I Forgot That You Existed: The Tommy Plot Device on 9-1-1
Ever had a character in a show that just makes you scream, “Why are you even here?”
Plot twist: It’s all about Buddie.
Tommy Kinard is the ultimate MacGuffin of the 9-1-1 universe, and we’re going to hold your hand while we break down this plot device! In this week’s episode, Han, Cil, and Rachel explore the intricacies of narrative devices through the lens of Tommy’s character – or lack thereof. With less depth than a kiddie pool, Tommy’s role is to showcase Buck's journey of self-discovery and his coming to terms with his bisexuality.
We delve into why Tommy’s presence is never really acknowledged as substantial, but merely raises some serious questions about Buck’s feelings for Eddie, Eddie’s sexuality, and basically anything other than Tommy himself.
From bully to misdirected love interest, Tommy’s journey is like a roller coaster that never quite leaves the station. Navigating through his brief moments of impact we see how Tommy’s more of a stepping stone than a destination for Buck, with a big fat nothingburger for his own storyline. Join us as we analyze the echoing themes of relationship dynamics, character replacements, and the undeniable fact that sometimes, characters just exist to make the main ones look better.
We tackle everything from the awkward love triangle to the emotional fallout of Buck’s first queer relationship and how Tommy’s exit finally sets the stage for Buck to realize his feelings about Eddie.
Buck-le up for some laughs, some eye rolls, and a whole lot of “That’s crazy work,” as we shine a light on Tommy’s “questionable” relevance!
Chapters
(00:00:00)-Intro
(00:01:16)-What is a Plot Device?
(00:05:30)-Tommy’s a Bully Stock Character
(00:15:28)-Just a Co-Worker
(00:24:21)-It Was Supposed to Be Lucy
(00:34:06)-Buck, Bothered and Bewildered
(00:49:07)-Tommy is a Mirror for Eddie
(00:53:37)-Buck Confides in Maddie About Eddie and Tommy
(01:01:30)-Tommy Shows Up at Buck’s Loft
(01:09:46)-Love Triangle Blocking Metaphor
(01:13:37)-Buck’s Coming Out Tour
(01:26:03)-We Were On a Date, Is That Weird?
(01:32:48)-Jealousy, Jealousy at the Bachelor Party
(01:43:51)-Tommy’s Just There, But He Doesn’t Belong
(02:00:19)-Help, Buck’s Still at the Restaurant
(02:05:51)-How Did It End? Where it Began.
(02:15:29)-The Proof is in the Press Interviews
(02:27:45)-The Breakup Was Premature On Purpose
(02:31:18)-In Conclusion: We’re Correct
(02:34:42)-Outro and Take a Buddie with You
📔 Articles Mentioned:
📰 What is a Plot Device? Definitions and Examples, Studio Binder
→ Oliver Stark Interviews
📰 ‘9-1-1’ Star Oliver Stark on That Ex Twist, Tommy’s Choice and Why Buck Went to Eddie for Comfort, Variety
📰 9-1-1's Oliver Stark on Buck and Tommy's shocking breakup by Patrick Gomez, Entertainment Weekly
→ Tim Minear Interviews
📰 ‘9-1-1’ Creator Says Buck’s Big Romantic Moment Has Been in the Works ‘A Long Time’, The Wrap
📰 ‘9-1-1’ Boss: Exploring Buck’s New Sexual Awakening “Felt Like It Was the Right Time”, The Hollywood Reporter
📰 ‘9-1-1’ Boss on Tommy’s Wild Revelation, Buck & Eddie Figuring Themselves Out , TV Insider
📰 9-1-1 Showrunner Tim Minear Talks Athena’s Rookie, Bobby’s Hotshots Return, Buck’s Heartache & Teases Midseason Finale, TV Fanatic
→ Lou Ferrigno Jr. Interviews
📰 Lou Ferrigno Jr. on Returning to ‘9-1-1’ for Buck’s Bisexual Awakening, The Hollywood Reporter
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Music by DIV!NITY
Transcript
Have you ever watched something that completely rewired your brain chemistry?
Speaker B: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 A:I'm Han, coming to you straight from the characters heads.
Speaker B:I'm Syl, bringing you to the observation deck.
Speaker C:And I'm Rachel, connecting the dots with my red string.
Speaker A:With our powers combined, no stone is.
Speaker C:Left unturned and no buddy is left behind.
Speaker C:It's a bird.
Speaker C:It's a plane.
Speaker C:It's a plot device.
Speaker C:Welcome to another special of the Buddy System podcast.
Speaker C:This is the runner up in the poll that we put out when the hiatus started, and we wanted to see what y'all wanted to hear.
Speaker B:Hiatus is just about to end, and what better time to break down how Tommy Kennard is nothing but a plot device.
Speaker A:Why is it relevant, you ask?
Speaker A:He's gone.
Speaker A:Well, the answer is simple.
Speaker A:It all comes back to a buddy.
Speaker A:What is a plot device anyway?
Speaker C:Ew.
Speaker C:Ew.
Speaker C:So a plot device is a narrative technique that moves the plot forward.
Speaker C:It creates drama or introduces new elements, and that is its only goal?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Plot devices can be characters, objects, situations, or changes in the story world.
Speaker A:More specifically, Tommy is a plot device character.
Speaker A:And that means a character whose only purpose is to advance the plot of a story, often with little to no development or depth beyond their function and driving the narrative.
Speaker C:So that means that a character used as a plot device will have limited to no character development.
Speaker C:So they often lack complex motivations, backstories, or personal growth.
Speaker C:And they exist solely to trigger specific plot points.
Speaker B:They also just exist for the plot.
Speaker B:So their actions are primarily driven by the need to move the story forward, not by their own internal desires.
Speaker A:And they're easily replaceable.
Speaker A:Another character could often fulfill the same function in the plot if the plot device character was removed.
Speaker A:Think of a stock character, which are archetypal characters distinguished by their simplification and flatness.
Speaker A:As a result, they tend to be easy targets for parody, and it'd be criticized as cliches.
Speaker C:So basically, we're saying that Tommy is a MacGuffin, and a MacGuffin is.
Speaker C:Is a plot device in fiction that is necessary to the part of the story, but is not very important in itself.
Speaker C:It's a trigger that gets the story moving and can be an object, event, or character.
Speaker C:You'll see this a lot of times with Indiana Jones, like with Raiders of the Lost.
Speaker A:Ark.
Speaker C:The Ark of the Covenant is a MacGuffin.
Speaker C:Like the Crystal skull in the Kingdom of the Crystal skull.
Speaker C:That's a MacGuffin.
Speaker C:So it's like, it's this thing that basically incites the plot.
Speaker C:The object itself or the character itself is not, like the most important part.
Speaker C:The most important part is the character's.
Speaker A:Journey that the MacGuffin incites.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Like, does that make sense?
Speaker C:So that's.
Speaker C:Those are a couple examples.
Speaker A:Like, Tommy is not important to the 911 universe outside of the specific things he was deployed as a plot device for.
Speaker A:So what we're going to specifically do in this episode is different than what we normally do because we're not getting into character analysis.
Speaker A:We are not really going to talk about Tommy's backstory, because guess what?
Speaker A:He doesn't have one.
Speaker A:And that's exactly why we're here today.
Speaker A:We're going to take a look through the timeline that he pops up in and talk about why he was there each time in that instance and why he was deployed as a plot device.
Speaker A:So there are going to be some things that you're going to be like, why won't they talk more about that?
Speaker A:We will, but it just is not going to specifically be related to this.
Speaker A:And we're trying to stay on topic because there's already a lot to get into here and we might have some cool episodes coming up in a couple months which would get into that, you know, more of, like, specific queer coding of characters or like the love triangle of it all, or the buddy of it all.
Speaker A:We'll get into a little bit of that, but only insofar as, like, he was employed to do this, to incite this.
Speaker A:We're not going to be, like, diving as deep as we normally would.
Speaker A:We're kind of going to be diving more deep into, like, the narrative structure of it blocking and the narrative structure.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker C:Less so character stuff.
Speaker A:So without further ado, let's do this one last time.
Speaker C:One last time.
Speaker C:Oh, it could be.
Speaker C:I was thinking spider verse.
Speaker A:I was thinking spider verse too, but that's a good one too.
Speaker C:But that.
Speaker A:Yeah, it always comes back to Hamilton too, somehow.
Speaker C:Yeah, it does.
Speaker B:Tommy Canard is balls.
Speaker B:Don't teach me how to say goodbye I don't need to buy.
Speaker A: s take it all the way back to: Speaker A:I know it feels like we were just here because we were.
Speaker C:Because we were.
Speaker C:This is, like, the freshest in our Memory, actually, which is kind of funny.
Speaker A:Basically he fits into in this episode and in hen begins this classic stock character.
Speaker A:Like think about a stock character, like an npc.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:They're normally going to fall into like a specific, like stereotypical trope.
Speaker A:So the one that he falls into in these two specific episodes is the closeted bully.
Speaker A:And to give you a good example of that, to compare it to another Ryan Murphy and Bradfell chick show Glee shocker with David Karofsky.
Speaker A:And he bullies Kurt in all of season one, like verbally and physically.
Speaker A:And then in season two, it's revealed that he is secretly gay.
Speaker A:The difference here is that Karofsky actually goes from being a stock character, actually getting some character development once it's revealed that to the audience that he's gay.
Speaker A:That happens in season two, as in.
Speaker C:He gets his own storyline.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Where there are episodes or part of episodes that are actually centered on him specifically.
Speaker C:Not necessarily like in relation to anyone else.
Speaker A:One of the most famous episodes of Glee centers around him.
Speaker A:He goes through a whole journey where like, even though he's closeted, like he's.
Speaker A:Him and Santana like team up to be each other's beards and run for prom king and queen and they're doing anti bullying stuff for the school, like PSAs.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So like he becomes more of a three dimensional character.
Speaker A:So even though he's still closeted, he's not bullying people.
Speaker A:So there's character development and then you get to learn a little bit more about him outside of just being a bully and oh, he's closeted and gay.
Speaker A:Which is kind of all we know about Tommy, especially in his first two episodes.
Speaker C:What I want to know then is just kind of taking these two examples because I think that is a great comparison.
Speaker C:So in both of these you do have this closeted bully character who is not specifically mentioned or like we have no clue.
Speaker C:If we were watching live, we would have no clue that that character is gay until later.
Speaker C:So do you think this would also be an example of like retconned into gay character or.
Speaker A:Well, I don't think so.
Speaker A:I mean like it makes sense in both cases, but it is very much.
Speaker A:It fits into that, like stereotypical.
Speaker A:Oh, they were a bully because they were closeted.
Speaker C:And by retcon, I mean from their first episode, it may not have been in like the writers minds, but.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, it was not intended.
Speaker C:Oh, this is a good jumping off point.
Speaker A:It was not intended later.
Speaker A:Yeah, I don't think I know.
Speaker A:For Tommy, it wasn't Because Tim Eininger has said that.
Speaker C:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And Lou Ferrigno Jr.
Speaker A:Has said that.
Speaker A:I don't actually know for Glee.
Speaker A:I used to, like.
Speaker A:Fun fact.
Speaker A:For anyone who doesn't know, I.
Speaker A:I used to be obsessed with Glee.
Speaker A:I was a huge, like.
Speaker A:In Glee fandom.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I don't want to say Glee.
Speaker A:It's just, like, it triggers me.
Speaker A:But anyway, I was really just there for Kurt and Blaine.
Speaker A:Shocking.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:And Santana.
Speaker A:I love Santana still.
Speaker C:Did you ever watch Glee?
Speaker B:Nope.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker C:Good for you.
Speaker A:Listen, I'm sorry.
Speaker C:I'll ingest as someone who has also watched it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:He's very much the closeted bully stock character in these episodes.
Speaker A:And he's really just like, in Chimneys, we see him being a racist bully.
Speaker C:Very much so.
Speaker C:It's this thing with both Chimney Begins and Hen Begins, that he is, like, actively contributing to the hostile environment that we see our main characters, which are Chimney and Hen, having to deal with.
Speaker C:And he's just kind of there and is part of the problem, but, like, in the background, you know, I would say, like, generally for both of them, I think the main antagonist would have been, like, Gerard.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:For both.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And then Tommy's just there.
Speaker A:Yeah, Tommy's like a goon.
Speaker A:Whereas, like, I think Karofsky was, like, the head of the bullies, because I think he was, like, some possession.
Speaker A:That's important.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker C:Captain or something.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, Captain.
Speaker A:There we go.
Speaker C:Sports.
Speaker A:So sports.
Speaker A:Captain and a captain.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, Gerard's also kind of a plot device.
Speaker A:We won't get into that.
Speaker A:We're not here to talk about Gerard, but he is actively contributing to the horribleness.
Speaker A:The good thing to do would be to, like, say something, but it would even be more understandable if he just, like, kind of was trying to be invisible and, like, not draw attention to himself.
Speaker A:It would be more understanding.
Speaker A:But no, he's just there to be a bully.
Speaker A:Like, that's literally his entire journey in this episode.
Speaker A:And we only see him showing Chim respect or that he, like, has any value after Chim saves his life.
Speaker C:That's the only reason that he becomes friendlier.
Speaker C:I wouldn't even say, like, the most friendly.
Speaker C:And they're not best buds, as we see with Hen Begins, like.
Speaker C:So when you think there's a little bit of ground to be made in Chimney Begins for Tommy, like, it just kind of reverts back with Hen Begins.
Speaker C:It's a little confusing because technically, Hen Begins the episode aired before Chimney Begins, but chronologically they're flipped.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:So, so it's.
Speaker C:That's also something to keep in mind too because like any ground you make towards any kind of character development is, you know, null and void when it comes to hen begins.
Speaker C:Because he is also actively bullying.
Speaker C:He's being very sexist as well.
Speaker C:There were even some homophobic comments.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I mean, he's still being racist in Hemp begins, but now he's also being sexist and homophobic.
Speaker A:So we actually have a quote from an interview with Lou Ferrigno Jr.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:This is from Nine One One's Lou Ferrigno Jr reflects on Tommy and Buck's heart wrenching breakup and why the role was a true blessing by Nicole Gallucci from Decider.
Speaker B:So he says there is a moment when even unbeknownst to me, because Tommy was not by any means queer or whatnot in my mind, if anything, he was a little homophobic.
Speaker B:So it looks like Tim is a wizard, which he pretty much is.
Speaker B:It looks like he's been planning this all along and just didn't tell us.
Speaker B:But it's pretty cool.
Speaker B:Especially going back to the beginning of the series.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So that is a big indicator that not only to the actor playing him, but also, you know, the creator of the show, the writers, Tim Minier, they didn't set out to make Tommy like gay specifically.
Speaker C:So only in retrospect, because now we're looking at it like from a whole perspective sort of view.
Speaker C:So we have to look at these very early appearances of him being racist and sexist and homophobic and can only determine that he was being this archetype of the classic closeted bully.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:Instead of just the regular one.
Speaker C:Instead of just a regular bully.
Speaker C:Neither of them are great.
Speaker A:A special, even worse stereotype.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So it's really kind of smart that they went back and they.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Retconned it this way because you know, you do have some of these little sprinkles of.
Speaker C:What was it that Tommy said in this episode?
Speaker C:Something they were talking about Twilight.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C: Because it's like: Speaker A:He was like Team Jacob or something.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And then someone, I think it was Sal said something and then Chimney chimed in and he's like, he's calling you gay.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:And he just like made a kissy face.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So which is interesting to look at through the lens of now knowing that this character is gay, but it's just stock character.
Speaker C:Like there's no real individuality there.
Speaker A:Nope.
Speaker C:And also like in Chimney begins Tommy only Shows respect to Hen after he.
Speaker C:After she's earned it.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:In quotation marks.
Speaker C:And not even necessarily that he thinks she's earned it.
Speaker C:It's when, like, Gerard even has kind of been like, okay, you've earned it.
Speaker C:I guess, you know.
Speaker A:Well, it's right before, like, she gets called into the office and they're like, gerard's gone and she thinks she's gonna get fired.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it's like.
Speaker A:And they all knew that that's what she was getting pulled into.
Speaker A:So I don't know.
Speaker A:I saw that more of a, like, him falling in line because there was a new captain coming in, you know, that he is like, oh, the status quo of, like, what this place is going to be like, is going to change.
Speaker A:And I'm falling in line with that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And not to get like too character analysis in here, but like, we do see in these two episodes that this is a character who goes with the crowd.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And the status quo and the people who are more in power.
Speaker C:He's a lackey.
Speaker A:Yeah, he is.
Speaker C:Lackeys do not really get development.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Because that's not what they're there for.
Speaker A:They're not there to have a personality or a character arc.
Speaker A:They're there to do whatever the bidding of the person that they're doing bidding for is.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:They're a device.
Speaker A:Always.
Speaker A:Lackeys are always a device.
Speaker A:But yeah.
Speaker A:And then we have season two, episode 16 with Bobby Vegans again.
Speaker A:And it looks like he's on good terms with Hun and Chim as co workers.
Speaker A:I think they've been through like six captains before Bobby shows up.
Speaker A:So, like, I guess they're, you know, getting along as co workers after the events of Chimney and Hem begins.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:They kind of like, they kind of have to because of the revolving door of captains.
Speaker C: ed to take place between like: Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C: would have last seen in like: Speaker C:And it's just like we've been working.
Speaker A:Together for a while.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:But it's still like, you don't really see a lot of their.
Speaker C:Really?
Speaker C:Buddy.
Speaker C:Buddy.
Speaker C:Like, they've become good friends.
Speaker A:We don't see them acting like our core four.
Speaker A:No together at all.
Speaker C:It's just co workers.
Speaker C:And, like, he's just there.
Speaker A:He is literally just there.
Speaker A:He is there for like, a lot of the episode when they're at the 118.
Speaker A:But, like, I don't think we even really learn anything about him besides the.
Speaker C:Scene that stands out.
Speaker B:Isn't it the one where they're having drinks and Bobby shows up?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think we only learn about like, because everyone's just showing off their scars.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I don't remember how he got it.
Speaker C:I don't remember either.
Speaker B:But yeah, I mean, that's where everyone seems to be very amicable and like, it's very clear that he was just like a stand in for, you know, Buck to come in and, you know, join the wedding team after, you know, Tommy leaves.
Speaker A:That's very much what it gives.
Speaker A:Because as soon as Tommy's gone, Buck shows up.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:You know, as a literal replacement.
Speaker C:And from then you see like the core four develop.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And it really kind of like from the get go with that just shows how much the inclusion of buck into the 118 as a found family really solidifies.
