It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a…bee-nado?! Get ready for takeoff with Buddie System Airlines with Han, Cil, and Rachel on an insightful journey as we nosedive into the thrilling first three episodes of Season 8 of 9-1-1! 

In the first installment of our Special Edition episodes covering Season 8 as it airs, we explore the emotional arcs of our beloved characters, focusing on their growth and struggles amid high-stakes emergencies, including the unforgettable bee-nado.

Through all the twisters and turns, mustaches and meta, we focus on how the characters’ storylines are set up in this first three-episode arc, and anticipate what could be coming in for a crash landing next! 

From the emotional turmoil faced by Athena to Buck's struggle with authority, we unpack the layers of uncertainty, support systems, and levity. Themes of trauma, love, and identity intertwine as characters navigate their complex lives. We draw parallels to previous seasons and shine a spotlight on the brilliant behind-the-scenes aspects of the show and how new writers, directors, and director of photography contribute to a fresh new perspective on 9-1-1’s storytelling. 

We also share our wish list for the season, including Eddie's queer realization and the ever-evolving dynamics between Buck and Eddie. Buck-le up for a fun and engaging ride filled with laughs and thoughtful analysis as we navigate this exciting new chapter of 9-1-1!

📔 Articles Mentioned:

📰 ‘9-1-1’ Season 8 Premiere Buzzes Toward 10M Cross-Platform Viewers In 7 Days, Deadline

📰 ‘9-1-1’ (8x02 “When The Boeing Gets Tough…”) was watched by 4.92M LIVE Viewers and scored an 0.42 in the Key Demographic. It was the #1 scripted series of the night. 911TVNews, Twitter

📰 The concluding episode of the ‘9-1-1’ 3-part premiere (8x03) was watched by 5.52M Viewers and scored an 0.51 in the key demo. It was the #1 scripted series of the night and the biggest LIVE audience for the show this season. 911TVNews, Twitter

📰 Oliver Stark Breaks Down the ‘9-1-1’ Season 8 Premiere, Hints at a Major Storyline for Buck This Season, Tell-Tale TV

📰 ‘9-1-1’ Boss Reveals If [Spoiler] Is Dead & Answers More Premiere Burning Questions, TV Fanatic

Follow us on social media for updates and more from your Buddies!

We are @buddiesystempod everywhere:

TikTok

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

Watch The Buddie System podcast episodes and our live reactions to the most recent 9-1-1 episodes on YouTube!

Support us on Patreon or Ko-Fi for perks and extra content like access to our exclusive Discord, Fire Fam Chats, New 9-1-1 Episode Livestreams, and more!

The Buddie System is a Nerdvergent Media production.

Music by DIV!NITY 

(00:00:00) Welcome Aboard Buddie System Airlines (Intro)

(00:12:28) Who's Cookin' (Character Arcs)

(00:12:37) Bobby (and Brad)

(00:33:45) Athena

(01:01:48) Buck

(01:43:01) Eddie

(02:11:30) Hen, Karen, Chimney, and Maddie

(02:23:56) Flashover (Themes)

(02:33:11) Jaws of Life (Deep Dive)

(03:07:40) Into the Looking Glass 

(03:25:28) Educated Wishes: What's Next for Buck, Eddie, & Buddie? (Wishlist)

(03:54:04) Bring a Buddie With You & Outro

Have you ever watched something that completely rewired your brain chemistry?

A procedural network drama might not be your usual pick, but it's ours.

This is The Buddie 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.

I'm Han, coming to you straight from the characters heads.

I'm Cil bringing you to the observation deck.

And I'm Rachel, connecting the dots with my red string.

With our powers combined, no stone is left unturned

and no buddy is left behind. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a... bee-nado? Welcome to The Buddie System.

This is our first of six episodes covering season eight. Today we're talking about season eight, episode one, titled Buzzkill, written by Molly Green and James Leffler and directed by James Wong.

And season eight, episode two, titled when the Boeing gets tough, written by Ted Griffin and Tim Minear, directed by Bradley Bucker.

And season eight, episode three, titled "Final Approach", written by Tim Minear and Ted Griffin as well, and directed again by Bradley Bucher. So we wanted to do a little bit of season eight stuff because we've been so excited about it as well as doing our regular we rewatch.

So this is just like a special series that we'll be doing throughout season eight. We've got the first three to talk about.

I think we're going to be doing them in about like three episode chunks at a time or, like, bite sized pieces because, you know, the show usually chomp. The show usually, like, fits things into pretty neatly, like, three episode arcs as they do with the opening disasters.

And I guess we can talk about some of our general takeaways from the first three episodes. I loved it. I have loved every single episode so far. It's been so exciting.

I don't know what they put in the water over there in the 911 writing and crew department and production department, everything, but it's just like, it's so good. And I feel comfortable saying that because we have, like, the, the complete first, like, emergency thing. So that was.

I think that was handled, like, super, super well. And I'm very excited to see what they're coming up with next.

Same here. I don't know what they put in the water. Definitely. I don't know. I was dosed with something because, like, I was seated.

Locked in.

I was. Yeah, I was really locked in.

I haven't been so anxious during an opener since the tsunami arc, so I feel like the plane emergency was like, almost on par with that. I don't know. Like, I was yelling and we don't have this. We don't have the live reaction for episode three, but I know I was yelling.

I think we were all yelling.

But.

Yeah, no, and I can't wait to see what they have in store.

If this is the type of writing, the type of cinematography and, you know, if this is what they're starting with, I'm sure we're gonna have a good season eight.

Season eight. Season eight. I am also in love with this season already.

They put some sort of opiates into it and we're not even at no place like home yet, so that's really saying something. The wizard of Oz joke. In case anyone doesn't get that.

Poppies.

Poppies. Anyway.

I get you.

Anyway. Yeah. I just, like, still said this is. I have not been this excited, locked in, screaming, stressed, invested in a disaster opening since the tsunami.

And I think that they're both perfect for different reasons.

Yes.

And, like, I think it might just be because of the focus of different characters. I couldn't really. I would have to think about it more to explain it, but it's definitely up there just under or next to the tsunami arc for me.

And we. I think we were saying that after the first and second episode even, we were like, we're gonna. I think I said, they're gonna land this. You did.

Somewhere.

You did. You said that. You said, they're going to land it. And I was very proud.

Thank you. They're going to land it. And they did. They stuck the landing. It was so. Oh, my God.

It's just after every single during and after every single episode, we've been like, this is so good. This is so fucking good. This is amazing television. It's just.

Television's back, baby.

Television is back. The writing, the directing, the acting, the cinematography is so fucking different and really cool. We'll talk about that later. Just everything.

Oh, my God, the mustache, buck's hair.

Literally every single. Everything about it, I think.

I'm not sure there's anything that we haven't liked about any of the episodes so far other than that they ended and we had to wait a week to watch the next one, which is. I know we caught up live at the latter half of season seven, so we haven't been doing our samples.

Exactly.

We haven't been doing the weekly release for an entire season for this show, but just like.

And we've been on social, so we've been seeing what everybody's saying and it feels very, like, like, consensus that a lot of people are at least, like, our corner of the Internet, our corner of the fandom is, like, really into it, really pleased with everything that we've been seeing so far.

And like to have comparisons so quickly to the tsunami, which I think is just, like, generally fandom wide, you know, seen as, like, the top tier emergency because it is.

And to have this, like, be compared to it or, like, on the level or just, or, like, second to none basically is kind of remarkable for some, for a show that's like eight seasons in and it's like there's something about it that has, like, it feels the same. Like we're back home, but there's some sort of, like, renewed, like, fresh perspective on it, some fresh.

