#they could have shown her for him and chim

[stevenrogered]

2x18 / 7x09

[hainethehero]

POC can forgive Tommy. That's a valid opinion, and it's not my place to inform them of their feelings on racism.

However, both Hen & Chim never imply forgiving Tommy after Tommy decides to treat them like they are humans (Chim specifically mentions still being isolated because of his race years after he started). They treat him kindly because they are kind people, even before he acknowledges them. Nor does Tommy ever apologise for some of his behaviour. Hen even goes as far as to state that she is not friends with people who had left the 118.

As a woman in a historically male industry, I've heard women get negative descriptions/comments for things men are praised for and had their opinions/requests ignored only for a man to bring up the same thing and it be heard. Tommy's brand of misogyny is still around. Based on his comments/tone in 7x03, I'm hard pressed to believe he's changed in that aspect.

A lot of people tolerate people who hurt them because it makes situations easier. (Not any less painful)

Y'all really need a crash course in contextualising/comprehension/media/plot literacy.

AGAIN-

Tommy's character was never intended as a mainstay. So all the redemption/reconciliation that happened, was only able to be shown in a small montage. The show isn't going to allocate a lot of time or a full episode for a redemption arc for a character that was not meant to be permanent.

The montage however, did show that Tommy Hen and Chim all reconciled. IT IS IMPLIED. That's why in later episodes, Chimney could still call on him to put out the house fire that nearly killed Eddie. And that's why he could still be trusted to be contacted when they needed to rescue Bobby and Athena.

Because Tommy's character didn't have the luxury of a full episode to redeem himself, the audience is expected to contextualize their reconciliation. We didn't see Tommy actually apologize, but we do see him and Hen and Chimney embracing each other after having a farewell party for him. That shit wouldn't happen if Hen did not like him/reconcile with him. Therefore IT IS IMPLIED.

We're not even sure if he'll be a mainstay in season 8. Or of he'll just be a peripheral character like before. The point is, his character won't be fully fleshed out until they decide if they're giving him a full arc as a main.

So y'all are crucifying his character before it even gets a chance to flourish because he's getting in the way of your preferred ship. It would be so much better if y'all can just admit that instead of virtue signaling & using racism as a means to justify your horrible behaviour towards not only Lou (who's just doing his job & now have to deal with delusional fanatics who send him death threats & make up lies about him as a person when they don't know him at all), but also fans of the show who like the BuckTommy ship.

Additionally, y'all have taken to socmed and have made the entire show about this, being absolutely INSUFFERABLE in all of the cast's comment sections whenever they post anything remotely related to buddie or Tommy. It's why Oliver deleted X, and it's why Ryan has a hard time being on socmed, why Aisha has her comments limited & why Tim Minear had to make a post about y'all sending him death threats after he didn't include the karaoke scene. It's insane behaviour.

It's also not lost on me, that y'all typically do this to female characters who get in the way of your preferred ship.

[supercalime]

hellooo, fellow bucktommy shipper (and casual b*ddie enjoyer, if it weren't for the horrors...) here! i really liked your take on b*ddie st*ns and how they are now making super wild assumptions based on some latest interviews.

you know one thing that irks me? somehow nobody seems to talk about is the fact that in canon, buck isn't written to be in love with eddie at all. like, can we please talk about this??? because I'm all for Death Of The Author. OS can talk about ships all he wants but in the end, only the canon narrative matters to me personally. i've watched long-form content with endgame couples being set up in the pilot episodes who become canon many seasons later (bones, castle, grey's anatomy, the mentalist, etc.), and the entire point of such couples is to establish that, yes, they have been having romantic feelings all this time since day one. they do so very very obviously. there is zero subtlety or room for questioning.

one of the most common tropes is to give one or both characters (of the endgame couple) another love interest so that the endgame couple can be full of jealousy and pettiness every time that other love interest is mentioned or shown. having another love interests always endangers the original closeness of the endgame couple, and then the breakup propels the endgame couple forward in their relationship. the love interest is always used for comparisons, to make it abundantly clear that everybody else is lacking in some way. at no point in 911 did they do so with buck and eddie??? these dudes go through various romantic relationships, and never ever has it been any issue to the b*ddie dynamic. never was it talked about. never were hints dropped that one of them is jealous. even now, with bucktommy, eddie shows not a single ounce of jealously. on the other side, look at how they showed us buck being obviously jealous because eddie monopolized tommy's time even though buck wanted tommy time himself! buck couldn't stand the jealousy even a little bit, and he ended up literally hurting his bestie because of it. but whenever eddie is involved romantically and sexually with someone, there are zero signs that buck is bothered or threatened or jealous. they both seem super chill? they do not question at any point that them dating other people might hurt their relationship? logically, that must mean buck's never wanted to be romantically or sexually involved with eddie (and vice versa). at it's core, b*ddie has been written as a friendship. to this day, we have no canon proof for anything else.

i would not hate b*ddie to happen or anything. i do enjoy b*ddie fics (those that aren't super misogynist ♥). and i think it could be a great couple if done well! but as you said, even when buck thought eddie was hot... well, so what? that's literally just an objective observation. RG is handsome based on societal standards. chim and hen also immediately acknowledged that eddie was hot in 2x01, and both of them are Not At All romantically or sexually attracted to eddie either. nobody is questioning chim's or hen's sexuality based on the comments they made about eddie being hot. because nothing about this equals real romantic feelings or the desire to be in a relationship. the fandom understands that logic just fine with chim and hen. why not with buck, though? also, we have yet to see a reversed moment for eddie staring at buck and finding him hot. they had no problem to show eddie Immediately having a crush on ana flores when he first met her. this shows that eddie feels sexual attraction just fine. he was, however, never shown in canon to feel it for buck.

also interesting: even though buck found eddie hot when they first met, it did not trigger buck to seriously question his sexuality at any point in the past like, 5 years or so. in all those years of canon b*ddie friendship, the show has never used the plethora of opportunities to propel b*ddie into romantic or sexual territory. the show could have! but the show never did, so i refuse to let b*ddie st*ns or OS retcon this. if it's not in the canon material, it isn't canon. with tommy, it took only a couple of weeks and a handful of interactions for buck to reach a point of clarity about his sexuality. the most logical deduction imo is that buck simply clocked that eddie's hot (like everybody else, duh, he isn't special in that regard), and it's never meant anything deep.

my only real probem with this entire situation is how hardcore b*ddie st*ns are now using this as a justification to harass others even more (especially bucktommy shippers). i'd love to enjoy canon bucktommy and fanon b*ddie in peace! but the hate that b*ddie st*ns are spreading everywhere again (like with every new season and newly introduced love interest) is so overwhelming.

sorry for the long ass rant btw oopsie. feel free to ignore this. i just wanted to let it out and it seemed like you would understand. anyway, thanks for reading in case you got this far!

I’d never ignore a sensible take, anon! (I feel bad that you had to go anon but I understand. We know the drill by now, some stans are scary lol)

But like, ALL OF THIS!!!

Discourse like this is what takes away the enjoyment of media for me. It sucks that fandom experience can have two very extreme opposing sides, specially when it comes to two “competing” ships. You can kinda tell by how bucktommy shippers behave (I’m not trying to flex at all because I am one. A good majority of us has zero problem with b*ddie endgame even though we prefer the other. We like what we are getting and are happy to see this storyline play out) compared to b*ddie shippers (of course not all of them, I’m talking about the entitled ones. That clog comment sections, bother actors, go to the other ships tag to complain about it and say how their preferred ship is better, etc).

Im not immune to bad takes and bad fan behavior. Ive surely acted like these stans in other fandoms and i do regret it, so i hate seeing it happen again and again, no matter where i go.

Not to quote mean girls, but I wish we could all get along…

All that being said, whichever ship “wins”, it’s no one’s call but the writers and producers of the show. Someone told me that Tim writes for himself and doesn’t take outside factors (at least to an extent cause it’s impossible to not know the fan reaction) into consideration when it comes to where he wants the story to go.

