#bc we get so much of her with buck and chim

[upallnightallday]

There was a perfect opportunity to tie some of these plotlines together.

They could have kept the goodbye scene and the building collapse. The scene with pepa is good as well, maybe add her saying something about Eddie's and Chris home being in LA.

But in the collapse they should have had Buck save Ravi and the civilian from the rubble while he gets stuck. Eddie sees this from tv when Chris yells at him and Pepa says "go get our boy".

Chim and Athena storyline was fine. We can keep that. But while Hen tries to get to them, Gerrard is trying to find a way to get to Buck. And when Eddie arrives he insist going to Buck even if it is basically suecide. Gerrard says that he forbbits his subornates from going in there but Eddie "has silver star and cannot do anything wrong" Diaz just says "it is good that I'm not working here then" and goes.

And when he finally gets to Buck, Buck is of course in awe and then asks how the hell is he there. Eddie just says that line about thinking what kind of stunt would Buck do that Bobby would yell about. And here when they try to get Buck free, they could have the actual fucking conversation about their feelings. About Eddie leaving, Bobby dying, about Christopher.

And when it seems like Eddie cannot get Buck out and they are desperate, Buck could just say how much he misses Eddie and Chris, how they are like family to him. And Eddie says "you are like family to us too and I will not leave you here" while franticly finding a way to get Buck out. At this point Ravi comes along and says something like "i need you to stay too bc I cannot listen him pine anymore" which makes Eddie laugh and Buck blush while yelling "i don't pine!".

At the same time Chim, Athena and Hen are trying to find a way out for them. Same time they could study their grief and have heart to heart. And here the things would go same as in the actual episode.

But when they get to the station it is Buck and Eddie who actually have the conversation. Buck asking Eddie to stay and Eddie feeling conflicted. Before he can answer Chim gets a call - it's Maddie. Her labour has started and everyone rushes to the hospital.

At the hospital, Tia Pepa brings Chris. And with a glance to Buck he says "Chris we need to talk". And they have ACTUAL heart to heart where Eddie tells Chris how he has been grieving and how much he regrets hurting him and he is sorry but also how their family is in LA and they should stay here. And Chris just is his teenager self and says "I forgive you, but you aren't allowed to date women anymore". Eddie laughs relieved.

The whole episode would end with baby Han born and Eddie calling the fire captain and telling them he cannot come. And the captain sighs and says "wife at home?" and Eddie chuckles and says "something like that" while watching Buck with the baby surraunded by everyone else.

This isn't perfect but would actually leave things open for season 9 and still close some of the plotlines. Season 9 could start with Mauras adoption and Hen struggling to decide if he wants to be actual captain. Buck and Eddie would be roommates because Eddie doesn't have money to live alone while trying to sell the place in Texas.

This could have been done so much better. And I'm not even a good writer.

[eddiegettingshot]

one of my bigger problems is just their pacing imo. no reason the emergency had to take up 50 minutes of their time slot and the closing montage only 4. I don’t care about the mom and her daughter more than I do about the madney baby! who cares about the guys girlfriend freaking out if Eddie and Chris were gonna casually move back like they were in Texas for fun. it’s been a huge problem for so long (Maddies rescue/Amber dying and Eddie moving to Texas happening in 3 mins) and it hinders them so much. if the emergency took up a half hour and they used up the other half hour to tie up loose ends it really would’ve been better. And tbf I don’t understand if Ryan Murphy has a big say if Tim is the showrunner, or if ABC as a network has a big say, but it’s not a good look when outlets are accusing your show of queer baiting, the GA is upset, and you’re getting bad reviews. What was the point of promoting plots at the Upfronts if you won’t follow through? idk I feel shafted on every single characters sl bc it seems we ended s8 right where it started except Bobby is dead and Buck is homeless. and also we had hotshots

this is EXACTLYYYY what i said. they should have leveraged the building collapse strategically in the first half specifically to address EDDIE and give him that “choosing LA” moment AND to do the chimthena thing. it still would have felt rushed but in the second half of the episode we could have actually seen chim working through whether he’d actually want to be captain + maddie giving birth with buck and eddie and chris closing out texas as the B plot. and mara adoption and Surprise! athena’s selling the house for some reason! could have been at the end (obv i would like more hen but just in terms of what this episode was actually trying to do…)

[quintessenceofdust88]

OMG GABBY I JUST HAD A TERRIBLE DELICIOUS ANGSTY TOMMY MPREG IDEA

*tw: Canon MCD, pregnancy loss*

What if Tommy got pregnant from the hook up and found out days before Buck called him for help distracting the military. He'd been having a hard time deciding whether he should tell Buck about the pregnancy (even though Buck is most certainly the father). He knows he shouldn't fly while pregnant but it's for Evan and for Howie and for the whole 118 and Tommy owes Chim for the gas explosion back in 2005 so he goes. And as him and Buck are sitting in the chopper taking the military on a wild goose chase he decides he'll tell Evan once everyone is safely out of the lab and they know everyone will be okay.

Except not everyone is okay. Bobby never made it out of the lab. Tommy watches Buck break down over the monitors and knows now is absolutely not the time to tell Buck about the baby. He will eventually but Buck needs some time to grieve first.

The morning of the funeral Tommy wakes to cramps low in his stomach and bloodstained sheets but he promised the LAFD and Athena that he would be a pall bearer. He has to be there. He has to show up. So he ignores his symptoms and goes about what he needs to do for the day.

He hardly looks at Evan during the ceremony or the procession. He's hardly holding it together as it is, between his grief over Bobby and now the grief over the loss of the baby. Tommy fears if he makes eye contact with Evan he'll break right then and there. And Evan is already carrying so much weight trying to make sure everyone else is okay, the last thing Tommy wants to do is add to Evan's load. So he keeps his head forward, carefully avoids Evan's line of sight when possible, and does his best to keep a stoic face the entire time.

It goes well until the very end long after Athena and her kids got on the plane with Bobby to Minnesota when almost everyone has dispersed. Tommy collapses and Evan sees it and the last thing Tommy thinks about before losing consciousness is so much for not making things worse for Evan.

(You decide if Tommy actually lost the baby or just nearly did but didn't actually.)

LIZ OH MY GOSHHHHH 😭😭😭😭

(you know me, I just do angst with happy ending so Tommy definitely doesn't lose the baby but we get some delicious angsty out of it)

Like, Tommy knows he shouldn't be carrying the coffin, but how can he say no? So he swallows his pain.

Buck kneeling down by his side, Hen and Chim trying to help Tommy while he has to admit right there that he's pregnant bc it's very medically relevant, and Buck's completely stunned???

