I'll Keep You Safe (3x02: Sink or Swim)
Don’t be, don’t be afraid, we promise Buck will keep Chris safe.
All aboard the fire engine life raft! Han, Cil, Rachel, and guest host Niki wade into the waters of Season 3 Episode 2 of 9-1-1 titled, “Sink or Swim.”
Buck is using his firefighter training again, but at what cost? May gets a taste of being a first responder as she helps keep a woman alive while Athena takes charge in a post mani-pedi pileup. Maddie is triaging dispatch and setting up a field hospital while the 118 (minus Buck) are saving lives and surfing waves. The episode cleverly contrasts the innocence of childhood with the harsh realities of adulthood and we highlight how moments of crisis shift perspectives in our favorite characters.
We discuss how the tsunami acts as a catalyst for growth, pushing Buck to reassess his purpose and identity as a guardian. Buck embraces his role as a protector, striving to keep Christopher safe while also confronting his own fears and insecurities. We zoom into how Buck's firefighting instincts serve as both a literal and metaphorical lifeline, enabling him to save several people and most importantly, Christopher, until he’s swept away by the receding tide.
Bring your ponchos and arm floaties for this splash zone and make like Dory and Christopher and just keep swimming!
📔 Articles Mentioned
📰 ‘9-1-1’ Star Oliver Stark on Buck’s Mid-Tsunami ‘Do or Die’ Cliffhanger With 8-Year-Old Christopher, The Wrap
📰 ‘9-1-1’: Peter Krause Talks Filming Underwater for Tsunami Episode, Ronda Rousey’s ‘Perfect Casting’, The Wrap
📺 Video
📰 ‘9-1-1’ Chief on Premiere’s Tsunami Cliffhanger and How They Sunk the Santa Monica Pier, The Wrap
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Music by DIV!NITY
Chapters
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:00:52) Welcome to Dispatch
(00:02:47) Introducting Special Guest Host Niki!
(00:08:48) General Thoughts
(00:12:50) Jaws of Life - Deep Dive
(00:23:00) Needle Drop
(00:25:13) Red String Corner - Parallels & Foreshadowing
(00:31:12) Color Theory Speedrun
(00:32:59) Flashover - Themes
(00:36:28) Who’s Cookin’? - Athena & May
(00:48:47) Maddie
(00:55:11) Catching Up with the Rest of the 118
(01:00:31) Eddie
(01:06:44) Buck
(01:13:40) Buck & Christopher’s Fire Truck Life Raft
(01:22:57) Bonding with Christopher
(01:36:17) Slow Burn - Bi Buck & Buddie Watch
(01:40:14) Take a Buddie With You & Outro
Transcript
This week we talk about parent child relationships, lending new perspectives to one another.
Speaker B:How firefighting saves Buck in more ways than one.
Speaker C:And Buck and Christopher learn the true meaning of just keep swimming.
Speaker B:Have you ever watched something that completely rewired your brain chemistry?
Speaker A:A procedural network drama might not be your usual pick, but it's ours.
Speaker C:This is the Buddy System, a 911 deep dive podcast hosted by three friends who have DMed each other enough character dissertations to earn a PhD in media literacy.
Speaker B:I'm Han, coming to you straight from the characters heads.
Speaker A:I'm Syl, bringing you to the observation deck.
Speaker C:And I'm Rachel, connecting the dots with my red string.
Speaker B:With our powers combined, no stone is.
Speaker C:Left unturned and no buddy is left behind.
Speaker A:This episode is brought to you by Finding Nemo.
Speaker A:Welcome to Dispatch.
Speaker A:What's on call this week?
Speaker B:This week we are discussing season three, episode two, titled Sink or Swim.
Speaker B:Directed by Bradley Bucha.
Speaker B:Keeps like, what the fuck is happening?
Speaker C:This is our.
Speaker C:This is our inside joke with ourselves.
Speaker D:No, she's.
Speaker D:She's here.
Speaker D:My face was genuinely like, what the fuck?
Speaker B:Her eyes were moving in judgment.
Speaker C:Just taking it in.
Speaker B:Directed airman Bradley Bucher and written by Juan Carlos Cotto.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker C:Kind of like what we saw last season.
Speaker C:Season two with the earthquake.
Speaker C:There are some calls of the week within the greater general emergency.
Speaker C:And the general emergency is tsunami.
Speaker C:So within.
Speaker C:Within that the emergencies that the tsunami causes.
Speaker C:We see a mountain climber in the attic where Maddie tries to help a caller who drowns in his attic after the wave shipwrecked, where a couple who were about to get married on a boat that got washed inland, leaving both the groom and his future stepson skewered to the boat with a radio antenna.
Speaker C:And then we have Buck and Christopher's fun day at the pier, which is washed away when the first wave hits, but they find refuge on top of a fire truck belonging to station 136.
Speaker C:And then the kind of secondary emergency that is a larger emergency is the car crash.
Speaker C:And we see Athena and may get into a multi car accident and have to rescue people themselves while the first responders are otherwise occupied with the tsunami and unable to reach them.
Speaker C:So we're in it.
Speaker C:We're in the tsunami.
Speaker C:So we are.
Speaker C:We are fully in the tsunami now.
Speaker C:And before we get into our general thoughts, we have a special guest to.
Speaker B:Introduce the most special.
Speaker C:The specialist.
Speaker A:The true mvp.
Speaker C:Correct.
Speaker D:I wasn't gonna say anything.
Speaker D:I was just like, it's me the most special.
Speaker C:It's you.
Speaker C:It's Nikki.
Speaker C:It's me, R.
Speaker C:V.
Speaker C:Very, very good friend Nikki is with us for this episode as a guest host, commentator of her own volition.
Speaker B:That she chose to do and agreed when we totally asked her and didn't just tell her it was happening.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So, Nikki, this was my idea.
Speaker A:This was not a hostage situation.
Speaker C:Depends who you ask.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker B:Blink as much as you want.
Speaker B:Most of the audience can't see you.
Speaker C:So we've known Nikki for a number of years now.
Speaker A:Well, Nikki, why don't you tell us about your experience and how we.
Speaker C:How we got here.
Speaker B:Tell us the road so far.
Speaker C:The road so far?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker D:Oh, how we got here.
Speaker D:Like today.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker D:So one day Scylla was like, so what's happening with these firefighters on social media?
Speaker D:And I was like, I don't know, but it's kind of everywhere.
Speaker D:And then the three of you proceeded to begin your journey at various moments and politely into also joining the journey.
Speaker C:Politely is very generous.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker D:Well.
Speaker C:Because you guys were doing that.
Speaker D:Thing where you're like, we're not going to demand it because then she's not.
Speaker C:Going to do it.
Speaker D:But also I was very aware how much you wanted me to do it.
Speaker D:So I don't know how well it.
Speaker B:Work, but I was like, guys, be chill.
Speaker D:Nobody move.
Speaker D:And then one day when Hurricane Helene had happened and I had been without power for a number of days and I ended up at a friend's house who did have power and was, you know, experiencing TV for the first time in several days, decided that I chose chaos.
Speaker D:And so I started the first episode, I started the pilot and then proceeded to harass them with very out of context reactions to the pilot while they were actively recording.
Speaker B:Recording.
Speaker C:And I don't remember which recording that was, but there was a six hour.
Speaker A:Recording where we also took a break and we were like looking for.
Speaker B:Because I think.
Speaker B:I think the Ryan and Oliver were also causing chaos.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker D:Yes, yes, they were.
Speaker C:The ADHD was ADH seeing for all of us.
Speaker C:And then we were like also being attacked.
Speaker B:Being attacked from all sides.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:We were like, wait, Nikki's watching.
Speaker C:91 1.
Speaker C:Hold up.
Speaker C:And like, everything stops.
Speaker D:Well, the best part about it was you guys being like, what?
Speaker D:What are you doing?
Speaker D:What are you watching?
Speaker B:What do you mean?
Speaker B:What are you talking about?
Speaker C:What are you watching, Nikki?
Speaker D:I don't know.
Speaker B:A show.
Speaker D:Something.
Speaker B:A show.
Speaker C:And it dawned on us and we were like, shut up.
Speaker B:We have that.
Speaker C:We do have that recorded.
Speaker C:We're Gonna have to find.
Speaker B:We should actually maybe release it and, like, accompanying this.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Actually, it's like, wait a minute.
Speaker B:Like, we were like, nobody move.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:So real.
Speaker B:It's happening.
Speaker D:I think so was the first one to catch it, to be honest, because she was definitely the first one who was like, wait.
Speaker C:We were.
Speaker C:We were trying.
Speaker A:I don't even remember what episode you were on.
Speaker A:I just know that I.
Speaker A:I unfortunately.
Speaker A:Well, fortunately, unfortunately have two devices.
Speaker A:I can see all of my text messages, and I am aware what Nikki is doing.
Speaker C:I think it was the pilot episode because you said something about, like, a pipe baby, and we were like, yes, yes.
Speaker C:And that's what clued us in.
Speaker D:The toilet.
Speaker C:The toilet baby.
Speaker D:Ah.
Speaker D:It was September 28th, and I started the conversation by.
Speaker D:I think someone flushed a baby down the toilet with the gif of the guy that's like, slow blink.
Speaker B:Oh, the blink, blink, dot gif.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker D:Blink, blink, blink.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Yeah, there you go.
Speaker D:September 28th.
Speaker C:And then in the middle of the night.
Speaker C:It was the middle of the night, and then we were like, okay, keep going.
Speaker C:But stop.
Speaker C:Stop the process after season two.
Speaker C:Because we.
Speaker C:We were like, okay, we need, like, experience your experience of the tsunami arc firsthand.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker C:So we also did.
Speaker D:And then I faked you out, like, three different times because I thought it was the end of the second season, and it was not.
Speaker C:So we were like, hold up, hold up.
Speaker C:Don't continue watching past the finale of season two.
Speaker C:And we gently, politely bullied you into watching a marathon of all three episodes of season three together.
Speaker C:So we will have that live reaction of nick on our YouTube Nikki watching or, like, first time watching tsunami arc.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So we'll.
Speaker C:We'll have that to put up in.
Speaker B:Which we're not obnoxious at all, going, oh, yeah.
Speaker D:Before things.
Speaker C:Just, like, nagging you the entire time.
Speaker D:It's like, you'll see.
Speaker D:There was definitely some anticipation going on.
Speaker D:I was definitely like, okay, all right.
Speaker D:I see where this is going because of the laughter, which was great.
Speaker D:Delightful.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So thank you.
Speaker C:Thank you so much for letting us bully you into that because you are a wonderful friend and also for joining us today.
Speaker C:So I'm.
Speaker C:You are also here.
Speaker B:You are also here.
Speaker D:You are also here.
Speaker C:Finally.
Speaker C:We've been waiting for this, so let's.
Speaker C:Let's get some general thoughts.
Speaker C:What, Nikki, what did you think of this episode?
Speaker D:I liked this episode, I think.
Speaker D:Spent a lot of time doing compare and contrasts in my brain to Tom Holland in the Impossible.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker D:Because I can't watch tsunami stuff.
Speaker D:Without thinking about it.
Speaker D:And then also just being like, when is it going to go even more wrong than it already has?
Speaker D:Because I could feel it.
Speaker C:Mm.
Speaker C:I could feel it in my bones, the tension.
Speaker A:Mm.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:So I really, I really enjoyed the entire arc and this episode a lot, actually.