[monsterrae1]

It was a only a kiss (how did it end up like this)

Just a silly ficlet based on this anon that @housewifebuck got 🖤

1.8k | Read on Ao3

One of the first things that Maddie had ever taught him when she taught him how to drive was the importance of wearing his seatbelt. Buck had been 16 years old and he had been traumatized by his sister showing him pictures of accidents where people weren’t wearing their seatbelts. Ever since, Buck would quickly put it on as soon as he was seated in any car.

When he was a probie he would always use the belts in the engine, until he realized that he was the only one doing it, and that it usually made him lag a few seconds behind everyone else, so he quickly stopped doing it. That had been years ago, and he didn’t think about it much now, it wasn’t that big of a deal, he had told himself then that he was saving lives and that meant he could be a little reckless with his own.

And, except for the bombing incident - that Buck would argue didn’t count - none of them had ever gotten hurt because they didn’t wear their seatbelts in the engine, so it wasn’t something that they’d ever talk about. It wasn’t that important.

Of all the accidents that Maddie had shown Buck all those years ago none of them had come near as bad as this one was.

It was a normal day, they were heading to a call and chatter around the engine was flowing, everyone was teasing Chim since he had been a little bit of a groomzilla with some arrangements for his wedding, Buck was sitting in his usual seat across from Eddie, Buck’s knees fitted in between Eddie’s, everyone was laughing at Chim’s expense when the truck came to a sudden stop.

In an universe where both Buck and Eddie had been wearing their seatbelts, nothing would’ve happened, Buck might’ve gotten his breath knocked out of him from the force he was pushed forwards, but nothing more than a bruise would’ve appeared on his skin. 

Sadly, in this universe, Buck wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.

There were groans heard all over the cabin, Hen had fallen into the floor, and next to her Ravi had hit his head on Chim’s knee. Luckily for Buck and Eddie, they were all distracted dealing with their own pain to notice the position in which they had landed.

It was a very compromising position. The impulse had thrown Buck forward, making him slide to his knees right between Eddie’s legs, while the bounce back had made Eddie fall forward just as Buck was looking up to make sure that his friend was okay. If you’d ask him now, he wouldn’t be able to tell you how it was exactly that it happened, at least not the initial kiss. 

Because as soon as Buck looked up, Eddie fell forward and their lips crashed, quite literally, together. The initial kiss was actually a little painful, Buck was sure he tasted a little blood from where his lip was trapped between Eddie’s and his teeth, both him and Eddie were just staring at each other with their eyes wide open in shock, and their lips still pressed together.

Then, Buck saw as Eddie’s eyelids shut close, and then the pressure from his lips was no longer painful, but more of a soft pressure, it took Buck a second to figure out that Eddie was actually kissing him now, his lips had moved to mold into Buck’s perfectly, and now they were begging Buck’s to wake up and kiss him back. 

Which he did, for a second, before the groaning and complaining of their coworkers was loud enough to break them out of the spell they had fallen to; by the time Hen turned to them to ask them if they were okay, they were avoiding each other’s eyes, and blushing.

“Yeah, yeah we’re good” Eddie said quickly. 

Buck groaned as he got up and sat back in his seat, “Yeah, say that to my knees” he mumbled, and then looked at the poor state of his uniform, completely covered in dirt, the place where he had landed on was a little scrapped but not enough to be noticeable enough that he’d have to get new slacks, so there was at least that.

“Yeah,” Eddie agreed, Buck looked up to him, and found him frowning at Buck’s slacks, “They look rough”

“How come you’re completely clean?” Chim asked Eddie, who shrugged in reply and said:

“Well, I mostly landed on Buck? I didn’t really landed on the floor a all”

“Of course you did”

“Sorry everyone,” Bobby said from the front, “Anyone hurt?”

Everyone replied that they were okay, and soon after they were on their way again, rushing off to save lives.

Buck should’ve stopped thinking about the kiss, he should’ve focus on the emergency in front of him and the people needing their help, but all that he could think about was the soft press of Eddie’s lips on his, and how Eddie could’ve pulled away much much sooner than he did, but instead he had decided to kiss Buck, and turned Buck’s world completely upside down.

It wasn’t like Buck hadn’t thought about it before, he’d had one or two dreams about being with Eddie through the years, but Buck had always thought it was just his brain latching to his very attractive best friend while he was going through a very long dry spell, but he had never actually wanted to do any of those things - Or maybe the thought had crossed his mind a long time ago, but he squashed it right down, telling himself that whatever feelings he might have, weren’t worth the risk of losing Eddie.

“Hey,” Eddie’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, he nearly jumped when one of his hands landed on Buck’s hip, but he soon relaxed into the touch, the same he always did when Eddie touched him, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Buck assured him, taking a deep breath, “Just, oh, a lot in my mind”

Eddie smiled at him and nodded, “I can imagine what about” Buck considered his blush was answer enough “Maybe, huh, we can talk about it? Over lunch? After work?”

Buck stared at Eddie, he also had a nice blush lighting up his face, his eyes were gleaming, while he was smiling shyly, a smile that wasn’t all the way there, like he couldn’t fully smile until Buck agreed to go on a date with him.

Eddie had just asked him out on a date.

They had kissed not even two hours ago, and now Eddie was asking him on a date looking adorably nervous and Buck wanted to say yes, to a date, to forever, no anything that Eddie had to offer, and oh. Oh.Oh fuck.

“How long have I been in love with you?” He blurred out instead of saying yes to Eddie’s question.

Eddie blinked owlishly at him, before tilting his head, and finally letting that beautiful smile of his spread over his face.

“Well, I’m hoping as long as I have been in love with you, which is to say a few years now”

“Yeah?” Buck was sure that his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

“Yeah, Buck”

“Okay,” he smiled, “We should talk about, uh, everything I guess, over lunch, a lunch date, you and me”

Eddie rolled his eyes and squeezed Buck’s hip before letting go and turning around to put away the equipment they had used during the call.

“It’s a date!” He called over his shoulder, and Buck had to try very very hard to not giggle like a schoolgirl.

The rest of the shift was tortuously slow, not necessarily because there wasn’t any calls, overall it was a very normal shift; but every time they sat across each other in the engine and their knees brushed together Buck felt himself blush, and when they had down time at the station, Eddie kept himself close to Buck. 

The rest of the crew seemed to notice that something had shifted, but no one said anything, at most Hen kept raising her eyebrows at how close Buck and Eddie seemed to be, Buck tried to ignore her knowing looks but the blush in his cheeks might’ve given him away.

By the time the shift ended, Buck couldn’t wait to get out of the station and get to his date with Eddie. His first date with Eddie.

“Ready to head out?” Eddie asked him.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go, want me to drive?”

“Yeah, I was just thinking something low key? Like that sandwich place you really like?”

“Ok, yeah, that sounds perfect”

They stared at each other for a little bit too long, Buck still couldn’t believe that he was going on a date with Eddie, and for the look in Eddie’s face, he was also still processing.

“Okay, let’s go” Eddie said, breaking their trance.

They were halfway through the parking lot when Buck felt Eddie’s hand reach out for his and tangled their fingers together.

They had their second kiss against the jeep, Eddie pushed Buck against it, cradled his head in his hands and then kissed him slowly. This was what their first kiss should’ve been like, not an accidental bump, but Buck couldn’t bring himself to hate it or regret it, since it had led them to finally cross the line and get here.

“Maybe we can skip lunch?” Buck suggested, Eddie chuckled and kissed him again.

“Nope, I’m taking you out on a date, c’mon, we can make out after”

Buck laughed, but finally got into the truck. Their first date felt like any other outing they had done before, the staff wasn’t surprised that they had walked in holding hands or that they couldn’t seem to stop making heart eyes at each other, it made Buck wonder if they had all just assumed they had been together the entire time.

By the time they were done with their food, they wordlessly agreed to go back to Eddie’s house to maybe catch a nap before they needed to go pick up Chris from school, Buck noticed just truly how mixed together their lives already were, how Eddie’s house was already filled with Buck’s stuff, he even had two drawers full of his clothes.

“You okay?” Eddie asked him, when he noticed he had gone quiet while he picked up a t-shirt and some shorts.

“Yeah, just, why hadn’t we gotten together sooner?”

Eddie laughed, “Buck, you didn’t know you were in love with me until we accidentally kissed and I asked you out”

Buck blushed, “Yeah well, you knew, why didn’t you do anything?”