At the hospital, Hen so gently asks 'Buck... This can't be easy for you', because she has no idea it might be Buck's, they don't know about the hook-up, and Buck doesn't say anything because he doesn't know what Tommy wants, he just stays in the waiting room and prays for whatever deity in the universe that Tommy and the baby will be okay, regardless if they're his or not, because they're Tommy's

[zer0expektation]

I've never actually gone out of my way to like, actually watch 9-1-1 myself, and thus just about everything I know about the show comes from twitter discourse, gay fanfiction, and random clips and edits that i come across on tiktok, and yet I have decided that ABC desperately needs to let me become the new showrunner, and thus;

Things I would do if I suddenly got to replace Tim Minear as showrunner (even though I'm not 100% sure what exactly his job is past deciding on storylines):

The first episode is the entirety of the opening emergency - doesn't totally matter what specifically it is, but there are actual like serious civilian injury and casualty, Athena and Chim have to work closely together for this one and one of the larger groups of injured civilians is this group of middle schoolers and one of those kids even younger brother. it's the opening of the season so we probably shouldn't do anything too horrific to the kids, but they're hurt and it's just a little too close to being bad for for Athena or Chims comfort. At the end of the day Chim says that he's headed home to hug Jee and the baby, and Athena asks if she'd be welcome to visit as well. there's a scene of chim, Maddie, and Athena hugging jee, then chim goes to take her to bed or smth while Maddie takes Athena to see baby robert in his crib - Athena smiles down at him and says "hi bobby," and for a moment we cut down to her pov over the crib of the baby stirring, but right as his eyes open we hard cut to an overview shot of Bobby nash, alive, waking up on a table, he doesn't look particularly surprised just tired and miserable. and thats how we end the episode 🎉

jee still thinks that baby Robert is her sister. no matter how many times someone tries to correct her, no matter the fact that his name is Robert, she insists that that's her little sister. it's an unending recurring bit through the entire season

there's a whole episode where buck finally just decides to binge watch glee (possibly after getting injured and put on temp leave), and one of the characters thats only in like two episodes of the first season that looks disturbingly similar to chim. like, that's literally him. and buck goes on this whole crazy conspiracy about chim having a secret twin or clone that is also an actor, before chim finally just tells him that he was on the show bc he was friends with someone that worked on it at the time and had extra vacation time and thought "that might be fun" - buck goes slightly crazy at this information

eddie gay realization scene is something silly and dumb. like the thing that finally makes it click in his head is so small and absurd that he starts to think back on all the things that should have tipped him off and goes "Oh my god I'm a fucking idiot" –> it's something silly like,, he watches brokeback mountain for the first time bc buck wanted to see it, and while he's crying at the end he just goes "oh my god I'm gay 😭" and buck goes "what." and he goes "wha? 😥" and doesn't even realise what he'd said - or that he meant it - until like 30 minutes later while buck spirals next to him

Buck actively calls himself bisexual. thats all.

tommy and gerard stay gone, DONT CAAAARE 🙂‍↕️😋

Ravi and Karen mains

a whole plot line about Karen's job - I dunno what specifically about but it be fun and I need it tyvm

more random plot lines that really skirts the line on whether supernatural elements exist or not, for funzies

Ravi centric stories - we learn more about his trauma, his relationships, his parents who are actually cool chill people (to which, the rest of the 118 are like "wtf, why doesn't he get parental issues like the rest of us???")

adhd buck canon 🙂‍↕️

once Bobby finally returns he retires and gets to have nothing but silly background plot lines - i.e. Athena shows him twitter fandom, and now that he has so much time off he gets like Way too into it, Athena thinks it's very fun until she finds out that they've blocked each other on Twitter over ship discourse

an entire episode from Chris's pov - it's majorly shot differently than the rest of the show, and has a different narration style. honestly, after the end of s8 I just think we deserve more of Chris's perspective on everything happening around him, thanks

buddie canon by the middle of the season, I dunno how specifically, but yeah - secret relationship for a few episodes which then leads to;

bottle episode in the firehouse - everyone is violently bored and causing problems about it, theyve even tried saying the q-word but it just wont work, buck and Eddie keep trying to sneak in some alone time but everyone is in such close corters and aware of everyone else that it's fucking hard, finally they get a moment but chim walks in on them and is horrified. they manage to convince him that he needs to keep it secret at least for a little while (they're guilt trippy as fuck, you'd best believe) - he's struggling the entire rest of the episode, and honestly buddies made peace with the fact that everyone's going to find out today anyways, so they're not particularly upset or surprised when he finally blurts it out infront of everyone. everyone else though goes deathly quiet, glancing between chim and buddie, and finally buck goes "... it's really quiet right now." and Then the bell finally rings for the first time in 10 hours

buck and Eddie run into father Brian while they're out (pre buddie canon, me thinks) and Eddie is kinda embarrassed while he tells him that he was totally right and blahblahblah. meanwhile, buck is right beside him about to pop from jealousy at Eddie giving some credit to this guy for his gay realization - even when he realizes he's literally a priest, he cannot stop being weird about it, and Eddie just thinks it's soo funny of him

Maddie becomes an emergency medical director for dispatch: she directs people on what they should do during medical emergencies until help arrives - she kind of already does this, but I think having her take on this particular role would be a good move forward for her character and career

hen, karen, Maddie, Eddie wine nights. they gossip and talk shit and get tipsy. plus Maddie Eddie interactions finally

and probably more things but this is long already and I need to do homework

[sugarplumteddybear]

my predictions for 9-1-1/buddie s9 canons!

i truly believe that buddie endgame this season bc the amount of foreshadowing in szn 8 wasn’t for nothing. nothing in film/media is unintentional and buddie is far from casual.

from the glances we got in the finale, i think they both are in the “oh damn” stage and are gonna have to face it sooner than later. there was nothing platonic about that glance, and the finale itself was very rushed so they probably will touch on that right after the big intro.

the big intro imo is gonna be either a major wildfire (based off la this year) or something very obscure. the beenado through me off but athena grant landing a plane was way more unrealistic so like who knows? it’ll always be difficult to beat tsunami but if i could choose an obscure one, i’d really would like follow up from the water scene where it coincides with the “don’t drink the water” lore. um, possibly something like mall scene or a flashy rodeo drive rich monstrosity?

i want them to do more light hearted cases like the first couple seasons where not everything is too major, but still effective. i want dumb cases where there’s a grown man stuck in a swing set or a bqq gone wrong idk.

i think buck should be pissed off a bit with the chimney speech convinces eddie to stay and not him?! as much as i get the point and bobby’s death making eddie realize that la is home, it shouldn’t have been chim to make him realize that. i know eddie tells buck to stop making it about him, but i want a bratty buck where he’s all pouty because it should’ve been him to convince eddie. i also think that if they were to do that route, it could be a great ease into them admitting that they love each other like that. buck could be nagging at eddie on why he wasn’t good enough to convince, and eddie gives in and tells him that he couldn’t face the truth.. the truth being leaving him is the hardest thing ever.

i hope ravi becomes a main and is actually fully incorporated into the core four which will become the core five. also please do a ravi begins PLEASEEEE!!!

lots of angst from buddie in general with the tension, but i think christopher will be the reason eddie comes to the conclusion that he’s gay. i think chris picks up on the tension and he confides in his dad that it’s okay to feel this way. i want eddie to cry on christopher’s embrace because of the welcoming nuture in his son. christopher, please get your dads together.

i think that 09x11 will be the biggest episode for obvious reasons. i do believe an epic way for this episode is two things: buddie canon and bobby is alive! the whole not seeing the body and the way it was showcased was fishy af, so it might be a publicity stunt for the show, or tim minear might realize the damaged he’s done and it’ll be an epic comeback. i visualize the entire episode now with an eerie intro and doctors labs, and i see athena feeling uneasy the entire 9a. athena already admitted she doesn’t believe that he’s gone, and i could see her going on a goose chase to finally realize that bobby is alive. she confides in the 118 and buck is feral. they help athena with this chase and i would love to see eddie holding buck’s hand in reassurance and everybody clocking that rq! they go on this chase, the sketchy fbi people are there and they find a weird scenery, and bobby is kept hidden in a locked room. athena saves bobby and bobby is very much drugged. i wanna see feral 118 so bad with everyone kicking ass. i also could see 09x10 leading into this episode as well. either way, i believe it’ll be a rollercoaster no matter what happens. i do believe the epic first buddie kiss will happen at the end of the episode in the kitchen bc i am a kitchen buddie fanatic.