And I think we'll talk about that more when we talk about some of the production stuff. But it just feels like what we've come to know and love, but, like, in a new, freshen way of presenting it.

Yeah.

And we, our friend Meg, who, when this airs, I think it's two more episodes until you guys get to see and or hear our friend Meg, who has been in the trenches since the premiere of season one, since the pilot, and we asked her, like, we feel like we're kind of spoiled. Like, is that, like, it's not always like this, is it? And she was like, no, it is not always like this.

Us. No, I'm kidding.

Yeah.

So, like, go us for choosing the perfect time to join, I guess, and to see, just, like, be here for the excitement and this rejuvenation, not that it really needed that much rejuvenation, but, like, everyone just seems really excited. The people who have been here a long time, the people who are new here, and the people who are involved.

In making it are very excited.

Oh, my God, Oliver is so excited, which I think is really high praise for this, especially this arc, because he's been very vocal about how much he loves the tsunami arc.

So for him to be, like, I don't remember the exact wording, but him saying that these are some of his favorite episodes that he's had done on the show, it's high praise. And you can tell that they're having fun.

Yeah.

And I think that is what's really translating as well because, like, I'm a firm believer of, like, you know, in that kind of, like, trickle down effect.

Like, if the people who are involved in making it, the people at the top are having fun, then it's going to show and it's going to create a better product, and the audience will receive it because they're having fun, too. And I feel. Yeah, I feel like that's what it is. Like, everybody's just having fun and really enjoying everything.

And that's in part because, like, the writing is. Is really good, like, what they get to do, but also just, like, the. Just the vibes. Vibes are great.

The vibes are immaculate.

And we can, like, feel it.

Can feel it coming in the air tonight.

Yes. Well. Which they never used in the episode.

I didn't actually think they were going to, to be honest, because they already did. They did. Would love to hear it again in a very dramatic moment in the show.

I mean, that's just an epic song.

So it's been a while since they used it, I think, so they can get away with it again. Fact that I can't think of the moment that the song is for means they're allowed to use it again. Oh.

Do you want me to tell you or not?

Sure.

Oh, it's.

Isn't it the moment where the kid is taking the joyride in his dad's car and the brakes aren't working, so he has to bump it into the truck or the engine?

Was it the season three opener? Well, not the opener, but in an open.

It was another season three.

Yeah, I think that was in episode one. Yeah. Of three.

So I think what we're going to do is kind of an abbreviated structure of our regular episodes. So if you listen to our season wrap, our season wrap.

So I think we had the season seven rap and the season one rap, we're going to structure it kind of like that. So we'll talk about similarly to our regular episodes, but not as deep divey because we don't know what's going to be happening.

So this is all just kind of like what we know until now, which.

Doesn't get, like, this will be important for down the road or actually profits sometimes.

I mean.

Sometimes we're very good at.

Predicting things, but we can't say for sure.

All I'm gonna say is that anything that I've predicted with supernatural has been always wrong. And then here in 911, I'm just like, oh, yeah, they're proving me right. I feel like a prophet. I feel I've got the power.

We have the power. Fingers on the pulse.

Hmm.

What the pulse is, we can't say. Is it Tim Meiner's brain? Who knows who's cooking?

Sorry. Anyway.

Bobby a. Bob a.

Bob.

Bob.

Bobby.

Blimey. Bob.

Blimey, Bob. God, I can't.

I love that brown. Brad just calls him Bob, just like they're buds. Buddy, buddy.

So Mister Nash is facing the consequences of his own actions in which he resigned and told maturity. Uh huh. And when he wanted to just take.

That back, oopsie, he couldn't.

So we catch up three months after the finale of season seven.

And I don't know if this was, like, a funny ha ha, that the chief did this to him because he knew that he would specifically hate this job and just try to teach him a lesson or if it's just like, he's the only free captain to do it, you know?

I like to think that nobody else wanted to do it.

Well, yeah, I. Maybe it's both.

Like, he may not be the only free one, but he's the only one that, like, fine.

Yeah, well, what else was he gonna do?

Because he didn't want.

Assuming there wasn't another like. And he probably wouldn't even want to be captain of another firehouse.

But anyway, Mister Nash is a technical advisor on a show about firefighters called hotshots. How very meta of them. And he hates it so much. He hates his life. He hates everyone on that set.

He thinks it's so stupid because all of them are doing everything wrong. None of it makes any sense. And, yeah, he's just in his hater era. He is not enjoying himself.

I'm enjoying watching him not enjoy himself because he's so funny when he's bitter.

It is hilarious.

I love seeing Bobby so out of his element, and, I mean, honestly, I feel like this is probably one of the only things that he could have, like, one of the only assignments that he could have or would have been willing to take, that he wouldn't have had to retire for realsies. Because I think he says in the first episode he's still on duty, essentially with the department just in a different capacity.

So he's still a working firefighter and working captain, just not with a fire station at the moment. And we all know that's where he wants to be. And it's just like, it's hell for him. It's hell for everybody else at the 118 and for the director.

Who'S like, literally, I just need you to, like, fix the fire truck props. I don't need you to tell me about dialogue or what would or wouldn't be realistic to be done. This is television.

It's so funny because Bobby goes so smoothly into, like, this is show and tell. Kind of. Kind of like when he's doing the tour. Yeah, like, the tour for the kids. And, like, this is how you're supposed to be doing this.

And, like, just very. This is general safety. This is how you do things. And, like, that is one of the areas that I think he thrives in.

So he just, like, kind of takes that on, and nobody wants it like that because they're like, this is all make believe. It's fake. And he's like, but don't you want it to look real? And the director's like, I don't care. But Brad, the star does care.

Do you know who the only person is on set that is happy? Bobby Nash is there with his expertise.

The almost king of Genovia. Jenovia. The almost king of Genovia.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So Brad.

Oh, Brad. He had to be a Brad.

Brad has so many layers. He already has more personality than other people.

Don't say it.

That we've seen on many more episodes. Anyway.

Not that many.

That's true.

He doesn't even have enough screen time to make up a whole episode. So, I mean.

Anyways, we're gonna stop being shady now.

Never. Anyways, yeah. So, Brad, I'm so sorry. I'm gonna steal Rachel's line. Brad wants that cookie.

He wants that cookie so bad.

He wants that cookie. I don't know if it's because he, like, is literally. He's obsessed with him. He is obsessed with Bobby, which, like, fair.

You know, who wouldn't be?

Who wouldn't be? But, like, we don't know in what capacity he's obsessed yet, but it's. It's crazy town. Like, we don't know what flavor.

We don't know if it's, like, actor trying to go method crazy. If it's, like, wanna, like, steal his life crazy. Wanna wear his skin crazy. Like, we don't.

Any combination thereof.

Yeah, but, you know, it is a Ryan Murphy show, so any of those are possible.

Expect the unexpected.

Mm hmm. Who's that fast?

No, I was like, what if he knows? What if he knows Kim?

Oh, no. How has this not occurred to anyone yet?

I don't know, but put that on the Internet right now. Or actually, maybe don't give Tim my new ideas. He will use any excuse to bring her back.

Which led also, again, fair.

Fair.

But, like.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. He totally could.

No one.

How has no one thought of that?

They went to the same acting school of crazy.

No, shut up.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, they did.

Absolutely. Oh, my God. Brad would have done the same thing.

Oh, my God. Kim was the soft launch.

What?

I said Kim was the soft launch.

