I guess I don’t have a point other than I am very unsatisfied and baffled by some decisions!

did buck ever tell tommy he doesn’t like basketball? was he just like, going along with it because that’s what tommy likes? going to movies when he doesn’t really watch many on purpose himself because tommy likes movies. was he runaway bride-ing tommy? was he “i’ve been thinking about what you said and i think you’re right. i do hide my true feelings from others”-ing tommy?

tommy breaking up with buck was certainly more about tommy’s issues, regardless of whatever he’s telling himself, than it was about buck. even if it contradicted what happened last season with the coffee date…people are complex and multifaceted and at this point i’m choosing to believe that tommy got very overwhelmed when buck used the words “engaged” and “married” and overcompensated in his backtrack

but maybe buck wasn’t honest with himself either. and buck wants off that hamster wheel but how can he when he doesn’t know how to keep from folding himself into the lives of other people and making himself into someone they want around (not stopping to to consider that maybe they would want him around anyway)

i’m personally unsatisfied with the ending of their relationship because tommy is gone now. i wanted to know why that was tommy’s reaction, what was going on in his head. i have the above theories but i’d like to know. we got that with abby (i would argue even before the train episode) and we got that with taylor but we won’t with tommy. i am also unsatisfied because i do not feel that masks reflected this dynamic. i was fully aware that we were losing tommy this season and masks got me to let my guard down for it happening so soon. this was their intention and i’m not sure why they would do that or what function it served

anyway, go back to therapy evan buckley