buddie in 09x12 trying to be discreet and they do undercover dating to try it out. i really think this would be hilarious especially because those boys aren’t discreet whatsoever. them picking a closed restaurant with a table in the back, buck being extremely awkward and giggly, eddie not knowing what to do at all, and it’s an awkward thing especially when they get caught by tommy. tommy catching them would be very funny “i told you so” moment. they go home to eddie’s and buck notices eddie being a bit jealous of tommy’s presence and buck’s quickness to reassure him that he loves him. first buddie makeout for sure!! anyways, the entire episode they are trying to hide it but fail miserably and buck ends up telling everyone and the rest of the 118 exchanges money as they admit that they all saw this coming from a mile away (duh!)

more interactions with maddie and eddie as they double date with buck and chimney.

maddie and karen and eddie interactions more as they go out for brunch as my beautiful doe eyed princesses!!

christopher calling buck dad and eddie realizing that he wants to marry buck. eddie proposes bettttt!!!

eddie cutting off his fuckass parents after they visit la and eddie tells them about him dating buck, but they react poorly. eddie getting upset, buck comforting him, and bonus points if it’s christopher that gets upset with his grandparents because everyone knows that buddie would do anything for chris. “everything is about buddie except for buddie which is about christopher”

athena and bobby happy moments please, and i see chimney very anxious around bobby because of everything. captain chimney until bobby comes back as captain in late s9b.

no making maddie cry more than 5x times please let go of bambi!!

lots of jealous buddie in general would be delicious, especially eddie! like a taylor appearance would drive him insane. i could see a patient flirting with buck and it makes him feral which yummy!!! buck also getting very needy whenever anyone bats eyes at eddie also yum. i think if they did do an episode where this is very showcased, it would be the first time between them two.

lastly, i think the finale will tie into the lab rats lore and the fbi people will come back to finish what they started. very action loaded, lots of dirty tricks, and possibly a twist? i picture eddie asking buck to marry him in the finale as well. s10 buddie wedding 🫶🫶

[beanarie]

Where did the idea for "dare to be one of us, girl" originate? How did you decide on everyone's roles in the con?

ooh, slightly deep dive! thank you ❤️ well, short answer is, it started here. i didn't think i had more than that post in me because i'm more of a fluff reader than writer, but life proved me wrong!

long answer: there was a wave of extremely charming forcing bt back together fics which i loved so much and it was really inspiring! additionally i have a big extended family that hangs out during major holidays, most of whom i'm not related to by blood, and it's not dissimilar to how firefam gathers with all of their respective people during special occasions like christmas, may's graduation, and buck's welcome back (rip). so i have ideas about dynamics between characters who've never/rarely directly interacted onscreen. when i think of parent trap shenanigans, my mind automatically thinks kids, who have more time on their hands and a greater propensity for whimsy.

of the kids in this show, chris would have to kickstart it. he's the one who loves buck. he even liked tommy! i was tickled by the idea of chris being the mastermind, getting all these pieces in place remotely. we already know he's smart as hell and kinda shameless.

denny had to be the point person. he's the only one of the boys still in la (bc this was last december and we had no idea where tf harry was, lmao not that they've cleared that up since). having spent his entire life as part of firefam, denny's in the best position to know what resources they're working with. he's also got relationships with mara and jee-yun.

then there's harry, who's there as support and happy to do whatever the others can't. he didn't have to bring in may with her knowledge of emergency service directories, but he knew it'd likely save time and he wanted may to be included.

for the girls, i wanted to do something with mara and chim, who haven't interacted since halloween but obviously have a really deep connection. jee was originally going to be used to ferry a message to someone at a strategic time. she's at the age where the older kids probably use her to say goofy or mildly rude things to each other. but bait ended up working out better.

where the title came from

[laplumasucia]

hen headcanons bc ravi went well

*disclaimer* i think hen is underused, underdeveloped, and given barely any personality which sucks bc aisha is amazing so if any of this isn’t canon complicit its bc i know better.

- i think hen is secretly really funny but no one expects it. chim knows bc they’re besties and bobby can sense it. her sense of humour is also pretty dry so sometimes her jokes don’t land unless you know her

- she was very socially awkward as a child and even though she’s a badass and knows it, some of that still lingers (like minor anxiety, not telling anyone its her b-day, etc.)

- she knows waaay more than she lets on. bobby may be a father figure but she is almost all knowing.

-her and eddie are close, but they don’t actually have to talk much to understand each other.

- hen didn’t like buck at first bc like wow dumb white boy being entitled and dumb?? then she realised he was heavily closeted and thought ohhhhhhhh. he’s my dumbass. guess i will check back intermittently on that.

- she and athena LOVE yapping and they mostly make fun of their loved ones. “chim thought poached eggs meant stolen” “buck tried to drink from the bottle filler on the water fountain instead of the fountain bit” “bobby fell off a ladder. his job is not doing that” “eddie ate raw meat because he heard about carpaccio” “ravi sprayed himself in the face with a hose after it got a kink” and athena is like girl thank GOD you’re around not knowing…

- hen unfortunately is dumb of ass too. she may be the most competent but sometimes the 118 steals her braincells and she, too, finds herself doing some bull shit. examples: someone was locked in their house so hen went through a closed skylight instead of trying the back door, rescued a helpless kitten from a tree and it turned out it was actually a baby bobcat, she got into a fight with a sassy child on a call

- ravi is her babygirl. this might sound weird but i think she would see him and be like aha!!! another normal person!!! and try to adopt him before buck or whoever can get to him, then buck rejects ravi and she’s like ??? uhm. not you rejecting MY bbg

- i think angela bassett exists in this universe and hen loves her and is like athena, you are TWINS and no one agrees

- hen and karen don’t do regular date nights, instead they do power point nights, research nights, and a mini book club that’s just them dramatically reading to each other

- she loves fantasy and romance novels. like the trashier and more cliche the better.

- hen has seen every episode of grey’s anatomy and will not admit it.

- she is a sock girl. she loves collecting fun socks and wearing them. one of her prized possessions is a pair of Pumba socks that karen got her and she loves them so much she refuses to wear them

- obviously hen is book smart but the degree to which she is is astounding. she was a spelling bee champ, a mathelte, etc. but none of her cool childhood skills translated into something she wanted to do

- hen does not vibe with baking.

- hen secretly is sooo cringe like she loves her wife and kids and would make them all wear bomb ass matching outfits if that wasn’t crazy

- hen can’t watch scary movies. she is so intelligent and brave but the moment there’s a zombie or slasher she is OUT

- hen secretly loves a prank but doesn’t want to seem childish so she lets chim act all devious and plays along giving him even better ideas then stands in shadows like yes. my plan. my evil mastermind plan.

- hen and karen LOVE meddling, especially with eddie and buck. since they’re closer to eddie they put him in a position to come out every other day and he won’t so they’re like omg we need to tell him!!! like how maddie said Buck You Idiot, karen and hen are going Eddie You F*ggot. also they 100% plotted to get bonby and athena together

- this is more of a karen HC but i think she eats up 118 gossip. most partners of first responders don’t want work brought home but karen wants to know abt every crazy call and who is pining and how long it took bobby before he noticed everything in his office was slightly out of line and stuff.