Oh, my God. Wait a second. No, because they're both like, they want to go method, so, like, so quickly right off the bat. Like, it's a little.

It's creepy how quickly she went from being like, wow, norm, you never actually cared about me. And, you know, and we were like, oh, she really handled that well. Like, we wouldn't have reacted that well.

And then she came back with all that crazy so quickly. Like, was she really upset, or was she already planning in her head that she needed to go dye her hair, buy an outfit?

I don't think so. I think it occurred afterwards being like, I sense a costume opportunity.

It doesn't matter how long it took. It's the fact that, like, she went, yeah, that's a good idea. And then followed it through with multiple steps. And Brad would be doing the same thing.

I don't know what the equivalent would be.

I mean, he's already hopped in the fire engine that they stole from said because he was. He left set. Their workday wasn't done. He went m. I. A. He fully just, like, bounced off set.

And all of the pas are probably gonna be like, anybody got an eye on Brad? Anyone? Is he in his trailer? And everyone's just gonna be like, where's Bradley? He's just like, out here.

Mister number one on the call sheet. Where is he?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Is he an executive producer?

I don't think he has that much pull yet. If he's that Angie on the phone talking to someone. But that whatever.

That was suspicious. Yeah, very suspicious.

That's suspicious.

Oh, man.

But I. Yeah, this turned into Brad. But we're trying to talk about Bobby. But, like, we are.

But here's the thing with Brad. It is so enjoyable already. I can't wait to see what fucking crazy path they take with him. Cause it's gonna be bonkers. Incredibly entertaining.

No matter what, it's gonna be bonkers. And I hope they go as crazy as possible with it. Sorry, Bobby. I know you've been through a lot lately.

I just think that this is too funny of an opportunity to pass on.

No, I enjoy a grumpy Bobby who's just, like, done with the world already. Cause, like, what? Brad just gets into the fire, into the fire engine, and he's just like, you know, whatever. Whatever the fuck.

It's like, throws death. All right, I don't got time for this.

The Bobby we know a civilian getting in a. A fire truck where he's gonna, like, go to a very, like, bonkers emergency. He would have been like, you need to get out or your own safety.

But he was like, I literally don't care if this guy dies.

No, it's literally Bobby mister safety. Because he was instructing them on set of how to do all that stuff safely and correctly, if not, like, you know, entertaining.

And he's just out here just like, you know what? Whatever. Whatever. Brad, come on.

He has no fucks to give and he has no time to deal with Brad's bullshit.

He's so over it. And, I mean, I know, especially because of the circumstances where he was just like, I don't have time to argue with this right now.

But also, like, the Bobby we know would also have been like, no, absolutely not. You're in time out. Yeah. And that's hilarious. So I am curious what that's going to, like, do for the Bobby, Brad.

The brabby relationship we're not going to name.

We don't want to name it. I don't.

Two ladies out there.

I hate it. Okay. Anyway, so, yeah, other than his new job that he hates and despises, Bobby is once again getting the number one husband award.

So he's gonna win that shit every year.

Most romantic gesture ever. Ever.

Should have kissed the plane.

You should have said.

I tweeted that. I was like, he should have just, like, went on the nose of the plane and then on Athena because he was that close. Talk about grand gestures.

Like, what's more grand than shutting down the LA freeway for your wife to emergency land a plane as a civilian?

Stole a fire truck.

He stole a fire truck. He illegally halted traffic.

I was just gonna say, like, there ain't no man can. Ain't no man can compare to Mister Bobby Nash. No man can compare.

And then was just, like, halting the plane with the power of his love with his hands up. Like that was gonna do anything. And it just.

But it was more like, okay, now hark it slowly, like, okay, you're telling the plane, like, whatever.

So good as him having, like, total faith and confidence in Athena to do it in the space she was given so that she wouldn't hurt anyone, especially him. And he has every reason to put that kind of faith in her because it's fucking Athena, of course. It's just, I love. I love mom and dad.

I love how he immediately was like, of course my wife is on that. And of course she's fucking flying the plane. Oh, my son is here.

We're gonna steal a fire truck and take a note out of your book, and we're gonna do that. We're not gonna talk about it. And he just.

He.

It's not even like he goes the extra mile. It's like he goes the extra marathon. Like he is doing. He's doing everything and anything. And it was like, try harder to get right.

Cause, like, maddie was like, she knows that, like, you love her, and, like, it's fine. And he was like, that's not good enough.

Yeah. He was like, not gonna take no. He was not gonna take any of this lying down. He was not gonna take no for an answer.

He was going to do whatever was in his power and, like, far beyond it to be able to get Athena back safely. Yes.

Which it just, like, I think that's a beautiful way to illustrate their bond in their marriage, how much they really just love each other and need each other. And he was like, I will literally move mountains for you. He said when he was on the phone with her, he was like, what do you need from me?

What do you need?

And, like, isn't that just kind of one of the core pillars of, like, a. Like, a significant other relationship in 911? It's when, you know, someone is, like, at their worst or something, or.

And the other person just is in it with them.

My God, Rachel, I'm sorry.

It's Bobby's own words, and he's just like, what do you need from me? I'm here for you. I'm going to do whatever. Whatever is even far exceeds my capabilities of doing. And it worked. The power of love.

Oh, yeah save the day. Power of love. Save the day.

Yeah. And I can't remember the exact quotes, but, you know, basically, when it comes to the people he loves, especially, like, a certain.

To a certain extent on the job, he. He is like this where he doesn't believe in no win scenarios.

He is a little bit more pragmatic, like, on the job for the most part, except for if it's something that hits him kind of personally, but when it comes to his people, it's like, there's not an option where ends of the earth. Yeah.

And over the edge.

Exactly. To fail is not an option. Right. And he's so certain of it that he makes the people around him feel certain of it, too.

You know, she says, I love you, and he doesn't say, I love you back. He says, tell it to my face. Like, he.

That's so amazing.

I see you. And she says, I see you, too.

God. Oh, my God. The. I see you on the highway. Where have we seen that before I tweeted that earlier, too, that.

Well, I guess we're gonna get into it with parallels right before I even just say it.

Okay.

But crazy, crazy.

Han, you were talking about.

You were just mentioning how when it's Bobby's people, the people that he loves in these kind of mortal peril situations, and he just is so steadfast. It's because his faith is in his people, and we've seen that kind of. I mean, he has, like, the religious faith, and I think that plays a part of it.

But even from, I think, as far back as season two, because we've been rewatching it where, like, his religious faith was kind of taking a little bit more of a backseat, and he was like. And he was healing. He's growing. Like, he. His faith is in his people, the people he loves, his family.

Can I expand on that a little bit?

Yes.

Okay. So I just made myself emotional.

Oh, great.

So, like, he obviously has. His religious faith is very important to him. Like, he is practicing Catholic and isn't just, like, in it for the motions, for the ceremony of it.

Like, he. He truly believes and he feels like he has a relationship, a connection to God.

But we see him start to, over this series, open up and let these people in, and these people saved him.

So do you think that he has such unwavering faith in them that kind of matches a religious faith because he believes that God put these people in his life to save him?

I think that's the connection that I didn't see but was kind of, like, alluding to in some way. Like, I hadn't gotten there yet, but that just clicks into place, really. So it's not.

I mean, it's, like, layered. Like, of course he has faith in these people. He loves them, and he knows them.

It's part of his religion because.

Right. But it's part of his religion because.

Of, like, God put them in his path.

Yeah. And how, like, literally, he wouldn't be on this earth anymore without these people.