Speaker C:And I mean, when you look at it like without Buck, they were just co workers with Buck.
Speaker C:Now they're a family.
Speaker C:So what's the difference there?
Speaker C:And it's literally definitely not Tommy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So in that episode, like Tommy is a plot device to bring Buck.
Speaker C:Like his leaving like opens the door.
Speaker C:It creates a vacuum for Buck to come in and fill that space.
Speaker C:And then Tommy's just gone.
Speaker C:So it's like, it's nice that they had him and.
Speaker C:And we don't even get like any redemption with that either.
Speaker C:It's just like, oh, they're just on better terms now.
Speaker C:But there's no like even line of exposition for explanation to like, yeah, they're, they're on good terms because they were still kind of like.
Speaker A:And here's the thing is like, if you want to say, oh, well, they were out for drinks after work, they were talking about work.
Speaker A:So it was co workers getting drinks after work, which some co workers do to complain about work.
Speaker A:Like they were not talking about their lives.
Speaker C:No, it wasn't like a friend hang.
Speaker C:It was a drinks after work and.
Speaker A:It was very much hen deploying.
Speaker A:Hey, let's go get drinks.
Speaker A:So she could invite Bobby and get them on Bobby's side because she knew stuff that they didn't about DeLuca.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's all it was.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So again, Tommy was just there because he's part of the pack.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And not for any like, you know, they really wanted to include Tommy specifically.
Speaker C:It was, it was just like a general outing.
Speaker A:So I mean, just to like bring it into different terms because like, I'm sure most people.
Speaker A:Well, I'm assuming, but I assume that most people listening to this podcast aren't in the first responder profession.
Speaker A:So I'm just thinking about like retail food service, that kind of thing.
Speaker A:Think about how like you would have a group chat to complain about work with people who like you wouldn't necessarily call friends or hang out with outside of maybe grabbing a drink to.
Speaker A:About work.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's what it is.
Speaker A:All it was.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker C:The bonding is still work focused.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's camaraderie at works building.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker C:Oh, we're sharing companions, details about our.
Speaker A:Lives and ourselves and we're friends.
Speaker A:That's not what that was at all.
Speaker C:Because that implies someone.
Speaker C:People have to like actually communicate about their backstories and lives.
Speaker C:And Tommy didn't have any.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Except for that one story.
Speaker A:Oh, he does say.
Speaker A:I'm remembering what he says though.
Speaker A:And he's showing.
Speaker A:He's like.
Speaker A:Yeah, like, basically like chicks really dig the scars or something.
Speaker A:He doesn't even showing a scar.
Speaker C:He doesn't even give a story for how he got it.
Speaker A:I can't remember even though I watched it yesterday because I just literally was like, this was nothing sauce.
Speaker A:I was like, he was just there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Again, like an npc.
Speaker A:Like you could just swap out any other character and I.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:You could have put DeLuca there any other.
Speaker A:It was just because he had a name.
Speaker C:It's because he had a name and he was already established and that's why they brought him in.
Speaker C:So they didn't have to introduce a new character.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker C:We'll see that pop up occasionally.
Speaker A:We'll see it pop up further in.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:As we go along here.
Speaker A:So just again, in the next one we're going to talk about very briefly in season two, episode 14.
Speaker A:You don't even see him.
Speaker A:Do you even hear him?
Speaker C:There's like.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker C:There's like a mumble.
Speaker C:Mumble on the other side of the phone.
Speaker C:But I.
Speaker B:It's a.
Speaker B:Hey.
Speaker B:Something.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I don't think it's lfj.
Speaker A:I think it's just someone mumbling.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I don't think they brought him in.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:To record like one line.
Speaker A:No, no.
Speaker B:How much would that.
Speaker B:How much would that be?
Speaker C:So much.
Speaker C:Because it would be a speaking line.
Speaker C:So they would have to pay like sag after.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So it was probably like we see with the promos where, you know, where they accidentally.
Speaker C:Where they have someone like dubbing the, like cue in the actors and they for some reason keep forgetting to ADR it with the actual like child, Mama, Jesus Christ.
Speaker C:Which was fixed for the actual.
Speaker A:We were like, is this a horror movie?
Speaker A:Anyway, so yeah, he's literally just again used as a plot device because dispatch is down in chimneys watching the television like, they need water.
Speaker A:How do I get them water?
Speaker A:And then he is like, oh, Tommy who works at harbor, who flies the things that have the water planes.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And the only, the only reason we know that's Tommy, besides Jimny saying like, hey, Tommy, Tommy.
Speaker C:Is because in Bobby begins again, Tommy leaves.
Speaker C:And they say specifically for like on the cake.
Speaker C:It's like the 217.
Speaker C:So that happens to be the harbor station.
Speaker C:So that was also.
Speaker C:It's a connected plot device there, which.
Speaker A:Is smart to use because it makes the universe feel more real, more established using like similar characters instead of having a new person for every single thing.
Speaker C:Instead of Chimney, just be just like calling up this random person that you know, you'd never heard him talk about before.
Speaker C:It's like the audience then has that pre established knowledge, awareness, connection, but barely to a character.
Speaker C:So it's like, oh, okay, this is feeling like, you know, a real universe.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And it just so happens that that is the character that flies the planes.
Speaker C:And that's it.
Speaker A:That's all.
Speaker C:You don't even see him on screen.
Speaker C:Not even a shot of an actor in the plane.
Speaker C:It's just the plane from like the outside.
Speaker C:So it's technically not even an appearance.
Speaker C:It's just like an awareness that that is who that's supposed to be.
Speaker C:But so like the fact that we don't even see him at all, or like gearing up to be like, you know, sometimes if a character makes a call like that, you would see an.
Speaker A:Establishing shot of them.
Speaker C:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker C:And it would be like them picking up the phone, being like, oh, hey Jim, haven't heard from you in a while.
Speaker A:Of course.
Speaker C:And then like gearing up to do the thing.
Speaker C:None of that.
Speaker A:No, I mean that would still make him a plot device, but.
Speaker A:Yeah, but that would be on screen.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Then five peaceful years went by where no one again remembered that he existed.
Speaker C:And then all of a sudden.
Speaker A:And then in season seven, episode three, he showed up again as a plot device to help rescue Athena and Bobby and reintroduce him into the narrative to interact with Buck and Eddie, which was jump starting Buck's queer journey and setting the incident for the jealousy regarding Eddie.
Speaker C:Yeah, so he was introduced again as the same Kind of plot device that we just saw with Broken where he was there because he does the plane stuff.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And they needed to get to the boat or the ship.
Speaker C:Excuse me, they needed to get to the ship.
Speaker B:Plain stuff.
Speaker B:Tm.
Speaker C:It's essentially the same thing.
Speaker C:They're utilizing his connection with harbor to access Bobby and Athena stranded in the middle of the ocean in a hurricane.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:They wouldn't be able to get to them otherwise.
Speaker C:So from there it's also.
Speaker C:He is a plot device because he is reintroduced into the narrative to interact with Buck and Eddie specifically.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But before we get to that, he is only there because the actress who plays Lucy, Lucy was supposed to pilot the helicopter used to rescue Bobby and Athena from the cruise ship disaster from the three part premiere.
Speaker A:But because of her role in Fox's rescue High Surf, she was unavailable for the scene.
Speaker C:So that comes from an article from the Wrap with an interview with Tim.
Speaker C:I near and to my near also said that because Tommy already exists in this universe, like we were.
Speaker C:We were just saying that allowed him to establish it was supposed to be Lucy.
Speaker A:But because she wasn't available, he went, who else flies helicopters?
Speaker C:The season six finale, it had Lucy come back because she was doing the helicopter.
Speaker C:And I think this was a mistake that Bobby at some point said like canard, but I don't think it was supposed to be.
Speaker C:Yeah, it was just like a name.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Then we have some nice little quotes from.
Speaker A:Well, actually one quote that stood out to me which was very much giving plot device, which was when Tommy comes up when Hen shows up at harbor and is like, I need to an emergency acquisition of a helicopter or whatever.
Speaker A:And the guy's arguing with her like the Gulf of Mexico, that's not our territory.
Speaker A:And Tommy comes up and she's like, I forgot you were stationed at Harbor.
Speaker A:She hasn't talked to this man since he left the 118.
Speaker A:She forgot that he existed.
Speaker B:Just tying into what you just said, like it's the blatant trying to like bring him into the narrative that gives plot device.
Speaker A:Yeah, he so like she's like, I forgot you were here.
Speaker A:And then he walks up and he's like, hen and I used to work at the 118 together for years and blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:So like he's like re establishing himself, trying to put himself in the narrative.
Speaker A:And like then we find out that he already was ripped into this by Chimney.
Speaker A:Chimney saved this guy's life.
Speaker A:So he owes him like I feel like infinite favors.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:I don't think this was a We talk all the time and I just called in a favor from a friend thing.
Speaker C:No, it's like, only.
Speaker C:Only when they need something.
Speaker A:Only when they need something, you know?
Speaker A:And in the next episode, Tommy says himself that he's jealous of how they seem to operate like a family and how the 118 is so different from when he worked there.
Speaker A:So he is, like, trying to put himself in the narrative, but he doesn't belong there because he's a plot device.
Speaker A:It's literally all done so purposefully.
Speaker C:Definitely.
Speaker A:So we get some foreshadowing at the end of 703 4.
Speaker A:704 and onward with this love triangle where Bobby and Athena are reuniting and watching them is Eddie and Tommy and Buck.
Speaker A:Eddie's on the left, Tommy's in the middle, and Buck is on the right.
Speaker A:Tommy's in the middle of Buck and Eddie.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Then Eddie walks away, and Tommy moves to walk after him, but Buck stops him with a hand on his shoulder.
Speaker A:And then Buck walks away.
Speaker A:And then you see him walking next to Eddie.
Speaker A:So I just feel like this just foreshadows the entire thing, which is just that the three of them meet and then Tommy tries to go after Eddie, but then Buck steps in and is like, no, wait.
Speaker C:It acts as an establishing, like, visual device.
Speaker C:Mm.
Speaker C:For how their interactions are kind of gonna go moving forward.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It sets it up visually that Tommy is kind of trying to put himself into the narrative and specifically into the narrative regarding Buck and Eddie on a more personal basis and just kind of like wedging himself in.
Speaker C:Because we see that, and I think we have some notes, like, further down with similar blocking where it's that triangular pattern.
Speaker A:Again, you've seen it, you've watched it, but you're going to keep hearing us bring that blocking because it's very intentional.
Speaker A:Blocking is really intentional.
Speaker C:It literally.
Speaker A:They have to, like.
Speaker A:The director picks it out and then they put tape down and the actors have to, like, stand in a specific place.
Speaker A:It's all.
Speaker A:I mean, every part of television is really intentional.
Speaker A:But blocking is normally something that's used as a narrative device.
Speaker C:Kind of moving from that.
Speaker C:Moving from him being a plot device of being the pilot.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It transitions him into being the plot device for Buck to realize that he's bisexual.
Speaker C:And Buck's queer journey and the, like, inciting incident for Buck's jealousy regarding Eddie and misplacing his feelings with Tommy kind of inserting himself into Eddie's friendship.
Speaker A:We'll say whatever they got going on, he's inserting it.
Speaker C:We don't have time to unpack all that.
Speaker A:There's friendship and then there's whatever those two have going on.
Speaker C:So is it safe to say us seeing Tommy for the rest of his appearance on the show from 704 onwards to 808 is specifically Tommy being there as his role as a plot device for Buck's queer journey and to realize that he's bi.
Speaker C:And specifically in 704, it's a redirect of Buck's jealousy of, like, Eddie and Tommy and Buck misplacing his feelings.
Speaker A:He's kind of almost like a foil.
Speaker C:That's exactly what it is for Eddie.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's how he's misdirecting feelings.
Speaker C:So in an interview with Tim Mynier where he's talking about 704 and Buck's big romantic moment, which has been in the works for a long time, as the article states.
Speaker C:It's from the Wrap.
Speaker C:So my near says that he thought Buck and Tommy would have good chemistry.
Speaker C:And because Tommy already exists in the universe which we had just mentioned, that allowed them to establish a new love interest for Buck without having to invent and introduce an entirely new character, which is what they oftentimes do for love interests.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Tim went on and said, tommy is currently an important romantic partner for Buck largely because it's sort of the entry level relationship.
Speaker C:Nobody's making wedding plans.
Speaker B:And that should have been the hint.
Speaker A:Here's your sign.
Speaker A:Yeah, this is a plot device.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:He's literally just saying it like he's here to establish this new thing.
Speaker C:Everything that Tim just said about Tommy is in relation to what it can do for Buck.
Speaker C:That indicates that Tommy.
Speaker A:About Tommy.
Speaker C:Yeah, that indicates that Tommy is not like a fully fleshed out character of his own.
Speaker C:He is only there for Buck's character.
Speaker A:Development and not indicating that he plans on fleshing him out any further than he already isn't.
Speaker C:And he says it's.
Speaker C:It's an important romantic partner for Buck, not an important character.
Speaker C:An important partner for Buck because it's an entry level relationship.
Speaker C:So that implies that Tim already knew.
Speaker A:Tim already knew it was going to be his first, not his last.
Speaker C:Yeah, like a good time, not a long time.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Which is what you kept saying.
Speaker C:And nobody's making wedding plans.
Speaker C:So, like, like, I know Tim also says things change all the time and they're always like.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Like currently writing and.
Speaker C:And like redrafting things to say like nobody's making wedding plans means that they did not have Solid anticipation of Tommy being end game for Buck.
Speaker C:You know, like, no entry level relationship, not end game level relationship.
Speaker C:That's an important, I think, piece of.
Speaker C:Piece of context.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:To keep in mind that, like, as we're looking at it from a narrative perspective and like, how the writers were dealing with Tommy as a character, which was to say, like, not much at all that they had in mind that he wasn't going to be here for a long time.
Speaker A:No, he's here to affect Buck and Eddie.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker A:That's that.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:So Speaking of.
Speaker A:In 704, Buck bothered bewildered, one of the best episodes of 911, I do say so myself.
Speaker A:It is perfection.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:I love seeing Buck spiral out and this was just Chef's kiss.
Speaker A:Anytime we get to see an episode from his point of view, and they.
Speaker C:Do that a bit, it's so fun.
Speaker A:They do, yeah.
Speaker A:Because it's.
Speaker A:He is like the world's most unreliable narrator.
Speaker C:It also, like, adds an extra layer.
Speaker C:So, like, as like we're interpreting that episode, we also have to think, like, keep reminding.
Speaker A:Interpreting it from Buck's interpretation point of view.
Speaker C:So, like, everything is funneled through his perspective, which makes things that kind of much more interesting because it's not as straightforward as some other episodes may be because of the unreliable narrator thing, which is just fun.
Speaker A:The first scene we see of Buck and Tommy together in this episode is at Harbor Station.
Speaker A:We're just gonna go through some quotes, some dialogue here that's just, you know, dialogue is the most intentional thing I think you can do when you're doing a television show.
Speaker A:Tommy says to him, come on, you didn't call me because you wanted to see the toys, the helicopters.
Speaker A:You're thinking of changing things up, aren't you?
Speaker C:That this whole conversation is very.
Speaker A:The double.
Speaker A:Everything is the double entendre in this entire conversation.
Speaker A:He can't even just, like, talk to he.
Speaker A:Buck thinks that he went there because he wanted to be friends with Tommy, but he can't even, like, get to know Tommy without bringing up Eddie.
Speaker A:He's so much like Tim Minier in that way.
Speaker A:He can't not make things about Eddie.
Speaker A:But he finds out that Tommy was a pilot in the army, and he's like, no way.
Speaker A:Eddie was in the army.
Speaker C:No, but for that.
Speaker C:Also with Buck immediately bringing Eddie into the conversation that, like you said earlier, that does indicate that Tommy is a foil for Eddie.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Because they're putting up.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:These characters have these similarities, and it's basically like A stand in for Eddie.
Speaker A:The most surface level stand in you could imagine.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because they're continually bringing up like, oh, no way, Eddie was in the army.
Speaker C:Oh, no way.
Speaker C:Eddie likes Muay Thai.
Speaker C:Like, all of that stuff is just to show how similar Tommy is to Eddie.
Speaker C:Which still means, like, even though you're getting what you think are these little, like, snippets and little bite sized pieces of Tommy's character, to align that with Eddie is basically not giving Tommy his own character.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It's just similarities to Eddie.
Speaker A:Why is it that it took us seven seasons to.
Speaker A:Or, sorry, five.
Speaker A:Because I guess he didn't show up till two.
Speaker A:Why did it take us five seasons to get any kind of backstory?
Speaker A:And this isn't even backstory.
Speaker A:These are just like facts.
Speaker A:He likes this thing.
Speaker A:He wasn't this.
Speaker A:And every single thing we learn is a thing that he has in common with Eddie.
Speaker A:It's almost like he's a mirror.
Speaker A:It was done on purpose.
Speaker C:Yeah, he is a mirror still.
Speaker A:So Tommy says there's no rule that says you can't get certified and still stay at the 118.
Speaker A:I fly for fun on my days off.
Speaker A:Very much giving.
Speaker A:You can have your cake and eat it too.
Speaker A:Just the double entendre, like implications of both the bisexuality of it all.
Speaker C:Porque no los dos porcinos.
Speaker C:Dos.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And then there's more blocking in this scene too, when Eddie finally comes into the picture.
Speaker C:And this one has Eddie on the left.
Speaker C:And that was the same as the last time, right?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So in this case, Eddie is still on the left, but Buck is in the middle.
Speaker C:And so it's kind of like he's torn between two options.
Speaker C:Imagine that.
Speaker A:Well, to me, this is an odd man out situation.
Speaker A:That too.
Speaker A:So in 703, it's Tommy is the person who's in between Buck and Eddie, who are established.
Speaker A:Even if you don't think of them as romantic, they are an established duo.
Speaker A:Like soul to not separate.
Speaker A:It's always Buck and Eddie.
Speaker A:Buck and Eddie do this.
Speaker A:Buck and Eddie.
Speaker A:So he was in between them, literally and figuratively.
Speaker A:And now Buck is the one who feels like he's in between them.
Speaker A:Feels like I'm out of place, but.
Speaker C:Also kind of like torn between two.
Speaker C:With Buck under the guise of exploring things at Harbor.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:You have Tommy representing something new and different with harbor, but then you have Eddie coming in, which is, you know, the 118 a little bit.