- also a karen HC, hen thinks she’s the mastermind behind chim’s antics, but karen is the one feeding hen shit. she’s behind all of it.

- final hc, i think hen cheating was SO out of character so i simply ignore it. hen didn’t cheat. if that happened, no way karen would forgive her so quickly. cheating is not normal and henren would not do that shit. i think, however, hen would get involved with helping eva and it would create tensions but hen wouldn’t be unfaithful

i have such a hard time thinking abt and writing hen because she’s really not given the same defining characteristics and complexities as other characters so i hope these make sense and you enjoy them as much as me.

feel free to tag your own headcanons

[lover-of-mine]

hi my love it’s gg here

it’s time for a loooooong update

so there is tension that is building up like a background buzz in the gc bc remember that on main they have to look mindful and demure bc they know the cast and crew lurks so the anger the madness the pettiness needs to stay hidden

they were so happy in ep 1 but what they really wanted was that emergency even more than them living together bc tommy helping would’ve established his role in the 118 and how new work partner for buck

this emergency was going to give them interaction with the 118 but mostly with athena and since they have already buck and bobby talking about tommy they wanted athena too

they needed him to be a hero so everyone was going to be grateful to him

first they were sure about ep2 bc they thought the tim would’ve really have him being landed inside the hole in the cockpit and then they were sure about ep3 bc if the 217 truck is there he NEEDS to he there otherwise too much waisted potential

and they are mad MAD rn bc the spent all summer so sure he would’ve been main, that ostark and lfjr would’ve promoted the show together, interviews, joint photoshoot, him being featured in the poster, him in the promo, him being the white savior of the plane emergency

and seeing this kind of deranged in their closed quarters where no one can really see im really “scared” of what they will do when tommy is going to go away

Hello baby 🩷

Wow, imagine spending months raising hell just to be wrong in all fronts. They got a random flight instructor to talk Athena through the landing, they had a literal child being her copilot, not a single mention of him along with the implication that 217 is the not harbour since it was referenced as an engine, and Hen and Chim were the first ones on the plane to help. And that along with the scene he was in to remind the audience he exists was about Eddie and he did not fit in. He's not established as part of the firefam, he's not in the field with them even though he could've easily been included. Plane emergency, no one thought about him, and they played themselves because at no point watching Athena and Jem land that plane anyone thought "oh wow this would be better if we had a real pilot". He was gonna be a main and 3 episodes in, he has less than 2 minutes of screentime in the season, he's completely irrelevant. No promo, no interviews, 2 lines and absolutely nothing of substance. I would feel bad if I wasn't getting death threats. I'm just laughing. Well done, guys, you went to war for racist tree #3 and you're losing badly.

[saveahorserideaneddie]

Thank you for letting me rant :) I am also entirely aware that not all of these are considered to be unpopular opinions!

I actually love the lawsuit arc and to this day it is one of my favorite fic plots to read as long as their is a good conclusion and they come back together as a family.

I have been done with Maddie constantly crying on 9-1-1 calls for several seasons now, its just getting old and very predictable.

Hen and Chim should not have forgiven Tommy and it should have been discussed how his racism and sexism hurt them both. A conversation between Chim and Maddie about his early years at the 118 with Tommy as one of his bullies would have been amazing.

Karen deserves to be a badass within her own right!!!

I don't consider Hen, Buck, and Eddie's "cheating" to be canon. None of it fits into the characters. Same goes for Athena hitting/ being down right mean to her kids (i.e., Harry)

everyone is always welcome to rant to me!!! (as long as it’s not hateful towards me or anyone aside from tim minear and he who shall not be named lmao)

since you gave a list (genuinely love you for that) im gonna number my responses to each:

1) i have mixed feelings about the lawsuit arc in canon BUT i will always eat up a good lawsuit era fic

2) honestly, anon, i’m tired of madney getting nde’s every season (i’m tired of nde’s in general tbh bc i miss s1-4 era of like bad injuries happening but nothing kukoo bananas like the jonah thing in s5 or the kidnapping plot in s8 even though i did enjoy ep 10 ahsgsgsg) so i get it- it feels like that’s jlh’s schtick to them and they never let her do anything else which is a shame bc she’s SUCH AN AMAZING ACTRESS LIKE ALL OF THEM ARE PLEASE GIVE THESE PEOPLE MORE RANGE

3) i actually don’t think they have forgiven tommy because we’ve seen nothing in canon to actually imply that- since he came back in s7 their interactions have been limited, hen never kept in contact w him, chimney only called him once for a favor in s2 and then didn’t invite him to his wedding, henren confronted tommy about his intentions w buck in a deleted scene from 709 that did NOT them being pro tommy… i feel like tim was trying to brush it under the rug without actually acknowledging it but in doing so he just basically said that the begins episodes didn’t actually matter bc “he was closeted uwu 🥺” (as if that’s an excuse) i also would have loved for them to have actually utilized that w madney or henren more onscreen- especially after the breakup in ep 6 because it would have helped buck SO MUCH more mentally in processing the breakup if hen and chim were like “we didn’t want to spoil your first queer relationship, but he’s not and never has been a good guy” and explained what happened…. but that would mean that tim would have to acknowledge that he basically retconned and ignored racism for an entire year and he’s never gonna do that bc that just makes him look bad 💀

4) AGREED AGREED AGREED KAREN MAIN WHEN?

5) so i actually have complicated feelings on the buck and eddie of it all; i think what happened with lucy wasn’t cheating bc buck did not initiate it, but his mistake was in not immediately telling taylor. with eddie…. i’ve been in kim’s shoes before (it’s a long story) so that one is harder for me to justify, BUT, i don’t genuinely think eddie had feelings for kim or anything like that- he was leading her on in a way that implied to her that he did (and eventually to marisol chris and buck too) but it’s hard for me to fully get behind the whole “cheater” label just because he technically never did anything to constitute cheating; it wasn’t physical, and it wasn’t emotional beyond wanting to get closure over shannon, but unfortunately they did go on multiple outings that could be considered “dates” so even if he intended it or not… he still on a technicality is a cheater….

hen however…. that one was out of left field and honestly felt so ooc even in s1, but it’s literally the only case of infidelity on this show that i can’t find any way to explain away- and i hate it so much bc they literally spent half the first season villainizing a black queer woman bc she was a cheater, BUT i do think she’s since made up for it and actually had some form of character development from it (other than the buck and eddie situations that were just plot devices for dramatic arcs)

as for the athena of it all; i have a love hate relationship w athena bc like half the time i love athena but other times she’s such a COP that it just has me going :/ i do however think it fits her character especially considering she’s a child of a souther baptist family (i say as the child of a southern baptist family) who still has some outdated ideas on parenting that aren’t helped by the fact that she is a cop

[alloutofgoddesses]

S08E15 - Lab Rats

- Took a three hour nap the moment I got home from work bc I have a ~migraine~

- Which is why I am getting to this late

- Anyway

- Hey Moira

- Imagine being evil in a marshmallow suit

- Maddie sweetpea I am so sorry

- Hey FBI

- Buck lmao

- Why is Buck’s impulse control in El Paso when he is NEEDED here

- We all know how things get when things get personal for these two people

- Frankly I would rather them be here fighting with the literal military and FBI than Out And About

- Saw this coming

- I think in this scenario there are actually three crazy bitches

- OFFICER WILLIAMS

- LET’S GOOOOOOOOOO I love Officer Williams

- I wanna cry :)

- “Chemistry set” um. It’s a lab.