Speaker C:Yay.
Speaker D:I'm so glad this episode's job was tsunami.
Speaker A:Yeah, the tsunami was a paid actor.
Speaker C:It actually was.
Speaker D:I will say.
Speaker B:And I think I actually can't remember because we recorded the first episode of season one, like, weeks ago at this point.
Speaker B:I can't remember how much we talked about it, but still.
Speaker B:And I watched this arc together for the first time and we were really mad during this episode.
Speaker A:Was it this episode or the next one?
Speaker B:Oh, it was the next one.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker A:I think that's why I'm kind of like, yeah, it was an episode.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:I guess we weren't as stressed.
Speaker B:I think we still were kind of like, but we want to see Book and Christopher.
Speaker C:Yeah, you did, you did say that last time.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You were just like, but wait, where is it?
Speaker B:Yeah, but no, I mean, I think it's a really good episode.
Speaker B:It's, you know, obviously the second in the middle of a three episode arc and it's the beginning of the tsunami.
Speaker B:So, like, it's setting up the framework for a lot of stuff that's going to happen in the third episode.
Speaker B:But I think it's very entertaining and it's very good at like building the, like, stakes and the tension during the whole episode.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's your typical setup episode.
Speaker C:It's like the.
Speaker C:It's like the middle child, but like, but it gets a lot of attention.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:That was.
Speaker A:I don't think that's how.
Speaker B:No, that was.
Speaker C:No, the middle child.
Speaker B:The middle child in a very prominent family.
Speaker C:That was a terrible metaphor.
Speaker C:Ignore that.
Speaker A:I mean, like, this is the child that they forgot.
Speaker A:Like, not.
Speaker A:Not forgotten, but like.
Speaker C:No, it's the middle child that wants to stand out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And does.
Speaker B:I think it's the best second episode of a three episode arc that the show has.
Speaker A:I agree with that.
Speaker A:Yes, 100%.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And I would love to spend some time at a later date, like comparing like this three episode opening arc to like season eight, three episode opening arc.
Speaker C:I think that would be something really interesting to.
Speaker C:To look at.
Speaker B:I'm sorry, we're comparing what 301 was to bees.
Speaker C:I liked the bees.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker A:You're not there yet.
Speaker B:You'll get there.
Speaker B:Nikki still is in season three.
Speaker D:I am, I am okay.
Speaker D:But I did see the promotion.
Speaker A:I'm sure you were aware of the bees.
Speaker C:I don't, I don't think the whole Internet saw the bees.
Speaker C:And most of the Internet was like.
Speaker C:I do recall what they were like.
Speaker B:This is your show.
Speaker B:They were like, yeah, it is.
Speaker A:What of it?
Speaker A:Turn your stick around.
Speaker B:Yes, we are.
Speaker C:Standing by the bees.
Speaker D:Oh, man.
Speaker D:But the dedication is real.
Speaker C:But I think, I think just to second, basically what, what everyone has already said.
Speaker C:I think it's really like one of the strongest second episodes and middle of a emergency arc episode and sets it up so well.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:I mean the tsunami arc is.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It's the goat.
Speaker C:It's nothing.
Speaker C:Hashed the tsunami?
Speaker C:Not yet, no.
Speaker C:So there we.
Speaker C:There we go.
Speaker B:There we go.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker B:So should we, should we dive into the.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker C:Let's.
Speaker B:I was like, let's make the non existent water.
Speaker B:The giant deadly wave.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:You picked.
Speaker C:No, I was going to say make a splash.
Speaker C:Talking about the jaws of life.
Speaker C:Deep dive press articles and.
Speaker C:Etc.
Speaker C:Etc.
Speaker C:Was that good enough?
Speaker B:They're never good, Rachel.
Speaker B:That's the point.
Speaker B:They're always puns.
Speaker C:Puns are good, in my opinion.
Speaker C:Anyways, we're not gonna, we're not gonna discuss this now.
Speaker B:She's like, see me after.
Speaker B:We're gonna need the jaws of life over here.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:So as this is kind of the.
Speaker C:The beginning of the true tsunami arc, there are a number of articles that came out around the time of this episode.
Speaker C:So there were a couple interviews with Oliver Stark.
Speaker C:There's one from TVLine and there's one from the Wrap and it's, it's all very similar.
Speaker C:But I did want to highlight that in both of these articles he, Oliver Stark kind of talked about how it was working with Gavin McHugh, who plays Christopher while doing this like really big emergency thing because he's, he's a young kid and that's like very.
Speaker C:It's very physically demanding.
Speaker C:So Oliver was saying that they did have a stunt double for Gavin and Oliver felt pretty comfortable in the water, but the fact that he had to do it with an 8 year old child on his back made him a little nervous.
Speaker C:And you know, they did it with.
Speaker C:They did a couple scenes with the stunt double, but once it came to doing the scene with Gavin, it was like a whole other kettle of fish.
Speaker C:Not my pun.
Speaker C:That was his.
Speaker C:I just.
Speaker B:Is that a British saying?
Speaker C:A kettle of fish?
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker B:I've literally never heard kettle of fish in a Normal saying, I've never heard it before, literally ever.
Speaker C:It's normal.
Speaker A:I'm Hispanic.
Speaker A:I don't hear these things.
Speaker D:She said, I am not white enough for that.
Speaker A:Well, guys, we learned something new today.
Speaker A:We learned a British saying.
Speaker B:Thanks, Oliver.
Speaker C:Listen.
Speaker A:So cultured.
Speaker C:He, when he makes puns, he stops.
Speaker C:And he appreciates it too.
Speaker C:And I just feel like as a pun connoisseur, it is my due diligence when one day I'll meet my match.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:Anyways, so on that five minute tangent.
Speaker C:So Oliver was talking about how when it came to doing the scenes with Gavin, it kind of made everything better in a sense because he kept thinking, right, I don't care what happens, I have to keep this child above water.
Speaker C:So it's.
Speaker C:To him, it brought a new element of realism to the whole thing.
Speaker C:And he also spoke about how Gavin was so up for anything and just kind of like went along with things and had a good time.
Speaker C:And every time they finished a take and they would call cut, Gavin would say, like, can we do another one?
Speaker C:Can we go again?
Speaker C:And Oliver said he had the time of his life and that it was so refreshing to be around.
Speaker C:And he felt like that kind of seeped into all of, like all of the crew and, and, and they were sparked by his enthusiasm.
Speaker C:So I thought that was very sweet, especially when it comes to something so physically demanding as this kind of, this kind of episode.
Speaker C:And there's another article from the Wrap interviewing Peter Krausa and he's kind of previewing some of the tsunami elements and a little bit more going forward into season three.
Speaker C:There's also a video we'll have that linked in our episode descriptions if you want to watch that.
Speaker C:It's like, it's very brief.
Speaker C:It's like four or five minutes.
Speaker C:And he spoke about how they actually had to do a pickup shot for the underwater boat save that happens in this episode.
Speaker C:And they.
Speaker C:So a pickup shot is like an additional, like, filming of part of a scene that happens after the original, like, filming of that has concluded.
Speaker C:So he said they had to do a pickup shot for that scene about a week and three days before the actual episode aired.
Speaker C:Which is like wild because they were on location in Mexico with all of the tanks and everything like that.
Speaker C:And then they had to, like, that probably was a little bit of a scheduling and like, how are we going to find a place to do this?
Speaker C:So just kind of one of those behind the scenes interesting things.
Speaker C:There's also in that video, there was a couple shots that that was like cool behind the scenes.
Speaker C:So it showed how they, they built like the whole set within the water tanks.
Speaker C:And I don't know if it, if that's from like a larger or a longer behind the scenes segment from somewhere else, but it was kind of neat because you also saw like the facades of the buildings from the streets and it's just kind of like one of those movie magic things, a peek behind the curtain.
Speaker C:And he also teased a little bit about the fact that there's an Athena Begins episode later on in the season.
Speaker C:I think that's episode seven and a little bit more of Bobby's backstory, but in a fun way that has to deal with ice.
Speaker C:I think we all know what that is.
Speaker C:So a little more light hearted.
Speaker C:So that, that was an interesting kind of fun watch and kind of going from that.
Speaker C:There was another episode again with the wrap.
Speaker C:With.
Speaker C:There was another episode.
Speaker C:There was another article again with the wrap.
Speaker C:Interviewing Tim, my near.
Speaker C:And this was pretty.
Speaker C:This was asking a lot about how they sunk the Santa Monica Pier, right?
Speaker C:So Tim just talks about how they were on location in I think it was Rosarita, Mexico.
Speaker C:And they filmed on the big water tanks that they used for Titanic.
Speaker C:So they were able to basically re.
Speaker C:Like build Santa Monica with all the streets and just like do everything there and flood it like they, they were able to do.
Speaker C:And they, they did create a reproduction of the Santa Monica carousel.
Speaker C:Ferris wheel.
Speaker D:Ferris wheel.
Speaker C:Not the one that goes.
Speaker B:You just went like this.
Speaker B:I was like, everyone knows what you mean.
Speaker C:The, the Santa Monica Ferris wheel.
Speaker C:So all of that was practical.
Speaker C:So all of that was very practical.
Speaker C:And Tim said, you know, that's, that's all real.
Speaker C:And people were actually climbing the Ferris wheel that they built.
Speaker C:And when you see Buck and Christopher being pulled down the rapids in the middle of a street in Santa Monica, that's them in the water.
Speaker C:And you just can't beat doing things practically if you can.
Speaker C:So that was really interesting.
Speaker C:I think any time we see stuff that focuses about like production, especially a large scale production like this is kind of interesting.
Speaker C:And then there was also a mention about how they May911 had maybe accidentally predicted disasters, specifically the 7.1 earthquake from, from season two because there was a specifically 7.1 earthquake that happened that earlier that summer.
Speaker C: ake happened in what, fall of: Speaker C:And.
Speaker B:So harbingers of disaster a little bit.
Speaker A:So it's happening to him too.
Speaker C:It is.
Speaker A:That's Interesting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because the bees thing happened before, after the fact.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Like, who could.
Speaker C:Who could have predicted that?
Speaker C:So that's kind of interesting.
Speaker C:And then just one more thing about this article.
Speaker C:Very briefly, Tim talks about how between episodes two and three of this season, they really utilized the Rashomon effect.
Speaker C:And that is the phenomenon of the unreliability of eyewitnesses.
Speaker C:It's an effect named after.
Speaker C: s correctly, Akira Kurosawa's: Speaker C:So it's kind of used as a storytelling and writing method in TV or.
Speaker C:Or cinema when an event is given different interpretations or descriptions by different individuals, which therefore provide different perspectives and points, points of view on the same incident.
Speaker C:So that's kind of what they've set up with, you know, catching or like dropping in on the different characters that we see, like Charlie and Reggie, I think the.
Speaker C:The artist and the girl with the drone.
Speaker C:And then we see Lena Bosco and the 136 and just kind of all of these different vignettes that kind of follows that Rashomon effect.
Speaker C:So just another like, narrative device, storytelling tool that.
Speaker C:That's why we see like 20 minutes before and 20 minutes like after the wave.
Speaker C:So just something to keep in mind now you know what that's called, because I didn't know beforehand either.
Speaker C:Do we have any needle drops?
Speaker B:We have one and this one's just funny haha.
Speaker C:We need funny haha in this episode.