No. That's emotional. Yeah. I feel like his faith in his loved ones is as strong and so inextricably tied to his religious faith.

And I think it's for that reason because, I mean, doesn't he have we really. Have we ever really gotten into whether Bobby believes in, like, fate and destiny sort of thing so much?

He always stays quiet during these conversations.

I think from my understanding with the catholic faith, faith, they don't really put and put any of that weight into, like, anything that's outside of the actual religion. So I don't know if that's why he stays quiet I about that kind of stuff. If anything, he's just like, higher power.

The higher power is God and whatever.

So relates it to that.

Like, more like this is part of God's plan sort of thing, as opposed to, like, this other.

He doesn't say it in episodes like that, but I feel like that's kind of the implication.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. So, like, as opposed to thinking of, like, destiny as this, like, separate primordial entity. Wait, at the end.

At the end of when Brad was helping out with the emergency and all, were you hearing like, all his little clips that he was making, helping the people off the slide? He's like, he's like, you're alive. And the lady with the dog was like, I love doggies.

It's just like, like he was getting.

So into the role until. Until the little, like, volleyball captain Washington, like, what do you think of this? And he was like, um.

To be honest, I would have also probably.

Absolutely. That was gnarly gruesome in a very effective way.

Yep.

This is why I'm not a doctor or a nurse.

Right.

Or anything in the medical profession.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, there's actually probably the biggest one.

Cures everything.

Would be the biggest hurdle. Speaking of people who are doing jobs.

That doesn't fit their job description.

Mesothina, stop using transportation.

Any mode of transportation.

Just don't leave the house.

Girl, she can drive her patrol car, get burned down.

She doesn't have a house. Rude Cill.

Well, just stay where you're staying.

She just needs to stay in her patrol in place. That is her only, like, safety net in her patrol car. Cause she's exhausting water travel with cruises. Planes are a no go for her anymore.

We seen her on a bus.

No, but I think we've seen too many buses having accidents. Like the mudslide one.

You're absolutely listening to this. I did not say bus.

Yeah, and they're not going to do train again.

I don't know. They did. Plane again.

Gone.

Oh, shit.

And we weren't in the train for the accident.

Athena just needs to figure out how to.

She just needs to learn how to operate and everything will be so much.

If anyone could figure it out, it's her.

As a safety hazard to herself, I think she's better just avoiding all modes of transportation and just like, apparating, teleporting wherever she needs to be. And that's it. Yep, that's it. No more. Cause like, if you were her, would you ever want to go on a ship or plane or anything like that?

No. And she even said, like, while she was trying to land it, she was like, what about a water landing?

And they were like, uh, yeah, but, like, wrong direction. Right? And she was like, fine. I was already in the Pacific. I wasn't itching to go back.

Yes, but before she saves the day, and literally, like, so many people on the plane and potentially on the ground as well, kind of where we see her at the. At the very beginning is she's. She's been hand picked and requested by Dennis Jenkins, who was the.

The person that killed her fiance, Emmett, way back when. I forget if it was the eighties or the nineties. I feel like it was. It doesn't matter.

Like, it was late eighties, whatever unimportant.

Just said back in the day.

Back in the day.

Back in the day, back in the day.

And we see all of these emotions and this kind of, like, grief and trauma, of course, pop up for her and this anger.

Anger that she's never really been able to let go about the whole situation because this guy had gone without being caught for, like, 30 something years, and she was finally the one to track him down. And.

And while he was, like, he seemed remorseful, it was never going to equal justice in her eyes, because I think, as she says, he got to live the life that Emmett didn't get a chance to because of Dennis's actions. So she has a chip on her shoulder from the get go, and there's also. And not even two.

Start with the plot about him having a deal, and so he's getting out of jail, and that's why that whole thing. It's a little bit of, I think, narrative device to get Athena on the plane.

But I did think it was really interesting, and I thought it's kind of a great call back to bring him back and have her deal with this while also dealing with the plane emergency. So it just puts from these first three episodes, it puts Athena in a very uncomfortable place. Like, nothing about any of this is. She feels good with.

This is not her usual beat. She doesn't know how to fly a plane. This is a crazy emergency.

And, yeah, so Athena's just trying to mind her own goddamn business, but apparently she is doomed to have her past come back to haunt her.

Is it doomed by the narrative or something? I don't know.

Maybe, but I wouldn't really call it doomed because it's like when we saw this kind of very similar thing happen when she went home to help her parents. And that whole thing, the trauma from her. Well, it wasn't really trauma. It was just, like, the reason that she became a police officer. Right.

Which is kind of like a final do it myself, which is also kind.

Of what happened with her tracking down Dennis in the first place.

Exactly. Yeah.

Like, she's solving her own.

Right. But, like. But that whole thing, you know, it gave her closure. It made her come full circle.

And I feel like this situation was able to do that for her, too. But, like, obviously, she's not able to see that until she. Too close to it, went through it. Yeah. And she.

You know, if they hadn't been in a plane emergency and she hadn't been, like, facing her own mortality and, like, you know, seeing her life flash before her eyes and having to deal with him in a situation where she had to see more of him as a person instead of just this monolith of a murderer that she had in her head that then at the end, she's able to get to that point where she can work through it, let go of her anger. But if that hadn't happened, I don't think so, because he was like, I won't do this unless I have your blessing. And she was just like, fuck you.

Yeah.

I think the whole scenario, and one of the things I really did love about the three episodes or Athena's storyline in the three episodes is, like, Athena's and Dennis's kind of, like, reticent partnership that they had to develop out of necessity. She obviously has so much ire focused in his direction, and she has never been able to let that go.

But they were forced, even from when the dirty fake cop was starting to pull them over in Arizona. Like, they. Out of necessity, they had to develop a bond of trust, like some sort of trust very quickly in order to survive.

So it was a little bit of a survival tactic, but you also see that trust growing a little bit when they get to the airport and she takes the handcuffs off of him, you know, when she leaves him in the cabin and she goes up to the cockpit, but she's seeing that, like, he's helping the other people in the plane. So, like, there. There is, like, this trust. And I love the. I think one of my favorite parts is the back and forth. When is it?

Is it in the first or second episode?

It's hard to tell now when Athena is on the phone with ATC, with air traffic control, and they're telling her, like, she's gonna land the plane and Dennis comes up to the cockpit, and Athena relays that to him, and he's like, mm hmm.

That's two. Because I think we don't see a lot of the plane in one. Like, that was the cliffhanger was like, you know, the b small plane collision, right?

Mhm.

So I thought, like, that rapport that they were able to build was kind of fantastic and humorous in such a, you know, stressful situation, but they were able to kind of, like, lean on each other when they needed to because they didn't have anyone else. And, like, Athena couldn't get into contact with Bobby yet. So I thought. Long winded answer. I think you're right.

If they didn't have all of that that they went through, she would not have been able to get this closure that I think she so desperately needed, which isn't that kind of what Bobby got with Amir from last season, too.

So I feel like to kind of put, like, bring Bobby and Athenae into the conversation as a unit together, I feel like this is doing a lot to help both of them kind of start anew, and in ways that makes them stronger together because they're also being able to help them with these last from the past sort of thing and get that closure and be there for each other while they get that closure.

It also just makes you a better partner when you have less things that are weighing you down. So, like, for Bobby, it was his guilt. Right. And for Athena is her anger.

What's her anger?

I feel like, are there a default negative emotion? Mm hmm.

And it's interesting. I think it'll be interesting to see how they operate a little more now that they've left. They've checked their baggage, shall we say.