- Jesus Christ Athena

- Hello again Ravi ily

- Ravi NOOOOOOOOO

- Hi Karen

- She’s rocking back and forth Augh

- She looks so pretty though

- Well. About that.

- God has no power here

- Ravi is just taking a little nap

- Just vibes man

- Bobert Nash.

- Moira is such a fucking bitch

- I appreciate that they aren’t using Karen as an expert in all science

- Her knowing all the scientists makes so much sense too

- Not yet

- Don’t get Written up Chim

- Oh sweetie

- :(

- Nah you’re fine Chim

- See like I get that this would be more impactful if I didn’t know everything was going to be fine

- However, I can rarely handle actual angst, and angst with with a happy ending is my fav

- And I am Not in a position for actual angst right now

- Awwwww a FaceTime

- Madney !!!!!!

- Blood, blood, buckets of the stuff

- Oh boy

- Buck following Athena’s orders halscgisdlah he has grown so much

- Poor Hen she knows Exactly what’s happening to her bffl

- Not very well

- Girl

- Hey Buck my guy

- Up!

- Also just like. Let the FBI take it from here, you are making it worse for yourself

- Are you for real right now

- No shit Tommy

- As someone who also bleeds from the left the most when I get nosebleeds I feel Chim rn

- Hey look he’s fine

- Buck now is not the time

- Uh huh sure

- Hey other helicopter

- You see how you made this worse for yourselves

- Good Lord

- However. Imagine being so down bad for a guy you will Not end up with that you’re willing to do this shit

- Lmao

- Sorry this is Serious I am Serious

- It’s not maybe one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed

- Oh there’s no way she’s in there. She never even got in

- Wouldn’t you like to know

- KAREN TO THE RESCUE

- Athena is going in? Not Roz? I love this ridiculous show

- Only Angela Basset.

- That’s it that’s the sentence

- There’s clearly one person actually handcuffed here

- You would have already cuffed them if they were actually under arrest

- That’s great lady I’m sure you’ll get a plea deal and be out in less than a decade

- Now when does Bobby dramatically pass out

- I hope Ravi has someone to hug when he gets home

- Hey Buck

- Bobby why ain’t ya moving

- Rat!

- I don’t think you’re gonna be allowed to keep the lab rat as a pet unfortunately

- Bobby you and I both know he’s not gonna be okay

- AN I LOVE YOU !!!!! AND HE CALLED HIM KID!!!!!!!!

- If this wasn’t some weird ass fakeout I would be devastated right now (<- denial)

- The moment Bobby is alive again Athena is going to kill him (<- denial)

- Awwwwwww

- Time for Buck to Crash The Fuck Out

- And if anyone is gonna defy all logic, physics, and reality it’s gonna be Athena Grant-Nash

- Theyyyyyyyyy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- GOD they’re SO

- Soul! Mates!

- HOZIER AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

- AND IT’S WORK SONG

- OUCH OWIE OW

- Ravi and Karen?! Gifts I didn’t know I needed

- I shan’t be crying everything is gonna be Fine (<- denial)

- But Work Song

- I need all of these people in a cuddle pile right now

- Buck looks so little he literally looks eight years old

- That’s just a kid losing his dad

- :(

- OW that last shot

- 10/10 acting Peter Krause

- 10/10 acting Oliver Stark

- 10/10 acting Angela Basset

- 10/10 acting Anirudh Pisharody

- 10/10 acting Aisha Hinds

- 10/10 acting Kenneth Choi

- 10/10 acting Jennifer Love Hewitt

- 10/10 acting Tracie Thoms

- And even though they weren’t in this episode (unfortunately) I know Ryan Guzman and Gavin McHugh would have ATE

[buckevantommy]

https://www.tumblr.com/buckevantommy/757878657756872704/btw-i-dont-think-we-need-to-worry-about-buck-and

Agree 100%. But, to further expand that, and going outside the world of the show.

From a GA perspective, or the audience full stop, how many partners are we willing to watch before we lose interest? By this I mean - if the writers are spending screen time / several episodes introducing a new character and a new relationship, usually we get invested. And when that person disappears, it can be frustrating, and the introduction of a new person (thus the start of the cycle again), can feel a bit tiring. Every time they need to find something that makes the audience go: okay, it’s worth for me to care about this character.

Buck’s case is a bit particular, because his relationships haven’t been all that well received (until now). Either it was an ‘okay’ situation, without much interest, or an okay reception but controversial at times (for me, Taylor - I do think the GA was okay with her, but ultimately the couple was not good). Tommy has been imo the first relationship that truly has brought in lots of positive and good reviews and a good investment of attention from fans and even GA. Tommy’s clips in any social media are usually the ones with most views, and in things like IG it goes to talk about the GA more than a focused fandom.

This to say - if Buck was to break up with Tommy, I think a lot of the audience would be frustrated or even grow bored of the constant change of partners. Even, they would be less receptive to a future new partner, because if Tommy (so well received) is gone, who would even stay?

Not to say this means Tommy is Buck’s endgame, because no one knows. But at some point the constant change of partners gets old, and we know Tim agrees when he expressed wanting to get Buck off the hamster wheel (something Oliver agreed on), and Tommy is a really strong character to have Buck settle with.

Long story short: not only from a SL perspective, but Bucktommy being long lasting makes sense for the overall image of the show.

You're absolutely right nonny.

bc if we think about bucktommy in terms of it being Buck's relationship aka. a main character's relationship, enough is enough on dragging him from illfit to illfit - that guy deserves to be settled, at ease in himself, as Bobby once told him, and we've already seen Tommy help make that happen for him.

and if we look back at Buck's relationship history: we're 7 years into poor matches for a guy who has always wanted to love and be loved - and Tommy can be that for him! he has been that for him so far and could so easily fit into the narrative as Buck's significant other moving forward indefinitely. Tommy already feels like the missing piece to Buck's story the same way Karen was for Hen and Maddie was for Chim and Athena was for Bobby - and he's a fleshed out character in his own right just as those partners are.

enough screwing around with Buck's relationships. sometimes it feels like just bc he started out as a fuckboy he somehow doesn't deserve a stable, healthy, loving relationship, like the narrative is going out of its way to ruin any chance he has at that for the sake of drama (but again: none of his previous partners were the right match for him).

i'm going to mention dear dean winchester again bc he has so much in common with Buck, and these kinds of characters (male, strong, macho, attractive, swagger, charming, sexually active, presumably bisexual) always cycle through relationships that never pan out - bc they're not the right fit, but moreover bc these partners seem written in just to be eventually written out, there to help the main character's plot along, aid in some personal growth and add drama, maybe attract more viewership for those interested in seeing more (temporary) female characters.

but it is.. *sigh* tiresome, indeed. let Buck have a stable partner - like Hen, and Chim, and Bobby do - and let their relationship be woven into the narrative to create a richer tapestry like those other pairings do. that is so much more satisfying in terms of storytelling and character growth, than trying to insert drama snags that threaten to unravel things. you can still have drama with committed pairings - every other committed pairing in the show is proof of that.

and if we take off the shipper googles: Tommy is good as Buck's partner, he makes sense, and he has great potential in the longrun both as Buck's boyfriend/husband and as his own character within the wider narrative of the show. he's a natural fit, but he's also entertaining and he has history with most of the main characters already.

i really do see Tommy as Buck's endgame btw, bc they work so well together as a pairing but also as independant characters. BUT i wouldn't be mad about them breaking up/taking a break (as i mentioned in that post: uncertainty about having kids; a potential permanent job position out of state) and then come back together stronger for it. we saw it happen with Henren (but i don't want to see cheating with our boys bc it doesn't fit who they are) so we know if they do breakup it doesn't have to be permanent - and i actually would love the mirror to Buck's first serious relationship where Abby leaves him - only Tommy comes back to him.