Speaker C:So it's that extra layer of like having more choice.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Essentially It's.
Speaker C:It's a.
Speaker C:It's a bisexual.
Speaker A:Like, it's a bisexual thing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:I just don't know that I agree, if that.
Speaker A:What you're trying to say is, like, he's trying to decide between the two of them.
Speaker A:No, I don't think I agree with that.
Speaker C:No, I'm not saying he's trying to decide between the two.
Speaker C:I'm just saying, like, there are multiple options available.
Speaker A:Oh, well, yes, that's.
Speaker C:That's what I was saying.
Speaker A:And after Tommy says, I fly for fun on my days off, he says, I can give you lessons if you want.
Speaker A:This entire conversation is just double entendre's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker C:I mean that it's not about flying.
Speaker A:It's not about possibly switching stations.
Speaker A:It's about switching teams.
Speaker A:It's about teaching him.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Other things.
Speaker C:Literally.
Speaker C:Entry level relationship, Right?
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:Mm.
Speaker C:We mentioned, like, Buck was in the middle and we were talking about how it's like a metaphor for bisexuality and having multiple options and other stuff.
Speaker B:Like, you were going for the angle that it was other options and Han was like, Buck being odd man out.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:I think it works on both.
Speaker A:It is, yeah.
Speaker C:Levels with that.
Speaker A:Both.
Speaker A:I think he's really feeling like odd man out, and I feel like the rest of this conversation is like, what puts him off kilter for the fucking spiral he has the rest of the episode.
Speaker B:So just to set the scene, I think they're like, Tommy and Eddie are about to go to their, whatever, WrestleMania thing in Vegas.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker B:Whatever.
Speaker B:What is it?
Speaker A:Is it MMA or boxing or.
Speaker C:It's either MMA or like a UFC fight.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker A:It's people punching each other.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Anyway, so Eddie asks if Buck is coming along.
Speaker B:Tommy saying, no, I'm just giving him a tour.
Speaker B:And then Eddie goes, wait, you're not thinking about jumping ship, are you?
Speaker B:Like, jumping ship?
Speaker B:That's very on the nose, calling us out, honestly.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:Us as a fandom.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Jumping ship.
Speaker C:Like relationships.
Speaker C:Like buddy to whatever that would be.
Speaker A:Oh, Stark does not approve that name, so I don't either.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I stand with oh, Stark on that.
Speaker C:I love that they were the ones.
Speaker A:To make their couple name.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:What a crazy thing to do.
Speaker B:So crazy.
Speaker B:Anyway, Buck says no, I'm just, you know, keeping my options fluid.
Speaker C:Fluid, huh, huh.
Speaker B:That's self explanatory.
Speaker B:I mean, it's just bisexual.
Speaker C:It's so blatantly obvious.
Speaker A:Well, to everyone, I'm a Buck.
Speaker A:But yes.
Speaker A:Especially because we're looking at it from Buck's point of view.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then he's like, oh, so there's a fight.
Speaker B:I was unaware.
Speaker C:Like, literally, he was.
Speaker C:Buck was unaware that he had to.
Speaker A:Fight for Eddie's attention and time.
Speaker C:Well, that he had to.
Speaker C:That he had to fight for Eddie's attention.
Speaker C:But also he was unaware that he leaned in multiple directions with his sexuality, too.
Speaker C:That's how I read that.
Speaker C:Like, I wasn't aware until you become aware, you know?
Speaker C:And how does he become aware?
Speaker C:It's just Tommy.
Speaker C:That's what Tommy's there for, to make Buck aware.
Speaker B:So, I mean, and then there's like, the obvious one.
Speaker B:Just like, he's just unaware that this.
Speaker B:Whatever the hell, this Tommy and Eddie thing is happening.
Speaker B:Like, he's just unaware of that, and that is just making him go like, the.
Speaker B:The is happening here.
Speaker B:I'm not involved.
Speaker A:Literally.
Speaker A:I am also here.
Speaker A:I can't look at anything from this episode as not being about Eddie until the very end when he takes all of those feelings about Eddie and throws them on the foil.
Speaker A:So to me, this is.
Speaker A:There's a fight.
Speaker A:I was unaware because it's very much like he was kind of, like, flirty, you know, with Tommy, but then Eddie showed up, and he was like, what are.
Speaker A:What are you doing?
Speaker A:Oh, you're going.
Speaker A:You're going to a thing together, huh?
Speaker A:That's so cool.
Speaker B:And he's gonna fly you there.
Speaker A:Interest.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Huh.
Speaker C:Huh.
Speaker C:This is where he's really feeling that odd man out.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So that's.
Speaker A:And that's when that triangular blocking is.
Speaker A:And you can look at his face, and he's like, I don't like this.
Speaker A:He does not like it.
Speaker A:He feels uncomfy, but it's.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So there's a fight.
Speaker A:I was unaware, to me, is very much.
Speaker A:I had to fight for Eddie's attention.
Speaker A:I was unaware.
Speaker A:I was unaware that he had other friends, period.
Speaker B:It's like, I knew that he had a weird, like, underground poker night thing, but I was invited.
Speaker A:Yeah, eventually.
Speaker C:Eventually, exactly.
Speaker C:Like, Eddie always clues them in eventually.
Speaker C:But it's just like.
Speaker C:But I do like the way that everything that said here can be taken, you know, in terms of, like, Buck's relationship with Eddie, but also, like, Buck's bisexual relationship with his sexuality.
Speaker C:So it's just.
Speaker C:It's so layered in a way that's, like, kind of delicious because there's multiple ways to read it.
Speaker C:That still makes sense, but they all emphasize how Tommy's just there in a different way.
Speaker C:That's like, I am also here.
Speaker C:It's just now he's there.
Speaker A:He exists.
Speaker A:For now.
Speaker C:That has sounded so threatening.
Speaker C:For now.
Speaker A:I'm not the one who made him bones.
Speaker A:I'm just an observer.
Speaker B:So when they're just.
Speaker B:As they're leaving, Tommy says, let me know if you want to go up.
Speaker C:As in, like, level up.
Speaker A:Go, like, level up in a sexuality.
Speaker A:Go up in the skies, like, to.
Speaker A:To.
Speaker A:Because he was gonna give him.
Speaker C:Well, yes, yes.
Speaker C:I got it in, like, the.
Speaker C:In, like, the plain helicopter.
Speaker A:Let me know if you want me to give you lessons is what that basically is.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So then that gets in Buck's head.
Speaker A:Then we.
Speaker A:Then we flash to the sewer rescue, where Bucks, you know, trying to be supportive.
Speaker A:I feel like this whole episode, for the most part, Buck is trying to be supportive because he knows he shouldn't, like, feel whatever the fuck he's feeling like.
Speaker A:That's his own problem.
Speaker A:He's trying not to make it Eddie's problem.
Speaker A:He's like, he's allowed to have other friends.
Speaker A:He's trying to work supportive.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But also he just needs to know more information because he needs to know everything about Eddie, because he thought he did know everything.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So he's asking him, like, how the fight was, and Eddie is, like, telling him how, like, Tommy's friends with a promoter and, like, the seats were so close.
Speaker A:I felt like I was the one throwing the punches.
Speaker C:Which he has done before.
Speaker A:Which he has done before.
Speaker A:But I also thought it was funny because it's widely recognized in fandom.
Speaker A:And I don't know if this was on purpose for the writers, but later in this conversation when he says, you know, it's like that thing where you meet somebody and you just click.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:Is throwing a punch.
Speaker C:Oh, that's how you relate.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:He's getting back at Buck for being like.
Speaker A:I feel like she really sees me.
Speaker C:That is Eddie using Tommy as a plot device to kind of, like, you know, twist a little knife about Buck a bit.
Speaker A:For him to be like, how's that feel?
Speaker A:It's very much just giving him.
Speaker A:With Josh.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Waiting for that moment.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:He waits for the most opportune time to throw the punch.
Speaker A:He waits until the defenses are down.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C: cause he is like, sass master: Speaker A:And a seasoned fighter.
Speaker A:Ravi is so here for the tea.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, Book and Eddie are just, like, talking about Tommy, and then Robbie's just like, who's Tommy?
Speaker B:Which is honestly the funny line, because I Mean, like, really, who is Tommy?
Speaker B:Like, we don't.
Speaker C:What are you doing here?
Speaker B:What are you doing here?
Speaker A:He doesn't even go here.
Speaker B:What purpose do you have?
Speaker B:I mean, we already.
Speaker B:We're discussing the purpose, but still, like, what?
Speaker C:Yeah, that's just to say, like, who's Tommy?
Speaker C:Because it's nobody that important to the Greater 118 family.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:It wasn't even important enough for him to be spoken about.
Speaker A:When telling the story about rescuing Bobby and Athena, they didn't even drop Tommy's name.
Speaker A:Talking about the helicopter just doesn't matter.
Speaker B:I was just about to ask, was he even introduced to Tommy?
Speaker B:Then I was like, oh, no.
Speaker B:They shared that one scene in the medal ceremony.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I think a lot of the rest of the scene with, like, the sewer rescue is just like, more either double entendre and a way to get under Buck's skin and just like, more aligning Tommy with Eddie.
Speaker C:Because we have Buck saying, like, I'm not surprised that you had a great time in Vegas.
Speaker C:You and Tommy have a lot in common.
Speaker C:Both in the army, both like watching half naked men pummel each other, which.
Speaker A:Who wrote this episode?
Speaker C:This is Buck bothered and bewildered.
Speaker C:It's Andrew Myers.
Speaker B:Crazy work, honestly.
Speaker B:This is Andrew Myers King.
Speaker B:That's some king right there.
Speaker C:Hold on now I have to double check it.
Speaker A:I think you're right.
Speaker B:I think you're right because that's who it is.
Speaker C:Because we just watched, like, watching half.
Speaker A:Naked men pummel each other.
Speaker A:Because we just watched Ocean's911.
Speaker C:And that was, I think, Andrew Meyer's first episode that he wrote for 91 1.
Speaker C:And we talked in our episode about how was such a great ensemble episode.
Speaker C:And he got the character so well.
Speaker C:This is more example.
Speaker C:This is his writing.
Speaker C:He understands the characters so well.
Speaker C:And that, I think, is one of the reasons why Tommy works so well as a foil, as a mirror to Eddie, specifically, because they know how to write.
Speaker C:It's not exactly a copy paste, but it's like Tommy was a blank enough slate that they could put whatever else they wanted to onto him.
Speaker C:And they chose then to make that an Eddie mirror.
Speaker C:And that's good writing.
Speaker C:Good writing.
Speaker C:Andrew Myers.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker B:I'm still staring at this crazy work.
Speaker A:Both in the army, both, like, watching half naked men pummel each other.
Speaker B:He just said you're gay.
Speaker A:He just said you're both gay.
Speaker C:The thing is, though, I don't even feel like most of this conversation even pertains to Buck's sexuality.
Speaker A:No, it's Eddie.
Speaker C:It's Eddie's.
Speaker C:So Tommy is then pulling double duty.
Speaker C:He's not in this scene.
Speaker C:They're just talking about Eddie's interactions with Tommy.
Speaker C:Again, not Tommy specifically Eddie's interactions and aligning their similar likes and tastes.
Speaker C:So, like, what are we supposed to do with that?
Speaker C:They are making Tommy and Eddie so similar.
Speaker C:It's not.
Speaker C:This isn't even about Buck at the moment.
Speaker C:This is aligning Tommy to pull double duty as a plot device to show things about Eddie's tastes, if you will.
Speaker A:It's employed so well.
Speaker A:I mean, like, constantly for, like, the entire time he's here.
Speaker A:But, like, especially this episode is just like, yeah.
Speaker C:Because then, you know, Eddie's like, yeah, Tommy's pretty cool.
Speaker C:It's been a while since I met someone who can go toe to toe with me and Muay Thai.
Speaker C:And Buck's all like, you guys went to Muay Thai together.
Speaker A:Now he's picturing them pummeling each other half naked.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Which also, like, it's so interesting that it's like Muay Thai professional fights, army are very, like, boy masculine, masculine kind of thing.
Speaker C:Especially if.
Speaker C:If they're watching a fight and that is like wrestling.
Speaker C:It's also very performative.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It's performative masculinity.
Speaker C:So if we're putting all of these things in and lumping them in with things that Eddie likes, it is performative masculinity.
Speaker C:What do you do when you take that apart?
Speaker C:It's gay.
Speaker A:So then Buck is like, you guys did Muay Thai together?
Speaker A:Because he just said that pummeling.
Speaker A:You like watching men pummeling each other half naked, but now he's picturing the two of them and he's pummeling each other half naked.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:He's like, you did that together.
Speaker A:And he's still waxing, like.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:He's got this great setup in his garage.
Speaker A:We sparred a bit when I took the Chevelle over.
Speaker A:And then goes on later to say, yeah, he's got a car lift.
Speaker A:The guy really knows his engine.
Speaker A:You should hear that thing purr now.
Speaker C:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:Out of pocket.
Speaker A:Out of pocket.
Speaker A:I don't want to get too deep into the Eddie stuff because we're going to save that for an Eddie episode.
Speaker A:But these are the things that Buck is hearing.
Speaker A:And just what is he supposed to.
Speaker A:Where do you think his mind is going with this shit?
Speaker A:And why do you think it makes him even more crazy?
Speaker C:I do also just want to very quickly relate that back to what Tommy Said to Buck about, I can give you lessons if you want.
Speaker C:As in, like, he is the knowledgeable one.
Speaker C:He knows things that, like, Buck and Eddie do not know, has experiences that they maybe don't.
Speaker C:And that is pretty much the only differences that we see between Tommy and Eddie.
Speaker C:So to bring it back about, like, the guy really knows his engine.
Speaker C:You should hear that thing per.
Speaker C:Now, like, that's basically giving lessons.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:It's all very.
Speaker C:Is euphemistic a word?
Speaker B:It is now.
Speaker C:It's all very euphemistic for this episode.
Speaker B:It is now.
Speaker C:Just mark that in Rachel's dictionary.
Speaker A:One of.
Speaker C:One of those.
Speaker C:It feels like something that they would say in Wicked and Oz.
Speaker A:So then Buck is, again, still trying to be supportive, and he think it's great.
Speaker A:You can never have enough friends.
Speaker A:And Eddie hits him with that line I mentioned earlier about you just click with someone.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:And Buck is very full on.
Speaker A:Like, I do.
Speaker A:I really do.
Speaker A:And then I don't want to get into.
Speaker A:Further into this conversation too deeply.
Speaker A:But, like, I think Buck asks him when he's hanging out with Tommy again, and he's like, oh, he has this thing later this week, but, like, he.
Speaker A:He doesn't have anyone to watch Christopher.
Speaker A:And then asks Buck, what are you doing?
Speaker A:And Buck gets really excited.
Speaker A:But, yeah, he just asked Buck to watch Christopher because he already asked Marisol twice that week.
Speaker C:It's giving.
Speaker C:Stepping out on the town.
Speaker A:It's giving.
Speaker A:Buck feels like he's being replaced.
Speaker A:And it's so purposeful to put Tommy into the Buck position but will feel threatened by it because he has so much more in common with Eddie and he's older and more experienced.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:So now we're shifting to, like, the conversation that he has.
Speaker B:It's one of the first conversations that he has with Maddie about the Eddie and Tommy situation or whatever the fuck this is.
Speaker B:Anyway, so he's talking to Maddie.
Speaker B:He's basically airing out his grievances, especially after the, you know, babysitting Christopher.
Speaker B:Buck says, my point is he's made an impression in a very short time and that Christopher wouldn't stop talking about him.
Speaker B:And then how he's pointing out that on Eddie's calendar, he has.
Speaker B:He has the bbpu, which is basketball pickup game with Tommy, and it's circled.
Speaker B:And the way he says that, it's like doom and gloom.
Speaker B:Like.
Speaker B:Like, yeah, like it.
Speaker B:Like, it's so scandalous.
Speaker B:Like, how dare.
Speaker B:And I think Maddie's like, well, you hate basketball.
Speaker B:And then, like, he's like, well, Eddie keeps asking me to go, which is why I say no.
Speaker B:But now he's going with Tommy, and he's got it circled.
Speaker B:Then Maddie's like, is it circled with a heart around it?
Speaker A:Diabolical Maddie.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:Big sisterism right there.
Speaker A:The way the book says circled with a heart is how I imagine you tell your best friend or your older sibling that your significant other cheated on you.
Speaker A:It's like, I'm supposed to be on the calendar.
Speaker A:Circled trips, movie nights.
Speaker B:Like I'm important.
Speaker B:Like, the way he's reading it is, oh, this is very important.
Speaker B:He's got it circled.
Speaker B:Buck is just projecting.
Speaker B:Oh, like.
Speaker B:Like he's excited to go hang out with Tommy and not him.
Speaker B:And it's just like, what about me?
Speaker B:I'm also here.
Speaker C:This entire episode is Buck just being like, I'm also here.
Speaker C:But, like, even though this whole conversation revolves around Tommy, if you look a little further, it's actually about, you know, I was about to say Oliver.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker A:It's actually.
Speaker A:Wait, what?
Speaker C:I mean, I was about to say Oliver, and I'm trying to, like, say Buck.
Speaker C:It's because we keep saying that I am also here.
Speaker A:I'm also here.
Speaker C:Which is the most Oliver that Buck ever gets.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:So even though.
Speaker A:Well, it's the.
Speaker A:It's because Cancer sun.
Speaker A:Cancer moon.
Speaker C:Yes, It's.
Speaker A:It's little when the cancer moon jumps out.
Speaker C:It's the Tinkerbell ism.
Speaker C:Anyway, so even though this whole conversation revolves around Tommy, what it actually is about is Buck's feeling of being.
Speaker C:Being left behind by Eddie because Eddie has found this new shiny toy to play with.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So it's not actually about Tommy at all.
Speaker C:It's about Buck and his feelings and his relationship with Eddie.
Speaker C:And Tommy is just like, again, that MacGuffin to facilitate these feelings and this conversation taking place.
Speaker C:It's not actually about Tommy as a person at all.
Speaker C:It all revolves around how Buck is feeling about how Eddie is hanging out with this other guy.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker C:It's not about Tommy.
Speaker C:That's what makes him the plot device.
Speaker C:That's what I said.
Speaker C:I have to say about that.
Speaker B:I don't know if this is just me putting myself out there, but I'm like, I too.
Speaker B:Like, listen, I mean, I'm strictly thinking about this, like, in a friendship point of view, but who the hell knows?