I had to fit one in there somewhere.

That was pretty good.

Thank you.

It was good.

So, yeah, I'm interested to see what other kind of storylines they get this season, because we did talk about in our season seven wrap that we never really get anywhere with their own relationship issues, that I don't know if there's actually an issue, but I'm interested to see if that comes back up.

I'm also interested in seeing their storylines together, what's in store for them, because now we've concluded Athena's arc and, like, seeing that blast, we've concluded that whole storyline with Dennis. So I'm not really. I'm just interested in seeing what's gonna happen for her.

I don't know if she's still gonna have another tuffle with federal agents again. But then there's but then there's also. They're still house hunting, and we still don't know about that weird, random lady that was just in there.

Burned house. Like, what the fuck was that? Like, why are you just standing in the names of a burnt house?

Like, I don't understand about that, to be honest. We can talk about that more with, like. Yeah, our.

Yeah. Um, looking. This is just your. It feels like not enough to say this, but is your standard. Just Athena being the most competent person in the world.

She also doesn't even know what she's doing.

Right. And it isn't even like a things just work out for her luck kind of way.

It's just that, you know, even when she doesn't know what she's doing, she figures it out, right? Like, she is using the resources around her. She is finding resources that aren't around her by calling people. Like, she is making it work.

And in a similar way, but not exactly the same way as Bobby, she also doesn't believe in no win scenarios. But for her, it's not like a belief. It's like.

It doesn't. No one's scenarios just don't happen around.

Her because she's just too smart. She's too good for that to happen. Right. Especially when it's like a on the job thing. Right. As opposed to, like, a personal life thing.

Like, she doesn't have to believe in it because she just knows she's faith in herself. Yeah, that's it. And it's also, like, for just the three episodes, Athena has the most complete arc.

I mean, like, if we're going to talk, you know, with 911, characters tend to have, like, these little mini arcs that the episodes are focused on, you know, a couple of them at a time. This is absolutely Athena's complete arc or first complete arc of the season. And it's nice to have that come full circle.

But then it is interesting where it leaves off because it's kind of open ended, then could go anywhere.

It's also really interesting because I think this is the most out of her element and kind of shaken and not confident we've seen her look in an emergency scenario.

I wanted to talk about that, too.

Like, even on the cruise ship, she was not. I don't think she was this nervous. And I think it's because Bobby was there too, maybe, right?

Yeah. Well, I think. Yes, because so much of, like, the first two episodes here was Athena trying to get ahold of Bobby, and, like, she was.

Like she was reaching out for her stability, which is Bobby and he wasn't there. So she kind of had to fly blind a little bit, I guess. Pardon the pun.

Again, don't pardon it forever, but, yeah, it's like she was kind of missing her right hand, whereas with the cruise ship arc, they were both there so they could lean on each other a little bit. And I feel like.

I don't know if I should say this now or in the parallel stuff, but I feel like in the Bobby Athena centric disasters, this one with season eight is more effective in building their relationship stronger than the cruise ship arc was, which I think that's what it was intended to do, but for so many reasons, I don't think it was as successful. So I'm kind of glad that. That they were able to try it again in a way that I think so far. And this may also be because of where Bobby and Athena are.

Just, like, in general, after where they left off with seven because they lost their house, Bobby had come to, you know, come to terms with Amir and the guilt thing. And so I feel like.

And now that Athena has put to bed her anger over Dennis and Emmett, I feel like they are more on, like, equal footing than they ever had been before. And I feel like that will make their foundation even stronger, which we're already seeing in the episode. In these three episodes, they need a.

Foundation for a new house.

So that too.

Such a low foundations.

Love that Bethena foundation.

Yeah. So I do feel like this.

Like the plane emergency is more effective in general, but also because of where they left off with seven, that it just, like, it's going to make their relationship even stronger. And I'm excited for that.

Agree.

I did want to talk about, I guess, how she didn't seem as confident on that plane.

Oh, yeah.

As well. So, yeah, I mean, Bobby is not there, but also, you're in a.

You're in a plane.

You're in a plane with, like, two holes in it. The captain's gone, the co pilot's unconscious, and your main resource is a child.

Yeah.

She does use her resources well, though.

Yeah.

Oh, my God. No, I mean, the.

The show of, like, reCilience to just get through the day and, like, try to land that plane, and it's just such an impossible situation that I. I don't even blame her for looking so unsure. It's a fucking plane.

She does not have buttons.

That's crazy. So many.

But that's overwhelming. I would. I would press one button and we'd all die.

Right.

The amount of times that, like, that she was pretty confident in just going for it. I think there were only, like, one or two times that I remember her being like, the what?

You know, but she was just following their directions, and then it, you know, was doing successfully. She successfully, or was like, gem, I need your help. But, like, I would have just been like, I don't want to touch anything.

Mm hmm.

Gem. Too many buttons, right?

Do not press the red button.

Yeah.

Too many things could go wrong, but also, like, what more could go wrong?

Yeah.

Oh, my God. The line that she has. So, like, you know when Gemma's like, oh, every single time I'm trying to land in the simulation, I crash.

And she's like, well, this is real life.

This is not a simulation.

Like, that doesn't help. Like, how does that help? Staring at her, girl?

It sounded different in my head. Like, oh, my God, it was so funny because we're so used to hearing Athena, you know, with authority. With authority. And, like, the motherly.

She is mom to dad for a reason. Like, they just have that parental, like, the good nurturing, like, cheer you on, give you the confidence, parental energy.

They've got their shit together, so you look to them for advice.

So that line is one of the reasons that I was like, this was the most shaken I've ever seen her in emergency because she was like, yeah, I don't know, man. Is that a different.

Yeah, I think that was, like, the first time that was ever recognized that, like, Athena has an inner monologue and she's not just like, you know, it is what it is. Like, she has to. Sometimes she has to think things out beforehand and it doesn't always come across great.

Yeah, it was funny.

I also just loved the whole mini arc we get with her and gem and, like, we didn't record our reaction for three, but, like, at the end of it, when they're. When, you know, there were the two parts where I'm not crying, there's an eyelash in my eye. Like, for real.

The two parts where she was trying to encourage him. Like, I know your mother's watching over you, and was trying to encourage him before they landed the plane and then after they did.

And she's like, your mother would be so proud of you. Now go and hug your dad. And he comes and hugs her. And it was so sweet. We were dying, and we were like, can she get visitation rights?

I know.

Oh, my God. Yeah.

Like, it was just. It was just so sweet and, like, I just. She's just so good with kids, and I don't know, it was just. We'll talk about it later.

She was so mad.

But I don't know, it was just so sweet because it was like, he hasn't had a mom for, what was it, a year?

Yeah, I think so.

So and then he has this very badass, motherly woman, you know, giving him the confidence to do these very scary thing and then tells them, you know, you did an amazing job and your mom would be proud of you. And he smiles. It's like the first time you see him smile the entire episode. For the entire episodes, I think, which.

Also, for, like, a nine or ten year old, we're assuming he's like, nine or ten. This has got to be, like, one of the scariest situations. This has to.

Well, I mean, his mother passed away, so, like, maybe nothing really, like everything kind of Palestine.

Nothing really is going to compare to that.

But, like, this is scary in a different way a little bit.

To a kid, you kind of feel invincible, so maybe not as scary. And because he did the flight simulation so many times, it was like, it's just like the simulation, right.

So I feel like there's like a suspension of disbelief almost. That's like, reality to him to a certain point, I think.

And I think when he realizes that it's real and like, oh, my God, I could crash, that's when he's like. Then that's the first time we see the actual, like you figure that you would expect.