Eddie shook his head, “We weren’t ready, I don’t think, we got here when he needed to,” he shrugged, “that’s all that matters”

Buck kissed him, and couldn’t help but agree with him, he might’ve been a little slow on the update, but at least they had gotten here.

[ravi-is-my-beloved]

I've finally rewatched the scene where Hen is told that she's the future of the LAFD (in her begins episode) because this is also the scene where we learn that Captain Gerrard is fired because of complaints made on Hen's behalf about his behavior towards her.

And I watched this scene again specifically because people keep bringing up Tommy being one of the people who made complaints against Gerrard as one of the ways it's shown he has changed from his racist and misogynistic behavior that we see in both Hen begins and Chimney begins. And each time I see it brought up, they always use it as an actual piece of evidence as to how he's grown and changed.

....It's not even canon that he is one of the ones who complained. Because they don't specify who made the complaints, which is standard procedure since they want people to feel safe when making complaints. Hen literally asks who made the complaints and in canon, they tell her that privilege can't be told.

Could Tommy have actually been one of the firefighters who complained on her behalf? Yes, but also a shit ton of unnamed firefighters heard her speech and could've also complained, so again, not something concrete to bring up when saying Tommy has changed.

But the way Tommy fans keep saying it like it's canon, is the problem. Whenever someone who doubts that Tommy has changed, his defenders will use him complaining about Gerrard as an actual, canon, example of how he's changed. They bring it up in tandem with him "apologizing" to Hen and Chim for his behavior (it's not actually apologizing if he doesn't own up to his actions and instead is just like "You're good") as the show showing us he's changed.

And that's not the case.

TL;DR: It's not canon that Tommy made a complaint against Gerrard and if you use that an example of the show telling us he's changed, then you're not giving factual information.

[captain-hen]

Honestly even with all the Eddie mess, the most insane choice in the finale to me is still Athena leaving the hospital for justice/revenge, when the doctor had just told her that Bobby's life was still in the balance. They were ready to die together holding hands in the cruise arc, and now you're telling me she's leaving him alone knowing that he could be dead when she comes back to the hospital?? This is so weird.

i haven't even wanted to talk about the athena of it all because it's truly so upsetting, but y e a h. you're telling me her husband was on the verge of death and she was just willing to leave like that?? what if may and harry had shown up and bobby died and they didn't have their mother around to grieve with them?? and...basically everyone's reactions to bobby almost dying was so weirdly written. i've already talked about the buck of it all, how they glanced over his reaction where the buck of past seasons would be freaking out well after bobby ended up being okay—they cut the scene of eddie praying—we barely saw hen and chim's reactions to it because they were too focused on athena—ravi wasn't even around despite them making a point of including him in bobby's round of goodbyes in the previous episode. it was so fucking weird!!

[njwinterquartz]

I’m gonna make some loosely based predictions or possibilities for next season. I’m not expecting anything to actually happen or any details to be right. It’s just some ideas I’ve had or things I want to see.

(Gerrard is the most straight forward so this part mostly focuses on what the hell i think they could be using him for.) Obviously we know Gerrard is going to be terrible. But like there’s a lot of ways they can go. I think he might try and make them turn on each other, but I really doubt that’d work

We got the still from Tim of Ortiz and Gerrard so definitely a connection there, god I hope whatever plan that woman has backfires because you don’t have to ignore your pain but lashing out in this way has to lead to consequences for her. But this means he might target Hen again with more pointed bigotry and racism because Ortiz might of had a hand in bringing him back. So he might be out for her specifically. Which I’d hate but I wouldn’t put it past him.

Chim and Ravi he’ll obviously be racist and rude towards but the details I don’t really know. Well chim he’ll probably make the cleaning boy again after what Chim said to him at the ceremony. But Ravi being the newest of the bunch from A shift he might haze and treat like a probie and just discredit everything Ravi does.

Buck and Eddie are the interesting ones here. For Buck it’s Tommy. Like they’ve already established a connection between Tommy and Gerrard. So I think Gerrard will be rude and homophobic towards Buck because he’s dating Tommy. I could see him trying to make Buck doubt he knows Tommy and that’ll have Buck and Tommy really sit down and talk about each other and who they are. But I doubt that’ll be anything major because I doubt Buck would let Gerrard make him doubt Tommy.

Also with Buck being the only white man in their group with Bobby being gone, he’s kinda in that spot Tommy was in in the begins episodes. Buck won’t put up with Gerard’s racism and bigotry but still there’s a parallel there.

Eddie I think will be interesting to see the direction they take with him losing Chris for a bit and also him trying to figure out who he is outside of being a firefighter and a parent. And I think Ryan has already talked about Gerrard a bit in connection to where Eddie is at the end of the season. Something about Gerrard kinda being like the man Eddie was raised to be in a way, no emotions macho man, obviously minus the racism and bigotry. So that’ll be something I look forward to them exploring. Like I mean figuring it what Ryan meant not Eddie and Gerrard interacting.

I don’t really know where they’re gonna go with the councilwoman Ortiz plot line so I’m not going to make any guesses on that. And Eddie, I think it’ll be rough for him but I do think this storyline will end with him finally figuring out who he is when he is alone. And Bobby and Athena obviously need a new home, but I can’t predict anything for them it’s just too open. But please give Athena plot lines that don’t center around her being a cop, the season finale was way more than I was comfortable with.

Now on to some happier things I want to see.

I want more Buck and Tommy conversations, dates, and things showing how they’re growing as people and as a couple. And I don’t know why but I’d love to see them go on a date and go stargazing. Like I dunno that would be stupidly cute.

More Mara and Denny, please just more of them. I love how they’re portrayed.

On that train of thought, I want more Henren family time with Mara. I also kinda want to see if Jee will be a part of the Denny, Mara dynamic now that the Hans (Chim and Maddie) are fostering her. More madney and Henren interactions too, I adored how Karen and maddie are being shown with the hen and chim dynamic.

Obviously more Ravi and different Ravi dynamics shown with the cast.

We’ve gotten a tiny bit of Tommy lore from before the begins episodes. But obviously I want more and more of his dynamics with the others. Gimme more Chim, hen and Tommy.

Also I think it would be good to show Eddie and Tommy’s dynamic again. Especially since Eddie is pretty alone right now. I could see Tommy helping Eddie start the process of figuring out who you are. Not saying this as in Eddie realizing he’s not straight, but like figuring out who you are outside of your job, past, and family. With their shared military background I think Tommy could help Eddie with that.

There’s a lot more thoughts to this but my brain is bad at explaining them so this is what I’ve got. Wish I could do more on the predictions and possibilities like more than just what a terrible person Gerrard is going to be. But that’s all way too up in the air for me to make any cohesive thoughts and predictions on.

[tenebrous-academic]

About the previous anon. I agree that we did get something but felt like we didn't get anything (?) to indicate their relationship status. I'm not wording this correctly. I mean we know they've been together for a while, *possibly* spending the night at eo's, but at the same time buck haven't talked about tommy apparently? (Idk if it's just bobby or the 118).

It feels like they're still in the testing things out/dating area and not boyfriends just yet, which is fine really.

But I'm hoping the hospital scene is gonna be a step for them getting closer, tommy being there for buck to relay on and get the support and comfort from him. It's gonna be a waste not to use this scene to advance their relationship.

I really hope next episode provides some solid information as to their canon status too! But buckle up because I’m about to overanalyze the fuck out of the scenes we did get:

Based off of this episode, I think it’s safe to say they’ve been seeing each other for at least a few months. During the award ceremony it was mentioned the cruise ship disaster happened “last March.” I didn’t see anything showing what month it current is, but based off the wording we can at least assume enough time has passed for it to be considered last year and not “this March.” That gives the relationship at least 3-5 months depending on how long it took Buck to work up to courage to call Tommy for the first tour of the harbour.

Buck and Tommy have also been together long enough for Tommy to feel comfortable enough to talk about how he was treated by Captain Gerrard and, likely, how he behaved around Chim and Hen back then. I wish we could have actually seen that, as well as the scenes between Tommy, Chim, and Hen hashing things out to make sure there’s no bad blood, but all we have are these new interactions showing all of them as friends now and the past firmly behind them.