[marieisontuxblr]

9-1-1 S8E09 reactions

Spoilers for the episode "Sob Stories"

Ok kinda obsessed with the opening emergency

JLH can ACT. I love her 

Ugh maddie’s growth is everything 

Wait where is this dude??

...creepy 😐

Buddie?!?!!! I’m already crashing out

Talking through a glass wall!!!!! 

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do without you” what do you meeeeeaaaaan

yeah, I’m not gonna survive

Puppy!! 🥺😭

lol @ the ford product placement

PUPPY!

Buck going after the dog?? 

Buck EMERGING with the dog???

me atp: 💀💀💀💀

Oh the police lady is creepy (and hot) 

She’s the villain yeah?

wdym he’s helping ready the house for a showing

just shoot me, it’d be kinder

lol @ buck’s smile when the doorbell rings. Trying so hard to be supportive I love him

Buck in the pink is 👌👌

Obsessed with Buck. Why are you like this?? (I know why)

I know what you are 

“Everything that matters is in Texas” oh Eddie you have 30 min

“This is my new best friend” !!!

Ok buck calm down. Don’t get into a sass-off with Eddie Diaz, you will lose!

Oh Buck you crossed a line. Not cool. Also Eddie not cool to not tell to begin with. But. Not cool Buck

Hen and Chim I love you 😭😭

Bobby!! 😭😭😭

get your shit together, buck

“lol @ buck’s smile when the doorbell rings. Trying so hard to be supportive I love him” never mind lmfao

“I don’t talk to pigs” correct

Oh police lady is CREEPY creepy

Oh that’s an insane plot choice 

That’s so fucked 

Whaaat

Oh thank god jayna

Ok what’s up with placing the wallet

I wonder if maddie will have to quit eventually

JLH eats every single time

Not sure I’m convinced Maddie’s gonna recover and go back to dispatch after this

“You got something you wanna say to me Buck? 🤨”

Oh it’s a diva-off

I’m sat 

“You were spying on me” is an insane response 

‘Eddie-Diaz-be-normal-for-one-second’ challenge. level: impossible 

I need you to be so fr rn Eddie 

“I don’t need you either” I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE 

Not BINGO 😭😭😭

Omg not equipped to handle this

“I know we didn’t have much time together” kill me

I KNOW WE DIDN’T HAVE MUCH TIME TOGETHER ?!??! i'm gonna need 5-10 business days to unpack my feelings about that one

Eddie Diaz if you raise that eyebrow at him again I will hunt you down

To OUT you?!?!!?!! tim i need you stop fucking around so expeditiously 

Not Eddie feeling like Buck is putting him in an unfair position 😭😭 like don’t make it out that I don’t care about you just bc I have to choose Chris. I’m dying

Ok Eddie I see you. I also wouldn’t want to choose between my husband and my kid

s2g if Freddy assumes they’re a couple I will scream

Omg Buck arranged a surprise!?!! 😭

lol @ eddie’s frustrated face. He’s so done with buck’s shit

Buck: “I hate to make this all about me,  but it’s me”

Eddie:

Buck:

"you did really bond with that dog in about 10 secs" "that’s what I do" JUST SHOOT ME I CANNOT TAKE ANOTHER SECOND OF THIS

He’s going back to where he belongs???? I AM UNWELL [literal actual scream and tears atp]

“…with christopher” I’m ready for it to Stop™️

Oh I don’t like this cut to maddie AT ALL

Not the pov shot from behind

Leave maddie alone

What did I say?? Never trust a cop (sorry Athena, I love you babe, please quit your job)

If they take jee-yun I will find you @ tim

no don’t stop 

Ok it’s been a good run. I won’t make it till next week so so long I guess 

I have never been more in touch with myself as a millennial than in this moment

[fleabagdiaz]

in the perfect beautiful s9 world that I live in in my head bobby is alive of course but either recovering for much of the season or decides to retire/move to a less hands-on position (fire chief Nash???) and we get either hen and chim as captain depending on how the finale goes (with perhaps some tension between them about the captaincy bc I think that would be interesting for their relationship) and eddie becomes licensed as a paramedic (if he isn’t already) to fill their position so we get ravi main as buck’s new partner AND we get a new probie who is a young woman that hen takes under her wing as a mentor. either that or Lucy comes back as captain bc I miss her and I think that would be so funnyyyyy

[featheryminx]

hate post under the cut! this is so petty and purely a form of stress relief bc it’s finals season and i need some unserious venting. do not engage if ur a fan of buckt*mmy :) thanks

truly i have no words for this one. Girl what do you mean That Ship brought you so much joy you started watching 911 for them, and then stopped when they broke up? this isn’t like that egregious by their standards it just. it just boggles the brain.

why the fuck would chris meddle in this? these are grown ass men and he is a teenager who has a whole world of other problems, be serious. I also love how Those Shippers are so adamant that buck isn’t like that important or intertwined with Chris, up until they can use Chris as a plot point for their (bad) ship

okay so first of all—the 118 were never his friends. Like we gotta get that straight. He (can’t even say That Man bc that’s too ace attorney coded LOL) literally made chim & hens professional lives like, miserable? He was an active proponent of discomfort and harm and you think that the 118 is supposed to be on his side ever? no.

also like between Buck and Him, the 118 would never ever choose him. Like what the fuck does OP mean “the breakup has proven they aren’t his friends” as if there was something to disprove? There was no evidence suggesting that the 118 were his friends for that guy to even feel betrayed by. They just did not give a fuck about him.

you’re just making him italian to give him a cute plot point italian grandma? Talk about making him more and more eddie coded… like we already have Abuela we don’t need another grandma who speaks a diff language and has cute little names for buck. like this is literally just ripping off of eddies character bc you have nothing better to give this cardboard man who is Eddie Lite in every other way as well. (sorry to OP not a dig on your actual writing, it’s just the eddie-ification of your blorbo that bothers me)

WHAT IS YOU BITCHES OBSESSION WITH SAL? IF IM REMEMBERING CORRECTLY SAL WAS ALSO A WEIRD RACIST FREAK! are you weird and racist? is that why you’re obsessed with weird racists? grow up.

GET BUCKS NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH how dare you suggest that a song could apply to buck & temu and also sal/temu? gross. ALSO see above for my criticism of sal & temu obsessed weirdos.

so you think a racist, disrespectful clown is easier to stomach than someone having safe, sane, consensual sex? Like let me remind you—Temu was ridiculously paternalistic towards Buck all the time, and never respected him (first date, the way he talked about him to hen and karen) and is also canonically racist and misogynistic and also apparently has no remorse over the way he treated his beard or no respect for her as a human… and you think THAT is easier to stomach than a guy having casual sex? shows where your priorities lie.