Yeah. Well, I think we kind of talked about this in our, one of our early season two episodes with the earthquake.

I think it was 202, when we were talking about the reCiliency of kids and depending on how young they are, how much they're able to really grasp this situation. I feel like this.

Yeah, that was to.

Maybe this is more of a parallel, but I feel like that ties in. And also they need to give baby pilot gem a full ride to any pilot school that he ever wants to go to. Give him a medal.

He probably won't ever want to play any plane games again. But he.

No, that's a special interest. Absolutely. Two comments. One is someone tweeted, we better see him back in season 20 something of 911 as a pilot. And I was like, absolutely.

And then the second one is when this has been said a million times on the Internet. But, like, I. We also said it before we were on the Internet watching the first episode, the power of autism saved all those people.

The power of neurodivergency. Right. You know, we meet this kid, and then he's like, oh, I know, the flight simulator? And we were like, oh, I know.

Everything about this kind of plane.

Yeah, he knew everything about it. Just the power of neurodivergency and your special interests.

I think I saw a tweet. Someone said, like, the back to school icebreaker is going to go crazy for. Like, his back to school icebreaker is going to be crazy.

What'd you do this summer, Gem?

Oh, you saw the plane on the news.

Yeah, I did that. Probably like how Christopher's Washington after the tsunami.

Probably what Christopher's is now, too.

Oh, my God. I wonder what the chat with his friends looks like. Sorry, can't hang out. Had to flee the state. Love, jem.

Go, Gem.

Bring jem back. I'm so serious. I love him. I don't think they even were from LA.

Right, because they were flying from Arizona with a layover in LA to Hawaii or whatever.

That's a mystery. It doesn't.

That's not up to us. Like, where he's from or how he gets to LA again, but you should just bring him back. I love that kid. He was great.

When I was watching the episode today, I cried. I didn't cry with you guys, but I cried when I cried by myself in my room.

I was like, oh, I'm so sick.

Yeah.

Anyway, wait, which part?

When he. When he hugged her.

When he hugs. Yeah. I teared up when we watched it. And I teared up again today.

I was like, do not cry. Conceal, don't feel.

Don't let them know we weren't even on video, Cilly.

No.

No, but you can hear the hitch. But you can hear the hitch.

You can hear it in the voice of.

You can hear in the voice. That's how they know.

Like, the warbly voice.

I'm like.

You know.

I'm not crying, but just. Oh, my God. Incredible fucking arc for Athena. Eleven out of ten, no notes. So glad that she had gem there for her support.

Was way more useful than Bobby would have been, because Bobby, I'm assuming, also doesn't know how to fly planes.

No, but he gave her a Runway.

He did. That's true.

He gave her a Runway.

Helpful in different ways, but, yeah, I feel like they would have crashed if they didn't have Jim, so.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Somebody needs to put the power of love and autism on a shirt. Just gonna say that.

We can do that. The power of love and autism, The Buddie System trademark. It is the power of love and autism and ADHd. It's. You know, it's the power of.

I just keep thinking of like, what is that? Is it Huey Lewis and the news?

Yeah. That's the power of love.

Yeah. That's what I just keep thinking of.

I was trying to think of what movie that's famously from in the eighties.

Back to the future.

Thank you, Jesus. Okay.

When I think of Huey Lewis in the news, I think of back to the future.

I haven't rewatched those in a really long time, and I'm betting that Sil has never seen them. So we should add them to our list.

The list that we don't look at.

Yeah. Yeah.

The invisible list is growing. We gotta put wizard of Oz on there, too.

We gotta watch that before next week. This episode. That's.

That's an easy watch. So we talked about mom, we talked about dad. Now we're gonna talk about son.

We're gonna talk about their oldest. Their oldest son. Oh, season eight. Buck, the man that you are angry. Buck is back. We're winning so hard.

Buck's going through it to the amusement.

Of everyone, everybody around him. Yes. So we're seeing a little bit, I don't want to call it a reversion so much as, like, a resurgence of his issues with authority. Yeah.

Like, resurfacing resurgence. And I think the reason that we don't really see him have issues with authority with Bobby is because.

Anymore is because Bobby pretty much lets Buck do Buck. Right. And Buck will defy orders, and most of the time, he doesn't even get a talking to unless it was like, hey, really bad, really fucking stupid.

Because it's understood that Buck does Buck right, because he has the best intentions.

Yes.

But there's also. He and Bobby have developed so much respect that so much respect for each.

Other is the key for Buck and his authority issues. It isn't just like he doesn't like people telling him what to do. He doesn't like people telling him what to do if he doesn't respect them.

Because if he.

How is he supposed to put his faith in you to lead him if he doesn't believe in you, if he doesn't respect you, if he doesn't think that you're going to make the right calls?

We see so often when Buck kind of clashes with someone, not necessarily a person of authority, but just kind of anyone. This kind of includes Eddie, too. He clashes until something breaks through the surface. That's some sort of respect level, right? That's.

That's given to him. So then therefore, he gives it back. We see that with Bobby. We see that with Eddie. You know, like, he's yeah, he.

So.

And then he turns, like, 180 and is totally fine with everything, like. Like nothing ever happened.

So it's like he wants to be able to have someone to look up to and have someone to, like, help guide him a little bit of, or mold him, you know, whatever kind of metaphor you want to work with there, or literally just lead him towards bettering himself professionally or personally or both.

But if he's not given the opportunity to invest in respect towards that person and they don't reciprocate or vice versa, he's going to brush up against them because he's yearning for it. He wants that so bad. He wants to have that kind of. That just respect level.

It's also because with the respect comes. So Buck wants to do the right thing. He wants to do the right thing.

And if he doesn't have respect for the people who are supposed to be authorities to do the right thing, forget it.

How can he trust them?

Yes, there's also this butting heads where it's this dichotomy.

Budding antlers.

You mean this dichotomy of butting antlers.

I was wondering with how he has.

The issues with authority. Because he doesn't have what?

He has these issues with Gerard, because he doesn't respect him or believe in him or think that he has good intentions to do what is right. But he also. He needs claps to survive. He needs validation, and he is getting none of it. So he is dying. He is angry. He is adrift at sea.

He is shriveling up. His light is going out. There's no pixie dust.

Tinkerbell.

Right?

Because when we see him, every time we see him go up against Gerard, it's kind of like that duo thing where it's like Buck is gonna still go do his own thing because he's like, um, well, I'm gonna do what's right, so I'm not gonna listen to you telling me not to do that. Because if I do what you say, people are going to die.

And he feels what's right so intrinsically to him that he knows that it's like he can't just, like, not act.

Exactly.

It's an impulse, right?

But then when it's like, when he's done that thing, he feels proud of himself, right? Because he's safe. Because, like, he did. He did a thing. He had the idea. The idea worked. He saved the people. And then it's like Bobby.

Even when Bobby would, like, you know, reprimand him, he would still say, like, good job. Right.

There's no positive reinforcement. Even if he goes against. Even if he goes against orders. And, like, you know, like those compliment sandwiches like that. Washington.

It could have been so easy. Like, that was great ingenuity you had. However you went over. What was it? You went over?

My orders, my command.

So there's no positive reinforcement for him to latch onto.

And you see him at the end of every call during be NATO, standing there, like, waiting for his flowers. Right. Like, he's waiting for his confidence.

So happy.

Right.