But!!! What we did get this episode!

Buck softly signing when he sees Tommy getting his award and beaming like a proud partner.

Buck and Tommy being in sync as they walk around the station together.

Buck giving his bitchiest glare to Gerrard and putting his body between his man and that piece of filth (Chim is iconic for that new nickname).

We also get Buck shown as Tommy’s family/loved one during the ceremony. A clear pattern is established with Hen getting her medal and Karen and the kids clapping, Chimney getting his medal and Maddie clapping, and then Tommy getting his medal and the camera panning over to Buck as he breathes deeply and glows in pride for Tommy. (I also acknowledge that Eddie is shown after Buck gets his medal, but the show has established that Eddie and Chris are family to Buck so I don’t think there’s anything to shippy about it).

He hasn’t talked to Bobby about it, and we don’t know if he’s been talking to anyone else, but we do know that it’s not a secret. That hospital kiss was his announcement and maybe he’s happy with that being the extent of it. I think Buck is the kind of person to keep his happiness to his chest a little bit longer to make sure that it’s his and not everyone else’s. Which I know goes against his past relationships and how he’s always talked about them - but Tommy feels different, so the way Buck would treat their relationship would be different too. It’s something he was to protect and nurture and he doesn’t feel the need to ask his family about it because he already knows the answers.

So, yeah, definitely not as much as I would have liked, but the pieces of their relationship ship we did get were pretty indicative of something solid and meaningful being built between them. I’m crossing every finger the finale gives us more though. We’re being given scraps and I think we’re all going a little feral over the lack of anything truly substantial.

[ventingtendency]

Saying this on a burner because I absolutely do not want to deal with whatever reactions will come but

THE THING IS!! It is SHOWN in Bobby Begins Again that post-Gerrard, Chimney and Hen do hang out with Tommy AND Sal! They are genuinely upset when Bobby fires Sal! We see that they get drinks with Tommy! They make him a cake and have a party when he leaves!

And! In Chimney Begins we see that Tommy does warm up to Chimney after Chimney saves him

This DOES NOT excuse his behaviour, but it does lend credence to the idea that Tommy is capable of realising when he is wrong and owning up to mistakes, even BIG ONES like the racism and misogyny he participated in

You cannot convince that Hen would willingly go out to drinks with a coworker who remained an asshole to her & her best friend, I fully believe that apologies were said

ALL THAT BEING SAID — Lou severely fucked up in saying all Tommy was doing was teasing in Hen/Chimney Begins. It was not just teasing. He was actively antagonistic and racist and misogynistic. He didn’t step in At All even though he could have. Do we know now that he was deeply closeted and probably scared himself? Yeah. Still doesn’t excuse his behaviour.

I liked Tommy. I liked that in the Begins episodes he grew into a better person. I liked that he sent that air tanker when Chimney called him. I liked that he was willing to do a favor for Hen and Chim to fly a helicopter into a literal hurricane. I liked that he has shared interests with Eddie and that he is there to help Buck figure out a part of himself.

But after the weird ass reception he has had. All the fetishising and rabid obsession and his actor making bank spoiling shit and saying stupid things on his Cameo, I am eagerly awaiting the day that he is no longer on the show

[missmagooglie]

For the WIP Wednesday game, @infinitybits87 and @h-i-raeth requested a Therapy Baby snippet, so have some "Buck defending his poor life choices" paired with some "Firefam defending Buck"

“Buck as a father, I never thought I’d see the day,” Chim grins at him. “Though in hindsight, maybe we should have seen this coming. Which of your sexcapades resulted in this little bundle of joy? Did his mom have to reach out to you on Tinder?” “Oh, please tell me this child was not conceived in the rig,” Hen begs. “Was it snake girl?” Chimney asks. “I need to know if we have to prepare for a hereditary love of reptiles.” Buck laughs awkwardly. “No, she wasn’t anyone I met while I was on duty,” he says, trying to ignore the way Bobby looks skyward and mouths the words thank you. “It was, um. Do you guys remember when I was having a hard time after that roller coaster rescue that went bad?” “Of course,” Bobby says. “It was your first time losing someone on the job. You took it hard.” “Right, yeah, and you suggested I see someone for counseling,” Buck says. “So I went to her office, and it turns out she’d seen me on the news, and, um, I guess you could say we tried some non-traditional treatments?” He braces himself for laughter and teasing, but instead the room goes quiet. “Buck, are you telling us that Danny’s mother was your therapist?” Bobby asks, his face pinched. “It was only one session,” Buck says, his body curling defensively around the baby in his arms. He suddenly recalls the visceral hatred and disgust that came off Dr. Wells’ husband the day he had picked Danny up. The pure disgust he’d shown when he learned that Buck had been a patient of his wife’s, “and we didn’t exactly do a lot of therapy. It’s not like I was a regular patient of hers.” “That doesn’t make it ok,” Hen says softly. She says it in the voice she uses to reassure victims in the field, and Buck has no idea why she’s using it now.  “Look, I get that it wasn’t the classiest thing I’ve ever done," Buck says in an effort to downplay the whole thing, "but it’s not like we did something illegal." “At the very least it’s sexual misconduct,” Athena chimes in, and her voice is serious, too. “Depending on the circumstances, it could even be considered rape.” “Woah,” Buck says, stepping back in alarm. “Hey, no, it was very much consensual. I would never-” Buck looks around and catches Bobby’s eyes. “Bobby, I swear,” he pleads, “I know I did a lot of stupid shit, but I never did anything that the other person wasn’t completely on board with. I would never try to take advantage of-” “No one is accusing you, Buck,” Bobby assures him. “You would have been the victim. If your therapist slept with you, then as the patient you’re the one who was assaulted.” Buck snorts at the wild absurdity of that statement. “I think I’d know if I had been assaulted.” “If she violated her duty of care -” Bobby starts to say. Buck shakes his head. “It wasn’t like that,” he insists. “I flirted, she flirted, and one thing led to another. That’s all.” “Ok, let’s all maybe take a breath,” Eddie says, stepping in and stationing himself between Buck and the frowning faces all around him. “This is a baby shower, not an inquisition. Let’s just eat some cake and tease Buck about his very pretty baby sling.”  He plucks at the floral fabric wrapped around Buck’s chest – which Buck got for free on facebook marketplace, thank you very much – and gives him a reassuring smile. The rest of the crew chuckles lightly and are willing enough to move on to other topics of conversation - though not without some pointedly concerned glances at Buck - as the stork cake is cut and served.  “I’m stealing your kid,” Eddie says, plucking Danny out of his arms as soon as everyone’s attention has been successfully redirected. “Go talk to Bobby.”

[shammers86]

Alright yall, here goes my thoughts about the beginning of season 8. The article today was very enlightening and I needed some time to gather everything. I’ll link the articles I’m pulling from at the end. And it’s gonna be a long ass post. So bear with me.

Also Bee nado. Only our wee woo show is this ridiculous.

Let’s start out with the blurb we got a couple days ago.

We all theorized the mustache was going to represent what’s going on in Eddie’s life, just like his hair cuts throughout the seasons have. This has taken on a life of its own and I can’t wait to see the emotional reason behind it. Although I suspect it will have to do with what I will go into at the end. (Yes it’s Buddie and Chris).

Let’s start out with Athena. This and the article dropped today has said she’s going to be seeing a familiar face from her past and dealing and getting closure from a canon event.

I do think this might have to do with Emmett. It’s something we haven’t really seen since season 3 and I do want Athena to get her own arc outside of one with Bobby. Because she did almost lose her husband and lost her home of over 20 years and she also has to deal with that. By also bringing in the other loss she’s had, we might get a mighty good storyline for Miss Angela Bassett. We also know she is possibly do a prisoner transfer and boy, if it’s Freddie or Jonah that would link back to the 118 and Bobby, I would love that.

Next up Bobby! Captain Bobby Nash is not only recovering from almost dying, like others before him (Buck, Eddie, Chim) but also not getting his job back.

This entire Bobby being a technical advisor to a firefighter show in itself hilarious. We know he doesn’t like Hollywood and this also could be like Buck being a fire marshal and Eddie being LAFD Twitter at dispatch. Those two are the only ones who have been away from the 118 while still being employed by the LAFD.