Speaker B:I mean, it's kind of like, like sadistic funny.
Speaker B:Haha.
Speaker C:Par for the course.
Speaker B:Well, I mean, yeah, but I don't think it's.
Speaker B:It's ever quite this bad that I can think of off the top of my head.
Speaker B:Speaking of heads, it's.
Speaker B:Ain't that a Kick in the Head by Dean Martin?
Speaker B:And it's playing on the bo.
Speaker B:Where.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:What are their names?
Speaker C:Oh, it's Adele and Chuck.
Speaker B:Adele and Chuck, aka Mr.
Speaker B:Matthew.
Speaker B:Mr.
Speaker B:Matthews.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:Do you know, I only realized it this last time watching it, that that was Mr.
Speaker B:Matthews.
Speaker B:And it's because I wasn't.
Speaker B:I don't remember that.
Speaker B:I was.
Speaker B:I wasn't watching the screen.
Speaker B:I was looking away and I heard the voice and I was like, Mr.
Speaker B:Matthews.
Speaker C:William Russ, who played Mr.
Speaker C:Matthews on Boy Meets World.
Speaker C:Yes, Love him.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:Yeah, so that plays on the boat, like while they're getting married, and it's very much like A, you know, a funny haha premonition or like, foreboding.
Speaker C:Ain't that a kick in the head?
Speaker C:More like ain't that an antenna in the abdomen?
Speaker B:I mean, the whole song is about being lucky because, like, you're in, like, the person that you're in love with is in love with you.
Speaker B:But, like, there's not a lot of luck happening in this episode, especially not to these people.
Speaker D:I mean.
Speaker C:I mean, lucky that they survive, but sure.
Speaker B:But like, the whole Getting impaled on the.
Speaker B:Yeah, but.
Speaker B:Yeah, so just.
Speaker B:Just a funny haha.
Speaker B:And I don't really need to dissect the lyrics, but a good song if you don't know it for some reason.
Speaker B:If you're a youngster.
Speaker B:If you're one of the youngins listening to us, please go listen to Dean Martin and Jon.
Speaker C:Was it a Dean.
Speaker C:The Dean Martin one or the Frank Sinatra version?
Speaker B:It's listed as Dean Martin in the credits.
Speaker B:So if it's actually Frank Sinatra, then that's on them.
Speaker C:So going into our red string corner, I've connected the dots.
Speaker A:You didn't connect shit.
Speaker C:So there's a couple parallels, I think, like to point out one of the first ones is speaking.
Speaker C:Speaking about the.
Speaker C:The emergency with.
Speaker C:With the boat and the radio antenna.
Speaker C:So Chuck, who's William, Russ's character, and the stepson, Jason, I think his name.
Speaker C:Name is.
Speaker C:They're shishkabobbed.
Speaker C:And isn't that kind of like.
Speaker C:Yeah, Grey's Anatomy.
Speaker B:It's very similar.
Speaker B:Well, not very similar because, like, it's a completely different emergency.
Speaker B:But in season two, episode six of Grey's Anatomy caught into you like a train.
Speaker B:Oh, there is a train derailment.
Speaker C:Oh, no.
Speaker B:Much worse than the one on this show.
Speaker B:Much worse.
Speaker B:Like super deadly.
Speaker B:And then there's foreshadowing.
Speaker B:There's two people who are kebabs on a much more girthy hole.
Speaker B:And it's like in their.
Speaker B:Their middles, like, in their.
Speaker B:Their guts.
Speaker A:Weren't they, like, facing each other or were they facing.
Speaker B:They were facing each other.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:No, thank you.
Speaker C:Anyways, okay, so there's a parallel there between Gray's Anatomy and I did also want to.
Speaker C: ossible movie, which was from: Speaker C:And that was about a.
Speaker C:It was.
Speaker C:It was based on a true story, wasn't it?
Speaker C: amily's experience during the: Speaker D:Yes, Tom Thomas Holland, he was a wee lad in that movie.
Speaker D:So tiny and vulnerable and being swept away.
Speaker D:And I couldn't help but sort of be like, I was watching Christopher because Tom, while he was older than I believe the actor who plays Christopher is, at the time that he filmed Impossible, he looked like a baby.
Speaker C:Yeah, like a little baby.
Speaker D:And so I was like, oh, my gosh.
Speaker D:The difference in the way they are reacting to the situation that they're in, it kind of went along with all of the thoughts I was already having about how they're trying to set Christopher up as, like, being so optimistic and trusting.
Speaker D:And especially in Buck, like, it doesn't seem like there's ever a moment where he's afraid that Buck's gonna let something bad happen to him.
Speaker D:As opposed to poor little Tom's character who's just by himself.
Speaker C:Doesn't he get separated from his brothers as well?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Trauma major.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:So, yeah, I just.
Speaker D:I was kind of doing a little compare and contrast of that, and it did help kind of hit home, like the relationship and bond that Buck has with Christopher even then.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And the trauma bonding of the experience, I'm sure.
Speaker C:Oh, majorly.
Speaker C:I know.
Speaker C:And it's.
Speaker C:It's so funny because I think you bullied me into watching that movie with you.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:I did fucking bully you into watching the Impossible.
Speaker D:I was like, we're gonna watch.
Speaker D:We're gonna watch my boyfriend, but, like, not that version of him.
Speaker D:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:I know.
Speaker C:Like, let's go through his filmography from long ago.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Thank you.
Speaker C:No, I got you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I was like.
Speaker B:She was like, I don't like.
Speaker D:Or natural disaster movies.
Speaker D:I don't like sad things.
Speaker A:Didn't she say the same thing about Cobra Kai?
Speaker A:You don't like karate?
Speaker D:Oh, yes.
Speaker D:No, I don't like karate.
Speaker D:I don't like fighting.
Speaker D:I've never seen original like it.
Speaker C:I'm just like, I'm not familiar.
Speaker C:And anyways.
Speaker D:No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker D:You will not.
Speaker D:You will not rewrite history on this one.
Speaker D:You were not super familiar with the Karate Kid lore, but you did very specifically say you're not really, like, a fight action movie kind of gal.
Speaker D:And I was like, but this is eight with karate.
Speaker D:You have to watch it.
Speaker D:And then what did we do?
Speaker D:I think we binge watched the entire first season in, like, two days.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Anyways, you just know that Nikki has excellent taste, and she's usually right also, so.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:And you should listen to her.
Speaker B:That's why we brought her on here.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:So, so yeah, anytime, anytime I watch, watch the tsunami arc episodes, I think of that movie, vice versa.
Speaker C:So just wanted to bring that into the conversation and then let's see for a little bit of foreshadowing, this is, this is the true like red string, like I'm, I'm pulling at, I don't know, thin air, but kind of like I did with, with last episode with, with Jill getting trapped in the trunk, enclosed spaces, dire emergency.
Speaker C:So Jonas in the attic, very much trapped.
Speaker C:And there's like water elements.
Speaker C:So water drowning.
Speaker C:So you know, I can always connect something to Eddie in the well, which I'm doing right now.
Speaker C:And also just the fact that this is episode has another instance specifically with Chuck with, with the boat.
Speaker C:Another parent, specifically this time a father, technically stepfather, having a near death experience also in the water.
Speaker C:I mean it's all going to be in the water because this is the tsunami.
Speaker C:I mean obviously, but just you know, father figure, parental figure, another one having a near death experience in either trapped like trapped enclosed location or water event.
Speaker C:So Eddie and the wells coming soon.
Speaker C:I think we should start a countdown.
Speaker C:Thirteen episodes.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:And then just briefly, I know we've talked about this occasionally just kind of when there's something to bring up, but the whole color theory of it all, we've mentioned before that Buck's color is red.
Speaker C:So this episode Buck has.
Speaker C:Well, it starts out like a pinky salmony shirt, but when it's wet and waterlogged it turns very, very red.
Speaker C:So and this is also like concurrent with Buck doing what he's meant to be doing, which is saving people.
Speaker C:And it wasn't his red, his color until it got saturated with the water.
Speaker C:And then we also see Chris in his typical yellow color, but it also has with a little blue stripes.
Speaker C:And so that kind of connects it back to Eddie as well.
Speaker C:And Eddie is in.
Speaker C:Well, it's the uniform blues, but like blue is still his color.
Speaker C:So I'm counting it.
Speaker C:And so so you have all three of them in their classic assigned colors.
Speaker C:And granted, I know for Buck and Christopher specifically it was going to be very easy to.
Speaker C:They had to choose something that would be very easy to contrast with the blues and the grays and all of that like rushing water so you could be able to spot them more clearly visually.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So it was a visual decision.
Speaker C:But it's also like.
Speaker C:But that's their colors.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:And all together they make the primary colors.
Speaker C:So just wanted to point that out.
Speaker C:Ta da.
Speaker C:Color color theory in, in 30 seconds.
Speaker B:It was a minute that was not 30 seconds.
Speaker C:Was a minute and a half.
Speaker D:Wasn't too shabby.
Speaker C:Flashover.
Speaker C:Okay, so let's drift right into themes here.
Speaker C:So I think.
Speaker C:Think it's pretty apparent and apparent.
Speaker C:Jesus Christ.
Speaker C:I did not do that.
Speaker D:Still is not even amused.
Speaker D:She's literally just like, where's my dinner?
Speaker D:Gu.
Speaker D:I'm ready to.
Speaker B:That was bad.
Speaker C:It was serendipitous.
Speaker C:Because I was about to say it's pretty apparent that that's why I left that season three.
Speaker C:That season three is dealing very much with parent and child relationships.
Speaker C:We saw that introduced in the last episode, the first episode of season three.
Speaker C:And this gets.
Speaker C:Gets continued.
Speaker C:We see a lot of emergencies with.
Speaker C:With parents and children.
Speaker C:So we get like Athena and May.
Speaker C:We get Chuck and Adele and Jason.
Speaker C:We get Buck and Christopher.
Speaker C:Obviously that's just going to be very pervasive.
Speaker C:So keep that in the back of your mind.
Speaker C:I also thought that one of the main.
Speaker C:Main themes of this episode specifically was about life perspective.
Speaker C:So it's kind of in like gaining life perspective through gaining life experience because we see a lot of.
Speaker C:We see a lot of specifically from coming from like, the parents or the parent figures where they're trying to like, assuage the.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker C:The child or about different.
Speaker C:Different things.
Speaker C:Like.
Speaker C:Like we have Athena talking to May about, like, you know, finishing your college applications, not the end of the world sort of stuff.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So stuff that, you know, as a parent or an older person would have more life experience and trying to kind of instill that a little bit to.
Speaker C:To be like, you know, things aren't the end of the world.
Speaker C:And then gaining new perspectives like Jonas on the mountain, gaining perspective from that and even Buck gaining new perspective, learning from Chris.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:So learning experiences, seeing life in a new way, that kind of thing.
Speaker C:There's also kind of going wherever the waves take you, right?
Speaker C:In a literal and metaphorical sense.
Speaker C:You don't really want it to take you too far in the literal sense in this way.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker C:But just kind of like going with the flow and go with the flow just kind of being like flexible, adaptive, which we so often see with our first responders and.
Speaker C:And everything like that.
Speaker C:And then kind of similarly just like Dory, just keep swimming.
Speaker C:So there's another instance in the second episode of season three where we see that idea of just keep fighting, right?
Speaker C:Just keep going and resiliency.
Speaker C:So we see that kind of with everyone in this instance.