GET MY GIRLS OUT OF YOUR MOUTH. he was so dismissive of their concerns in that deleted scene and u want more of those interactions? no baby. absolutely not.

el em ef ay oh. that’s all.

why the FUCK would he be involved, bffr. like practically, we know this is an athena plot. and also. DING DONG THE WITCH IS FUCKING DEAD and he’s not coming back. cope. seethe.

ugh i can’t add more images? okay i’ll just transcribe the post it’s short. basically it’s a snippet of a scene where Temu says “I’ve got your back”, because of course they have nothing better to do than steal from the buddie dynamic. like. that’s just embarassing.

[buckframe]

I rewrote (most of) 8b

8x13: "invisible" [partially rewritten]

instead of a forgotten birthday to showcase Hen's character not being seen and appreciated the way she deserves, it's her efforts and work that goes unnoticed (for example, she stays up all night baking muffins for denny's entire class and leaves for work before the others wake up and when she comes home noone even acknowledges it, and then the next day at work her brilliant idea saves the day but someone else (likely a man) gets credit for it.

all the eddie and chris vs the diaz parents happen the same.

add: a few short scenes to get a glimpse of Buck's mentality after he hangs up the facetimes with eddie and seeing how he's still dealing with his best friend's absence. maybe a scene where he's sitting alone in complete silence on his (wrong) couch with a beer in his hand feeling lost and lonely.

the Archie SL happens but maybe doesn't drag as much. especially the bus situation.

Hen's confrontation: turns out the kids and karen didn't realize she had made the muffins and thought she bought them before going to work (and they acknowledge that it would've still deserved their gratitude) and the 118 also apologize to her for miscreditting her work and not valuing her as they should have.

Eddie and Chris talk (even if briefly) about the kim situation and Chris forgives Eddie.

8x14: "Sick day" [partially rewritten]

wrong gender reveal cake scene will actually have a point (after maddie gives birth in later eps(/later in s9 really) turns out the baby is intersex (also foreshadowed by the berry talks) maddney have long talks and eventually decide not to take any 'corrective' measures and raise their kid in an open and loving environment and leave it up to them to decide what they want to be/identify as when they grow up. (they're not going to let Drs/others/society tell them what their child is or isn't bc scientists change their minds/can't even agree on what is or isn't a berry)

villain is a white man instead of a ginger braeburn twin and tumbler isn't badazzled (no reason other than that i prefer it them way)

Buck and Eddie facetime before buck's shift and Eddie surprises Buck by showing him that chris is back living with him

the 118 responds to the lab fire. explosion happens. chim's mask is blown off and he gets sick. Hen gets injured too but not in a way that reguires them to cut her in that lab with aerosolized cchf. maybe she breaks an arm or something.

the rest of the ep happens the same.

8x15: "Lab Rats" [partially rewritten]

mad scientist guy flashback. Buck and Athena leave to find him.

Ravi's breathing tube is nicked and Bobby notices when he goes to attatch the lab's oxygen supplies to him. Ravi makes Bobby promise not to say anything to the others. he's not even showing any symptoms yet so maybe he's not even infected.

Buck and Athena find the guy trying to sell the antiviral but the feds show up too and arrest them all and take them back to the lab site.

turns out athena got a similar vile filled with saline from the big pharma guy and switched the labels and stashed the real antiviral in a fridge at the company for Karen to come pick up after they leave so the feds have the fake vile. (and we didn't even need a stupid helicopter chase)

they all get to the site and Karen gives Athena the antiviral and she delivers it to Bobby who gives it Chim after Ravi's reassuring nod and thumbs up.

everyone finally gets to leave the lab but Ravi goes back in at the last second and locks himself in. he's just starting to show symptoms.

Buck and Bobby try yo break the door and cry but they're dragged away by the authorities. Ravi keeps reassuring them that 'it's okay' and 'it was his own choice'

emotional montage and sad music ending the ep with Ravi being carried out of the lab in a body bag.

8x16: "The Last Alarm" [completely rewritten]

montage of telling Ravi's parents and the 118 (not) dealing with the giref and guilt.

Bobby and chim especially feel guilty and responsible.

Bobby nearly relapses and drinks but Eddie (again) shows up at the right moment to stop him and this time Bobby tells him about it and the other time.

Eddie is back with Chris for the funeral and ofc they're staying with buck. let's say Eddie had taken Chris' bed with him to el paso and buck only had one air mattress so Chris takes the air mattress in his old bedroom and Buck refuses to let Eddie sleep on his uncomfortable ass couch. 'don't be stupid, we're adults, we can share a kind size bed.' (nothing comes out of this, i just hated eddie sleeping on Buck's fuckass couch lsdjlsjdf)

the funeral is longer than four minutes. all of the 118 (except for chim who leaves mid-bobby's speech) give speech at his funeral and it's a very emotional scene.

Buck and Eddie come home together while Chris goes with Henren to hang out with Denny (i know. convenient sijfdj)

Eddie opens the fridge and finds the champagne bottle Tommy left. he asks Buck about it and Buck reluctantly admits to sleeping with tommy but doesn't tell him about the 'competition' part.

Eddie gets irrationally angry for a striaght guy who defintely doesn't have feelings for his best friend, and says some mean stuff to Buck about purpoesly going back to the people who hurt him. "How long are you gonna keep doing this, Buck? giving yourself away to worthless people who can't even bother to call you the right name? what is it? do you get off on being treated like shit?" "Maybe I am. it beats dating women to fulfil a ' traditional family fantasy' and then cheating on them with my dead wife's doppelganger."

they both say mean shit they don't mean bc of the grief and guilt (and the fact that this 'roommate situation' isn't permenant and the diaz bys will leave again. they both hate it and they're misplacing their anger for their situations on each other)

Eddie ends up walking away and goes to the buckley-han residence to talk to chim about it maybe but Maddie tells him that he's gone for another 'run' to avoid talking to her. he goes inside anyway and talks to Maddie. Maddie helps Eddie sort of navigate his own emotions and figure out why Buck sleeping with Tommy made him so angry (and jealous) and tells him to talk to Buck about again. (she doesn't tell him about the 'competition' part either).

Chim is at Bobby's and they're having a fight. Chim blames himself and thinks bobby should've told them about Ravi. He should've let Chim have a say in who gets the antiviral. Bobby tells him that Ravi's death is not on him (chim). "it's on me. I failed him." they cry and hug. there's no resolution. what's done is done and they have to live with the situation and their decisions.

Buck and Eddie meet up at a bar to talk. they both apologize and Eddie tells him that he knows he's in no place to tell Buck who to sleep with and give lectures abt relationshsips and Buck gets a sheepish look and tells him "i'm not sure if that's true." Eddie is confused, his heartbeat picking up, cheeks flushing pink. he asks what Buck means and Buck tells him the full story ('competition with who?' and 'I don't have to want to sleep with everyone I have feelings for' and all) "And... like I told Maddie, you're my best friend and you're straight–" (strategically avoiding actually denying that he's in love with Eddie) "And if I wasn't?" "Wa- wasn't what?" "Straight."

they stare at each other, gazes locking and the rest of the people at the bar fading into the background. the last piece of the puzzle finally clicks into place. they're both leaning in, inch by inch, slowly and at the last second before their lips touch Buck's phone rings. unknown number. he almost ignores it.

but then picks up. "Buck... Help... me... I'm... trapped..." *line goes dead*

roll credit

8x17: "Unburied" [completely rewritten and re-titled]

ep opens with buck and eddie banging on bathena's door (unfinished dreamhouse and all) they tell Bobby and Athena what happened (not the almost kissing but Bobby clocks them immediately) "It was Ravi! He told me he's trapped and then the line went dead. It doesn't even ring when I try to call back!"