At the same time, Bobby needs to deal with the fact he did in fact retire before almost dying. He kinda created this storm at the 118 and not telling anyone he was going to retire should be a great parallel to Buck and Eddie’s time away in season 3 and 5.

I also want him to be thinking, “I wanna be back with my team and I want to be a firefighter again.” While at the same time having to answer the question of “Why did I think I need to retire?” And “if I get my job back, how do I make sure I don’t fail my team again?”.

While Bobby has Athena and the house hunt, he’s going to be dealing with the thoughts invading again and not being silenced when he’s not a firefighter. Bobby didn’t think his retirement through and they need to address it. It will probably parallel Buck and Eddie’s journeys and have him questioning exactly what he wants to do once he actually does retire.

I hope his arc is separate from Athena but also show them really working on the communication in their marriage. The house hunt should also be comedic and emotional too.

Also, like Buck and the tsunami and Eddie and the dispatch fire, I expect Bobby to be involved in the big emergency in a way that will probably get him his job. Exactly how is to be seen.

Onto HenRen and Madney because these two stories are most definitely intertwined.

Madney decided to become emergency foster parents so at least HenRen could see Mara. This decision wasn’t shown to us so I do hope we see a good story arc with Madney and decisions about more kids.

On that note, it will be interesting to see how much HenRen can take seeing Madney with Mara. I honestly don’t think this story arc is going to get resolved by the end of the disaster. Especially with Ortiz running for mayor and being a thorn in Hen’s side.

This also may cause some tension between Hen and Chimney, kind of echoing the bickering when Chim didn’t immediately defend Hen in 7x02. While it was incredible for Madney to do that for Mara, I do wonder if Madney and Jee are going to go attached to Mara and that’s when it is suddenly not great for them to be one big, happy family.

Ok. I think Buddie and Buck and Tommy deserve their own post so I’m gonna touch on Gerrard last.

The fact that Buck is going to be the one struggling the most with Gerrard is kinda making me side eye things but I get it.

Buck has dealt with Bobby not around but the interim captains were people he has worked with for years. Here comes Gerrard, a horrible person who removed years ago, replacing his surrogate dad.

While I hope Hen and Chimney help find a way to rid of Gerrard forever, it will be interesting to see them taking it and Buck seething.

While Tim said Eddie was in the military, both Buck and Eddie will have each other’s backs even around Gerrard. It will interesting to see if Buck goes to Tommy for advice or leans heavily on Eddie and Bobby. Either way, I do hope the entire 118 teams up and bring him and Ortiz down.

That’s it’s for Part 1!

[echowithpain]

Buckle Up, Bitches. This is a long one.

Okay, I've definitely had some gripes with episode 2 and the fact that it took me this long to rewatch the episode to collect my thoughts says something. I even stopped the episode halfway through and got distracted with something else for about 3 hours before remembering what I was doing and resuming it.

...

I didn't like this episode. Unfortunately the bad outweighed the good for me.

First up, Lola, Norman, and Julien.

Why the FUCK did they do a storyline where Lola cheats on Norman?? Their whole introductions/characters in season 2 were about how Norman didn't see her after they had a kid so she went out of her way to force him to look at her by flashing the freeway. Go off Queen.

She gets arrested but she and Norman are super happy and making out, and they even admitted that the situation saved their marriage when Josh and Sue gathered people Maddie helped to convince her not to quit. The cheating storyline is so out of character for Lola that when I saw episode 1 and she was acting weird around Julien, I thought she knew he was a bad guy but he had threatened her off screen or something and she didn't want to worry Norman, not that they were seeing each other???

I thought Julien had just mistaken them for smugglers since they were living on the cruise ship, Lola found out and confronted him, and he threatened her to keep quiet about the operation but didn't get to call off the guys he was working with in time so Lola and Norman ended up getting jumped.

When Norman found out Lola was cheating on him after getting shot and was groaning in pain, all he could do was go into denial and talk about how Lola cheating couldn't be true. Then when he was lying on the poker table talking about the life he and Lola had, 37 years, selling all their stuff with handmade price tags, it made me feel both genuinely sad and angry. Not angry at Lola, angry at the writers for making this storyline for them. If people who have never seen the show go back to watch all the seasons and get to Lola and Norman's episode, they're gonna have it in their mind that their love is a lie and apparently Norman doesn't love Lola enough to keep her satisfied which is why she's cheats on him later. They're gonna see it as Lola being a horrible person this whole time, someone who likes to sleep around, or even just chalk it up to "Women ☕" and that pisses me off! That's not their characters and the fact the writers were portraying them in that light is horrible.

*sigh*

Then we have the whole Hen storyline, and oh boy do I have words about that.

Episode 1 did an amazing job reintroducing the characters to new people (except for Athena, I don't care about Marisol). In fact, if not for the Athena thing, I'll make a post about that later, it would've been a solid 10/10 (9/10 cause Karen wasn't in it lol).

Hen was shown to be a great captain when under intense pressure, going with her gut about which wire the pilot said to cut and even double checking, being a teasing but helpful friend to Chim about the forever dating thing, being kind and knowledgeable with the woman in the hot tub incident and teasing Chim again, and being an ear Athena could rant to when she thought Norman killed Lola. She was absolutely amazing...

Episode 2 ruined all of that.

She's at the car accident and is caring and attentive to the daughter and her mom, but then she's suddenly in a bad mood and making assumptions when it comes to the guy who blew through the light. She sends Chim over to him and when the dude is acting rude, telling them off, and threatening their jobs, she does the right thing and asks if he's refusing care. He says yes, he doesn't consent, so she doesn't give him care. Even in a bad mood she's still doing her job properly. Chim's been a firefighter/paramedic longer than her and should know that if someone refuses care, you can't force the care onto them, so he had no reason to try to make her change her mind about that.

Putting that aside, her words to Chimney really made me upset,

"No, he's done. Why is it that drunks always come out of these things without a scratch?"

Why the fuck did the writers make her say that? What did the dude being drunk have anything to do with it? Also Aisha's delivery is great but the line is terrible. Why put so much emphasis on the guy being drunk?? Hen doesn't act like this. She gets pissed off sometimes, yes, but in season 1 when Bobby had a relapse and she and Buck found him in his apartment, she was empathetic and sensitive to his struggles and has been ever since. You can't tell me if Bobby was the captain on that scene, she would've said it anyway because she wouldn't have. So I'm just supposed to believe that when he's not there, that's how she acts??

I think the thing that really made me upset was the fact they kept going back to the guy being drunk. He could've been completely sober but texting on his phone while speeding, he could've had a muscle spasm that made him hit the accelerator, he also could've just been a dick and decided to run the light for the hell of it. The part about him being drunk or not shouldn't have gotten so much attention, because either way HE STILL REFUSED CARE!!!

They could've still had the whole Hen's intern captain position being paused because it's a councilwoman's son and rich people use money to sue and try to make things go away to keep themselves in a good light with their public image. Like the chief said, all the signs of impairment could've been indications of the brain bleed the dude had, but again, THE GUY REFUSED CARE!!!! Hen says this but still gets put on pause cause rich people.

Buck saying they can't fire her for one bad call is true, but it also wasn't a bad call??? Toxic reports or not, if the guy refused care then he refused care!!! It's not her problem!!! It would've been worse if he refused care, she gave it to him anyway, saved his life, but now she's getting sued for bullshit reasons and can't be a firefighter/paramedic anymore because she went against protocol.

And they're talking so much about how the guy was definitely drunk. So drunk that obviously everyone could smell it off him. WHY DOES THIS MATTER????

DRUNK OR NOT THE GUY REFUSED CARE!!!!!

You might be wondering why I'm repeating myself but I was wondering the same thing watching the episode. Why are they repeating the fact that the guy was drunk??? And then Hen thinks all of them betrayed her because they don't know for a fact if the dude was drunk or not.

Hen's ranting to Karen (omg Karen hi!!! 🥰🥰🥰 I'm so sorry this is your only scene 😭😭😭) saying,

"I just feel like if I was any other captain, I would not have been benched."

