#it will hopefully lead to some long overdue trauma processing for Eddie

[fromxxthexxashes]

Okay, okay, OKAY. Other long post from Hailey, but who’s surprised?

My thoughts on 7x07:

First of all, I just want to say that I HATE cheating storylines. Always have, always will. I hated when Hen did it, I hated it when Buck did it, and I hate that Eddie is doing it. Cheating is wrong, and that’s that. However, human beings make mistakes all the time, and this doesn’t mean that Eddie is evil or bad. It makes him human. While the show has, admittedly, not done great when it comes to taking certain serious subject matter seriously (see: Dr. W*lls), however, when they’ve done these cheating storylines in the past, it has always been framed as a wrong decision. I’m guessing that’s what’s gonna happen with Eddie.

I’ve also heard the term OOC thrown around, and while I think this is unlike Eddie, in terms of his morality, I don’t think it’s out of character. This whole storyline is Eddie self-destructing. We’ve seen him do it before. The first time is when he got into fighting. He wasn’t a bad guy or a guy with anger issues, he was a man in pain, who didn’t know what to do with all that hurt - so he self-imploded. The second time, was when he had a breakdown. This was a lot more visceral. He had all these feelings and trauma bottled up, and he wasn’t dealing with it, and then it exploded. Then he took a baseball bat to his room - an extension of the self, one might say. And he did it, in part because of all the years of repressed trauma, but also because of all that guilt.

This cheating storyline is Eddie self-destructing. He’s in an unfulfilling relationship that he only got into because he felt he had to be with someone otherwise he was a failure for being alone. He also hasn’t dealt with his grief and trauma of Shannon's passing, clearly. And Trauma has a wicked way of making us do bad things. Along with that, he still idealizes his relationship with Shannon, even though there is a lot more bad than good. I think he is unhappy with certain things in his life, and he’s going about things the way he is, likely because he probably still feels guilty about his mistakes and how his marriage ended. For him, it’s easier to implode than it is to search deeper down and find the issues he’s not dealing with.

It’s not intentional behavior. He holds himself up to such a high standard, that anything he does feels like not enough, like he’s a failure. Because of that, he has a low opinion of himself, and, subconsciously, he wants to punish himself. His idealization of his marriage with Shannon doesn’t help with that, because he probably thinks the problems in their marriage rest on his shoulders - despite the fact that both parties contributed.

While the cheating might be self-sabotage, him picking a woman that looks like his dead wife and mother of his child, is obviously about his constant urge to fulfill this mother and wife role in Chris and his lives. He has a hard time believing he can be a good father alone, so he’s always searching for someone to complete that nuclear family image.

I think he also wants to try and recreate those good moments he had with Shannon with Kim, this doppelgänger woman. He’s put on these rose-colored glasses when it comes to his marriage with Shannon. He’s not fulfilled with Marisol, and he’s desperately trying to find that fulfillment. He wants that fulfillment to come from someone who fits those mother/wife roles that he feels is obligated to pursue, and who fits that role better than Shannon, his wife and mother of his child? Unfortunately, that’s not gonna work. One, because Kim is not Shannon. Two, Shannon and his relationship was a whole mess. Three, the way he’s going about pursuing this is gonna end up even messier.

So while I HATE that they’re doing a cheating storyline, this does mean there will be positive things for us, the audience, and for Eddie’s character development.

Eddiesol is BONES. Say bye-bye transphobic and homophobic actress. You will not be missed!!

Eddie will likely end the season single. There is no way Eddie is going to stay with Kim, because that would be way too traumatic for Eddie and Chris, not to mention no self-respecting women is going to stay with a man that pursued her only because she looked like his wife.

Buck is going to meet Kim, and Buck will find out that Eddie cheated, and will hopefully yell at him for dumb choices. Buck is speaking from experience, so I’m guessing he’ll have a lot to say. I feel like this could mirror their argument over Ana in s5.

Kenny described this arc as a “beautiful disaster” so Eddie will undoubtedly come out of this having learned some valuable lessons.

Eddie is finally going to process Shannon’s death.

Eddie is finally going to admit that his relationship with Shannon was far from perfect.

Eddie will FINALLY realize that he cannot replace Shanon. This will stop his cycle of dating women with the purpose of doing just that.

Hopefully, this will lead to Eddie realizing that he’s only ever dated women out of some kind of obligation, which could hopefully lead into a sexuality storyline sometime in the future.

So, despite the fact that I hate cheating storylines, I have faith that this will result in some positive change for Eddie. Cheating is wrong, but it’s not character death. Hen grew past her infidelity, and so did Buck. Every thing is going to blow up in Eddie’s face, and it will undoubtedly result in some deep self-reflection, hopefully some therapy, and some character growth.