Speaker B:Because those lines get blurred and whatever.
Speaker B:Eventually, you know, that happens.
Speaker B:But give or take, I mean, sometimes it's not, and sometimes it really is just like, you know, I don't.
Speaker B:Like, why are you.
Speaker B:Why are you not giving me enough attention?
Speaker B:You know, like, why are you hanging out with this other person?
Speaker A:Not get it.
Speaker A:Whenever anyone in our friend group says they have plans with someone who is not in our friend group, we're like, yeah, we didn't approve that.
Speaker B:Yeah, there was no authorization to do that.
Speaker A:The council says no veto.
Speaker C:Well, you guys are like that.
Speaker A:Yeah, Rachel's not.
Speaker A:Rachel wants to be friends with everyone.
Speaker C:Everyone is friendshape until proven otherwise.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker C:Still being in Buck bothered and bewildered.
Speaker C:We go to the basketball game.
Speaker A:So there's a couple of shots while the basketball game is happening.
Speaker A:And I think there's two specifically where we get the triangle, and both of them, they're high fiving Eddie and Tommy.
Speaker A:First one, Tommy is on the left and Buck is in the middle.
Speaker A:Eddie's on the right.
Speaker A:Buck looks so pissy in both of these.
Speaker A:He's ready to hurt someone.
Speaker A:And then Tommy and Eddie are swapped in the next one where Eddie's on the left and Tommy's on the right.
Speaker A:Then the camera zooms in on Buck being very pissed off, and Tommy leaves the frame first.
Speaker A:As it zooms in on Buck, you can't see Tommy any longer, but you can still see Eddie in the shot with Buck.
Speaker A:So it's almost like it's about Eddie.
Speaker C:It's almost like Tommy might have been his first but won't be his last.
Speaker A:So when they get to the game, when Chimney and Buck get to the game, they're just watching for a little bit before Tommy and Eddie notice them.
Speaker A:Tommy scores a.
Speaker A:Not a goal.
Speaker A:Is it a goal?
Speaker A:Scores a shot, score some points.
Speaker B:I think it's a shot.
Speaker A:I don't fucking.
Speaker A:I don't do sports ball.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I'm so sorry.
Speaker A:Tommy gets the ball in the hoop.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:And Eddie goes, hey, that's my boy.
Speaker A:Which I wow.
Speaker A:That I can't believe I didn't trigger into an immediate rage.
Speaker B:I mean, he witnessed it close to snapping.
Speaker A:They notice them.
Speaker A:And then Eddie goes, how did you talk him into this?
Speaker A:He always says no to me.
Speaker A:And Chimney's like, I have my ways.
Speaker A:And then as soon as Tommy and Eddie walk away, Jimmy's like, so I'm your basketball beard.
Speaker A:I feel so bonded.
Speaker C:It literally used the word beard, which is queer coding.
Speaker A:Which is a hundred percent queer coding.
Speaker A:Mentioned it earlier in the episode.
Speaker A:We were talking about Glee and how Karofsky and Santana were each other's beards.
Speaker A:You know?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Basketball beard.
Speaker B:The Word beard.
Speaker B:That's insane.
Speaker A:Work camp.
Speaker A:No, I totally can't believe that Chimney was just like, you're gay.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because chimney talks to Hen and Maddie.
Speaker C:And Hen was like, you're gay and chimney talks to Maddie.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:So, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:And Maddie's just like, did you hear about Buck's new caress?
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:Probably.
Speaker C:I mean, she needs an outlet.
Speaker B:Probably do talk a lot.
Speaker B:Extensively about whatever the fuck Buck is doing in these situations.
Speaker A:So we're moving on to Messina Dispatch and just want to highlight how Buck is talking about how he was pissed off and seeing Eddie with Tommy, like, seeing them being such good friends after only two weeks.
Speaker A:It was two days for you guys.
Speaker A:Calm down.
Speaker A:He felt left out, and he was just trying to get his attention.
Speaker A:He literally says, I was trying to get Eddie's attention.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, like, here he knew whose attention he wanted.
Speaker B:And then, I mean, I know this is skipping around, but, like, you know, going to that end there in that.
Speaker A:Conversation with Tommy, he just conflates the feelings and is like, well, it must have been this.
Speaker A:So again, another example where Tommy is just.
Speaker A:He's only part of the conversation so much and how his friendship with Eddie has made him jealous of how much time Eddie is spending with him, how he felt like he's getting replaced, basically.
Speaker A:So then at the loft, my goodness, what a weird scene.
Speaker A:So Tommy shows up.
Speaker A:Buck offers him a beer, and Tommy says, no, I'm good.
Speaker A:I won't stay long.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's saying in the text that Tommy is just there for a little while.
Speaker C:Like, I won't stay long.
Speaker C:Like, you can extrapolate it and show, like, you know, the writer's intentions for the character.
Speaker C:And just, like, I won't stay long, but I'm going to help you along with this certain thing.
Speaker C:And then, bye.
Speaker C:Because that's what a plot device says.
Speaker A:And Tommy says later, obviously, I've been the cause of some bad blood between you and Eddie, and I just want you to know that was never my intention.
Speaker A:Yeah, we've talked about this before.
Speaker A:We'll probably talk about it again when we get into the love triangle thing.
Speaker A:But he was literally put here to get in between them and cause bad blood to cause an explosion in emotion, in jealousy.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, it's right there in the text.
Speaker B:Really blatant.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I think there can be a difference between what a character's actual intentions in their world are and the intentions of, like, from a meta analysis, like, the intentions of the writers and the showrunners and everything.
Speaker C:Like, that.
Speaker C:So, like Tommy as a character, of course, that was not his intention.
Speaker C:Tommy as a plot device inserted into this narrative by the writers and the showrunners.
Speaker C:That intention was to literally get in between Buck and Eddie because no one really has before.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker A:The other elevator.
Speaker A:Never have.
Speaker A:And it's what they all have in common.
Speaker C:They've never been a threat to the.
Speaker B:Other because they were female and because I don't think they have, like, the shared life or the shared employment experience.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And most of them also don't start out as friends.
Speaker C:They are specifically introduced as love interests.
Speaker C:So to have Tommy be introduced as a friend first and turn into a love interest because that's what benefits the plot, I think that is also the difference.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Because even Taylor, you can't really say, like, even though she was introduced before she became a love interest, she was still, like, mildly antagonistic towards Buck, and it wasn't like a friendship that was developed there.
Speaker C:And Eddie never develops friendships with his love interest at all.
Speaker C:So that role as that very equal partnership, shared life experience, shared values, have always been filled by either Buck or Eddie, for one or the other.
Speaker C:So to have Tommy actively plopped in here and kind of, like, wrestle that up a little bit, you know, shake it up, that is the difference.
Speaker C:And that's why it propels the story in the way that it does.
Speaker A:Tommy later says, I mean, it's not like I could ever replace you.
Speaker A:What did we say at the beginning of the episode?
Speaker A:Device characters can be replaced very easily.
Speaker A:Who can't be replaced?
Speaker A:A main character.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's interesting, though, too, for Tommy to say, it's not like I could ever replace you because Tommy has been replaced.
Speaker C:Replaced by Buck.
Speaker C:So it's not that Tommy could ever replace Buck because Buck replaced Tommy.
Speaker A:Oh, my God, that's so funny.
Speaker C:So, like, literally, it's this whole conversation is talking on.
Speaker C:On a meta level about the intentions of what they're going to be doing with this character, that he's not going to be there for a long time, that he is purely to drive tension in between Buck and Eddie and to show that Tommy cannot replace anyone because he is the replaceable character.
Speaker A:Buck says, I can get pretty jealous.
Speaker A:Yeah, we know you maimed your best friend.
Speaker A:He says this later.
Speaker A:He's talking about, like, how he thought Tommy was cool and wanted to get to know him.
Speaker A:And then you left with Eddie, which.
Speaker A:Listen, you don't have to tell me how great Eddie is.
Speaker A:You know, I've known that since the first day I worked with him.
Speaker A:Of course you want to hang out with Eddie.
Speaker A:Plus, well, I don't know, Muay Thai.
Speaker A:And then again, I could teach you.
Speaker A:This is where his wires get crossed, because it's like, I don't know.
Speaker A:The fourth time Tommy in this episode has said something about, like, teaching him.
Speaker A:So then Buck is like, is that going to be after our flying lessons?
Speaker A:And this is when, like, there's tension happening now, probably on the same day.
Speaker A:Tommy says.
Speaker A:And then Buck's like, good.
Speaker A:Trying to get your attention has been kind of exhausting.
Speaker A:And Tommy, very confusedly, is like, my attention?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:That's one of the wildest things I think they could have done, because that really does emphasize how Buck has conflated his feelings of Eddie onto a very established as similar character.
Speaker A:Then Buck says the, like, standard Buck and Eddie Lyon, which is, yeah, I guess so romantic.
Speaker C:So sure.
Speaker C:Oh, I'm.
Speaker C:I'm.
Speaker C:I'm so sure.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:He sounds so sure.
Speaker A:Yeah, I guess so.
Speaker A:And he looks confused while he says.
Speaker C:It, because he is confused.
Speaker C:He wouldn't look this confused if it was actually what.
Speaker A:But this is how he's, like, explaining it to himself.
Speaker A:He's like, I mean, I did made my best friend.
Speaker A:He's like, well, if I hurt Eddie, I must have been trying.
Speaker A:Like, he.
Speaker A:He's trying to make it make sense in his head, and he just puts that Beautiful Mind task and comes to the wrong conclusion.
Speaker C:How do you get.
Speaker B:How do you get here?
Speaker C:He was literally just telling Maddie he.
Speaker A:Was trying to get Eddie's attention.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker B:That's exactly what I'm saying.
Speaker B:Like, how do you get from there to here?
Speaker C:You jump a couple hurdles.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:Well, those are some really big hurdles.
Speaker C:He can clear those no problem.
Speaker C:That's why we're in this.
Speaker C:That's why we're here in this Dilemma.
Speaker A:Stop.
Speaker A:Just a line to keep in mind for the very end of this episode.
Speaker A:Tommy says, crosstown traffic.
Speaker A:I came in a car this time.
Speaker C:Mm.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker A:I don't get it, because he's never been to Buck's place.
Speaker A:But anyway, I don't know what this time means, but he took a card of Buck's place and he's mentioning it.
Speaker A:It's gonna mirror the end.
Speaker A:As Tommy's leaving, he's like, and for God's sake, please call Eddie.
Speaker A:Which parallels Eddie in705 telling Buck to call Tommy.
Speaker B:I was just reading through this insane dialogue.
Speaker A:Yeah, it is insane.
Speaker A:This is why I was going insane last night, guys.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:None of this is even the Full dialogue.
Speaker B:All right, so 705.
Speaker B:You don't know me.
Speaker B:Tommy is basically like, a plot device for Buck.
Speaker B:For Buck.
Speaker A:Me and Buck.
Speaker C:He was just about to do that.
Speaker B:I can't say his name anymore like a normal person.
Speaker B:Buck.
Speaker B:Anyway, so anyway, he's a plot device for Buck to come out to Eddie and Maddie and show that Buck.
Speaker B:Buck has some feelings he doesn't understand about Eddie.
Speaker A:So at the restaurant.
Speaker A:Help.
Speaker C:I'm still at the restaurant.
Speaker A:Still.
Speaker A:The blocking at the restaurant is where we get our triangle of the episode.
Speaker A:There's always a triangle.
Speaker A:Well, when Tommy's actually there, there's a triangle.
Speaker A:It's when Eddie and Marisol come up to Buggin.
Speaker A:Bucking.
Speaker A:Tommy's.
Speaker A:Tommy's stable, and it's only at, like, the very beginning end of their conversation.
Speaker A:There's a wide shot at the beginning.
Speaker A:At the end, and they.
Speaker A:They both show Eddie and Marisol on the left, but he's.
Speaker A:Marisol's kind of, like, tucked to the side, so it's like, she's there, but she's so small and kind of tucked away.
Speaker A:And then Buck is in the middle, always looking at Eddie, I think, except for the comment Tommy makes about.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:Evan.
Speaker A:And then Tommy's on the right.
Speaker B:So remind me.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Oh, no, that would.
Speaker B:That would disprove my argument, I guess, because I was gonna be like.
Speaker B:Because I.
Speaker B:You know, before we got on, we were talking about, what does the left?
Speaker B:What does the right mean?
Speaker B:And I was like, so does that mean that the left is, like, what the center person can't have?
Speaker B:Because it would make sense here.
Speaker B:It would make sense after they rescue Bobby and Athena because, like, we're behind that theory of, like, Tommy wanting Eddie.
Speaker B:But then it doesn't.
Speaker B:Unless, like, we can figure out how this works at harbor, you know?
Speaker A:No, it makes sense because Eddie's on the left.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Multiple times Eddie's on the left.
Speaker A:I think the only time it doesn't make sense is when you're doing multiple angle shots.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or actually, maybe.
Speaker A:I guess it does make sense at the basketball game because you do have.
Speaker A:The first shot of the three of them is with Tommy on the left, but then the second one is with Eddie on the left.
Speaker A:So that's, again, the foreshadowing of, like, thinks he wants Tommy, but then it ends up being Eddie.
Speaker B:Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker B:Because they put both.
Speaker A:You cracked it.
Speaker A:You figured it out.
Speaker B:Let's go.
Speaker C:So it's.
Speaker C:What we're theorizing is, like, what he thinks he can't have on the left.
Speaker A:Yeah, Whoever is in the center, no matter like what the feeling is that they're having in the center, the person on the left is who they can't have.
Speaker B:So there was like some interview that I watched, like, I don't know, several.
Speaker B:Several weeks ago where they were talking about, like, staging for like, you know, play productions.
Speaker B:And so they were talking about how like, the villain or, you know, the enemy comes in, enters stage left, and then, you know, the person, the heroes enter stage right.
Speaker B:So, you know, you have that good versus evil type of thing.
Speaker B:But in this case, like, you know what we're saying, that Eddie or, you know, whoever is on the left is someone that they can't have.
Speaker B:It's like, you know, like they can't.
Speaker B:Like, it's not.
Speaker B:I guess maybe I'm now just making shit up.
Speaker C:No, because it's.
Speaker C:I mean, because it's different.
Speaker A:It has to translate differently.
Speaker A:Because, like, you can have all.
Speaker A:You can have 3, 6, 360 option of angles right in TV and film.
Speaker A:Whereas, like, when you're looking at a stage, you got left, right and center, and the people can't, you know, the.
Speaker C:Language has to be a little different.
Speaker C:But you can have translations of it because with stage, you're only looking at it from the front.
Speaker C:Like, as an audience member, you're only looking at it from the front.
Speaker C:And with TV you have like multiple camera angles.
Speaker C:So, like.
Speaker C:But those are still very intentional.
Speaker C:So I think that's a really interesting thing to blink to bring up because there's so much intentional, like, triangular shaped blocking here.
Speaker C:But it continues to be like specific people on the left and depending on who's in the middle and stuff like that.
Speaker C:You cracked it.
Speaker B:Yay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So then at the ending then, because we keep talking about too how like sometimes or a lot of the time there's three of them and then someone leaves, or the next shot is the same angle, but someone else is not there and two of them are left.
Speaker A:So at the end of this conversation, Eddie and Marisol leave the frame, but they walk across the whole frame and leave to the right.
Speaker A:And normally the person leaving the frame is Tommy.
Speaker A:This is the only one that I can remember off the top of my head, it actually being Eddie leaving.
Speaker A:And I paused, paused, paused, pause, played, pause, played every single frame.
Speaker A:Eddie is still in that frame little bit.
Speaker A:Not a lot, but a little bit.
Speaker A:So you can't directly see him, but he is still there.
Speaker C:I am also here.
Speaker A:He is still there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:But it's interesting that it's not Tommy that leaves in that instance, because he does leave the date.
Speaker C:So, like, essentially he is leaving.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Just a little later.
Speaker A:So, I mean, the greatest hits of.
Speaker A:Of this one, I guess, is Eddie saying, guess you can never have enough closet space.
Speaker C:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:You can't say that.
Speaker A:Just, oh, my God.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:On so many levels.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:But going, oh, yeah, yeah, you too, bro.
Speaker A:He has never called Eddie bro.
Speaker A:I think he called him brother once.
Speaker A:I think they've both each called each other brother once when it's like, you could have my back any day, brother.
Speaker A:And then in season two, and Buck is.
Speaker A:Or they're both in season two, later in season two, when they're at the fountain, and he's like, you said it, brother.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:So he's like, yeah, you too, bro.
Speaker B:Sounds intentional.
Speaker B:Sounds very intentional.
Speaker B:They're probably like, oh, yeah, all these fucking Eddie fans.
Speaker B:Maybe let's not.
Speaker A:It's that thing where he's.
Speaker A:Well, you're over correcting, right?
Speaker A:Where it's so.
Speaker A:It's like if he's having these confusing, confusing feelings about Eddie, he's not only overcorrecting because he's on a date with a man and he hasn't told.
Speaker A:He doesn't even understand his sexuality yet.
Speaker A:He hasn't talked to Eddie about it.
Speaker A:And this is Eddie's friend, so he's really nervous.
Speaker A:But also, I think it kind of comes down to, like, being anxious about his, like, weird feelings about Eddie in this whole thing.
Speaker A:So he overcorrects.
Speaker C:It's like, bro, yeah, it's an over.
Speaker C:It's an overcorrection over compensation for, like, everything.
Speaker C:Not for himself, like, trying to figure himself out or not being able to be himself.
Speaker C:And upfront with Eddie in the first place.
Speaker C:It's the confusion again circling around Buck's own self that Tommy has just brought to the surface.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker A:And then as Tommy and Buck are leaving the restaurant, when the Uber pulls up, Buck goes, wow.
Speaker A:Or he's saying like, wow, that's so many choices.
Speaker A:Like, about the movie theater.
Speaker A:And then when the Uber pulls up, he's like, hey, is this.
Speaker A:Is this ours?
Speaker A:Is this ours?
Speaker A:And Tommy goes, no, it's mine.
Speaker A:I think I'm gonna skip the movie.
Speaker A:So again, we have a.
Speaker A:That's so many choices, because Buck is having to make choices that I don't think he's even willing to look at.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:Then he's like, oh, this is our vehicle to leave here.
Speaker A:Together.
Speaker A:And Tommy's like, nope, it's mine.
Speaker A:In a getaway car.
Speaker A:And he says, I think you're adorable.
Speaker A:I don't think you're ready.
Speaker A:I'll see you around.