Bobby and Athena pretty much don't believe him (Eddie believed him, no questions asked) but Athena humors them and calls the station and asks a colleague to trace that call.

back in Henren's house they get the call that Mara's adoption is finalized and they can make it official as soon as they want. they all celebrate (chris is there too btw, i didn't forget about him. him being there also reminds him of how much his family in LA means to him and how much he's missed being a part of it).

Athena gets a call from her colleague expecting to find it was a prank call from some sicko but they tell her she has no authorization to trace that call. she tries to press harder and calls someone higher up and they practically threaten her not to pursue this. something something national security. and thats when she and bobby believe it. it was really Ravi. it had to be.

Athena does some illigal shit to trace the call anyway and it turns out it came from an underground (literally) gov lab that officially doesn't even exists. Athena threatens to go public (I wouldn't be opposed to have taylor kelly play a small role here) and expose them doing weird secret experiments on people. so they let 3 of them go in there to get an explanation. (Eddie stays behind and goes to pick Chris up)

back in Buckley-han household maybe maddie and chim are still trying to finalize baby names so they try calling buck and bobby but their phones go straight to voicemail. they're mildly worried. Maddie leaves for her night shift.

Buck, Bobby and Athena get to the lab and they're taken to a hallway and shown Ravi sleeping (medically induced coma bc he had managed to escape his room and call Buck whom he only knew his phone # bc for ages he refused to save buck's number out of spite and since buck had been texting and calling him a lot since Eddie was gone he had accidentally memorized his phone #) in an isolated room. basically Ravi's body was more resistant to the virus but they believed it would still kill him so they pretended that he's already died to 1- experiment on him since he's already 'dead' anyway so they can be prepared in case this happens again, and 2- not give his family false hope that he's going to survive.

The lab/gov people and Bathena go back and forth threatening each other but eventually Bathena win and they make them prioritize curing Ravi.

Chris and Eddie talk about staying in LA when they get home.

On his way home, Buck calls Eddie to let him know how it went (briefly) and also says something cheesy like "we'll finish what we started before Ravi rudely interupted us when I get home" and right before they hang up there's an earthquake (not big), Buck hits the brakes and curses and then laughs bc hes fine and nothing happened while Eddie nearly had a heart attack. but then the ground under Buck's car collapses and swallows Buck's truck with him in it. the line goes dead. the last thing Eddie heard was Buck's screaming.

8x18: "Reborn" [completely rewritten and re-titled]

Eddie calls 911 while he and chris are running out of the house to get to his car. Josh takes his call and they immediately start trying to find Buck's location. Eddie is going straight to the firehouse. he's alerted everyone else to meet him there to gear up and go to Buck's rescue (and leave Chris with one of the background firefighters at the station).

switch to Buck. he's buried underneath tons of concret and soil. a pipeline has also blown up and its filling his car with water. he has no service to call anyone so he records two messages. one for everyone, and one just for Eddie and chris. (we only see the one he records for everyone else/general message. the one for eddie is revealed next season)

Maddie goes into labor (induced by stress bc his brother is buried alive somewhere). it's a parallel to having jee while albert was on the verge of death only that time they didn't know until later and chim was with her. this time she knows and chim is out there trying to save buck so she feels so scared and alone. Karen comes to pick her up from the dispach center and takes her to the hospital despite her protests to stay.

the 118 get to the site where Buck went down. its completely collapsed and they can't access him from the top. it would take too long so they have to find old underground tunnels to accesshim. (lowkey want it to be raining too for more dramatic effect. or the blown up pipeline is spraying water everywhere) they do some cool complicated shit to get to Buck's car. only it's already filled with water and Buck isn't moving.

Maddie has to have a c-section bc there's a complication. it goes back and forth to the OR with maddie and the site with the 118.

they get Buck out and Eddie starts CPR before anyone else even gets a chance to touch him. Hen and Chim are practically frozen. Buck can't be gone too... (they don't know abt Ravi)

against all odds Buck comes to and coughs up a lot of water, his eyes meet eddie and he smiles for a momeny before he crashes. his body goes into shock and his heart stops. this time Bobby and chim drag a screaming sobbing Eddie away so Hen can resuscitate him. Eddie is crying, begging Buck not to leave him, that he loves him and that he and chris are staying (not caring or even thinking about how the others will now know too) bc he's their home and they're his.

back and forth montage (with dramatic/romantic music) of taking buck to the hospital (got his pulse back but he's still critical) and maddie nearly dying on the table. 118 getting to the hospital and finding Karen there. (we don't hear them speak but its clear what's going on) she tells them about maddie and Chim runs to the direction of the delivery OR while they take buck the other way (ER?idk). baby starts crying, both Devin (they/them) and maddie are okay. at the end of the montage chim is looking into the NICU and Chris and Eddie are watchiing Buck in the ICU thru a window.

final scene: Bobby telling Athena and Hen that he's retiring (for real this time) and Ravi opening his eyes in the gov lab.

Roll credit

[tevanbuckley]

If you could take Tims place for 8b how would the rest of the season play out? Would you put Tommy and Buck back together and if so, how?

oh where to begin...

tbh i think the bucktommy stuff is the easiest to fix, because the biggest problem (outside of needlessly losing an interesting new character) is it puts buck back to square one, so it could be solved by pretty much any variation of them getting back together. personally, i think the cleanest way would be to have tommy reach out after the kidnapping. would that be the most satisfying resolution? no, but it would stick with the theme of tommy showing up for buck and could be nested within the maddie storyline without taking up a ton of limited screen space. then i'd have buck actually think about his sexuality for thirty seconds (and say the word bisexual).

eddie is difficult bc his arc is dependent on how much truth there is to the speculation of ryan wanting out, but either way for the love of god PLEASE bring up shannon! my thing with that situation has always been eddie's refusal to accept that for all intents and purposes he didn't lose his wife, he lost his ex-wife, and i think having him finally grapple with that would be a good way to conclude his arc (whether he moves to texas or not).

athena is...frustrating, i think there's maybe something in her training new recruits. it would certainly give a bit more structure to her storylines than "random cop shit." i know a certain amount of copaganda is inevitable but 911 is especially bad for it (and imo has actually gotten worse over the years), partly because they refuse to take an actual stance (like why tf was the lady who got shot a sovereign citizen? the audience isn't stupid we know that's not the average victim of police violence). in theory the training stuff could help illustrate how policing is rotten all the way down the chain and potentially challenge some of athena's beliefs (i will be shocked if this happens)

for bobby i'd bring back some of the stuff that was touched on last season. he was an active suicide risk for christ's sake and are we really gonna drop all the tragic backstory about his family and then do nothing with it? perhaps his brother reaches out and causes problems or passes away.

madney and henren meanwhile i fear are a bit of lost cause this season. presumably madney is gonna be wrapped up with the kidnapping/pregnancy shit, which again forces chim into the position of "maddie's worried husband," don't get me wrong i think we'll get some stellar acting from kenny (and jlh) but "madney being sad," is not particularly interesting at this point.

similarly all the really juicy stuff with mara/ortiz/gerrard has already been pissed away — could've been especially interesting if hen and chim were still on the outs during the kidnapping but oh well — if tim's serious about wanting to "blow stuff up," one way to do that would be having hen consider a move to captain at another station. which (assuming they get s9) could even facilitate bobby taking a promotion down the line and her coming back to the 118 in his place.