Speaker B:Who'S cooking?
Speaker A:So who's cooking?
Speaker A:Because it's not us.
Speaker A:It's definitely tj, though.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So our very literal, like, parent and, you know, child unit of this episode are Athena and May.
Speaker B:And when we first see them, they're having a great.
Speaker B:Well, Athena's having a great time.
Speaker B:Mae is having an existential Crisis because she's 17 years old and can't even enjoy their mani pedi because she's thinking about college applications and how she's, like, not gonna get into any schools because she hasn't applied any yet.
Speaker B:And she's having this existential crisis about, like, you have to have, like, a really good essay.
Speaker B:I haven't done anything.
Speaker C:She's like, I haven't done anything important.
Speaker C:And Athena's like, girl, chill.
Speaker C:You're 17 years old.
Speaker C:You haven't cured cancer.
Speaker C:No one's expecting you to have, like, this super important, like, life experience to go back to the themes because you're 17.
Speaker C:But it's also like.
Speaker C:It's that teenage thinking of, like, well, it's the end of the world.
Speaker C:Like, everything is the end of the world.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:And everything is the biggest deal ever.
Speaker C:Because at 17 years old, like, that is the biggest deal ever.
Speaker D:She does not yet know that the American dream is a lie.
Speaker D:She feels a lot riding on this.
Speaker B:But she.
Speaker D:Rachel's face.
Speaker B:She really.
Speaker B:I don't know, she really tempted those tectonic plates.
Speaker B:They said, oh, bet.
Speaker B:And now she has a great thing to write for her college essay and to talk about in therapy, probably.
Speaker B:Hopefully.
Speaker C:Definitely.
Speaker D:I spent the entire episode yelling about her college essay.
Speaker D:It's like, go, girl.
Speaker C:I know, right?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:I saved a life.
Speaker C:Like, that college essay is gonna go crazy.
Speaker C:Like.
Speaker C:Like that's important.
Speaker D:Well, even if you don't take it in the literal sense of, like, this is what she should write her college paper on, her admissions essay, whatever it is, in fact, a moment of her realizing, like, thing you will have to do things.
Speaker D:Your life is just beginning and shit, here's some trauma you didn't have before.
Speaker D:Like, you know, she.
Speaker D:She experiences the thing that she's swearing up and down that she hasn't.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:You know, so she.
Speaker D:She's growing up very quickly.
Speaker D:She expeditiously.
Speaker C:She is.
Speaker C:And I think that's kind of something that I think we talked about early on in season two with the.
Speaker C:With the earthquake episodes.
Speaker C:Like, it.
Speaker C:It kind of reminded me of episode two or three, whichever one that was when Michael brought May and Harry to, you know, help out with their local church and.
Speaker C:And do what they could.
Speaker C:Even though that wasn't.
Speaker C:It wasn't a lot.
Speaker C:And there was a lot of emphasis on, you know, kids not necessarily fully understanding like the scope of things.
Speaker C:So I think this is almost like a follow up to that a little bit where now May has actual like firsthand experience that one she didn't have before and two, like in a dire emergency sort of thing.
Speaker C:So she kind of also sees how the first responders, like, like she's basically a stand in first responder under Athena's, you know, watch pretty much.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Which, which is also.
Speaker C:So I guess we can like move into.
Speaker C:They, they get into this car accident, you know, as they're having this like I've never done anything important in my life conversation and, and they get into this giant pile up accident and Athena is taking charge, you know, as she does.
Speaker C:But in, in doing so she does put a lot of responsibility on May to help this woman Vicki, who's basically just like bleeding out in her car.
Speaker C:May is just like so unsure and unused to this kind of like hands on emergency because again in season two it was like them doing what they could because they're not in the middle of the situation.
Speaker C:They're not first responders, but here's how they can help.
Speaker C:And you know, as a civilian who.
Speaker C:And at this point she doesn't have any like first responder or any kind of training.
Speaker C:Like she's just really thrust into this kind of environment in this kind of situation, literally having someone's life in her hands and it's.
Speaker C:Yeah, she's.
Speaker C:This is like a moment where you have to learn to grow up real fast.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So finishing college applications and college essay is no longer the worst thing that could like no longer the worst thing in the world.
Speaker C:No longer the worst thing that could happen when you're holding someone's life, like trying to make sure that they don't like trying to make sure that they survive.
Speaker C:Basically that's, that's a lot of responsibility.
Speaker C:Especially when you know, they're kind of sequestered that in that one car and Athena has to play incident command.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So she's directing everybody.
Speaker C:And so that kind of makes May like on her own a little bit.
Speaker C:Like she's still calling out for Athena and she's, she's kind of unsure, but she very quickly like starts to take initiative.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Take initiative and, and a page from her mom's book, right?
Speaker C:Where at one point Vicki, the woman is like kind of starting to fade away.
Speaker C:And this is, this is when May is like, okay, no, this isn't, this is not happening on My watch.
Speaker C:So she's really taking, like, the assertiveness that Athena has and.
Speaker C:And that May has obviously, like, seen in action at home before.
Speaker C:Not necessarily, like, on the job.
Speaker C:And it's the.
Speaker C:It's the great line of, like, I'm 17.
Speaker C:You're not gonna traumatize me like that, are you?
Speaker C:Which is just like, such a, like, teenage thing to say, but it holds so much truth.
Speaker A:Mm.
Speaker B:That's just a very, like, Athena Grant's child thing to say.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:She's so just like, trying to guilt trip someone to not dying or just.
Speaker D:Boss someone into keep breathing.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:At the same time doing both things.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I think it really shows, like, kind of when push comes to shove and.
Speaker C:And when, you know, pushed in a corner, May, who doesn't.
Speaker C:May not necessarily think that she has a lot of power in a situation like this.
Speaker C:Not a lot of, like, knowledge.
Speaker D:She.
Speaker C:She really steps up.
Speaker C:And it's because she's seen.
Speaker C:She's seen her mom do this.
Speaker C:She's seen Bobby do this as well.
Speaker C:And there's this insistence of, like, you know, her basically begging Vicki to, like, fight with her.
Speaker C:Fight with her, which is a lot of what we see Maddie doing when Maddie is taking calls at dispatch.
Speaker C:So I'm wondering if that's maybe when they started having the idea of putting May in the.
Speaker C:Roll it in a roll at dispatch to.
Speaker C:To see how she.
Speaker C:She fares in that kind of situation as well, because of what transpires here.
Speaker C:And it's funny because this one kind of like this emergency.
Speaker C:This instance is kind of similar to the.
Speaker C:The mom giving birth in late season two, you know, at the hotel lobby.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Where it's like she's gone and then she comes back.
Speaker C:I always forget that Vicki always.
Speaker C:Vicki also comes back.
Speaker C:I forget.
Speaker C:Why do I keep forgetting?
Speaker C:It's like, that's the best part of it because it's because, you know, she's alive because of May and because May stepped up to the task and May didn't give up.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And it's like this really beautiful moment that we see between May and Athena afterwards after, like, realizing that Vicky was gonna.
Speaker C:Was still alive and gonna pull through, and May just kind of collapses.
Speaker C:It's that adrenaline crash of just kind of, like, catching up with her.
Speaker C:And you.
Speaker C:You really do see how scared she was.
Speaker C:I mean, I.
Speaker C:You kind of see it through the whole thing, but she does a good job of, like, trying to push forward.
Speaker C:Just keep swimming through.
Speaker C:Through the fear.
Speaker C:And it's.
Speaker C:It's that moment where, you know, the.
Speaker C:The main emergency and with the.
Speaker C:The car accidents and everything has kind of.
Speaker C:Kind of calmed down and May can, like, let go a little bit.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:Here's.
Speaker C:Here's the first instance of May letting go.
Speaker B:She can be a kid again.
Speaker C:She can.
Speaker C:She can be a kid again.
Speaker C:She can lean on.
Speaker C:She can lean on her mom and allow that kind of like, the importance and the.
Speaker C:The gravity of what just happened and what she just went through and what she was able to do for another person just kind of like, wash over her.
Speaker C:And even though she's.
Speaker C:She's still like, I'm not like, you, mom.
Speaker C:Athena really takes that moment to.
Speaker C:To ground Mei and say, like, it took a while for even Athena to get there and May will eventually end is just like this beautiful, like, bonding moment.
Speaker C:And really, I think, shows a lot of Mae's character in such a short amount of time and, like, the potential of her.
Speaker C:Of her character, like, her character as who she is as a person, but a potential character, like, within the narrative of the show, moving forward as well.
Speaker D:Well, and just from like, an emotional reactive standpoint as a viewer, they're.
Speaker D:Everybody in this show, throughout all the episodes actually, you know, gives a great performance, is very, like, you believe what's happening.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:But she, in that moment, when she does let go and break down, you don't just, like, see it and know what she's feeling.
Speaker D:Like, you feel it along with her.
Speaker D:Like, that's one of maybe one or two instances in the show so far where I, like, actually, like, cried.
Speaker D:Cause I could feel it.
Speaker D:And I know what that feeling is when you're really incredibly overwhelmed, but you cannot, like, you.
Speaker D:Rachel's not telling me I'm allowed to disassociate, but I'm doing it anyways kind.
Speaker C:Of vibes, which is the conversation that we had.
Speaker D:Yeah, A real life conversation.
Speaker D:And then you come back into yourself and you're like, you can't hide from the emotions that you're feeling anymore.
Speaker D:And I felt it.
Speaker D:I felt it really intimately through her performance.
Speaker D:And I thought that was like, a high point in the episode.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Corinne Messiah, who plays May, like, did such a beautiful job in this entire episode.
Speaker C:Like.
Speaker C:Like, it's also a lot to.
Speaker C:To put on a young actor.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So, yeah, so the.
Speaker C:The storyline, they're giving very heavy storylines to these young actors like Corinne and Gavin, and they are just, like, superseding, I think, any expectations.
Speaker C:They are going above and beyond in their performance.
Speaker C:Like, it's.
Speaker C:It's really it's really powerful.
Speaker C:So like, lots of, lots of kudos for that as well because, because she really does make you feel it.
Speaker C:And it's like every time I watch that, I'd like that punch.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's Maddie next.
Speaker B:So Maddie is working arguably the worst job.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker B:Out of everyone in this episode.
Speaker B:Because I think that just the inundation of like, you know, the first responders who are actually on site are only there to help the people who are right there.
Speaker B:Like 911 operators are dealing with all.
Speaker C:Of it, all of the people.
Speaker B:And it's just non stop because like if you're on hold when you're calling 91 1, that means there is, there's more calls than there are operators.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then you're trying to dispatch people to get to them and help is probably not coming or if they're coming, it's going to take them a long time to get there.
Speaker B:Longer than it will, you know, longer than would be preferable to save some people.
Speaker B:So it's a very stressful job.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And Maddie kind of gets tapped to like use her history as an ER nurse to kind of like triage dispatch.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And not just the employees, but like how, how things are working.
Speaker B:Like she sets up a whole other field hospital and this was not something other people were thinking of beforehand.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I, I think this episode does a really wonderful job of truly showcasing how dispatch operators are the first, first responders.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:They're the ones that have to.
Speaker C:So like they're the first point of contact.
Speaker C:And, and, and oftentimes in cases like this, they're going to be the only point in contact when it's calls that can't be saved.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Because the, the people, the responders who are, are out on the fields, they're just like, you know, tagging whoever they, they happen to go past, but they're not necessarily on the phone with them as that happens.