Speaker A:And just keep all that in mind for 806 when we get there.
Speaker A:So later at Maddie's, he's really concerned.
Speaker A:Not because.
Speaker A:Well, I mean, he is kind of concerned about how he acted when he was, you know, I'm an ally, whatever.
Speaker A:But he was more so concerned because he lied to his best friend.
Speaker A:So he says it's tearing him up inside.
Speaker A:And he's like, who I was on a date with isn't the point.
Speaker A:They don't matter.
Speaker A:The point is I lied to my best friend's face.
Speaker A:So, again, he is a plot device here for this turmoil of more confusion of the feelings about Eddie.
Speaker C:And I would just like to point out here, with Buck saying, who I was on a date with shouldn't matter.
Speaker C:Like, the pronouns shouldn't matter.
Speaker C:Anything like that.
Speaker C:Oliver Stark has said in multiple interviews that, you know, it's important to keep in mind and to note that, like, Buck's sexuality is not tied to any particular character other than Buck.
Speaker C:So on a meta level here, it really doesn't matter.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker C:Who he was on a date with.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker C:Because this still revolves around Eddie.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's not even about the date.
Speaker A:It's about lying to his best friend and feeling shitty about that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's not even about his sexuality.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker C:It's about lying to his best friend.
Speaker A:It's not until it is because he says the male pronoun.
Speaker A:And then it's.
Speaker A:And then it comes back to the pronoun.
Speaker A:It's Buck, brains up.
Speaker A:I didn't even make it to the movie.
Speaker A:Again, we'll talk about that in 806.
Speaker A:And then Buck says, with Tommy, I don't know.
Speaker A:He's so confident.
Speaker A:You know, he's interesting.
Speaker A:He has a cleft.
Speaker A:He says this after he's talking about how he's always been interested in women, but with Tommy.
Speaker A:So these are the things that he lists that he likes about Tommy.
Speaker A:And those traits are he's confident, he's interesting, and he has a cleft chin.
Speaker C:What?
Speaker C:This is part of the thing.
Speaker C:These are all things that are so generic and doesn't actually have anything to do with Tommy in.
Speaker C:As an individual.
Speaker C:Like a fully fleshed individual within the world of 911.
Speaker C:And besides the cleft chin, he says cleft.
Speaker C:I think he means cleft chin, which is a Physical attribute, first of all.
Speaker C:So one out of the three is just a physical thing, which I mean, physical attraction is, is important to some people.
Speaker C:But the other part about being confident and interesting are also aligned with Eddie from the very beginning.
Speaker C:Oh yeah, and we've talked about that from like the season two episode one about how competent Eddie is and like the confidence that he exudes even if he isn't all the time and how interesting he is because Eddie was introduced with, with, you know, like, oh, he has a silver star.
Speaker C:He was at the top of the his class in the academy, like all of these interesting things about him.
Speaker C:So basically, besides the one physical trait that Buck lists, both of those other things are things that can also describe Eddie.
Speaker C:And it's just Tommy is such a blank slate that they're just throwing all of this Eddie stuff onto him and making it seem like Buck was interested romantically in him.
Speaker A:And it's also just very generic.
Speaker A:Like it's so plot device to be like, what do you like about this person?
Speaker A:And it's like they're interesting and confident and they're attracted.
Speaker A:Like, yeah, it's just so surface level.
Speaker C:They're good looking and they're.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker B:In an interview with Max Gao from the Hollywood Reporter titled 911 Boss Exploring Bucks and Sexuality Awakening felt like it was the right time.
Speaker B:So Tim Minear says we're constantly considering what all the options are for all the characters.
Speaker B:But it really felt like, no, this is Buck's story.
Speaker B:But really he's questioning everything.
Speaker B:I just knew that I needed a scene with Maddie and I needed a scene with Eddie.
Speaker B:Those two things were important.
Speaker B:So strategically I wanted to get Tommy out of the picture for the bulk of the episode so that Buck could deal with the other people in his life and circle back around to that moment at the end of the episode where he sits down with Tommy and says, you said I wasn't ready.
Speaker B:I don't know what I'm ready for, but I'm ready for something.
Speaker B:I'm just not sure what that is yet.
Speaker B:I think Eddie is a little taken aback because he's so in his own head.
Speaker B:He's dealing with his own stuff.
Speaker B:If you look at the way that scene is constructed, we really are coming into it with Eddie just being completely distracted by whatever is going on in his own life.
Speaker B:And then once Buck gets his attention, he gives Buck his attention and it takes a second.
Speaker B:Did we want to comment on that or no?
Speaker C:Sure, I'll comment on it.
Speaker C:Yeah, that.
Speaker C:To have Tim say, you Know, first of all, he needed to get Tommy out of the way, out of the picture for most of the episode so Buck could deal with the other people in his life, meaning Maddie and Eddie.
Speaker C:And coming out to them, you wouldn't have to get rid of someone for a good chunk of the episode if they were not, like, obsolete in.
Speaker C:In essence.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:To.
Speaker C:To their story.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:It's kind of basically saying, like, his relationship with Tommy isn't the centerfold, it's his sexuality.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And how he wants to, you know, begins to explain it or come out to Eddie and Maddie, the two most.
Speaker A:Important people in his life.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:And then.
Speaker C:And then for.
Speaker C:For Tim to go on and say, you know, like, Eddie's just been distracted with whatever's going on in his life, meaning, like, all the Marisol stuff and that drama.
Speaker C:And then it's like, once Buck gets Eddie's attention and Eddie gives Buck his attention, so that it just takes a second.
Speaker C:It's Tim confirming, or I'm.
Speaker C:I'm interpreting it.
Speaker C:And I think most.
Speaker C:I can speak for us here that we are interpreting this as essentially confirmation that Buck is still so confused and he really did want Eddie's attention.
Speaker C:That is so purposeful with the wording that he says there.
Speaker C:He would not say Eddie gives Buck his attention.
Speaker C:And once he gets it, you know, that indicates to me that that is actually what Buck has been, like, trying to achieve.
Speaker C:Like, the whole last episode was for Eddie to pay attention to him, but Eddie's been so distracted with Tommy, with Marisol, with all this other stuff, and it's just like, why would he say that specifically if not, you know, Tommy's attention doesn't matter.
Speaker C:You know, it's all about Eddie, her, Buck.
Speaker B:Then Max Gao proceeds to ask to my near about Tommy and Marisol and if.
Speaker B:And if we're going to see them in the back half of the season, and if they're going to stick around into next season until my near says they're going to stick around to whatever degree they're going to stick around.
Speaker C:What a.
Speaker C:What a thing to say.
Speaker B:And I'm going to continue to say, guys, Tim, my near told you he's.
Speaker A:Been telling you, and the story has been telling you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I wish I had seen this quote a long time ago.
Speaker B:I mean, I.
Speaker B:I don't read.
Speaker B:I don't repress stuff like.
Speaker B:Well, like, to the degree that Rachel does, and I probably should.
Speaker C:But I'll tell you.
Speaker B:But, yeah, and that's the other thing.
Speaker B:Rachel.
Speaker A:Rachel will tell us.
Speaker B:Rachel will give us a Cliff Notes version or I just see what Twitter, like, highlights.
Speaker B:But, I mean, there's some things that I feel like Twitter specifically kind of skips over or just don't.
Speaker B:Doesn't really think about it too much.
Speaker B:And I'm just sitting here.
Speaker B:I'm like, guys, where was this?
Speaker B:I didn't.
Speaker B:I didn't see this on my timeline.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, on one level, you can say that is a very.
Speaker C:Just, like, general PR answer.
Speaker C:Like, I can't tell you anything.
Speaker C:So they're just gonna be here until they're not, you know, because he can't actually say anything.
Speaker C:But that realistically, that's.
Speaker C:That's kind of a very sassy way to phrase, like, that kind of PR answer.
Speaker C:It's like they're just gonna.
Speaker C:He was literally saying, like, they're gonna be here until they're not, until I decide they're not.
Speaker C:But until he decides they're not.
Speaker C:That also means that the writers room are.
Speaker C:Are not giving.
Speaker C:I mean, we haven't even talked about Marisol, but, like, Tommy and in essence, Marisol.
Speaker C:Because this questions.
Speaker C:This question is about.
Speaker A:Talk about what?
Speaker A:About Marisol.
Speaker C:I know, but yeah, it's like, it's indicative that the writers room does not have any real deep, long lasting plans for the development of these characters.
Speaker C:They're just there.
Speaker C:That's what he said.
Speaker B:They're gonna sound like they're just there until they're not going to be there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because the plan is for them not to be once they have served their purpose.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:Like, there's an implied they will be gone, but they're just here until for now.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:It's literally.
Speaker C:Literally from the horse's mouth.
Speaker C:It's from the boss guy.
Speaker C:What more do you want?
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And, yes, you can say, like, to be devil's advocate, you can say, yes, this was while the season was airing.
Speaker C:Yes, they had not finished writing all of the episodes of the season.
Speaker C:They haven't.
Speaker C:They hadn't at this point even, I think, like, started blocking out season eight yet, even though they had been renewed.
Speaker C:But, like, you can still have plans in place, like, general plans in place, and know, like, a general sense of where they're going with some of these characters.
Speaker C:They.
Speaker C:They just don't know exactly.
Speaker C:The actual.
Speaker C:Could have just been like, yeah, you.
Speaker A:Know what I mean?
Speaker C:That would have been the answer.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker A:But it's just like, they'll be there as much as they'll be there anyway at Buck's loft when Eddie comes over to talk about his own problems.
Speaker A:Buck finally gets his attention after Eddie says, you and Tommy have the right idea.
Speaker A:Stay single, hang out with the boys.
Speaker A:Hang out with the boys?
Speaker C:Is that what they're calling it nowadays?
Speaker A:And then Buck says it was a date that takes Eddie a beat and he's like, this is his response.
Speaker A:Wait, Tommy's gay?
Speaker A:That was your takeaway?
Speaker A:That was your takeaway from this?
Speaker A:Because he, Tommy is a foil for Eddie and Eddie has all these things in common with him.
Speaker A:And Eddie has all these preconceived notions of, well, we do all these things that are super hyper masculine and like, I've never gotten that vibe from him.
Speaker A:Like, how could he.
Speaker A:Like, if we are so similar, how is he gay?
Speaker A:And it's never come up.
Speaker A:Yeah, that too.
Speaker A:I don't even want to get into that line, actually, because it has nothing to do with the plot device.
Speaker A:It's just a ridiculous line.
Speaker A:Buck tells him how he messed up their date.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And I think this is an important line to point out because Tommy and none of the other love interests of Buck's have ever given him, like, especially Abby, who is also a parallel.
Speaker A:Parallels Tommy a lot have never given him his own autonomy to choose what he wants to do in their relationship.
Speaker A:The decision's always made for him.
Speaker A:So on the date, Tommy made the decision that Buck wasn't ready.
Speaker A:When Buck tells Eddie this, Eddie goes, hmm, what do you think?
Speaker A:Wow, so easy.
Speaker A:What do you think about your own readiness and your own feelings and mental crazy?
Speaker A:And that's a great.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:This is like a great comparison of like the plot device character not giving him any autonomy.
Speaker A:It's again, serving as.
Speaker A:I mean, this is probably the first time, I think more in season eight we see direct comparisons or like showing the difference in how Tommy and Eddie treat Buck.
Speaker A:So this might be the first best example of that where Eddie is like, even though he's not the one in this relationship, this non relationship with Tommy, he is trying to get Buck to embrace his own autonomy in the choice of what he thinks he is ready for.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then Buck says he can't stop thinking about him.
Speaker A:And Eddie says, well, you know what?
Speaker A:I think you should call him.
Speaker A:Buck is anxious that like, what if he says no?
Speaker A:Like, what if I call him and he doesn't like, want to to try again with me?
Speaker A:And then Eddie says, well, then he's an idiot.
Speaker A:Don't walk away from something before you even know what it is.
Speaker A:And Buck says, that sounds like Some good advice.
Speaker A:So they both just gave each other terrible advice.
Speaker C:But at least out of context, it's good advice.
Speaker C:But in context, it's good advice.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:He tells him to call Tommy again, but I don't think this is conjecture.
Speaker A:I don't think that book would have called Tommy if Eddie hadn't told him to.
Speaker B:I think that's fair.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because it.
Speaker B:To me, it sounds like.
Speaker B:Well, like, you know, Buck at the time, he was kind of like.
Speaker B:Well, I already that up.
Speaker B:So, like, I feel like he was just gonna forget about it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And move on.
Speaker A:When he says he can't stop thinking about Tommy, I'm just like, he can't stop thinking about, like, his sexuality and, like, what it is.
Speaker A:Because he doesn't.
Speaker A:He still hasn't figured it out yet.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And that's the thing when.
Speaker A:By.
Speaker C:By Buck saying, like, he can't stop thinking about Tommy.
Speaker C:Tommy is the embodiment of this new aspect of Buck's sexuality.
Speaker C:And it's not actually about.
Speaker C:Again, I'm getting repetitive.
Speaker C:But it's not actually about Tommy.
Speaker C:It is about Buck and exploring this new aspect of himself that he has yet to explore.
Speaker C:You could replace Tommy with any other character and it would be the same.
Speaker C:Like, Buck would still be thinking about.
Speaker C:Insert, whatever.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:About any random dude he kissed.
Speaker A:Because he would be thinking about all of the feelings that led to the kiss.
Speaker A:And, like, why, like, he has not figured it out.
Speaker A:This is the one time in his life that he has not done a fucking media search.
Speaker C:It's his radical acceptance.
Speaker C:I kiss my nose.
Speaker A:So then.
Speaker A:Then later at the cafe, Buck says to Tommy, seems there are a lot of things we don't know about each other.
Speaker A:And Tommy says practically everything.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:We could have told you that.
Speaker A:And guess what?
Speaker A:This never changes.
Speaker A:This never changes.
Speaker A:I mean, it's not crazy because it's like he was there for a purpose and he served the purpose.
Speaker A:But it's like.
Speaker A:Like we were never gonna really get to know more about Tommy.
Speaker C:So in essence, Buck was never gonna get to know more about Tommy.
Speaker A:Well, the fact that Tommy never gets to know anything about Buck, that's the wild part.
Speaker A:Just like the basic.
Speaker A:That he doesn't even like basketball crazy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then Buck says this whole thing about, like, I don't know what I'm ready for, but I am ready for something.
Speaker A:Don't think that necessarily means that, like, he's like.
Speaker A:And I think that could be with you again.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:I think he doesn't he's not super sure that, like, all these feelings are about Tommy, but he's.
Speaker A:He wants to try.
Speaker A:And Tommy is the person who he's decided the feelings are about.
Speaker C:It's all projecting.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So he's exploring these new kinds of feelings on to Tommy.
Speaker C:And it's not about Tommy because he doesn't know anything of true value about Tommy.
Speaker C:It's all.
Speaker C:The only things that he knows about Tommy are what he has in common with Eddie and what Buck feels.
Speaker C:He realizes that he is attracted to Tommy in some way, shape, or form.
Speaker C:It's just projection.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Honestly, you could change the word you and just put with a man or with a guy or whatever.
Speaker B:Basically, what you said, Rachel, it's not about him.
Speaker B:It's not about Tommy.
Speaker C:A lot of this episode is just, like, really hammering home that Tommy isn't that important.
Speaker B:Tommy's a tool.
Speaker A:He is a tool because he's a device.
Speaker A:He's a plot device.
Speaker A:He's a tool.
Speaker C:And he also is a tool because he doesn't get to know his boyfriend.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:After six months.
Speaker A:Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:Anyway, I think that we should move on to season seven, episode six, There Goes the Groom.
Speaker B:Okay, so Tommy is a plot device here just to outbug to everyone but Eddie and Maddie and showcase Eddie's jealousy.
Speaker C:Jealousy.
Speaker C:Jealousy.
Speaker C:SIRI playing Jealousy by Olivia Rodrigo so.
Speaker A:We are back in the blocking building again at the karaoke bar.
Speaker A:One of my favorites.
Speaker A:This was the first episode we watched live, so it has a special place in my heart.
Speaker A:So we have two points of view for this blocking.
Speaker A:We have Buck's point of view and Eddie's point of view, and they're over each of their shoulders.
Speaker A:So when we're looking over Buck's shoulder from his point of view, Buck is on the left, Eddie is in the middle, Tommy's on the right.
Speaker A:And then from Eddie's point of view over his shoulder, Tommy's on the left, Buck is in the middle, and Eddie's on the right.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:God, Silly, you cracked this so well.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So Eddie in the middle, thinks he can't have Buck.
Speaker B:Oh, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker A:And then Buck in the middle thinks he can't have Tommy.
Speaker B:Tommy for the night because he's leaving.
Speaker C:There you go.
Speaker A:Or actually, that's Eddie's point of view.
Speaker A:So if Eddie's looking at it and he's like, buck can't have Tommy or he doesn't want him to be with Tommy, maybe that's the read.
Speaker A:I mean, that's the read from how he acts.
Speaker A:Yeah, because he doesn't want him to be with Tommy.
Speaker A:And he's like.
Speaker A:It's so weird.
Speaker A:Cause he just goes from like, hey, man.
Speaker A:To like, I hate everything about this, like, immediately.
Speaker B:But then, so going back to my whole point about theater and the whatever and the staging.
Speaker B:So, like, Eddie at this point is just an audience member.
Speaker B:Because all of this applies to the audience member observing what the ever the hell is happening.
Speaker B:So in.
Speaker B:In theory, technically, Tommy's on the left and Buck is on the right.
Speaker A:But I see it from their point of view.
Speaker A:Like whenever we do an over the shoulder shot, I see it as a point of view from whoever's shoulder we're looking over.
Speaker B:Hmm.
Speaker A:That's how I understand over the shoulder shots to be.
Speaker B:Well, if we're going with my theory back to that whole left versus right thing, I know what I said about the whole, like, maybe that's something that the other character can't have.
Speaker B:Let's change that connotation of can't.
Speaker B:More like shouldn't.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:That can work too.
Speaker A:Can't.
Speaker A:Shouldn't.
Speaker C:Yeah, that works too.
Speaker B:Your brain, sometimes it works.
Speaker A:Mood.
Speaker B:I just remember Rachel asking me, what brain that wasn't at you.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:I am pulling your leg.
Speaker A:So once Anne and Karen arrive to interrupt whatever weird fucking scene this was, Eddie and Buck are left alone in the frame with Buck in the foreground and Eddie kind of behind him.
Speaker C:Who's on which side?