Shut the fuck up, yes you would have. It doesn't matter who the captain is, what mattered was who the victim was. I'm sure there's been times where someone refused care and ended up dying because of it. It's like that woman's dying mother with cancer who took a bunch of pills but had a DNR so when Hen and Chim showed up they legally weren't allowed to do anything. Even though the daughter was freaking out and telling them to do something, they stayed professional and said they couldn't. Neither of them got benched for letting that woman die. Hen's getting benched because the dude's mom was a councilwoman, not for any other reason.

Hen's upset cause she thinks Buck, Eddie, and Chim were trying to comfort her because "they assumed she screwed up", then she starts second guessing herself on whether or not she did screw up and goes on about how she thought the guy was an "entitled rich brat" anD OH MY GOD WHY WERE THEY ON THIS FOR SO LONG!!!!!

Entitled or humble, rich or poor, brat or dom, drunk or sober, IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!!

THE GUY REFUSED CARE!!! STOP HANGING ON THE MATTER OF IF HE WAS DRUNK OR NOT!!!!

And then the reports come back and it turns out he actually was drunk plus had drugs in his system. Whoopty fucking doo. That didn't matter nor did it excuse the fact they carried that stupid plot for no reason across the entire episode.

The guy. Refused. Care. That should've been the end of it.

*sigh*... I have a headache.

Sorry guys, I love 911 but this episode was a flop for me. 3/10. If not for the cool action scenes and beautiful transitions, it would be much lower. Hopefully things are better in episode 3.

TL;DR

The Lola cheating on Norman with Julien storyline fucking sucked, and everyone and their mother focusing on if the guy who caused the car accident might've been drunk or not storyline fucking sucked too. He refused care so it shouldn't have mattered if he was drunk or not.

[buddie911abc]

911 Summary/Thoughts Season 1 Episode 7- Full Moon

Caveat: I am up-to-date on all 911 episodes. For my reviews, I attempt to rewatch and remember my first impressions. I will occasionally, compare it to what I know now. I’ll try to warn of current spoilers when necessary.

Emergencies: The first emergency is a call to help get a toddler out of a game machine. It wasn’t a dangerous call. Buck was the only one shown opening the case and getting the girl out of the machine. The rescue wasn’t exciting, but it was cute. Buck has a way with little kids.

The second emergency is for an older woman who saw a man in a hoody when looking out her back patio door. She can’t see his face and is terrified. She thinks she’s having a heart attack but it turns out to be a panic attack. The police arrive. Hen and Chim arrive separately from the rest of the 118. Healthwise, the woman was fine. After some investigating and a sharp catch from Hen, they discover the intruder was inside the house not outside, and he was standing behind the older woman. They encourage her to stay with her daughter.

The third emergency is for a woman who can hear a man breaking down the door. He gets through while she is on with Abby. The sounds through the phone were horrific. It sounded like stabbing noises before a scream and everything went quiet.

The fourth emergency is for a pregnant woman stuck in a yoga position. Buck and Bobby answer the call. Buck was familiar with the yoga move because he’s dated about 50 yoga instructors. Bobby quickly diagnosed the problem as a slipped disk and had Buck help get her comfortable until they could transport her. While doing that another woman began having contractions. Bobby diagnosed them as Braxton-Hicks and gave her water to hydrate while the contractions eased. As Bobby handled that problem, another woman’s water broke. It was her 4th kid and she knew it was coming before she could get to a hospital. Buck had to take over and help because Bobby had misdiagnosed the woman with Braxton-Hicks. Her contractions were one minute apart. Two women were in labor. Buck called in for backup. Buck was worried because he hadn’t delivered a baby before, but Bobby yelled across the room that he would talk him through it. (Bahhahaa) And then, a third lady started having pains. Bobby called in for more medical backup this time. He delivered the first baby. The woman on her fourth child, delivered her own baby. The third woman needed a C-section, but thankfully, more EMS people arrived to get her to the hospital.

The fifth emergency was not clear at first. Athena showed up as part of the police call. Hen and Chim showed up as EMS. While looking at one victim on the ground, Athena and Hen heard a disturbance. A man high on narcotics had lost his mind. He was eating the flesh directly off of another human being. Hen got behind Athena and she first tasered him. He kept coming. She then shot him a few times. He kept coming. She put a bullet in his brain.

The sixth emergency call was from a man who insisted there was a monster inside of him. The man had called 911 but then locked himself in his bathroom while his husband tried to get him to come out. Bobby and Buck arrived for the call, and Bobby warned him he would knock down the door if he didn’t come out. The man lets them in and tells them his symptoms. The man’s husband insists he has a stomach ache from too much Sushi. In context, the man’s response is one of my favorite quotes this week. His husband is not taking him seriously and tells the responders that his husband has had a lot of gas recently. The patient and Buck got into a conversation about fitness, and the man asked what his body fat was. Bobby cut Buck off before he could answer. Meanwhile, the guy was in so much pain they moved him to the ambulance to head to the hospital. On the way, the guy yelled that he could feel something on his leg. Buck tried to say it was the colonoscopy bag, but the guy insisted. When he flipped over so Buck could look, they saw a tapeworm. Buck didn’t flinch. Bobby made him pull it out and asked him if he could go faster. Buck said if he rushed and it broke, it would crawl back inside and regenerate. Bobby then asked where he learned so much about tapeworms. Buck explained he used to bartend at a surf bar in South America. He said they were as common as housecats, right as he pulled out the last of it. Everybody was so grossed out even Bobby.

Personal Stories/Getting to Know: The episode doesn’t start with an emergency this time. The show begins with a monologue from Hen who appears to be crying. She talks about the craziness of the full moon. We then get a switch to the previous night. Hen and Karen are getting ready for bed. Karen tries to turn the evening into a little marital sexy time, but Hen shoots it down with a promise for the next night. (The night of the full moon-something bad is coming for those two.) Hen went on several calls before she received a call from her ex who invited her over for sex. Athena walked up. She didn’t hear Hen’s conversation, but she knew Hen was talking to someone who wasn’t her wife. After her shift, Hen goes to see her ex, and she ends up cheating on her wife.

After rescuing the little girl, Buck calls Abby. There is a lot of cute flirting, and we learn Buck believes in the superstitions of the full moon bringing out all the crazy people. Abby doesn’t believe it. They disagree, but they aren’t arguing about it.

Abby helped the police listen to the 911 recording of the lady who was murdered in her home. The police said they caught the suspect and it was her husband who had been taken in for multiple domestic abuse offenses. To this crime, he wouldn’t confess. The detective hoped that the 911 recording would have his voice or a reference to him by name. The recording didn’t, but he was still confident they had the right person. Abby didn’t believe they did. The detective was rude and condescending when she tried to tell him. She investigated on her own and discovered that the lady from the second 911 call was the mom of a woman who was friends with the lady from the 3rd 911 call. With Abby’s help, they contacted the daughter, and she saved herself from her abusive husband.

Likes/Dislikes:

I enjoyed the interaction between Bobby and Buck. Their father/son dynamic was on point. I liked the emergency they handled together. (The pregnant yoga lady stuck in a yoga position and the three women who went into labor.)

I was both grossed out by the tapeworm emergency and rolling with laughter. Bobby had the winning quote of the night from this emergency.

I enjoyed the little moments between Buck and Abby. Including when he showed up with wine at the end of his shift.

Ships:

Hen/Karen – This episode shows more of Henren’s marriage. Their ship was on the verge of an upgrade at the beginning of the episode, but by the end, Hen had cheated, she was crying with guilt, and their dinghy was taking on water.

Buck/Abby – Buck and Abby continued their flirting game by phone early in the episode. By the end of the episode, they finally had sex. I am sailing away, and liking their ship more.

Favorite quote from this episode:

Bobby in response to Buck and the patient talking about body fat. “Okay, can we finish the most interesting conversation of all time later?”

Man with a tapeworm, when his husband minimalizes what is happening to him: “If you tell me I just have a stomachache one more time, I’m going to stab you with your toothbrush.” (funny in context)

[wanderingwomanwondering]

612 Buddie Food/Drink Meta

The fandom is onto something with the way food, especially refrigerator contents featured in the ep. As I’ve said before, in 911 having and making food for loved ones is about making a family/home together, the warmth and comfort of sharing food connects us. With that established, a few food-related bits stood out in this week’s ep.