Speaker C:Like Maddie was with Jonas and I think that was also like a really powerful call as well because we, we don't.
Speaker C:I think 911 is generally like a very optimistic, a very hopeful show.
Speaker C:So it doesn't, it doesn't always give us these dead end calls.
Speaker C:It talks about them, but we don't end up seeing them.
Speaker C:Most of, like a lot of the.
Speaker B:Time we see people getting dispatch sent to them way more than we hear people not make it before.
Speaker B:Like I think there's maybe a handful.
Speaker C:Of times and just to kind of see what Maddie or Linda go through where they're, they don't want to give up.
Speaker C:They just want to keep swimming, but they have to go on to the next call immediately.
Speaker C:Even after experiencing the, like, the grief of losing a call and, and connecting like human to human with some person and then knowing that they're no longer there.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:But I do think it was like a really beautiful call that Maddie had with Jonas, who was the, the mountain climber.
Speaker C:And once they kind of realize that there's nothing that can be done and nothing that Maddie could really do to help because there's only so much she could do to help on the phone, and, and all of their methods were not successful, she kind of, kind of taking on the, the lesson that she learned at the end of season two where it's like, it's, it's enough, and it's even more than enough just to like, hold space with the people on the calls.
Speaker C:So Maddie really utilizes that and kind of gets Jonas talking about this lovely memory that he had about climbing to the summit of.
Speaker C:I think it was K2.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So she's just like really holding space with him and then she has to move on to the next call immediately.
Speaker C:And like, God, that's so hard.
Speaker C:So you see why sue realized that, you know, all of the dispatch operators do, do need to be triaged because they're also people and they need to, they need to be able to help each other before they can help anyone else.
Speaker C:I thought it was so great that we had Maddie come up with the idea of the field hospital when she's on the phone with Chimney specifically because it's like this great teamwork partnership between the two of them using both of their areas of expertise to coordinate something that is mutually beneficial for like everybody.
Speaker B:After he insulted her.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:But he made up for it.
Speaker C:She obviously was not like that insulted, but it was just like, I mean, I think she, she used that, she used that more to like figure out, okay, well, it's not working out on the field.
Speaker C:How can we make it, how can we make things move smoother?
Speaker C:But I love that team up partnership that they had there where they, they were kind of like going back and forth with each other, brainstorming, because it kind of reminded me of how Bobby and Athena tend to team up and do like their little detective work.
Speaker C:And so it's just like another, another instance of true partnership in that sense as well.
Speaker C:Not going to bring up the elephant in the room at this point, but maybe.
Speaker C:Oh, that's what we could say in Slow Burn.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:And it's in.
Speaker C:When they're on the phone with each other.
Speaker C:You know, they.
Speaker C:They do take a.
Speaker C:Take a minute to check in.
Speaker C:And, you know, the.
Speaker C:The professional aspect is.
Speaker C:Is kind of put aside to them for the moment.
Speaker C:And Chimney asks how Maddie is doing, like, actually.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And it's this, like, this deep concern, and you see how their relationship is growing and how easily they're able to lean on each other in that.
Speaker C:In that way as well.
Speaker B:Also, Famous last word.
Speaker B:She's like, I'm so glad my brother's on blood thinners and isn't anywhere near this mess.
Speaker C:Oh, yikes.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker C:Love that.
Speaker C:You know, after she got so mad at him in the last episode about not talking about the.
Speaker C:What he thought were.
Speaker C:Were cramps and.
Speaker C:And then just being like, I'm not angry.
Speaker C:I'm just disappointed.
Speaker C:Evan.
Speaker B:She was.
Speaker C:She was very angry, but she.
Speaker B:She was absolutely angry.
Speaker B:She made that done.
Speaker B:So we're gonna kind of lump some talk about the rest of the 118 together, because there's not too much going on with them outside of, you know, their jobs.
Speaker B:Not too much to talk about, like, with their arcs, but just to touch base a little bit with Bobby and Eddie.
Speaker B:And 10.
Speaker C:A little bit.
Speaker B:So we see them before the tsunami hits at a hot.
Speaker C:Hot dog stand, I think.
Speaker B:So that was some kind of funny name.
Speaker B:I forgot to write it down.
Speaker C:Anyway.
Speaker B:They'Re at a hot dog stand, like, in between calls, and they're asking how.
Speaker B:They're asking Eddie how, like, Operation Buck Up Buck is going.
Speaker C:Try that again.
Speaker B:Operation Buck Up Buck.
Speaker B:Not say that 10 times.
Speaker C:Which is, like, the cutest name.
Speaker D:Yeah, more like Operation Fuck Up.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:Kick a man while he's down.
Speaker D:I mean, am I wrong?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker B:I mean, he didn't cause a tsunami.
Speaker D:No, no.
Speaker D:But he's gonna be up over here.
Speaker C:Well, yeah.
Speaker B:He was already fucked up, though, so.
Speaker A:I know, but now it's more.
Speaker D:It went further.
Speaker D:More trauma, more action.
Speaker D:No sleep.
Speaker B:More trauma.
Speaker D:All of the TikTok sounds mushed together.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Earthquake, tsunami.
Speaker C:Shooting another thing and another one.
Speaker B:And he's like.
Speaker B:And he's basically like, yeah, like, I got him out of bed and Christopher's with him.
Speaker B:And I just.
Speaker B:This just made me think, like, was this a plan that he came up with with them, or did he, like, tell them about his brilliant plan when he went into work?
Speaker D:Oh, he absolutely was like, guys, I'm a genius.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:I have this brilliant idea, and it's gonna work, and I'm gonna tell you why.
Speaker D:And they were all like, you know what?
Speaker C:Probably.
Speaker C:No, I.
Speaker C:It will probably work.
Speaker C:I think that is exactly how it happened because we saw in the last episode when.
Speaker C:When Bobby Hen, Chimney and Eddie were talking about Buck and at the station, and Bobby was like, yeah, well, Buck.
Speaker C:Buck has us sort of thing.
Speaker C:And it was like we saw the gears turning in Eddie's head and it was like, ah, yes, I know how I can be here for Buck.
Speaker C:And this is his genius plan going forward.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And they definitely gave it that name.
Speaker C:So I think that's why Eddie was.
Speaker B:Like, endless supply of Buck puns.
Speaker C:And it's like, here.
Speaker C:It's going great so far.
Speaker C:Hooray.
Speaker C:It's working.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:Isn't it great?
Speaker B:They're gonna go to the movies.
Speaker B:They're like, nowhere near this.
Speaker B:It's awesome.
Speaker C:Famous last words again.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Then we see them, like, arrive on scene.
Speaker B:And there were just two moments like, that cracked me up, specifically with Bobby in this episode where, like, they're pulling.
Speaker B:They're pulling up towards the boat, right?
Speaker B:Which is very obviously there in the middle of the street, right in front of them.
Speaker B:And Chimney's like, right over there, Cap.
Speaker B:And he's like, yeah, Chimney.
Speaker B:I see it.
Speaker C:Trying to be helpful.
Speaker C:And then.
Speaker B:And then they're like in the open water, pulling like it is open water at that point.
Speaker B:It used to be the pier pulling up.
Speaker B:Him, Bobby and Eddie are in the boat pulling up to the.
Speaker B:To the Ferris wheel.
Speaker B:He's like, cap, are you seeing this?
Speaker B:He's like, yeah.
Speaker B:Kind of hard to miss it.
Speaker B:He's like, I shouldn't have send.
Speaker B:Hand away.
Speaker B:Stay with me, right?
Speaker C:It's like, now I gotta deal with these guys.
Speaker C:Like, I mean, it's kind of.
Speaker C:That is kind of typical Bobby humor where it's just a little.
Speaker C:A little on the side of morbid and like, dark humor.
Speaker C:It's like, yup, I see it.
Speaker C:He.
Speaker B:He leaves the most, like.
Speaker B:It's so funny because he walks this line between, like, the.
Speaker B:The, like gallows humor, the dad humor, and then the sarcasm is there somewhere in between.
Speaker C:It's like this perfect triangle, like.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Of Bobby Nash humor.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But he cracked me the fuck up.
Speaker C:There was also.
Speaker C:There was also a line about.
Speaker C:Between Bobby and Chimney about what?
Speaker C:Was it like, Jacques Cousteau before he went into whatever.
Speaker C:Never mind.
Speaker A:I know what you're.
Speaker A:I know what you're talking about.
Speaker C:Yeah, I thought that was.
Speaker C:I thought that was really cute.
Speaker A:It was a cute reference too.
Speaker A:I really forgot what that story was.
Speaker C:I looked it up.
Speaker C:Was it the.
Speaker A:Is it like A sail sailing across the.
Speaker C:No, yeah, yeah, he was.
Speaker C:Jacques Cousteau was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author.
Speaker C:So just, just another example of like chimney being.
Speaker C:Being the pop culture king that he is and, and kind of like connecting with Bobby on that level as well.
Speaker C:I, I miss, I miss the Chimney Bobby stuff from kind of season one.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:I kind of wish they would do more with that.
Speaker B:Oh, chubby.
Speaker C:That, that it cracks.
Speaker B:Be famous.
Speaker C:Toby will always be famous.
Speaker C:But before, before we move on, I would like to talk a little bit about how Eddie is kind of right there with the saving Chuck and Adele and Jason.
Speaker C:You know, as Chuck and Jason are skewered on, on the radio antenna.
Speaker C:Because Eddie is in this scene pretty much the entire time, right.
Speaker C:And so he, but he's kind of in the, in the background when Adele and Chuck are talking to each other and Adele or the mom is like, no, I don't want to leave him.
Speaker C:I don't want to leave him.
Speaker C:And Chuck is just kind of being a little like self sacrificial and, and telling his fiance slash wife maybe whether or not they finish the ceremony that like she has to, she has to go and they have to and they have to save Jason.
Speaker C:And he tells, I think, is it, is it Bobby or Eddie or hen.
Speaker C:One of those.
Speaker C:That Adele may be the love of his life, the love of Chuck's life, but her son Jason is the love of Adele's life.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:And I was just like all this entire scene is just like so very Eddie parallels to Eddie and Shannon with, with like the husband and wife dying or almost dying and having to let the other go.
Speaker C:And, but also a little bit of like Eddie and Buck parall with how basic.
Speaker C:Because you have, you know, Chuck was going to be the stepdad to Jason and even though Jason is like an adult, he's still always going to be Adele's son and child.
Speaker C:So it kind of paralleled to me, oh, should this have gone in Slow Burn?
Speaker C:Darn.
Speaker B:I didn't like think of this, but as you were talking about it, I was like, no, I'm just going to talk about it again in Slow burn now.
Speaker B:But since you interrupted yourself, I'll reiterate.
Speaker C:It, but I did, I did want.
Speaker B:To talk about the Shannon parallel.
Speaker B:But like as far as the like stepfather.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Okay, so the, the whole like Adele not wanting to leave Chuck and Chuck almost dying, that, that was giving a lot of, you know, like Eddie is right there and he just lost his wife.
Speaker C:Like I'm kind of Wondering if.
Speaker C:If he was seeing everything that pretty much had just happened with Shannon kind of like play out in front of his eyes again.
Speaker C:And it was so.
Speaker C:It was like an interesting choice to have Eddie, like, right there.
Speaker C:Very right there.