Speaker A:There's not really sides.
Speaker B:Yeah, on this one, it's gonna be hard.
Speaker A:Eddie's kind of directly behind him.
Speaker C:Equal partnership.
Speaker A:Well, I kind of looked at it as like, Buck is in the foreground of his sexual realization and Eddie's far behind him, out of focus.
Speaker C:That I think gets like, reiterated with that kind of.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:With couch stuff.
Speaker A:Listen to couch theory, fam.
Speaker C:And other stuff.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think we see that kind of blocking as well, where Eddie is just kind of like behind.
Speaker C:And that can be like, you know, he has Buck's back sort of thing.
Speaker C:But it's also, you know, this extra level now, later.
Speaker A:So with remembering the context that we said, the purpose of the plot device, Tommy, in this episode, one of the big ones is to make showcase Eddie's jealousy.
Speaker A:So with that in mind, one of you read these bold quote quotes for fervor.
Speaker C:So once Tommy has already arrived, Eddie says, hey, I didn't know you could bring a date to a bachelor party.
Speaker C:Very sassy.
Speaker C:And then offers Tommy a drink.
Speaker C:And Tommy says that he would just take an orange juice.
Speaker C:Because he's on standby or for work and we can't get into this right now.
Speaker C:But Juice theory is a thing.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, for sure.
Speaker A:That's one of the reasons I highlighted this.
Speaker A:But also I'm on standby.
Speaker C:Oh, I just went.
Speaker C:I was like, juice.
Speaker A:That he specifically asks for the juice.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because he wants it and he has.
Speaker B:It and he feels like he can.
Speaker C:Fuck is the juice.
Speaker C:Many feels like he can.
Speaker C:Like he's entitled to it, maybe.
Speaker B:Anyway, we'll put a pin in that for whatever that is.
Speaker B:Juice theory.
Speaker B:Juice theory.
Speaker C:But yes, on standby.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You really are, man.
Speaker B:You really are.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Meaning he's just there for now and he can get called back at any time.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:So I think it's worth mentioning that in this scene, Eddie are wearing a couple's costume that Eddie chose.
Speaker C:They sure are.
Speaker A:They're wearing a couple's costume.
Speaker A:So Tommy is the odd man out in that context.
Speaker A:And he incorrectly guesses, like, what they are.
Speaker A:And then once he's told what they are, he goes, ah, which one's Crockett?
Speaker A:As in which one's the gay one?
Speaker C:Yeah, from Crockett and Tubbs in Miami.
Speaker C:Bison Crockett has always been the very queer coded character.
Speaker C:And don't they both like, kind of.
Speaker A:They both think they're Crockett.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Buck is actually Crockett.
Speaker A:But the fact that Eddie keeps saying and insisting he's Crockett makes me absolutely feral.
Speaker C:Because it's Eddie's idea.
Speaker C:So you would think that he would know the difference, Right?
Speaker A:I think he suggested it because Buck really likes the show.
Speaker A:Yeah, like, that's my head, Ganon.
Speaker A:And he doesn't really understand the queer coding of it, but.
Speaker A:Lol.
Speaker C:But he's also.
Speaker C:He is actually dressed like Tubbs.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:And not Crockett.
Speaker C:So different conversation.
Speaker A:Just for Tommy to show up to the bachelor party.
Speaker A:And the only people there are the guy he's.
Speaker A:He's on a date with.
Speaker A:Dating.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:On a date with.
Speaker A:We'll say that they aren't dating yet.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:And one of his new good friends, Eddie.
Speaker A:And then immediately his new friend Eddie, who's normally super chill, fun, good times, is all of a sudden aggro out of fucking nowhere.
Speaker C:Like.
Speaker C:Like icy.
Speaker C:Mm.
Speaker A:Very sassy, very snide.
Speaker A:The face and that he's wearing a couple's costume.
Speaker A:The guy's on a date with.
Speaker C:Yeah, I would have left.
Speaker A:Honestly.
Speaker B:Very messy, Eddie.
Speaker C:Oh, he's so messy.
Speaker A:So messy.
Speaker C:No, I.
Speaker C:I don't know if this has any place in this episode per se, but, like, the whole when Buck is coming out to Eddie and Eddie's like, you know, this doesn't change a thing between us.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, it doesn't.
Speaker C:It doesn't change a thing between Buck and Eddie, but it changes everything between Tommy and Eddie.
Speaker C:Once he knows.
Speaker A:Never hear about them hanging out, doing things again, do we?
Speaker C:Which is real interesting.
Speaker C:I don't know if that actually goes in this episode or not, but I just wanted to point out almost like.
Speaker A:They were only friends to further the plot for Buck.
Speaker A:Yeah, interesting.
Speaker C:Once we're done with the bachelor party and it ends up being like the actual hospital wedding.
Speaker C:Another conversation we get into, like, the reason why Tommy is a plot device in this episode.
Speaker A:The second reason or the second reason.
Speaker C:Besides, you know, inciting some jealousy in Eddie, which is just real funny that, like, both Buck and Eddie are real jealous over Tommy.
Speaker C:Huh?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I'm so sure.
Speaker C:Not like Tommy is, you know, stand in for either character at any point.
Speaker C:You know, it was crazy stuff.
Speaker C:So the secondary reason that Tommy is a plot device in this episode is so Buck can be out to the rest of his friends and family besides the two people that already know.
Speaker C:So when Tommy shows up at the hospital and, you know, Buck goes to greet him, then they kiss, and because Tommy just came back from a fire, he has, like, all over his face.
Speaker C:So then he gets it, like, all over Buck's face and then doesn't say anything because it's all over Buck's face.
Speaker C:And Buck just goes like, you know.
Speaker A:Because it's for the plot.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Looking like the cat that got the cream.
Speaker C:Did not mean that in any particular way besides the metaphor.
Speaker C:So just, like, returning back to the friends and family with all the soot over his face.
Speaker C:And it's basically just does the job of outing Buck or him allowing himself to be out with everyone else.
Speaker C:Because people can put two and two together and be like, oh, here's this really, you know, sooty guy.
Speaker C:Firefighter who came.
Speaker C:Who is he?
Speaker C:Because Ravi didn't know.
Speaker C:And then Buck, who is also strangely sooty, but only on the lower half of his face.
Speaker C:So then everyone is just like, oh, two plus two equals four.
Speaker C:There is no scene of really introducing everybody to Tommy as, you know, the.
Speaker A:Guy he's seeing because he's serving his purpose.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Just by giving context of why there's soot all over Buck's mouth.
Speaker A:It's literally why he's there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:In the context for that is oh, Buck is now dating a guy and it's a very Buck thing to do for him just to like make this, you know, sweeping.
Speaker C:Not even announcement, just kind of like, I am also here.
Speaker A:I'm also queer.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Thank you, Oliver Stark for the joke because it's never going to die.
Speaker A:I gotta start giving him royalties or something.
Speaker C:That has become like everyday vernacular.
Speaker C:I'm also here.
Speaker A:I love it as a cancer.
Speaker A:It's just the best, honestly.
Speaker C:Anytime we're feeling our Tinkerbelliest.
Speaker A:Tomi apologized for missing the ceremony and Chim's like, thanks, looks like you were busy.
Speaker A:And then Hen and Karen are like, just the faces they make are the best.
Speaker A:And Hen says, well, it's about damn time.
Speaker C:Also crazy.
Speaker A:She clocked it.
Speaker A:Yeah, before.
Speaker A:Now that fuck is by.
Speaker A:I just want to talk really briefly about the blocking here.
Speaker A:We don't quite get a triangle, but we get an interesting close up pan situation.
Speaker A:So Tommy is on the left and Buck is on the right for when they like show up to the hospital room.
Speaker A:But you don't see them both in the same shot right away.
Speaker A:You see a close up of Tommy and then it pans to a close of Buck showing the soot on his face.
Speaker A:And then he cuts.
Speaker A:Chimp cuts ahead and Karen.
Speaker A:And then finally there's a shot of both of them before panning to Buck as he moves.
Speaker A:And then Eddie is there and Eddie's smiling at him.
Speaker C:Interesting stuff.
Speaker A:Super interesting, intentional stuff.
Speaker A:I'm sure it means absolutely nothing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yay.
Speaker C:So in 709 Ashes Ashes, the main role of Tommy in this episode is to be utilized to help convince Bobby that Buck is doing well and taking care of.
Speaker C:Because Bobby is like, you know, on his retirement era sort of thing.
Speaker A:Farewell tour.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Bobby's on his.
Speaker C:On his grandfather.
Speaker A:One degree left of suicidal ideation.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Pretty much getting your affairs in order.
Speaker C:So kind of for Bobby to, you know, ensure that Buck is doing well and Buck is happy again, it all revolves around Buck and his feelings and not necessarily Tommy even give a shit individually.
Speaker C:This is also like the only time that Buck and Bobby speak about Buck's new relationship with Tommy.
Speaker C:Because Buck even says, like, I know we haven't really talked about him.
Speaker C:And Bobby says, well, what's there to talk about?
Speaker C:And he's like, yeah, Tommy's good people, he's good for you.
Speaker C:And Buck's all like, how do you know that?
Speaker C:And Bobby says, because we haven't had to talk about it.
Speaker C:Which is kind of completely counterintuitive to the whole thing.
Speaker C:Because if it was an actually good beneficial relationship, Buck would be screaming to the rooftop.
Speaker A:Wouldn't Buck, who can't shut the fuck up about things that he's happy about.
Speaker C:Yeah, and it's like they wouldn't necessarily have to talk about like, you know, the issues of the relationship if it's so great, but you would talk about it period, at all at some point.
Speaker C:So just another instance of showing that like, yeah, they don't have to talk about it because Tommy, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't really matter that much.
Speaker C:And that conversation is mainly about Bobby making sure that Buck is happy as he's doing his grand farewell tour.
Speaker C:So we see Tommy with like the medal ceremony, but that's pretty much it.
Speaker C:He's there because he's there.
Speaker C:He's there because.
Speaker A:Because he was also there.
Speaker C:He was also there with.
Speaker C:With the.
Speaker C:Saving Bobby and Athena.
Speaker C:And he was only there because he knew how to fly plane.
Speaker A:So he's there.
Speaker C:So that brings us to the season finale of Seven, which is I'll Fall down episode 10.
Speaker C:And basically Tommy's main purpose in this episode is to Showcase how the 118 is Buck's found family and specifically, like Bobby is his father figure with the 118 and how it was never as tight knit and cohesive when Tommy was around.
Speaker C:So this hearkens back to what we were talking about with Bobby begins again where, you know, it was just co workers until Buck showed up and literally replaced Tommy.
Speaker C:So this kind of means that like Buck as Tommy's literal replacement was the missing piece the 118 needed, and the 118 was the missing piece for Buck in return.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker C:Like, I'm sorry, that's.
Speaker C:That's just kind of it.
Speaker C:It's kind of another instance that we're seeing trickle in a little more in this second half of season seven that will roll into eight.
Speaker C:Like, showcasing how Tommy doesn't belong in Buck's world because he's just a plot device.
Speaker C:He's just there to emphasize other things about Buck or Eddie.
Speaker C:So backstage.
Speaker C:Yeah, I don't know how else to say that.
Speaker C:Like when they're talking and they're having dinner together while Bobby's in the hospital and Buck's saying, you know, like, Bobby's like the father I never had and he means that much to me and Tommy is just like, I'm just a little bit jealous.
Speaker C:It wasn't like this when I was at the 118 and I had Gerard, which didn't make me a better person, but Captain Gerard was like having the dad I already had.
Speaker C:So that's, I think, the most backstory we actually get about Tommy, like, Tommy's inner world.
Speaker C:Everything we learn about Tommy is stuff he likes or things that are similar to Eddie.
Speaker C:This is the only instance we get of, like, an actual why he is the way he is.
Speaker C:And it's relating Captain Gerard to his real dad, which is so sad.
Speaker A:I mean, what if I told you that was still parallel to Eddie?
Speaker C:It is.
Speaker A:So it's not just about him.
Speaker C:It's still not just about Tommy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because you can say that a lot of that, you know, performative masculinity stuff.
Speaker A:Still relates to Eddie and his terrible father.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Even the, like, crumb that we get of an inner world at all, it's like a piece of sand.
Speaker C:It's a grain of sand.
Speaker C:It still can be drawn back to Eddie or buck being the 118 is Buck's family, but it wasn't Tommy's.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker C:That's all she wrote for season seven, at least.
Speaker A:Now for season eight.
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker A:There's not a lot to talk about in episode one of season eight, Buzzkill.
Speaker A:He's literally just there to show how Buck is at home in the Diaz home and Tommy does not belong there.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:And he's just there to eat cupcakes.
Speaker A:He is again, just there.
Speaker A:He seems out of place, especially when they're on the video call, and he just kind of like walks away once it starts going bad and starts eating cupcakes or whatever.
Speaker A:But the blocking is Eddie is shown between Buck and Tommy.
Speaker A:Buck is on the left, and Eddie's in the center.
Speaker A:Tommy's on the right, which falls in with our person in the middle.
Speaker A:Can't have thing on the left.
Speaker A:And it's the first time we see Eddie in the center being like, I can't have Buck.
Speaker A:Interesting first episode of season eight.
Speaker C:I see you see me Norman.
Speaker B:Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:That's all I got for that episode, fam.
Speaker C:So you want to go.
Speaker B:So episode five of season eight, masks Mr.
Speaker B:Plot Device.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:How have we not done that the whole time?
Speaker C:That's fantastic.
Speaker C:So Mr.
Speaker B:Plot Device is here to show the difference between how he and Eddie treat Buck and how Buck responds to both.
Speaker C:Of them, which is different.
Speaker B:I can't believe we finally got it.
Speaker B:We got here finally.
Speaker B:I mean, text and on screen wise that we finally got to the point where, hey, he's not that great.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker A:So there are no Triangular things.
Speaker A:But in the hospital, Eddie is shown beside in the traditional spot as the spouse or significant other, while Tommy is standing on the other side.
Speaker A:Buck is in the middle.
Speaker A:Buck is in the middle.
Speaker A:Eddie's on the left.
Speaker A:There's a theme here happening, but yeah.
Speaker A:And then Eddie translates for Buck the entire conversation.
Speaker A:And that's really showing how Eddie can finish Buck.
Speaker A:Sentences.
Speaker A:Knows everything about him and his family because he's part of it.
Speaker C:Sorry, we finished each other.
Speaker C:Finished sandwiches.
Speaker C:That's what I was gonna say.
Speaker A:And Tommy still barely knows Buck or his life after dating him for months.
Speaker A:Like, doesn't even know that Bobby's wife is Athena.
Speaker C:I know.
Speaker A:Like, these are basics.
Speaker B:Six months.
Speaker A:And that's ridiculous.
Speaker A:Ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous.
Speaker B:Oh, God.
Speaker B:Okay, sorry, continue.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:I don't really feel like I need to expand on that.
Speaker A:Like, he.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's a stark contrast in how much they know about Buck.
Speaker A:And yeah, Eddie's been there for years, but when you're dating someone, you're supposed to.
Speaker A:The whole purpose of, like, dating before you get serious with someone is to get to know them.
Speaker A:And he knows nothing about him.
Speaker A:And that's made apparent.
Speaker A:I don't know, just that Sunner with the left.
Speaker C:I think this episode also does show very much, kind of how we just mentioned again with 7 10, how truly Tommy does not fit in.
Speaker C:But Buck's world, he doesn't have, like, a place.
Speaker C:He wants to be part of his world so bad.
Speaker A:Sorry, Ariel.
Speaker C:Yeah, he's like, look at that stuff.
Speaker C:Isn't it neat?
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:And his collection isn't complete because he wants to collect both.
Speaker C:And Eddie, at least he understands that they are not sold separately.
Speaker B:Do not separate in your adoption of them.
Speaker C:Another scene that I like to talk about, the blocking specifically, is when all three of them are in Buck's loft after Buck gets all of those boils from Billy Boyles and they call Eddie in to treat Buck, basically.
Speaker C:And so it's very interesting too, because it's not like a straight up triangle, but it is like triangular.
Speaker C:It's triangular because there are three people there.
Speaker C:But it's mostly, I think what we end up seeing from kind of this point on is there's a separation, right?
Speaker C:And Buck and Eddie are kind of on one side and Tommy is on another side.
Speaker C:So we have Buck and Eddie on one side of Buck's table in the kitchen, and Tommy is sitting on the whole other side.
Speaker C:So he is facing them.
Speaker C:They're not facing him.
Speaker C:Mostly they are looking at each other.
Speaker A:The previous scene is the last time they're ever all three in a shot together.
Speaker C:Oh, in like, one frame, you mean?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:So Tommy is on, like, the complete other side of the table by himself, But Buck and Tommy.
Speaker C:Buck and Eddie are aligned on the other side.
Speaker C:And when you kind of look at it, I don't know if this is exactly a shot in the episode, but there is a still shot, like a promotional, still angular setup.
Speaker C:And it has Tommy in the middle in the background, you know, on the other side of the table.
Speaker C:And it has Buck on the left, and Eddie is the one on the right of the picture treating Buck and his oils.
Speaker C:And it does show what.
Speaker B:So is this, like, now Tommy can't have Buck.
Speaker B:He's losing Buck.
Speaker B:Is this how we're interpreting that?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, man, I did crack it.
Speaker A:Wow, you really did crack it.
Speaker A:You did.
Speaker C:You.
Speaker A:I knew there was something there, and I was like, hopefully one of us can put it together.
Speaker C:Still had the brain cell today.
Speaker C:Like, dang.
Speaker A:I was like, I know this who the center thing is about.
Speaker A:Like, whoever center is the one who's, like, having the emotion.
Speaker A:But I'm like, I don't know what.
Speaker A:What the who's on left and right is about, but I just thought it was super interesting that the last time we ever see all three of them in these.
Speaker A:This very intentional triangular setup we've had since the first time they were all in an episode together is in the hospital room scene where it's just shown how huge of a difference there is.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Between how they know and treat book.
Speaker A:And then in this scene, it's like Buck's all looking up at Eddie with those, like, doe eyes.
Speaker A:And then whenever he looks at Tommy, it's like, so.
Speaker A:Oh, so I'm disgusting.
Speaker A:Oh, so I'm gross.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And I think that really gets underscored here with the fact that, like, Tommy isn't treating Buck, Eddie is treating Buck and trying to get better.
Speaker C:So there's this, like, under lining sense of, like, tender loving care.