Refrigerators

We get a clean shot of Buck refrigerator while he’s recovering from the lightning strike. Stocking up on food so that you have something to nourish yourself and your guests is important. The interesting bit in this scene is that Maddie is the one stocking Buck’s fridge, he has not done it himself. He insists that she not fuss over him in this way but it’s important that she does. It’s her way of nourishing him and reestablishing the loving family bond that his near-death experience threatened to sever. Buck’s resistance suggests that he’s not ready to be fed by her aka reconnected to her. Of course he loves her but something has changed in him and he’s seeking a different kind of support and nourishment. Hence her stocking his fridge herself and him resisting it.

The refrigerator symbolism translates to Buck’s visit to see Eddie too. We get a clean shot of Eddie’s refrigerator fully stocked. We know that Eddie has filled that refrigerator for his family and any guests they might have. Buck sought Eddie out and came to his house. But he didn’t eat anything.  Buck was there for something but he’s not ready for the full gourmet meal that is Eddie Diaz and the family he’s offering with Christopher. Not yet. At this point the food at Eddie’s house is ready and waiting for Buck but he’s not ready to just reach into the family fridge and grab what he wants/needs to fully nourish and sate himself.

Eddie was meeting Buck where he was at and that was a glass of water for right now.

Beer

In terms of beverages, Buck accepted the beer offer from Eddie but fell asleep before he could drink it and then when he woke up he only drank a glass of water. Genuine Beer has been a constant symbol between the two of them for opening up and sharing what’s important to them in the moment, especially in s5 and now in s6. The person drinking the beer or shown with the bottle is usually the one getting into emotions. In 504 they shared bottles of Genuine Beer on the balcony and Eddie helped Buck understand that different types of relationships come with different depths of shared understanding between the people in them. Basically Buck knowing Maddie as his sister was not the same as Chim knowing Maddie as her romantic partner. Of course, Eddie was talking about himself at the same time that he was talking about Maddie, hence his swigs of Genuine Beer along with Buck.

The balcony conversation with beers in hand makes it louder that Buck did not have a beer at Eddie’s place in 612. Eddie offered Genuine Beer, an invitation for comradery and Buck wanted to accept that invitation but couldn’t because he’s still figuring out his thoughts and feelings after the lightning strike (and apparently needing rest in the process!). Eddie is farther along with trauma process and farther along with knowing himself in general so he could drink two beers and answer questions like the Hot Wise Man he is post-therapy. Of course Buck came into the kitchen after his nap and was honest but he didn’t have much to tell at that time. He truly didn’t know what he felt or why or what to do about it. He came for Eddie’s support and guidance, and that’s what he got, from the man that had not one but two Genuine Beers earlier that night. Eddie wasn’t ready to talk about everything but he shared as much as he could, and it was A Lot and it was powerful. He was a light in the darkness for Buck. And what did Buck have to drink during this meaningful conversation? That’s right.

Water

Water is the stuff of life. It soothes and refreshes when consumed. Buck came to Eddie’s place for support and safety. He visited Eddie for peace in hard times. Buck came to Eddie for rest and refreshment as symbolized by a nap and a drink of water. Water is also a common symbol for emotion. There are tons of sayings and figures of speech that cover that idea. To be in deep water. In hot water. Out of one’s depth. Water under the bridge. The list goes one. At Eddie’s place, the water is calm and refreshing. Eddie provided that safe space where Buck could begin to drink the waters of emotions safely without drowning in them alone and without pretending everything was fine. The still glass of water was a sharp contrast to the flashback to the tsunami in Buck’s coma dream.

Bonus Noms

Nothing screams that Hen is Buck’s work-sister like them sharing Maddie’s pot roast for lunch! <3

Buck gave Connor a Genuine Beer and he spilled the tea about how he was feeling about he and Kameron being pregnant. Connor opened up about his sense of unreality and disbelief around becoming a father. Buck didn’t drink anything during that scene and of course pretended he was fine.

CONNER’S BROWNIES! 

We learn in the ep that the brownies aren’t the special fiber recipe? Uh okay. But what my brain went to after I thought about it was the last time that the show featured brownies. In Dosed!!! The very ep where Buck and Eddie moved Maddie’s couch into her apartment and then ate pizza and drank beer together. The very ep where Buck low-key reveals that he thinks Eddie is hot. The ep where Eddie give Taylor stank-eye for daring to look at his man. The ep where Eddie cries because he feels out of control thanks to the drugged brownies. I could go on but it’s late and I gotta sleep at some point.

EDDIE MAKING CHRISTOPHER:S SCHOOL LUNCH

I appreciated the nod to Chris provided that that little detail. Also, it was a school lunch and Eddie was basically schooling Buck on how to do recovery. It was awesome to see Eddie sharing his hard-won wisdom with Buck. I think there’s a heart theory layer to that scene. The lunch was presumably for the next day so it gave me ‘Eddie’s heart will get a meal soon’ vibes. I don’t really have a sophisticated analysis here. It’s just that food is family and love in 911 and neither man ate during the kitchen scene but they made it a point to show Eddie making Chris’ lunch for later. It felt like a hat-tip to Eddie’s heart, like he’ll get to say more about the shooting and the lightning strike and how they affected him in terms of Buck. That kitchen conversation between Buck and Eddie was just the beginning of a deeper discussion that needs to happen. Chris’ lunch felt like a promise LOL.

[myimaginarywonderland]

I am so over the Gerard thing already because I feel like there isn't a satisfying pay off. 911 really screwed this for me already.

Because the truth is we should have played with the Captain topic seasons ago. Buck should have been allowed to be angry especially after Bobby kept him from work and that was have been the perfect opportunity to first test out Hen and Chim as Captain. Obviously Bobby would have remained but they could have had a questioning investigation and so we would have seen how the others do as Captain. Maybe let Hen and Chim each lead for 4 episodes and then Bobby is cleared, the Law Suit is resolved and we are done.

Bobby has had doubts for longer than this. The cruise ship should have been a final nail in the coffin if we had a longer season. The cruise ship where he once again saw his family endangered should have been the kickstarter to Bobby retiring or taking up a different position at the end of the seasons and we should have had it discussed.

We should have finally been allowed to see Buck actually take on Captain because despite what anyone says he is undoubtedly the firefighter who loves his job the most. The amount of times that Buck has saved and helped civilians while off duty, the amount of times he should have gotten recognized, everything is leading up to Buck taking over for Bobby. He has rescued his team more times than I can count.

Had they already played with the idea before this season and allowed Buck and Hen (since it is obvious Chim would not like the ever be captain) to prove themselves, this Gerard arc would slap. Why? Because it would open the great possibility of the firefam fighting and someone establishing themselves as the new Captain. Had they laid the groundwork, this could lead to an incredibly satisfying arc where we see a character take on another step, grow even more with the entire support of the firefam.

This would have been the perfect opportunity to make a "This is my house, this is my team" speech from Buck because what we have learned over the course of the series is that essentially Buck is heart of the firefam. Buck is the fixer, the one who holds them together, who keeps everyone going. This would have been a beautiful opportunity to lead into an arc where some things from Buck's coma dream like Buck saving Bobby actually get shown while Buck saves Bobby's legacy. Or he'll, even if it was about Hen, it would be a great writing opportunity. Hen, who fought against the entire 118 (except Chim) to be recognized, Hen who had to fight to be seen and then finally gets everyone behind her, the unanimous support she should have had from the beginning.

This Gerard arc could have easily been incredible to progress to show, the widen the characters (Bobby retiring leading to Ravi finally becoming a main), to show more of the LFD (Bobby potentially taking on a different role) but instead it will just end in Bobby's entire arc being undone and him just coming back to captain because they haven't done anything to prove otherwise. It has been done on Lonestar once and even then people had trouble. Not to mention the whole rotating captain thing Station 19 had going on.

911 could have done an amazing arc to finally get Buck to happy ending, to fully develope his character fully, to make an incredible decision of having a black, lesbian fight for a house that never deserved her but instead this arc falls so flat and predictable that it just feels like the biggest wasted opportunity.

There was no build up for it to have an ending that isn't "Well who could have guessed this?" Because it's so obvious Bobby will come back and it will just be like maybe a three episode arc that will likely help the fandom who is already in shambles to split apart even more.