Speaker C:In addition to having, you know, having Hen perform CPR on Chuck underwater.
Speaker C:It was a very last minute save.
Speaker C:And I'm just like.
Speaker C:I just keep thinking that is very, like 3:15.
Speaker C:Like Eddie.
Speaker C:Eddie begins.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So something about that.
Speaker C:I don't know if Eddie is Chuck or if Shannon is Chuck or if both of them can work in, like, two slight, slightly different parallels there.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I don't think any of them kind of work because Shannon wasn't choosing to stay no matter what.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:But like, in.
Speaker C:In Eddie's mind, it was like a spouse having to potentially say goodbye to their partner.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:I think it could go.
Speaker C:I think it could go one, any of three ways.
Speaker B:So before we move on to Buck, I really did love seeing, like, Hen and Eddie, like, paired up to do, like, the underwater compressions, because we don't get to see them kind of paired off a lot yet.
Speaker B:And I just really liked how they work together and how he's like, great save at the end.
Speaker B:And she's, you know, going through it, which kind of does call back again, like you said earlier to the.
Speaker B:The same.
Speaker C:Oh, with the mom and the.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:What episode was that?
Speaker C:Was that.
Speaker C:No, was that.
Speaker B:Was it 2:17?
Speaker C:I think it was earlier than 2:17 because we were like, this is 260.
Speaker C:Or was it.
Speaker C:It was like 216, 217 somewhere in there.
Speaker C:It was before Shannon died.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I also kind of wonder if that's going to.
Speaker C:Is the ambulance in season three.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:So I'm kind of wondering if that.
Speaker C:If.
Speaker B:Ambulance.
Speaker A:Yeah, the ambulance with Evelyn, the cello player with Pen.
Speaker B:Oh, oh, oh.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I'm kind of wondering, like, I kind of thought a little bit, like.
Speaker B:There'S an ambulance in every episode, you guys.
Speaker A:The ambulance.
Speaker C:The ambulance, you know?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:So I'm kind of thinking a little bit that, you know, Eddie's like, great save.
Speaker C:Hen kind of maybe foreshadows and is the.
Speaker C:The antithesis or the.
Speaker C:I'm wondering if that's like, a little bit of foreshadowing, like Hen had such a great save here.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Maybe they like to do that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because we saw so early in season two, they were really setting things up.
Speaker C:So I'm just on the lookout.
Speaker B:They were like, here's Shannon.
Speaker B:She's gonna die.
Speaker B:Like, immediately.
Speaker B:The foreshadowing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I'm just looking out for this kind of stuff.
Speaker C:And, I mean, we know the.
Speaker A:Well, obviously, but random.
Speaker A:Completely off topic.
Speaker A:I just wish that they named Chuck something else, because every single time we're talking about this Chuck.
Speaker A:Well, Chuck and Adele.
Speaker C:Wait, do you think when she watched.
Speaker D:This, oh, my God.
Speaker B:She was like, oh, no.
Speaker B:Name drop.
Speaker A:Oh, that's crazy.
Speaker B:Nikki Adele watches 911.
Speaker B:Nikki, if you didn't know this, I.
Speaker B:I figured.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:No, the name Adele is taking me out.
Speaker A:Makes me think of Adele, the Adele.
Speaker A:And then we have Chuck, and then we have Chuck.
Speaker A:And I'm like, I'm Chuck Bass.
Speaker A:Is that you?
Speaker B:I thought you were going the other direction.
Speaker C:Like, Chuck.
Speaker B:Chuck from ptsd.
Speaker A:Chuck.
Speaker B:But no, Chuck Bass is.
Speaker B:Is the good.
Speaker B:The good Chuck.
Speaker C:Let's talk about Buck.
Speaker C:Let's talk about.
Speaker B:Let's talk about baby.
Speaker B:We did the same exact thing.
Speaker C:I love when that happens.
Speaker B:That's nine out of 10 times with the songs.
Speaker B:Okay, so this is Buck's no good, terrible, very bad day.
Speaker D:It really is.
Speaker C:He's having a lot of those lately in his life.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:But.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:Bad day.
Speaker D:But it's like intermission from a series of bad days for a little bit.
Speaker D:Because ultimately, while he has, you know, the nice day out with Christopher, but then even in the fact that everything's going to shit, there's literal natural disaster happening, he's getting to feel fulfilled.
Speaker D:Like, not that he would sit here and say, like, I'm glad this happened because it gave me meaning for the day or whatever, but, like.
Speaker D:But like, as a viewer, he's absolutely sitting there, like, I could save these.
Speaker D:And he's proving something to himself.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker D:Which is like, you know, a good thing, a good day, a good moment, and then it's not anymore.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And then it.
Speaker C:And then it.
Speaker D:Somebody has the complex and the ADHD and the all of the things and doesn't think the thing through and looks away a little too long.
Speaker B:I think it would have been fine if he hadn't been trying to, like, protect Chris from seeing dead people floating in the water.
Speaker B:It was because he had him up.
Speaker C:On the railing, I think that's how.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And that was a little bit before, like, the.
Speaker C:The surge back to the ocean came in.
Speaker C:But it was, you know, Buck went over to the other side of the engine to try to, like, save more people, and that's how that happened.
Speaker C:So, like, Nikki, you're so right.
Speaker C:You nailed it.
Speaker C:Like, it.
Speaker C:It gave him so much fulfillment, even in, like such a bad situation.
Speaker C:And then it just kind of brings it right back down to depression land.
Speaker B:Rock bottom.
Speaker C:Rock bottom.
Speaker C:Rock bottom.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker C:So it's like he really can't catch a break.
Speaker C:Like, it was.
Speaker C:It was getting better.
Speaker C:It was getting better even amidst, like, really bad circumstances.
Speaker C:And then back down.
Speaker C:Awful.
Speaker A:One would say it was kind of like a wave, you know, it grows and then it goes back like, crash.
Speaker D:The wave of emotion also.
Speaker C:And I get all of the shit for my puns and metaphors.
Speaker C:Huh.
Speaker B:I was about to say that was.
Speaker D:More of a metaphor than a pun, but that was a metaphor.
Speaker A:That was not a good pun.
Speaker A:If it was.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker B:It's not the quality, it's the quantity.
Speaker B:So anyway, he comes up with this idea when he is running down the pier.
Speaker B:Find a little bit of shelter, which I guess was smart so that they weren't hit with the direct force of the wave.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:But like, the motherfucker puts Chris in there and then he just.
Speaker B:He does this thing that I fucking hate.
Speaker B:Action and horror, where he just stares at the oncoming thing.
Speaker B:And I'm like, thank you, Sil.
Speaker B:And I've watched it so many times, and every time I'm like, what are you doing?
Speaker A:That big ass wave coming out right.
Speaker D:Up there with the end of the world storylines where, like, they're in a city and there's very clearly people running and screaming in terror this way.
Speaker B:And you're just.
Speaker D:Where you just came from, running and screaming for terror.
Speaker D:And it's just like, what are we doing?
Speaker D:Trope.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:What are we doing?
Speaker B:Yeah, honestly, me.
Speaker D:Me seated.
Speaker C:No, you know what?
Speaker C:It's giving.
Speaker C:It's giving.
Speaker D:If I die, I die.
Speaker C:It's giving.
Speaker C:70s disaster movie trope.
Speaker C:So which is Tim's favorite?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And this was.
Speaker C:And this was Brad Bucher.
Speaker C:So, like, I'm projecting that they're besties.
Speaker B:So completely baseless charge.
Speaker C:Every time.
Speaker D:I've just decided.
Speaker C:I have decided.
Speaker C:No, because, like, every time, or almost every time, it's a Tim written episode.
Speaker C:It's Brad directing, direct.
Speaker C:So they work in tandem a lot.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Because those tend to be like the.
Speaker C:The opening disasters or like the big episodes.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker B:So I don't actually have the numbers to prove this, but I feel like Brad Bucher is the most credited director on this show.
Speaker A:He did so many.
Speaker D:All the many directed so many.
Speaker D:Yes, he did the action thing that you hate.
Speaker B:Yes, the action thing that I hate.
Speaker B:And then he finally Jumps in there after Christopher and then we see him, you know, trying to find the surface, which I feel like is really fucking impossible to do in not just like in a tsunami, but in any kind of, like, tidal wave to try and find the surface again.
Speaker B:But anyway, I'm attributing to him being able to actually find the surface with like, how crazy that water looked for him, to his SEALs training, which I love to bring up.
Speaker B:Even though it was literally a throwaway line season one.
Speaker B:I love to bring that up.
Speaker B:No, I am able.
Speaker C:Because that would, I think, really give him a leg up on.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And would have made him go, okay, I need to find some sort of shelter, some sort of something so that we don't get the direct, like, impact of the wave.
Speaker B:But yeah, then he's just very much in his element, even though it's not something he's ever experienced before because he's just doing his improvising thing.
Speaker B:Like, there's added stress because of Christopher.
Speaker B:Like, there's a lot of added stress.
Speaker B:He's in that, like, high pitched dog bark.
Speaker C:No, he really is.
Speaker B:Frequency range several times in this episode at the beginning and then at the end because of Christopher.
Speaker C:I don't know how he didn't lose his voice.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:That's a great question.
Speaker B:If we can ever ask a random question or.
Speaker C:I wouldn't.
Speaker C:I wonder if there was maybe a little bit of time because they were filming on location and.
Speaker C:And this was so early in the.
Speaker C:In the season.
Speaker C:So these were probably the first two episodes that they filmed in their block scheduling.
Speaker C:And then I wonder if it was a little bit of time in between.
Speaker C:Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud.
Speaker B:But yeah, so he's in his element.
Speaker B:Like Nikki mentioned earlier, he is back in his.
Speaker B:His saving people, helping people.
Speaker C:The family business.
Speaker B:The family business mode.
Speaker B:And just improvising with the very little resources that he has around him.
Speaker B:The universe delivered him a fire truck.
Speaker B:Ironically or helpfully.
Speaker B:You decide.
Speaker C:No, can we talk about that for a minute though?
Speaker C:Like the.
Speaker C:The metaphor of using the fire truck as a life raft.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker C:Because it was.
Speaker C:It's bucks wanting to be a firefighter because that is his entire life.
Speaker C:That is what kept him afloat, for lack of a better word for, you know, for like, as long as he's been.
Speaker C:As long as he's been a firefighter.
Speaker C:Like, that is.
Speaker C:That is his life purpose.
Speaker C:That is what he wants to do.
Speaker C:That is where he finds meaning in everything.
Speaker C:That is the reason that he breathes.
Speaker B:Well, I also thought it was like a cool, like, flip of him going, the universe is mocking me.
Speaker B:When he saw the 136 earlier.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:And now it's kind of like a flip of that and a flip of how the universe heard Mei going, I had nothing good to put on my admission essay.
Speaker B:And the universe being like, bet.
Speaker B:And for the universe to be like, oh, you thought I was mocking you.
Speaker B:Okay, well, actually, I put it here to help you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And that's the thing, too.
Speaker C:I think that this is probably part of that, like, changing perspective sort of thing that will be really important because, like, just what a couple hours ago, he.
Speaker C:Buck thought, you know, the universe is mocking me by showing him, you know, these first these firefighters who are doing their job, something he can't do currently, is not allowed to do.
Speaker C:And then at the same time, it's like the universe was actually putting them there so that Buck and Christopher could find this.