Speaker C:You know, a little bit of tlc.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Kind of how we interpret on a more macro level how Eddie treats Buck with a little more, like, understanding and love and care.
Speaker C:And Tommy's just kind of, like, sitting there not being helpful at all.
Speaker C:But, you know, just kind of talking about how, yeah, my cousin did this happened.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And it not helpful.
Speaker C:And Buck interprets that as Tommy saying that Buck is.
Speaker A:He says, oh, so I am gross.
Speaker A:Makes how he words that sound like there was a discussion before Eddie Got there about how, oh, you couldn't even look at me like you think I'm gross.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Which is part of that whole scene when, you know, Buck wakes up that morning and Tommy's like, ah, you know, and kind of like hands him the phone, like he's, you know, wouldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole.
Speaker C:And you see that space continued except when they're right next to each other in the hospital waiting room.
Speaker C:But that is less of a physical distance and more of an emotional distance because Tommy's not in that group text with a 118.
Speaker C:So it's just like, even though he's still technically there physically, I, I think you're right that this is the last time that we see all three of them in a shot together, like in the same frame.
Speaker C:Because in the hospital waiting room afterwards, when they're waiting for news on Denny's status, you know, Tommy is sitting next to Buck and Eddie is across from Buck.
Speaker C:So physically they're right next to each other.
Speaker C:But when, you know, Buck and Eddie and Chimney and Bobby and Athena and everyone else gets the text in their group, their family group chat, basically, and it's like, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
Speaker C:Everything's dinging.
Speaker C:And they're all looking at each other like, oh my gosh, isn't that great news?
Speaker C:Tommy's just kind of like looking on as an outsider.
Speaker C:So it's that space carried over from that scene in the loft where he's on the other side of the table.
Speaker C:But it's more of an emotional distance than a physical one.
Speaker C:It is interesting though because, like the way Tommy's sitting.
Speaker C:Is Buck on his right shoulder?
Speaker A:The hospital waiting room with everyone, or.
Speaker C:Is Buck on his left shoulder?
Speaker A:Buck's on his left.
Speaker A:Okay, so Buck's on his left and Tommy, I guess, would Ish be in the center?
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So Buck is still on Tommy's left in this case.
Speaker C:Meaning he still wants to be part of that world.
Speaker C:He's just not.
Speaker C:And I guess you could extrapolate like Eddie by sitting across.
Speaker C:He's like being more of an observer in this case.
Speaker C:So he like had taken a closer step forward with them with taking care of Buck.
Speaker C:But once that purpose had been filled, he took his step back again.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:But it's still.
Speaker A:But he's still sitting directly across from Book.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:And that's shown before Tommy even gets there.
Speaker C:So yeah, there's more like emotional distance as opposed to physical distance that we saw earlier.
Speaker B:Moving along episode six of season eight confessions.
Speaker B:We're finally here.
Speaker B:So Mr.
Speaker B:Redacted.
Speaker C:You should have been doing this the whole time.
Speaker B:So, Mr.
Speaker B:Soon to be redacted.
Speaker A:Mr.
Speaker A:Bones.
Speaker B:Yes, Mr.
Speaker B:Soon to be Redacted is used as a plot device to reveal this big bombshell.
Speaker B:Mr.
Speaker B:Bones is also here to basically culminate Buck's first queer relationship.
Speaker B:Which really sets up the whole.
Speaker B:I was your first, not your last.
Speaker B:Help setting up Buck to learn to not judge less than noble things people have done to protect themselves.
Speaker B:And it's also here.
Speaker B:I mean, this whole plot device situation is also here.
Speaker A:The plot device of the plot device.
Speaker B:The plot device.
Speaker A:Plot device Ception.
Speaker C:The plot device to all.
Speaker C:Plot device.
Speaker A:God.
Speaker B:It's also here to reveal the Tommy and Abby parallels.
Speaker C:I love the way you say Abby.
Speaker A:It's reminding me of.
Speaker A:Fine.
Speaker C:It absolutely does.
Speaker C:Anytime Sil says abbe or I'm just like.
Speaker C:It's big Eric Matthews vibes and I love it so much.
Speaker A:Well, fam, we are gathered here today.
Speaker A:Back at the restaurant, sitting in the corner, Abby haunts.
Speaker A:Listen, this is where Tim decided to bring Tommy back and was like, this would be fucking hilarious.
Speaker A:This is where it was going from the beginning.
Speaker A:He had this planned the fuck out.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:It's so clear, it's calling back to dialogue.
Speaker A:So anyway, at the restaurant, it's the same one as 7:05 5.
Speaker A:Their first date.
Speaker C:Imagine.
Speaker A:And their last.
Speaker A:How poetic.
Speaker C:Their first and their last.
Speaker A:And they've gone nowhere is the thing.
Speaker A:They haven't moved as a couple.
Speaker C:There has been no propulsion.
Speaker C:Except for on Buck's side.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:That's just getting experience and dating someone of the same gender.
Speaker A:So this is their six month anniversary.
Speaker A:Buck didn't get him anything.
Speaker A:Which is crazy.
Speaker C:That seems so out of character too.
Speaker A:It's so out of character.
Speaker A:And then Tommy gives him something which seems even more out of character because he's like canonically selfish.
Speaker A:But then it's oh, he gives him.
Speaker C:Lakers tickets, which is a gift for himself.
Speaker A:And he says, take Eddie if you want.
Speaker A:Buck's like, really?
Speaker A:He's like, huh?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:Waiter comes over after the Abbey Bomb is dropped, which I don't do we need to discuss that.
Speaker B:It just.
Speaker B:It blows his mind and it blows everyone else's mind.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:They both dated Abby.
Speaker C:And if you'd like to see our reaction to that, watching the episode live, that is available on YouTube.
Speaker C:And it's really funny.
Speaker B:It's a bunch of screaming because we'd.
Speaker A:Been calling it for a while and we were so excited.
Speaker A:Yeah, that Was a gift that Tim Moneyer gave specifically to us.
Speaker A:Yeah, God bless.
Speaker A:Anyway, the waiter comes up, says, how is everything tonight, guys?
Speaker A:And Tommy says, perfect, thank you.
Speaker B:So out of touch.
Speaker A:I don't know how any of that was perfect.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:Super strange.
Speaker A:Can I get you anything else?
Speaker A:The waiter says, oh, no, I think we're good.
Speaker C:Are you?
Speaker C:Oh, I'm so charm.
Speaker A:Then the waiter says, okay, who gets the damage?
Speaker C:Tommy says, that would be him.
Speaker A:It points to like, truly because he's getting the damage from the plot device.
Speaker C:Plot device?
Speaker C:Yeah, the emotional damage.
Speaker A:Emotional damage.
Speaker A:Emotional damage.
Speaker A:I'm bringing that back.
Speaker A:Anyway, then the waiter says, whenever you're ready.
Speaker A:No rush.
Speaker C:That's wild.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's crazy that Tommy is like, you know, buckets the damage because again, there's no as a plot device.
Speaker C:There's nothing that will really affect him because he's just there there like as a stand in for whatever they want him to be.
Speaker C:So he has no, like true motivation for anything other than, you know, to be in a relationship with Buck.
Speaker C:But like there's nothing for him.
Speaker C:And he'll.
Speaker C:He'll just go like, bye, bye.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker C:And that's all.
Speaker C:We'll see.
Speaker A:Just gonna very briefly touch on the whatever that was at dispatch.
Speaker A:Josh says, who kissed a boy?
Speaker A:Maddie goes, buck.
Speaker A:And he goes, oh, Tommy.
Speaker A:Unless there's another boy.
Speaker A:And Buck says, no, there's not another boy.
Speaker C:Are you sure?
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker C:Weird choice.
Speaker A:And then my takeaway from his entirely speech where he tries to make Tommy sound like he was throwing the first fucking brick at Stonewall.
Speaker A:Oh my God.
Speaker C:No, he really did, though.
Speaker C:We've said it before.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The takeaway is don't judge the people who went through battles.
Speaker A:You didn't have to because they have scars and you honor their scars.
Speaker A:And once again, I'm here to say this is not about Tommy.
Speaker A:This is priming him.
Speaker A:This whole thing.
Speaker A:The Abby, the Abby of it all.
Speaker A:And then the Tommy of how that he was with Abby and that he was gay and knew he was gay, but was with Abby.
Speaker A:And having to come to terms with.
Speaker C:That, it's priming it up for Eddie's sexuality realization.
Speaker A:Realizing that he's gay.
Speaker A:Gay.
Speaker A:Yeah, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay.
Speaker A:So that Buck has understanding going into that instead of like reacting in a way that's like, wait, somehow you knew deep down and you still were married to Shannon.
Speaker A:Not that he was close with Shannon and he didn't date Shannon like he did Abby.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But I still feel like Buck would feel A certain way about that because of how strongly he feels about fairness and, you know.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Treating people.
Speaker C:And this is basically like, the culmination of why Buck is in a relationship with Tommy as a narrative plot point.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It's to prime Buck for what will come next in multiple different ways.
Speaker C:So this is an important part of it, because once it gets past, like, the shock and kind of the judgment, then there's acceptance and compassion there.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So by him already having dealt with that with someone else, with Tommy, he can deal with that with someone else again.
Speaker C:And coming from a place where he is already at that compassionate point, meaning with Eddie, and then it ends where.
Speaker A:It all began, as if it never happened.
Speaker C:Nothing really matters.
Speaker A:So Tommy shows up and is like, you're not gonna believe this.
Speaker A:I got a spot right out front.
Speaker A:Meaning he drove there just like he did the first time.
Speaker A:I'm reading into that.
Speaker A:Like, he chose to go into this relationship.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:I think we should get an Uber to the movie so I don't lose it.
Speaker A:Once again, there's an Uber involved at the scene of the crime and a movie that they literally never make.
Speaker A:They've never made it to a movie?
Speaker C:No, they never make it to the movie ever, ever, ever.
Speaker C:The only dates we've seen them on, our dinner dates.
Speaker B:There's two out in public and one in the loft.
Speaker A:Three dates and six months.
Speaker A:Incredible work.
Speaker A:No wonder they know so much about each other.
Speaker C:Tommy really wasn't pulling out the stops for Buck like he did for Eddie.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Flying him to Vegas, taking him or teaching him how to fly or any of those things that he said he would do.
Speaker A:I'll teach you Muay Thai.
Speaker A:I'll take you on.
Speaker C:It's almost like he was trying to impress Eddie and realized he didn't have to impress.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:Then we have luck saying later, after he reveals that he's the himbo.
Speaker C:This is text from the show, not our opinion, because Buck is, I think, too smart to be a himbo.
Speaker A:He is way too smart.
Speaker A:And the fact that, like, Tommy.
Speaker A:Apologies.
Speaker A:Like, well, if I had known, I never would have used that word.
Speaker A:It's like, you could just, like, not call a stranger a himbo anyway.
Speaker C:It doesn't negate the fact that you called someone a himbo.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker C:Which is not necessarily like.
Speaker C:Like, implicitly like a bad thing, but the way that it was used in context had a less than positive connotation.
Speaker A:No, it was all very negative.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was basically like she was spitting out, dating a man half her age.
Speaker A:Some, like, dumb Jock guy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's like you're dating Jack guy half your age.
Speaker A:And anyway, Muk then says, what I had with her was not that if I'm stuttering, it's because it's what's in the text.
Speaker A:For Buck.
Speaker C:You don't have to do the stuttering unless you want.
Speaker A:I gotta.
Speaker A:At least not.
Speaker A:Not for me.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:My.
Speaker A:My relationship with Abby was.
Speaker A:It was the most transformative of my life until now.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But here's the thing.
Speaker A:It is transformative so far that he's had.
Speaker A:Low fucking bar is underground 40ft for his relationships.
Speaker A:40ft underground.
Speaker C:Even in this episode, Abby was the.
Speaker A:Most transformative until now because it was the first real relationship he had.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Even though she was, like, not there most of it.
Speaker A:And then now Tommy is the.
Speaker A:Is the most transformative recently because it's the first queer relationship he's had.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:That's just what it says on the tin.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Again, reiterating that, like, he was there to be this catalyst, just like Abby was.
Speaker A:Just like Abby was.
Speaker A:And then she's gone.
Speaker A:But he's not gonna be haunting the narrative again.
Speaker A:Like we said earlier, he's already forgotten that he exists.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Also, the way that they break up is very plot devicey.
Speaker C:It's just kind of like a way to excuse pulling Tommy back out of the narrative.
Speaker C:They're yoinking him back out because they're like, okay, you've served your purp purpose.
Speaker C:We don't need you anymore, so we're gonna have you go back to, like, the empty or whatever that characters hang out in.
Speaker C:Just like a loading space.
Speaker C:Right, Sorry.
Speaker B:I'm just gonna say he's erasing himself from the narrative.
Speaker C:No, no, he really is, though, because he is making.
Speaker C:This is also, like, one of the only decisions that Tommy does make.
Speaker C:But it's not for his character.
Speaker C:It's four books.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:He, in fact, pulls himself out of the narrative.
Speaker A:One that he put himself into.
Speaker C:Because he never belonged there to begin with.
Speaker C:No, because he was forcing himself into this.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:As a character.
Speaker C:I'm not talking about, like, meta analysis with the writers.
Speaker C:Tommy himself was forcing his way into this world, and he didn't fit.
Speaker C:It was not the right puzzle piece.
Speaker C:So then he's yoinking himself back out, does exactly what the writers intended, which was for him to just, like, peace out once Buck gets to a place where he feels confident and comfortable enough to kind of also.
Speaker C:Also, the whole breakup is a plot device too, because that Sends.
Speaker C:It sends Buck from feeling comfortable and confident in his sex in acknowledging that he.
Speaker C:An aspect of his sexuality and as well as having a relationship that.
Speaker C:With another person that feels substantial to him, even if it's not like actually of any substance when you look at it from an outside perspective.
Speaker C:So the breakup itself is its own plot device to get Buck to spiral.
Speaker A:It's to prime him to spiral.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or another thing.
Speaker C:To set it up.
Speaker A:Another thing.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's the.
Speaker C:It's the MacGuffin comeback again.
Speaker C:And it's.
Speaker C:It's that.
Speaker C:So there's a.
Speaker C:There's a trope and it's called like a.
Speaker C:A closet key.
Speaker C:And it's basically to like this.
Speaker C:This archetypal character is just as a plot device just opens the door to the closet.
Speaker C:It.
Speaker C:And lets that other character walk out.
Speaker C:And then that plot device character just kind of like feeds into the distance because he did his part and that's all they needed him for.
Speaker A:He says the whole, I'm your first, not your last.
Speaker A:No matter how much I wanted to be.
Speaker A:I'm your first, not your last.
Speaker A:If I stay with you, you'd break my heart.
Speaker A:This, all of this is giving.
Speaker A:He knew from the start that Buck has a thing for Eddie and probably vice versa.
Speaker A:And he put himself in that narrative and was like, well, I'm removing myself from this because it's not going the way that I want.
Speaker A:Like, we picked up on it early in the season, but I really think they showed their hand with that line with the, you'll break my heart.
Speaker A:You wouldn't mean to, but you would eventually.
Speaker A:Anyway.
Speaker A:We talked about that before.
Speaker A:That's more in character analysis than what we're doing now.
Speaker C:But I think we talked about that a lot in our season eight episode six.
Speaker C:Seven.
Speaker C:Eight.
Speaker A:Seven.
Speaker C:No, it's just seven and eight.
Speaker A:Mostly eight.
Speaker C:Mostly eight.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:But yeah.
Speaker A:So he's like, I don't think I could deal with that.
Speaker A:I should go.
Speaker A:And we were all like, yeah, you should.
Speaker C:Please.
Speaker A:And the writers were like, yeah, you should.
Speaker C:You should do what my dad does.
Speaker C:It's the eight finger brush.
Speaker C:Oh, just like, shoo, shoo, shoo.
Speaker A:Buck asks if he just broke up with them.
Speaker A:And he's like, I guess I did.
Speaker A:Believe me, I didn't see it coming either.
Speaker A:We saw this coming.
Speaker C:We all.
Speaker A:I mean, most of us saw this coming.
Speaker C:We saw it coming.
Speaker C:We saw it.
Speaker A:Saw it coming.
Speaker C:He only had himself delay and then we get.
Speaker A:Should have known that parking's pose too good to be true.
Speaker C:That's Wild.
Speaker B:That is wild, actually.
Speaker A:I'll see you around, Buck.
Speaker A:It's the first time he calls him Buck in the last.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It just ends right where it began.
Speaker A:He leaves his apartment.
Speaker A:It began with him walking into the apartment and inviting himself.
Speaker A:And now he's showing himself out.
Speaker C:Out.
Speaker A:He invited himself in.
Speaker A:Showing himself out.
Speaker C:Yeah, We.
Speaker C:We talked about this also in our season eight episode.
Speaker C:Seven and eight episode.
Speaker C:But to kind of like drive home the fact that he is a plot device.
Speaker C:It.
Speaker C:Like you're saying, it really does end where it began because so much of the Buck and Tommy first date and some of the stuff preceding it and the last date are exact mirrors of each other with like the date at the same restaurant.
Speaker C:Something about a basketball game.
Speaker C:Something about ubering to a movie and not making the movie.
Speaker C:It's all.
Speaker C:It's all of the same beats if kind of mixed around a little bit.
Speaker C:But it's essentially the same thing.
Speaker C:So that means that there was no true development for them as a couple.
Speaker C:The only development that we see the entire time throughout Tommy's run as Buck's love interest, because he's not a character in and of itself the only character.
Speaker C:The only development we see is for Buck.
Speaker C:And you can't have a relationship with two characters mean something for two characters.
Speaker C:If one of them doesn't get developed.
Speaker C:And Tommy never does.
Speaker C:He's just there to propel as momentum for Buck and sometimes Eddie.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker A:What do we know about him that he doesn't also have in common or.
Speaker C:Mirrored coiled for Eddie, he flies planes or helicopters.
Speaker C:That's the only thing.
Speaker A:Eddie's been in a helicopter.
Speaker A:And he knows ordinances about them because he knew about the dynamic rollover.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker C:Oh, that dynamic rollover man.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I think that's the only thing that, like, really sets Tommy apart is that he is.
Speaker A:And the sexism and homophobia, the things that existed that we knew about him before Tommy showed.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think that's he's a pilot.
Speaker C:But that could have so easily been.
Speaker A:Losing literally anyone or someone.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:Which I think leads us to our last article.