Where it's like, every time with Bobby, where it's like, well, he wouldn't do what Bobby would say, but then he would do a good thing, and then he would get a good job. Right. He would get a pat on the head. Good boy. So he's not getting any of that. So he is going through emotional turmoil on several worse.

It's even worse because I think Gerard just takes credit. Credit for his ideas, too. Yeah. So it's like he's. It's just so much worse. It's. It's just bad for him.

He's just gonna say he's. He feels like he's being put in the doghouse. If he wants little pet pats, he's.

Just, like, he's left out in the rain.

Mm hmm.

Yeah.

And you mentioned ingenuity, Rachel, and that is, like, another point that I had, which is a big thing for book, which is that his ingenuity is being stifled. Right. And that ties into, like, him doing the right thing. Right.

But a lot of the time, why Bobby and anyone else on the team will listen to him or let him do whatever he's going to do is because they know that he's going to have ideas that other people won't have. He thinks differently. He thinks outside the box. He also knows, like, a million random fucking facts about things.

So, you know, it's faster to just let him do the thing or listen to him instead of, like, trying for him to try to explain the plan and, you know, like, time is of the essence and what they're doing always. So he gets to be. He gets to do. Use so many of his Wikipedia knowledge.

Well, yeah, I was just gonna say he gets to use so many things that make him so great on his job, and his ingenuity and how he thinks differently is one of those things, and that is being stifled.

So it's like, all of these things that make him good at his job, make him feel good about his job, make him enjoy his job are not happening right now. So.

And isn't that why he, like, in the first episode, he's like, I've made a decision. We're all gonna quit because, like, he's up to. He's up to with that.

And, of course, that's not actually going to solve anything, but it's also for him.

He has this black and white thinking because of this what's right, what's wrong, how he's really driven to do the right thing. He has that black and white thinking. So to him, it's like, gerard is a piece of shit. He's treating them terribly, like they should quit.

And then that's like, Bobby will come back, and that'll, you know, I know that he logically knows that that's not a thing that actually is gonna happen, but, you know, he's ruminating on, like, how. Cause he can't. He physically, mentally, spiritually, just feels like he can't do it anymore because he is. So. It's been three months of this.

I'm so impressed that it's been three months and he hasn't been fired or he hasn't tackled him to the ground before now. Honestly, it's pretty impressive.

Is hanging by a thread, and I think the only things keeping him tethered are literally Eddie Chimney and hen.

Yeah, 100%.

Because he doesn't have Bobby. Who knows? We don't really see how much they've been in contact or, like, at the beginning or anything like that.

And I have a feeling it's probably not a lot, because Buck has felt so betrayed about Bobby putting in for retirement and not telling anyone, especially Buck.

So I feel like he's probably icing him out a little bit or just stewing in the hurt about that, which doesn't make anything better with his situation of having to deal with Gerard. So it's like his.

Like, his only things keeping him afloat right now are the rest of the core four at the 118 and probably Maddie, but we haven't really seen them interact.

Besides, on the phone, it's definitely not his. Are we calling him his boyfriend? The guy he. It's definitely not the guy he's dating. Who. When he tries to complain.

Oh, complain about that.

When he tries to complain. Right. About his job, rightfully so. I'd be bitching about that shit every day. Are you kidding me? How else are you getting through that?

Right?

You're telling me your boss took credit for your successful idea that he punished you for, the superiors that he punished you for, and you're not gonna get, like, all up in arms about it.

And you're gonna laugh.

Your partner.

That sounds like Gerard.

The person that you're seeing to look at, to potentially grow a relationship with, isn't as infuriated as you about that. How are you even going to. Sorry, this is going into tommy stuff, but how are you even going to.

Well, I mean, we're doing so okay. To me, it's like, it's not necessarily that you're. That the person you're seeing whatever has to get on your anger level.

It's just that they need to support you in some way.

So that's what I was trying to.

It's not even that.

He's, like, offering some kind of, like, advice on how he could, like, deal with it or get through it or, you know, it's not even like he's saying things like. Like, Eddie, chim and Henn are where.

It's like, you know, we kind of just kind of have to keep our heads down because we'll get through this, but there's nothing we can really do right now, and acting out is only going to end badly for all of us. There's nothing. There's no support. It's just a. That sounds like him. Lol. Are you kidding me?

It's dismissive. Like, that sounds like Girard. Whereas.

Whereas, like, what Eddie Chimney and Hen say is more, like, constructive in a way, to just kind of, like, this is how you get by, and because this is how we're getting by, and we can, like, do this together, which is inherently like, that support because they were like, let's band together and just, like, you know, put our heads down and get through this. Whereas what Tommy says is more dismissive and, like, doesn't even like what I was saying.

Like, he doesn't have to, like, get angry about it, but he has to understand Buck's point of view and understand that.

Validate his way or another.

And so far, we have not seen that.

Nope.

No. In the literally laughing them off minutes that he's been on screen in the first three episodes. Sorry.

And then doing sexualized that a joke.

The last time we saw him on screen together, he was also laughing off. That fucks emotions.

The Gerard thing. Yeah.

Well, no, he was.

No. The Bobby in the hospital.

Yeah. He's talking about how his person that he sees as his father almost died. Right. And he's laughing that off, making daddy jokes, like time and place.

It's not even the weirdly time sexualized jokes about that. It is the dismissing and not validating of Buck's feelings and emotions. That is becoming a pattern with this relationship.

Not that we've seen that much of it.

I'm just gonna call them dating because I don't think that they've called.

I don't think so either.

I don't think any of the articles have called him his boyfriend, just that they're dating. So that's what I don't think Oliver.

Has called it his boyfriend.

No. No. Well, he's not.

He's not gonna.

No.

He's like, nope.

Are you kidding me? The what now?

The what now?

Just the only official thing we've heard from him.

So it is the only official thing we've heard from him about it.

But, yeah, it's just like in any relationship, like, bare minimum is validating your partner's emotions, no matter what your action is after that, even if you're just going to listen so they can vent, you're going to give them advice. If you're going to get angry with them, whatever you do after that, the bare minimum is you validate their emotions.

Because no matter what those emotions are, they are valid.

Yep.

And so when you are venting to someone, when you're talking to someone about your emotions out loud, they should be validated by your friend, by your family, by your partner. Absolutely.

So even if it's as little as, like, a dang, that sucks.

Dang, that sucks. Yeah.

And that's absolutely not the right thing for them to do. There was none of that. It was just like.

Yep.

Sounds like Gerard.

So just a long winded way to say that he's not getting support from anyone except for Eddie. Chim and hen. And, like, we do hear the verbal, you know, they listen to his emotions.

They're nodding along because they're feeling all these things, too. And then it's, you know, this is the reality of the situation. This is how we get through this.

But then you also see them supporting him on the jobs when they. Eddie just goes along with his ideas because Eddie knows that Buck knows everything about beats. So.

And they're having, you know, having a good time with him, trying to keep levity. Like, there's still support, there's still friendship. It's not like everything is doom and gloom and it's just keep your head down, don't talk.

It wasn't that kind of situation.

Right. It was a let's stick this out together.

Yes.

And be like a united front in that way. Yeah. And I think that's, like, what they were trying to do with that.

Well, that's what we see them do the whole episode. And Buck is doing pretty. Pretty well. I mean, like, as well as I could expect Buck to be doing in that situation.

But then my dude has some sort of fucking, like, overstimulation station.

Oh, my God.

Sensation situation. Wow. I could keep going.

Wait, that was so great.

He is emotionally burnt the fuck out, right?

Yeah.

So he's already emotionally overstimulated.

He's just mentally in. Not a great stimulus.