Speaker C:This shelter, essentially.
Speaker C:And I also just really love the mirroring, the parallel because they are on top of the fire truck.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:We see this really great aerial shot of them, like, climbing on top of the roof of the fire truck, especially right after Buck had just spent so long underneath the fire truck and where it was.
Speaker B:It.
Speaker B:It became all the crevices everywhere in that fire.
Speaker A:He intimately knows that fire truck.
Speaker C:Inanimate object.
Speaker C:If Buck were in it.
Speaker C:No, if Buck were in the cars universe, he would be the fire tr.
Speaker D:I was just.
Speaker D:You said, if Buck and an inanimate object.
Speaker D:And I went, there's a fix in my brain actually is a fic for that.
Speaker C:And it's not what you think anyway.
Speaker C:So, yes.
Speaker C:To have.
Speaker C:To have Buck be so intimately acquainted, I guess, with the.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker C:The fire truck as something in last season that caused him so much harm.
Speaker C:And then to have it.
Speaker C:Have it be his literal and metaphorical, like, life raft, in this case, it like.
Speaker C:I love that decision in the writing so much because it's especially because you have Buck after they find the.
Speaker C:The truck, really doing what he's meant to be doing, which is helping people, saving people, especially when he is in no position to do so because he's on blood thinners and he's not on duty, which is kind of like Athena, because Athena is not on duty, but she feels that responsibility, like Buck of needing to help people like they're not on duty.
Speaker C:They didn't have to do that, but it's just, like, ingrained in who.
Speaker C:Who they are, who Buck is, and almost kind of like how Buck orchestrated Bringing Chris into the fire station, into the 118 last season with Stuck and, And having Christopher with him as well.
Speaker C:And both of them are using the fire truck as a life raft.
Speaker C:I think there's something that could be drawn.
Speaker C:Drawn there.
Speaker C:I don't know what it is yet.
Speaker D:Well, I had a point that my stomach, I guess, really wanted me to make was also just in the larger story arc of how hard Buck fights to get back to doing what he wants to do.
Speaker D:This episode and this moment and the fact that it is in fact a fire truck that he crawls onto to save himself and everyone else, but especially Christopher, it's in the back of his mind, it's like he's proven to himself that he can do this because he was on blood thinners and he did what was important and he knows that he can and he should because it's what feels right.
Speaker D:And like, is it healthy for your profession to be the thing that gives your life meaning?
Speaker D:No, but I think if he looked really deeply, he would realize that there were a lot of other elements, people maybe who are associated with that employment that are also giving him fulfillment and making him happy.
Speaker D:And that's why it's so like on all sides.
Speaker C:He has to do it to the.
Speaker D:Point of where he does the thing that he's not productive in terms of like his relationships to try to get his job back.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker D:You know, and like.
Speaker D:I don't know.
Speaker D:I'm just saying, like, no, I.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker D:It fuels that fire hard.
Speaker D:Like hard.
Speaker C:Yeah, it really does.
Speaker C:And I think like, I think Bobby says this in the previous episode.
Speaker C:Like, like it shouldn't, like Buck's should.
Speaker B:Be important, but it shouldn't be everything.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:Like his, his life shouldn't be just the job.
Speaker C:Everything else in his life is so closely, like interwoven to the 118.
Speaker C:Because like, that is his family and that is where he finds his partnership with Eddie.
Speaker C:And therefore Christopher, like, it's so also.
Speaker B:His sister's dating chimney.
Speaker B:So like he doesn't have any connections outside of this anymore.
Speaker B:So like, like, even if you wanted to say Carla, but now Carla is taking care of, of.
Speaker C:Of Eddie Christopher.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's so, so it's like if his job is not his life, his life does revolve around his job.
Speaker D:The people.
Speaker C:The people.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:So that makes it really hard for him to kind of realize that.
Speaker C:That there can be a separation there.
Speaker C:I think it.
Speaker B:I think he just has self worth issues in general.
Speaker B:But like, I just like take away all of that.
Speaker B:That if I lived through this tsunami and ultimately, like, saved the kid that I was supposed to be taking care of and saved a bunch of other people.
Speaker B:And then you told me I couldn't come back to my job after all of that.
Speaker A:Pissed.
Speaker A:That's for sure.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:No, I absolutely relate to what he is feeling and going through because that's some bullshit.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:He survived a tsunami when so many people other wouldn't.
Speaker B:And not only did he survive it.
Speaker C:He was helping people while he was.
Speaker B:Like, actively bleeding the out.
Speaker D:He was doing the job unpaid.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker D:Honestly.
Speaker D:Give him back pay for that.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker D:Are you kidding me?
Speaker C:Where's his metal for.
Speaker C:For the tsunami stuff?
Speaker C:Like, we never see anything about that.
Speaker C:And it's just like.
Speaker C:Did he get any commendation about that?
Speaker B:He never gets his ceremony either.
Speaker D:Like, legally, they couldn't.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Like, not to bring real life into it, but that would be you.
Speaker D:Like, they wouldn't be able to do.
Speaker C:It because they'd have to do it for everybody who did something.
Speaker C:They have.
Speaker B:Well.
Speaker D:And they have to acknowledge anything that happened to him in that as being part of, like, on duty responsibilities as opposed to.
Speaker D:And had he gotten more hurt.
Speaker D:You know what I mean?
Speaker D:Like, I also, technically, from an HR.
Speaker B:Perspective, he quit during this time period even though Bobby didn't turn in the paperwork.
Speaker B:So true.
Speaker D:I didn't even know.
Speaker B:He continues to make decisions for him.
Speaker C:I know.
Speaker C:Which is confusing because that was kind of a decision that he made for him.
Speaker C:And then that's a different.
Speaker C:Another episode.
Speaker C:We'll get to it.
Speaker C:We'll get to it soon.
Speaker B:We're not mad at Bobby in this episode.
Speaker B:That was last episode.
Speaker C:We will be.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Stop trying to tell me how to live my life.
Speaker D:Sorry.
Speaker C:For real.
Speaker D:That's how I feel about Bob.
Speaker C:No, that's how Buck feels about Bob.
Speaker B:In this era, too.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So aside from obviously the awfulness of all of this for Buck and the look at him doing what he's supposed to be doing.
Speaker B:And I think just seeing him with Kris, not only before the tsunami hits, because we do see that scene that's at the end of one.
Speaker B:Again at the beginning of two, the Rashomon effect, where he's talking about, what do you want to do with your life?
Speaker B:And I hope you can find something really meaningful to do with it that'll make you feel like, you know, you have a purpose and you're doing good and, like, you get to keep what to do.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:But then just how he is with Christopher once he gets him onto the fire truck.
Speaker B:Like, how he is still, like.
Speaker B:Like, he is taking, like, to heart, like, what Eddie said.
Speaker B:And I don't even actually know if he's taking what Eddie said to heart or he's just taking, like, Christopher as a person too hard.
Speaker B:Because I think he was ready to tell Eddie to go fuck himself before he realized Christopher was.
Speaker C:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker C:And that's.
Speaker C:And that was part of Eddie's master plan of manipulation.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because he's not gonna talk himself, especially Christopher.
Speaker B:He's not gonna turn down time with Christopher either.
Speaker C:So it was.
Speaker C:That was.
Speaker C:That was Eddie knowing and understanding Buck on a very high level and also, like.
Speaker C:Like being good at manipulating him.
Speaker B:Yeah, that too.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:Big time.
Speaker B:So it's just, like, really, I'm sure he would have taken away the same lesson, just maybe not to the umpteenth degree that he did from Chris in this episode, you know, where he has that talk again with him on top of the fire engine.
Speaker B:Like, you amaze me.
Speaker B:Like, you impress me how, like, you're even going through the tsunami and, like, you know, you could.
Speaker B:You could be complaining and, like, you're still just, like, busting a gut laughing.
Speaker B:And Chris is like, I complained once, and it didn't work every time.
Speaker C:I'm just, like, so cute.
Speaker C:It's so.
Speaker C:It's such a kid thing to say.
Speaker D:But so, like, philosophical, right?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Like, it's actually complained once.
Speaker D:It accomplished nothing.
Speaker D:Literally nothing.
Speaker B:So mature, too.
Speaker B:Because, like, me as a kid, I'm like, well, I'm gonna keep complaining because it's not fair.
Speaker B:But he doesn't see it that because, like, Buck and I connect on that way where we're like, things should be fair and things never are.
Speaker B:But especially what's been happening to Buck lately isn't fair.
Speaker B:So that's why he feels very, like, yeah, put out.
Speaker D:But meanwhile, I'm just like.
Speaker D:I complain not because I think it's going to accomplish anything, but it does make me feel better.
Speaker B:Yes, exactly.
Speaker D:I released all the annoyance, and then I can just move on with that swimming.
Speaker C:Yeah, I know.
Speaker C:And it's.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:I think that it's a great way, like, to.
Speaker C:To pair Buck and Christopher up like this after Buck's injury and just being so despondent and have Christopher being this happy go.
Speaker C:Lucky little kid who just carries on like nothing bothers him too much.
Speaker C:I mean, I know things.
Speaker C:Things do end up, but.
Speaker B:Yeah, but it's very much like, there is logic in that going, well, me complaining isn't going to be productive or make things different.
Speaker B:So he changes his perspective on it instead of complaining.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:It's that flip of the parent giving their child like a life perspective because of life experience.
Speaker C:In this instance, it.
Speaker C:Even though Christopher is the child and Buck is a pseudo parent, let's be real.
Speaker C:It's Christopher even though he has, has limited life experience in terms of how long he's been alive.
Speaker C:But it's.
Speaker C:So it's such a different life experience with his CP and how he's able.
Speaker C:Been able to grow up with a loving father and which is different than what Buck had.
Speaker C:So it's, it's those different life experiences that give Buck this different perspective and that shift, which is kind of a really cool thing to see because it's like it's that flip of that parent child relationship.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It's the child teaching the grown up.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:It is very much also him stepping out of his.
Speaker B:Not that I think Buck is selfish, but he is a single person who is, you know, childless and he isn't an only child, but he's a younger child.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So it's, it's very much his universe is very like himself first focused in the way of like his concerns of like what's going on.
Speaker B:He's thinking of like in this situation, he's thinking about what's happening to him and he's only has to be concerned with himself first in this situation, like in all the things that have been happening to him like health wise.
Speaker B:And it takes him out of that and it makes him even before the tsunami happens, puts him in charge of like someone else else a care, like in a caregiver giver role.
Speaker B:His, his purpose now isn't to.
Speaker B:It's not himself first, it's Christopher first.
Speaker C:And I think they illustrate that tension really well because at the beginning of the episode when we're watching Buck and Christopher at the pier, you know, before everything hits and you have like Buck really just like in it with Christopher.
Speaker C:They're doing like that, that little carnival game and Buck is just like, like so present and so encouraging of Christopher.
Speaker C:He's like, yeah, I'm so proud of you.
Speaker C:Like you did amazing.
Speaker C:All this praise.
Speaker C:And then he gets taken out of it.
Speaker C:Then he gets taken out of it when he sees the 136 show up and it becomes oopsie.
Speaker C:And it, it becomes very like Buck, Buck focused again.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Just for like a minute or so.
Speaker C:And this is a.
Speaker C:And, and so you see that like tension going back and forth of how Buck is trying to, like, balance.
Speaker C:You know, this isn't just about him right now.
Speaker C:And he is.