Speaker A:Quotes.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:In an interview with Tim My near by Meredith Jacobs from TV Insider titled 911 Boss on Tommy's Wild revelation, Buck and Eddie figuring themselves out.
Speaker B:Insane title.
Speaker B:Great work, Meredith.
Speaker A:Shout out.
Speaker A:Meredith.
Speaker B:Meredith asks.
Speaker B:We have to start with the Tommy and Abby of it all.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker B:When did you come up with that?
Speaker C:Just why that would be.
Speaker C:That would be us having an interview just like, why.
Speaker B:Why did you put me through this?
Speaker C:We ever get a chance to sit down with him.
Speaker C:My near.
Speaker C:It's just why I feel like we.
Speaker A:Would have thanked him profusely for this.
Speaker A:It's like our wish list.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:But why?
Speaker B:All right, so Tim Miner says we actually talked about that last year just as a fun way to complicate Buck's life.
Speaker B:Because.
Speaker B:Because in the pilot she's coming off the breakup of a long term relationship with a guy named Tommy.
Speaker B:And I think initially it just amused us and it was a great way to introduce a little conflict into a scene from the beginning.
Speaker B:I love pulling from canon whenever possible.
Speaker B:It's just like when you have all these episodes stored up, you can always go back to the pantry and see what leftovers you got to make something delicious.
Speaker B:Which you know what's so true, Tim.
Speaker B:So true.
Speaker B:Timberly, I thank you for this.
Speaker C:You think Tim is goes on a baking spree sometimes.
Speaker B:Oh, with all the episodes he's got stored up in the oven?
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:Sorry, I'm just going literally.
Speaker C:But I like yours better.
Speaker A:I know he cooks more than he bakes.
Speaker C:Yeah, I wanna bet Wannabe Bobby's propensity.
Speaker B:For cooking is a to my nearest.
Speaker C:Probably my near self.
Speaker B:Insert characteristic insane work.
Speaker B:And in another interview from Jennifer Mass in Variety titled 911 star Oliver Stark on that X twist Tommy's choice and why Buck went to Eddie for comfort.
Speaker B:Jennifer asks.
Speaker B:In this episode, the writers invoke Abby, a character that has not come up in a long time.
Speaker B:On 911 in a very unexpected way, she's revealed to be the ex fiance of Tommy, Buck's current boyfriend.
Speaker B:What was your reaction to that storyline and how did you work through that in the episode and what it meant for Buck and Tommy's future that he was evaluating his past sexuality.
Speaker B:And Oliver Stark says Abby was such a big turning point in Buck's life as he mentions in the episode.
Speaker B:So even though day to day in his conscious mind he had very much moved on from that experience.
Speaker B:I think it's pretty fair that finding out that your new partner used to be engaged to this hugely important relationship is somewhat jarring to say the least.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And originally we actually saw a couple more scenes of Buck dealing with this new information.
Speaker B:One of which was a big talk with Peter Krausa, with Bobby and Buck kind of just trying to.
Speaker B:Trying to unpack it all.
Speaker B:It was this wonderful coincidence that in season one Abby mentioned a fiance by the name of Tommy.
Speaker B:I don't think at the time they knew they will be introducing many seasons Later, a character called Tommy.
Speaker B:But it felt like it would be a missed opportunity to not kind of make that link and make the universe feel a little bit joined up.
Speaker B:I think the opportunity presented itself and it would have been silly to not take advantage of that and present Buck with an opportunity to spiral as he does so often.
Speaker C:I love when Oliver says the same things that we say.
Speaker B:Mm.
Speaker A:Makes us feel smart with great opinions.
Speaker C:It's so nice.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:We feel validated, don't we?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Invoke Abby.
Speaker C:That is the funniest phrasing.
Speaker C:It's like a seance because she's haunting the narrative.
Speaker B:Invoke thy name or some shit like that.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:I invoke you to ruin my relationship or maybe help my relationship by ruining it.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:Help me by ruining my relationship.
Speaker C:Thank you so much.
Speaker C:Help me in the greater scheme of things.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Also, going back to how the whole Buck and Tommy relationship ended, where it began, basically.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Here's a couple quotes from an interview that both Oliver Stark and Tim Minear did with Entertainment Weekly.
Speaker C:I think this is written by Patrick Gomez, titled 91 1's Oliver Stark on Buck and Tommy's shocking breakup.
Speaker C:So Oliver says that, you know, the breakup very much does come out of nowhere.
Speaker C:I think Buck asking such a huge thing of Tommy by asking him to move in jolts him into almost having to make this decision for himself and for Buck.
Speaker C:To me, the scene plays that Tommy has been hurt before and is scared of being hurt again.
Speaker C:He's very much trying to protect himself, which I hold no judgment over.
Speaker C:And yeah, unfortunately, Buck is just the casualty of that playing out.
Speaker C:And to my near comments as well, saying, I think Tommy probably went into this relationship realizing that at some point his heart would get broken.
Speaker C:But it's just like, how broken?
Speaker C:How much are you going to let somebody capture it?
Speaker C:How broken do you want it it by the end of it?
Speaker C:It's worth it for him to have a broken heart here because he's with Buck and it's kind of great.
Speaker C:Tommy knows that the bloom is going to fade off the rose at some point and that if he took Buck up on his offer to move in like he says, I know how this ends.
Speaker C:Which may be a stupid thing for Tommy or maybe a wise self protecting thing for Tommy.
Speaker C:I would just like to have it point out here that we get more conjecture about Tommy's inner world and his motivations for why he does certain things through the interviews with the writers and the actors who are thinking about it because they have to think about it.
Speaker C:You know, Oliver has to think about it from Buck's perspective and Tim is thinking about it from both of those perspectives for both characters.
Speaker C:But we get more kind of fleshing out of, of what would be going on in Tommy's mind in an article interview rather than in the actual text of the story.
Speaker C:So while we know now that with comments like these, like that is the intentions of the writers, it's not stated as such in the actual text of the show through any of the dialogue or any of the, you know, so much of a show is just show don't tell.
Speaker C:So they don't.
Speaker C:Wouldn't even have to like speak about it per se.
Speaker C:But it's also not shown.
Speaker C:So what do, what do we do with that?
Speaker C:And this is all coming out afterwards.
Speaker C:So it's just that little extra bit of context that we get to include into our reading of the, the storyline and the show as a whole.
Speaker C:But that still doesn't negate the fact that, that it wasn't expressed as such in the show.
Speaker C:This is all just like extra bonus stuff for us who are like chronically online and like to read all the stuff about it, you know.
Speaker A:Okay, so kind of talk about referring back to Mr.
Speaker A:Plot Device in episodes seven and eight, I guess when he's like not there.
Speaker A:But, but, but Buck is, you know, dealing with the breakup and, and the call that never happens.
Speaker A:Tommy never actually calls him and he doesn't call Tommy.
Speaker A:This is from an article by Whitney Evans at TV Fanatic titled 91 1.
Speaker A:Showrunner Tim Mynier talks.
Speaker A:Athena's rookie, Bobby's Hotshots return, Buck's heartache and Tisa's mid season finale.
Speaker C:She covered it all.
Speaker C:She.
Speaker A:Yeah, she's all the things she wrote.
Speaker A:As Buck processes the end of that relationship with Tommy, Mynier told us what we should expect from Buck's continued pissed breakup period.
Speaker A:And Tim Mynier said for Buck, now that he's discovered his bisexuality, I think at some point he says, I don't know what Pona jumped back into.
Speaker A:For Buck, this isn't just like a normal piss breakup.
Speaker A:He was discovering something about himself.
Speaker A:And as Tommy said last week, you're still figuring out and that's good.
Speaker A:Buck's still figuring himself out.
Speaker A:So I don't think it's as simple as the old hamster wheel of get together, let's move in together, break up, move on.
Speaker A:For Buck, it's much more.
Speaker A:He has to turn his gaze onto himself kind of in the way Eddie is for himself, too.
Speaker C:Oh, oh, the gays.
Speaker A:Oh, the.
Speaker A:The gays.
Speaker A:But also fork founding kitchen Tim my near brings up Eddie when talking about someone else.
Speaker C:Every time Buck.
Speaker A:Every time.
Speaker C:Every time.
Speaker A:He's so us coded.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think we don't get along, brain.
Speaker A:Buck coded.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Just to backtrack so I can say this again.
Speaker A:For Buck, it's much more.
Speaker A:He has to turn his gaze onto himself, kind of in the way Eddie is for himself too.
Speaker C:Oh, I'm so sure.
Speaker A:These guys are now at a stage in their lives where they're still kind of figuring out who they are.
Speaker A:And I think that's particularly true for Buck.
Speaker A:Although in a way, Buck knows a little bit more about who he is after his relationship with Tommy.
Speaker A:But there are a lot of possibilities open to him.
Speaker C:Hmm.
Speaker A:Then Whitney writes at one point during the hour, Eddie and hen good naturedly hide Buck's phone for him when he complains about whether or not he should call his ex.
Speaker A:A call never happens, but it begs the question of whether or not Buck is ready to put that relationship in the past to move toward the future.
Speaker A:When asked just that, Mynier stated, yeah, I mean, he's going to be moving to what's in his future.
Speaker A:And look, Tommy is in Buck's romantic past for sure.
Speaker A:For sure.
Speaker A:Sometimes I want video of these to hear the tone of voice, but it's like I feel like I can hear it, you know?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:But that doesn't mean that Tommy is necessarily not ever going to intersect with Buck in the universe again.
Speaker A:Tommy is always going to be somebody who kind of opened a door for Buck.
Speaker A:What did we.
Speaker A:What did Rachel just talk about?
Speaker A:The key for the closet door.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Oh, interesting.
Speaker C:Aha.
Speaker A:Somebody who opened a door for Buck.
Speaker A:And that's an important thing to be in somebody's life.
Speaker A:So the importance was that he helped open a door for Buck.
Speaker C:That's it for Buck.
Speaker C:He walked through and then he closed it behind him.
Speaker C:Bye.
Speaker A:This is like a nail in the coffin.
Speaker A:I mean, like Buck's moving to what's in his future.
Speaker A:And look, Tommy is in Buck's romantic past for sure.
Speaker A:Like he's not.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:There's no PR answer here.
Speaker C:No, that.
Speaker C:That is dead done.
Speaker B:Bones buried dead 40ft under.
Speaker A:He did what he set out to do with this character.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's done.
Speaker C:Which I know he.
Speaker C:We were trying to find this article earlier where like almost 100% sure that Tim Minier has said almost like almost verbatim.
Speaker C:Yeah, I did what I set out to do with Tommy.
Speaker C:Couldn't find the article.
Speaker C:If you know which one it is, please let us know.
Speaker A:Pretty sure he used the word satisfied in there.
Speaker C:Okay, so last little bit I think we have in terms of quotes from articles regarding the Buck and Tommy relationship.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Is talking about how the breakup was premature on purpose.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So there's an article from Decider written by Nicole Gallucci.
Speaker C:I think we mentioned one of her other articles earlier and it's titled 911 boss Tim my near Unpacks the mid season Finale and shares his season eight goal to Blow it the hell apart.
Speaker C:Quotes gonna be great for us.
Speaker C:So this article came out with the mid season finale and the interviewer Nicole spoke with Tim and she asked for fans like Buck who are still processing his breakup with Tommy or feel like their connection was unexpectedly cut short.
Speaker C:Mynier agrees, but stresses that the move was intentional.
Speaker C:And this is what he says.
Speaker C:Look, I think the breakup was premature, but that was by design for me.
Speaker C:The story that I was trying to tell was here's a guy, Tommy, he's not a main character on the show.
Speaker C:We haven't done Tommy Begins or something.
Speaker C:But you do see him in the Begins episodes in flashbacks.
Speaker C:And by the time he leaves in Bobby Begins Again, he's turned over a new leaf.
Speaker C:He's feeling more comfortable.
Speaker C:He's hanging out with the new people at the 118 once Bobby takes over and they throw him a party and bake him a cake where he goes off to his new post.
Speaker C:There was even a reference in Broken when Chimney calls him to do the water drop.
Speaker C:But Tommy's a guy who's in a different place in his life than Buck is.
Speaker C:And I think what Tommy realizes is exactly what he said, which is, I'm not your last, I'm your first.
Speaker C:That is a loaded statement here, right?
Speaker C:Tommy is not a main character.
Speaker C:He does not have a Begins episodes.
Speaker C:As in we don't get to learn more about his backstory.
Speaker C:We see him around because he's an established character and that's why they had him.
Speaker A:That's why he used him.
Speaker A:Yes, he literally just said in a long winded way.
Speaker A:This was a plot device that I used by design.
Speaker C:Nicole Gallucci goes on to write that to my near reference, the coffee shop scene in season seven where Buck asked Tommy to give them another shot and to come to Maddie's wedding at a point when Tommy thought, all right, this guy's kind of great.
Speaker C:He's super hot and he's sweet and this will be nice.
Speaker C:And I'm going to be vulnerable for this.
Speaker C:As the relationship grew stronger and the stakes grew higher, however, Tommy reevaluated things.
Speaker C:So another thing that Tim Mynier went on to say in relation to that was, I think Tommy, in the end, understood that this was not forever, that Buck is exploring himself.
Speaker C:He's still figuring himself out.
Speaker C:And even if Tommy doesn't know it, he might sense the fact that Buck likes to jump in with both feet a little precipitously.
Speaker C:Good sat word.
Speaker C:So was the breakup premature?
Speaker C:Yes, because Tommy was put in a position where he had to be honest.
Speaker C:And once he speaks the truth, which is, I think I know where things end, where this ends, and I can't move in with you, he's kind of breaking the spell, the spell of that honeymoon phase.
Speaker C:Tommy even says, I didn't see this coming either.
Speaker C:And then Tim says, I don't think either one of them did.
Speaker C:So Buck and Tommy may not have seen that coming, but Tim did.
Speaker C:And it was by design.
Speaker C:The relationship ran its course.
Speaker C:They got Buck to where they needed him to be, and then they broke them up.
Speaker C:And Buck is the main character, so he stays in the narrative and Tommy is not period.
Speaker B:And that's on period.
Speaker B:Or is it.
Speaker B:And that's on cap?
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker C:No, It's.
Speaker C:That's on period, and that's no cap.
Speaker C:Anyways, you heard it here from the showrunners.
Speaker A:Listen.
Speaker C:From the showrunner himself.
Speaker A:Like, here's the proof.
Speaker A:Here's the facts.
Speaker A:Not just our observations and direct quotes from the show, but from the actors, Oliver and lfj, but the showrunner, Tim Mynier.
Speaker A:I don't know what else we could.
Speaker C:Possibly tell you, and this hasn't really.
Speaker C:Besides what we kind of talked about with the racism and the sexism and the homophobia from Chimneys and Hens begins episodes.
Speaker C:We weren't talking about Tommy as a person.
Speaker C:We were just literally talking about what he was there doing in the actual narrative of the story being told.
Speaker C:And the fact that we don't see him or the fact that, like, the narrative doesn't see him as a person, only a tool to be utilized in moving Buck's story forward.
Speaker C:And sometimes a little bit of Eddie.
Speaker C:But it's most.
Speaker C:It's pretty much Buck.
Speaker C:I mean, it's not even getting Eddie's storyline moving forward.
Speaker A:It's planting some seeds.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It's planting seeds.
Speaker C:It's to provide a mirror to Eddie, like holding up a mirror for him.
Speaker A:But it's really only banning some jealousy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It's only moving forward Buck's storyline because Tommy doesn't have his own storyline.
Speaker C:Everything that we've just laid out here is how anything that he does is in relation or really revolves around one of our main characters.
Speaker C:And that's what a plot device is.
Speaker A:So the plot device character is.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or a MacGuffin.
Speaker A:Whatever you want to.
Speaker A:If you want to be specific with it.
Speaker A:Because you're like, well, so many things can be plot devices.
Speaker A:You are correct.
Speaker C:And like, how a lot of what role he plays in the story is very archetypal.
Speaker C:It perpetuates a lot of tropes which aren't necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker A:I know stereotypes.
Speaker C:I know some people think, like, tropes can be bad and because they're cliche, but, like, they serve a specific purpose.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And that's fine.
Speaker C:But it's not anything more than what it is.
Speaker C:It.
Speaker C:I feel like I'm being very like.
Speaker C:No, no.
Speaker A:This is the summary at the end of our paper.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:This is us being like, well, we showed you all the facts.
Speaker A:In conclusion, we're correct.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for tuning into this episode that you voted for.
Speaker A:We hope you enjoyed it.
Speaker C:Our fifth grade persuasive essay.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I hope you guys got a lot out of this.
Speaker A:I think this is the first episode that we've really done like, a narrative and like, like production kind of lens on, which was cool.
Speaker A:And if you guys want to see more of that in the future or anything specifically, let us know.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:If you have any requests or suggestions, we will totally take it into consideration.
Speaker C:It is an interesting and I think slightly different way for us to analyze aspects of the show because usually, you know, we are so very, like, character centric.
Speaker C:It is kind of interesting to, like, take a step back a little bit and look at it from this very, like, wide angle lens that encompasses.
Speaker A:What's the big picture.
Speaker C:Yeah, that.
Speaker C:That really encompasses the.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:The intentions of the people making the show.
Speaker A:Well, fam.
Speaker A:I had a pretty good time with this.
Speaker A:Just kind of like, would like to take a break from talking about this man.
Speaker B:Redacted.
Speaker A:But unfortunately, he's so involved in the narrative as a plot device that I'm going to have to keep talking about him.
Speaker A:But at least he's gone.
Speaker C:Good news.
Speaker B:He's good as dead.
Speaker C:The relationship is dead.
Speaker A:The worst relationship there ever was.
Speaker A:The enemy of all of us here in Buds.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker A:Oh, God.
Speaker A:Okay, remember, don't date a plot device.
Speaker B:But if you do, take a buddy with you.
Speaker A:And that's no cat.
Speaker B:I'm so done with you guys.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening to the Buddy System podcast from start to finish.
Speaker B:We literally cannot shut up about 91 1, so please come talk to us on your favorite social media platform.
Speaker C:We're at BuddySystemPod Everywhere.
Speaker C:That's B U D D I E System Pod.
Speaker A:Leave a five star review on Spotify or Apple podcasts to get a personal shout out in the next episode.
Speaker A:The Buddy System is a nerd Virgin Media production featuring music from Divinity.
Speaker B:Can't get enough of the Buddies?
Speaker B:Subscribe to our Patreon for access to exclusive content and our Discord community.
Speaker C:Catch you next time.
Speaker C:And don't forget, bring a buddy with.