This could have been an amazing arc but without a build up there isn't any good payoff.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Chimmecho's Protests

Words:

Pokemon AU: Chimmecho

Character: Hatake Kakashi

Note: Shin is a character from the Kakashi retsuden book. If you have read the book I hope you get a good laugh at why i used him here. If not, I still hope you enjoy <3

@alumort

A completely new room greeted Kakashi when he stepped into the front room of his old Gym. There were no fake walls, no hidden passages covered by photographs of friends and families. Every single speck of colour that Kakashi had so carefully painted into the walls with his own two hands was painted over in a dull grey. The only thing that stood out in the room was the bright yellow lines that made up the battlefield, which used to be located in the back room. 

Nothing of the Gym he’d so lovingly built up was left. Not even a small shadow of his work lingered behind, haunting the rooms with the memories that he’d made over the seven years he spent acting as a Gym leader.

“Chim,” a low whine rang in his ear as Chimecho settled around his shoulders. Her ribbon wrapped around his neck, gripping a little tighter as usual.

Her way of telling him that she was sad.

“I know,” reaching up, he rubbed his hand over her head and listened to the little bell inside of her ring out as she rubbed herself against his skin. “It’s…”

“Fantastic, Isn’t it?” Shin Hakubi stepped up to his side, a grin plastered across his face. “I thought it could use a new look. Something more exciting.”

‘Exciting’ was not the word that came to mind when Kakashi looked at the empty room around him. He kept his opinion to himself though. Even if the careless destruction of all his work stung, it wasn’t his business.

The Gym didn’t belong to him anymore, and every new Gym Leader needed to make the building their own. Something that represented their personality and not the old leaders.

“I have just one question,” he admitted, his eyes still searching the room for a small sign of life within those four bland walls. “Where’s the challenge?”

“That’s the beauty,” Shin took a step forward and turned to face Kakashi. “There is no challenge.”

“No challenge?”

“No challenge,” he confirmed, laughing when Chimmecho responded with an angry ring. “Your Pokemon doesn’t like that I guess.”

“You’ll have to forgive her. She was rather attached to the area.”

Seven years she’d spent flying around the insides of those fake walls. Leading challengers throughout the gym, calling out to them until the second they preyed open one of the photographs to uncover her hiding spot. 

Moving away from the gym had been tough enough. Now that she was back, though, she was faced with the reality of the situation.

The place that she’d called home, that they had called home, was gone.

“So,” taking a step back, Shin threw his arms open. “What can I do for the great Hatake Kakashi.”

Kakashi couldn’t help but roll his eyes. ‘Great’ was the last word he would use to describe him, and hearing it from Shin’s mouth sounded almost like a taunt. An insult disguised as a compliment. 

“I came here to check on how things are going,” he explained. “There have been some…complaints.”

“Complaints?” Throwing a hand over his chest, Shin gasped. “Surely there can’t have been that many complaints. Compared to your time as a Gym leader I’ve been a saint.”

No longer trying to cover his insults, Shin went straight for the gut punch. If he was looking for a reaction, though, he wasn’t going to get one. All of his time as a Gym leader Kakashi had heard the list of complaints that challengers had sent to the league about him. 

He was too tough.

He didn’t give them a chance. 

Those were the better ones too. The trainers who had shown no care for their Pokemon in their battle against Kakashi always had the worst complaints. They’d gotten so bad that the League had been forced to stop accepting any complaints with the words ‘judgemental’ and ‘harsh’.

When he’d agreed to become a member of the elite four he’d assumed he’d go down in history as the cruelest gym leader. It was a title he was ready to wear and one that he was horrified to find out had already been passed onto a new Gym leader.

Shin Hakubi.

“There have been a few…rumors,” he began. “Trainers who have been talking about a Gym leader who has a certain stipulation to facing him in a battle.”

Tilting his head, Shin stared at Kakashi like a confused child. “What kind of stipulation would that be?”

Just the thought of it made Kakashi’s blood boil. He’d been convinced that the first trainer who complained was just upset they’d lost their battle against Shin, but as the complaints kept flooding in he couldn’t help but feel anger beginning to boil inside of his very soul. 

“A stipulation that if the challenger loses,” seeing the smallest hint of a smile on Shin’s face, Kakashi pursed his lips. “They’ll give up one of their Pokemon.”

“Oh, that,” Shin answered with a carefree shrug of his shoulders. “Really, what a silly complaint. What I did was promise them I would help take care of one of their Pokemon. Train it up for them.”

The words fell from his lips with such ease. A well-prepared lie that he had no doubt Shin had been practicing in a mirror for a moment like this. 

“Training someone else’s Pokemon is not your job.”

“No,” Shin agreed. “But it is a kindness. I mean, you’ve faced your fair share of challenges. They’re so… weak.”

Chimmecho’s ribbon loosened around his neck, but before she could react Kakashi held up a hand to stop her. “Down.”

“Oh,” Shin stared at him for a second before bursting out into a fit of laughter. “Oh, that’s adorable.” he wrapped his arms around his stomach and curled into himself. 

“Is something funny?”

For a few minutes, the only sound that filled the room was laughter. Loud, obnoxious, cruel laughter. With every passing second Kakashi felt a strong urge to sucker punch the man in front of him, but he forced himself to refrain.

The League would never let him hear the end of it if he knocked Shin onto his ass. He was supposed to represent them and that meant keeping a cool head. Something which Kakashi was known for, but which was becoming increasingly hard to do as he stood there watching Shin laugh.

“Sorry,” Whipping away a stray tear, Shin straightened himself up and snorted when Chimmecho responded to his laughter with a disapproving jingle. “I just wasn’t ready to see your little pet try and fight me.”

Kakashi’s eyebrow arched upward toward his hairline. “Pet?”

“Ya,” Shin confirmed. “Everyone knows your chimmecho isn’t a battler. If it was your Jolteon maybe I’d be afraid, but that thing? Has it ever even seen battle?”

Anger boiled over in an instant. Every string holding Kakashi together, keeping up the cool facade that he presented to the world, snapped. “There’s not a Pokemon you have that could beat Chimmecho.”

“I-” Shin stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing again. “Come on, you can’t really believe that. Even a member of the Elite Four can’t make a fighter out of a Pokemon in one battle. Your little chimmecho would lose in an instant against any of my Pokemon.”

Thinking through his options, Kakashi turned his attention to Chimmecho. “What do you think?” A light ring was the answer he received. “Alright,” he returned his gaze to Shin, a cold expression in his eyes as he went through a mental list of Shin’s talents. “You’re on.”

“On?”

“A battle,” he confirmed. “Right now. Chimmecho against three of your Pokemon.”

“You…Are you challenging me?”

“No,” resting a hand on his hip, he watched as Chimmecho released her grip on him and floated forward so that she was now in front of him. “Challenging suggests that I would find this battle difficult.”

Shin’s laughter died away in an instant, washing away into confusion, and then annoyance, and finally settling onto anger. “I’m the gym leader here!”

“For now,” Kakashi confirmed. “But when I win this battle-”

“If,” Shin snarled.

“When,” he wasn’t sure if it was the repetition of arrogance or the calm way in which he said it, but any hint of joy Shin had been showing earlier was gone. All Kakashi could see now was pure, unrestrained anger. “You will step down from your position.”

“And If I win?”

Kakashi simply shrugged his shoulders. “The chances of that happening are very low, so I’ll wait to see if luck is on your side before deciding on your prize.”

“Fine,” turning his back to Kakashi, Shin stormed off toward the other side of the battlefield. With his opponent no longer looking at him, Kakashi allowed his shoulders to slump. 

It was true that Chimmecho had never been in a battle before, but there were things about her that Shin didn’t know. Information that would have made him rethink his words before daring to insult her the way he did.

“Ready?” he asked, smiling when Chimmecho turned to face him and rang out with a cheerful note. “Alright, let’s show him what you’re made of.”

Three against one.

If he was a regular challenger, those odds would be terrifying.

He wasn’t just any regular old trainer, though. He was Hatake Kakashi, one of the region’s top trainers and the son of two previous Pokemon Champions. 

There was no way he was going to lose to a nobody.