Speaker C:He is very good at making it about Christopher, but sometimes that, like, bucket centrism kind of, like, swoops in until it becomes about someone else.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And we talk about this a lot in, like, the astrology episode because Buck kind of lives to.
Speaker C:To be there for others as well.
Speaker C:So, like, even though we may say, like, he kind of.
Speaker C:He kind of is the center of his own world a lot, that is true until he finds purpose in helping others.
Speaker C:So, like, he's, you know, giving his whole day to Christopher or he's saving people, like, from the tsunami and bringing them all on board the 136 life truck raft thing.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:So I think there's some interesting, like, how that.
Speaker C:How that moves between.
Speaker C:Between all of those.
Speaker C:When Buck and Christopher are on the 136life raft, they're playing I Spy, and, you know, Buck.
Speaker C:Buck reiterates to.
Speaker C:To Chris again, like, how proud he is of Chris.
Speaker C:Chris of how, like, resilient Chris is.
Speaker C:You know, it's.
Speaker C:It's like right around that.
Speaker C:That point where I think you were talking about Buck was asking, how does.
Speaker C:How does Chris keep doing it?
Speaker C:How do you never complain?
Speaker C:How do you do it?
Speaker C:And it's the just keep swimming sort of thing.
Speaker C:And then Buck, like, sees the.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker C:The people starting to float by who are no longer with us.
Speaker C:This.
Speaker C:And the way he, like, shields Christopher from some of the horrors of this kind of tragedy is basically doing what any parent would do.
Speaker C:Doing what.
Speaker C:What any parent would want for their kid as well, which is kind of.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It's a little bit of a parallel to Athena and May, but May being older and she can handle it, even if she's not ready.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker C:But since Chris is still so young, like, if he were older, it probably would have been a little different.
Speaker C:But Buck really takes on that, like, parental role and.
Speaker C:And is like, shielding Chris from seeing what he doesn't need to see.
Speaker C:Christopher recognizes that because he tells Buck, like, you saved me and you saved them.
Speaker C:And Buck is like, we're a great team.
Speaker C:We did it together.
Speaker C:So he.
Speaker D:He.
Speaker C:He like, praises Christopher about how prod he is, just like he did at the beginning of the episode.
Speaker C:But it's kind of for different reasons now.
Speaker C:It's like more about resiliency, more about, you know, before it was just like they're playing a game and they were doing really good.
Speaker C:And now it's about, like, stuff with with more, like, gravitas, like.
Speaker C:Like, these are important life lessons.
Speaker C:And he's really proud that Chris was.
Speaker C:Chris knows, like, how resilient he is and.
Speaker C:And recognizes that Buck is doing what Buck needs to do.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And in so doing, I didn't bring it up or, like, I wanted to bring up just, like, a little snippet from one of the articles that I talked about in Deep Dive.
Speaker C:This was from the interview with the rap with Oliver Stark.
Speaker C:Stark and talking about, you know, at the very end, when Buck, when.
Speaker C:When they lose Chris, when Chris, like, goes overboard, pretty much, and Buck making the decision to jump in after, even though it's extremely dangerous to do so.
Speaker C:Oliver Stark said in this interview that it becomes for Buck more frantic and more chaotic because at the end of the episode, he obviously loses Christopher, and it becomes this searching that he has to go through where it's almost worse than the fact that it's not his own child.
Speaker C:Like, if you lose your child, then you're screwing up your own life, but if you lose somebody else's child, you're screwing up your life and theirs.
Speaker C:So there's, like, this responsibility there.
Speaker C:And there's also.
Speaker C:It's no longer online because Oliver Stark deleted his Twitter account.
Speaker C:But there's a screenshot that.
Speaker C:That we've seen before.
Speaker C:I included it in our notes where someone asked about, you know, how much Buck loves Chris.
Speaker C:And Oliver tweeted, he said there was a moment in the tsunami with a lot of discussion when we were making it at the end, when Chris falls in.
Speaker C:I wasn't sure if it was the best to jump into the water after him.
Speaker C:The director, which was Brad Bucher, told Oliver that it was essentially suicide to John, but he'd do it for his kids.
Speaker C:So Brad Bucher said he'd do it for his kids.
Speaker C:So Buck did it too.
Speaker C:And I think that really just, like, emphasizes how much how Buck feels responsible for Christopher, how he takes his guardianship and.
Speaker C:And role as.
Speaker C:As a pseudo parent so seriously.
Speaker C:Especially because it's not just Christopher, but Christopher is Eddie's as well.
Speaker B:He was already freaking out before he fell back in the water.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because he was like, your dad leaves you with me alone for one day, he's never gonna do it again.
Speaker D:This is what happens.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:I think it's interesting that there was even, like, a little discussion about it, about, like, well, is it best for Buck to jump in?
Speaker C:Like, what's.
Speaker C:Like, what's the motivation?
Speaker C:What's the purpose of.
Speaker C:Of, like, his drive to do so?
Speaker C:And it's like, well, obviously you do it for your kids, so Buck's gonna do it for Christopher, who is not canonically, who is not technically his kid, but he's there.
Speaker B:But they're setting it up.
Speaker C:But they're setting it up at the beginning of the episode when the tsunami hits.
Speaker C:And we see this sequence of Buck just, like, tumbling and rolling in the water.
Speaker C:He hears Chris's voice, which is interesting.
Speaker C:I think I connected it a little bit to.
Speaker C:In Eddie Begins, when Eddie hears Chris's voice while he's also in the water.
Speaker C:But there's also this really cool shot, I think, when Buck is submerged and he's just, like, tumbling around before.
Speaker C:Before he surfaces.
Speaker C:It's like an upside down shot.
Speaker C:So, like, at the bottom of the frame is basically the surface of the water.
Speaker C:So it's.
Speaker C:Basically.
Speaker C:It's flipped, right?
Speaker C:So the depth of the water is above and the surface of the water is at the bottom of the frame.
Speaker C:So it almost looks like Buck is diving deeper.
Speaker C:But the next shot, the next frame is him resurfacing, is taking that breath of air at the surface.
Speaker C:And I kind of thought that was, like, a really interesting, just, like, visual shot.
Speaker C:But then when I was rewatching this episode and when Maddie is on the call with Jonas and Jonas is talking about making it to the summit of that mountain, and he was like.
Speaker C:It was like looking down on the sky.
Speaker C:And I thought that was kind of like an interesting tie to, like, something visual that we saw.
Speaker C:I don't know what it means.
Speaker C:I just thought that was really interesting.
Speaker C:And the fact that, like, it kind of happened twice, one visually and one in exposition, but I just.
Speaker C:I thought that.
Speaker C:I thought that was an interesting shot.
Speaker C:Really cool.
Speaker C:That's all.
Speaker B:All right, so there's not a lot for Slow Burn today because all of the Buck Christopher stuff mostly goes into Buck's character arc.
Speaker B:But we're going to parallel becoming a stepfather by marriage, because that's just gay.
Speaker B:Because he can be a dad without being romantically involved with Eddie.
Speaker B:But because there's this parallel here that they totally did on purpose and we're not drawing conclusions from.
Speaker C:Not at all.
Speaker C:Not at all.
Speaker B:Not at all.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker B:We're gonna talk about it.
Speaker C:I think I brought it up a little bit when we were talking about Eddie and just watching Adele and Chuck just being, like, that whole thing happening and.
Speaker C:And parallels to.
Speaker C:To maybe Eddie thinking about him and himself and Shannon.
Speaker C:But it can also very much be paralleled to Eddie and Buck and Christopher because of what Chuck says that Adele may be the love of Chuck's life, but Adele's son Jason is the love of hers.
Speaker C:And that was really, I think, paralleled because we always see how Buck puts Christopher first when he's caring for him.
Speaker C:And that is also very much how Eddie feels.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So, like, Buck taking that.
Speaker C:How Buck follows in Eddie's footsteps in that way.
Speaker B:But that sounds like something that you could totally hear Buck saying, right?
Speaker B:But it would be way, way different because he does.
Speaker B:You know, he has been in a parental position with Christopher since he.
Speaker B:Since he was a kid.
Speaker B:But, like, if he hadn't been, or even.
Speaker B:Regardless, if it came down to it and, like, Chris was trying to fight him on something like that, he'd be like, absolutely not.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's positioning someone in a chosen parental role.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Because Chuck is not only marrying Adele, in essence, I think you could kind of relate this to Bobby and Athena and Harry and May as well from the end of last season when Athena was like, it's not just about Athena and Bobby choosing each other.
Speaker C:It's about Athena and Harry and May choosing Bobby.
Speaker C:It's Buck not only.
Speaker C:Or it's Chuck.
Speaker C:Did they do that on purpose?
Speaker C:The rhyme, Adele, Eddie.
Speaker C:I don't.
Speaker B:Me and Chuck, I.
Speaker C:That I didn't pick.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:That I didn't think about until just now.
Speaker B:No, they do rhyme.
Speaker C:That's kind of funny.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker C:I mean, even though, like, we've been.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:I think you could parallel Chuck to Eddie as the one that's, you know, dying and has a kid to look after, basically.
Speaker C:You could parallel Chuck to Shannon as the one that's dying.
Speaker C:You could parallel Chuck to Buck.
Speaker C:I mean, just the fact that you can parallel this one little character to all three of Christopher's, like, parental figures is kind of wild.
Speaker C:But I think what I was trying to say was, you know, Chuck marrying Adele is not just him choosing Adele.
Speaker C:It's him choosing her son as well, and vice versa.
Speaker C:Even though Jason didn't really didn't seem as, like, keen on Chuck, but, like, probably will be now because he saved, like they say, trauma bonding.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker B:Actually could be on purpose.
Speaker B:Their names rhyme.
Speaker B:That's interesting, because they're.
Speaker B:I don't know, they just are so intentional about how they're setting up this Buck as his, like, father figure, as his second father figure.
Speaker B:Second parental figure.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:Could be.
Speaker B:But whether or not it was on purpose, it's.
Speaker B:The parallel's definitely there, and we will have so much more gay shit to talk about next week.
Speaker B:So much more.
Speaker C:So exciting.
Speaker B:I think that's it.
Speaker B:Nikki, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, thank you.
Speaker A:Thank you, Nikki, for having.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Is that the right word, having?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Not for forcing you here.
Speaker C:No, absolutely not at all.
Speaker A:Thank you for joining us willingly.
Speaker B:Have your own free volition.
Speaker C:Can't wait to have you on again.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, we know.
Speaker B:You told us how many times you want to come on just again.
Speaker C:I know she's never gonna show up again.
Speaker D:I did have fun.
Speaker D:This was great.
Speaker D:It was wonderful.
Speaker D:I love you guys.
Speaker D:I will probably inevitably be back as long as you guys don't kill me when I accidentally watch watching alone that I'm supposed to watch with you because that's what almost happened with Eddie began.
Speaker B:That one wouldn't have been the end of the world.
Speaker B:There's certain, there's certain things though that.
Speaker C:You guys would kill before begins.
Speaker A:And the end of season four that would, I, I, I would personally.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Fly myself over there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Don't watch for 13.
Speaker A:13 and 14.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker B:13 and 14.
Speaker B:You have to watch.
Speaker D:Oh, season four.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:I, I captains, remember, don't take your.
Speaker B:Pseudo son to the pier, but if.
Speaker A:You do.
Speaker D:One go take a buddy with you.
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