He's mentally overstimulated. So we already saw at the beginning of that first episode, he was hanging on, like you said, by a thread. So it's the overstimulation of emotionally.

And then he has overstimulation of the noise that's happening, which they bring up before that whole thing starts, right where.

It'S, like his ears are, like, multiple times perking.

Like, oh, my God, does that noise ever fucking stop? Yeah. Only to bring out this other thing. Oh, my God. It's so fucking good the way they do it. That whole scene was so good. It was so, so good.

And it really was. And everyone was comparing it to a spidey sense thing where it's zooming in because Spider man gets overstimulated and so does daredevil.

It's very a superhero with those extra senses to have that kind of moment where they're, like, they have too much input.

Yeah.

Too much info dialed in, too healthily put. Like, have an output. So just bubbling and bubbling.

And it's gonna. It's gonna boil over at some point.

Then you hear Gerard's, you know, like, berating. Berating him down. And it's all this shit that, like, we know that buck already has that kind of negative self talk, and now.

It'S in Gerard's voice.

Yes. And now it's in Gerard's voice. You know, he decides I'm gonna commit some murder. No, just some light elder abuse. Like, I understand why they did it.

Cause, like, they had to do the whole, like, oh, my God, was I trying to hurt him or save him? I thought it was interesting if you take that out of it, like, why he tackled him instead of punching him.

And I think it really was just, like, I feel like more thought has to go into a punch, right? Like, to, like, have a correct form and, like, where you're gonna punch him and how much force to put behind your arm.

Like, I feel like that's more thought. And it really was. He was just so fucking overstimulated, so done that he literally just, like, exploded.

It just allowed him to shut up.

That came in the form of a tackle. Yeah, because that's kind of, like, the closest form. Like, physically aggressively, I think you can come to an explosion. Right? Like, you just.

Your whole body tackles someone.

Yeah, because I think, like, with. With a punch, like, if even. Even if that's, like, a more instinctual thing, like, all of that energy has to.

Has to be, like, siphoned into just, like, one point of contact, whereas I think with something more like a shove or a push or a tackle or anything like that, you get more, like, full body force against that. So I feel like, yeah, it doesn't take as much cognition.

He didn't have any spare thought to put behind that kind of thing anyway.

I think it was just, like the. The energy boiling over, and that was the outlet that it took, which is an unusual thing for Buck.

Yeah, but it's not something that we haven't totally seen before. Like, I know you can draw a lot of comparisons between, you know, this and, like.

And they're not one to one comparisons, but you can draw a comparison, I guess, to the way Buck was so, like, overfilled with something going on in his head when they were at the pickup basketball game and last season, and then he obviously didn't mean to, but he shoved Eddie. And it's that emotion coming out in this full body thing, which I think we've, like, discussed.

I don't know whether, like, on the season seven rap or just, like, amongst ourselves. Like, buck isn't usually a, like, things come out in violence type of guy, except when his emotions are, like, sitting so high up at the.

At the surface, actually, I think we do see him, like, kind of get into, like, a little more aggression with season four, when he's dealing with his parents, with Buck begins sort of thing, and he's, you know, he's punching, like, the punching bag and everything like that. But, yeah, I think.

I think that's just, like, it doesn't happen often, but when everything just gets too much, he needs an outlet, and that is how it kind of created itself.

100%. I feel like I did probably at some point think about comparing it to last season, but forgot about it.

So thank you for bringing that up, because obviously, different circumstances. But again, it's like that emotional, emotional overload. Yeah, 100%.

Buck is going through this thing that he did go through back when he accidentally hurt Eddie, where it was like, did I mean to do this or do that? But, like, in a much more drastic situation, because if he hadn't tackled Gerard. Gerard would be split in half, unalive. He would be unalived.

Yeah, 100%. And, oh, my God. It's just so funny. It's so funny because, like, he isn't. We going through it even more now, right?

Because that didn't fix his problems, didn't get rid of all the emotions that he was feeling, and now he has this. Oh, my God, did I almost kill a man?

This, like, conflict.

Did I mean to save him? I don't know.

Now he has to deal with this, like, conflict of guilt.

Well, he did say he wanted to hurt him.

Oh, yeah.

At some point during the episode.

Yeah.

It's just so funny just to see all that anxiety on his face, because it's, first he's got all that emotional overload, and now it's like, here's more emotion for you to feel, and now you're just gonna spiral until you see him next time.

It could have been so much worse when Gerard comes back if Buck had not teamed up with Bobby in the meantime and kind of, like, recalibrated with, you know, doing the right things and doing things well and having Bobby, aka dad, be there to support him and give him that positive reassurance that he's been so, like, deprived of and, like, just doing. Doing good things well.

With the whole plane emergency and shutting down the 110 and just getting Bobby in the first place, just being in Bobby's presence, I feel, like, centered him more, and he felt. It seemed like he was much more, you know, confident in his competence again, because he's with this.

I wouldn't say, like, not in this environment, but, like, he's surrounded by someone that he knows that he can trust and trust him. And everything we said earlier.

So it kind of, like, helped him level out, I guess, a little bit, which we still see at the end when Gerard comes back that. That he's still wracked with this guilt. But it's not as much. He's not as much in danger of boiling over in absolute anger and everything.

And it's just. He's simmered enough. I keep using this potboiling, but he's simmered enough that he's just more weirded out than anything else.

He's weirded out. Not as weirded the fuck out as everyone else is.

Oh, my God.

But he is concerned. That is a concerned look on his face.

He's, like, having an out of body experience right there.

Just, like, I don't know why his little. Uh huh.

Is so funny to me. It's hilarious.

Can you feel these arms, son, which.

Is kind of the same thing that, like, Dennis said to Athena. And it's just like, uh huh, uh huh. Like, it's the delivery of this line for both instances. That's just, like, absolutely incredulous.

Just like, what is happening?

Yeah. Oh, he. Like. Because he was, like, fully expecting Gerard to just, like, tear him another one.

Yeah.

But no, he gets this. He gets this hug and a mentorship. He didn't sign up for that. No, he didn't. He doesn't want a mentorship from him.

Did you guys see that tweet that was like, fuck. Accidentally becoming the Nepo baby of the station twice is so funny. Twice.

He really is, actually.

He's like, I already have a dad.

I don't want just another girl.

I don't. Not even that. I don't want another one. I don't want this one.

I don't want this one. This is not the dad I want or need. Oh, yeah.

And every. Just, like, props to everybody in that scene, including the actor who plays Gerard. I forget. Hang on.

Brian Thompson.

Yeah.

Thank you.

TJ loves him. Like, he's just.

First of all, he's fantastic.

Yeah, he's a great actor.

He makes Gerard so hateable, and that means he's a fantastic actor. So good job there. But, like, in this scene, everyone's faces is comedic gold. It's so good. Everyone is so freaked the heck out.

Like, just what is happening? They've entered Oz kind of like this other world.

Well, soon, I think that's the start of it, maybe. Could be. Are we prophets? We'll know by the time this is out. Just to bring it back a little bit back to. To Bobby and just.

Well, I guess how everyone else was acting in this emergency. It's several emergencies where everyone's on the phone with passengers, you know, on the plane, trying to help them. And I know everyone was joking.

Like, Buck doesn't know how to. And I'm like, he knows how to, like, tell people how to do simple. Like, he does it. Like, he.

He's certified to do a certain amount of things and not just, like, CPR and shit. You know what I mean? Like, he knows enough medical things that he could help, and if he got over his head, he could pass it on anyway.

But Buck is like, actually, fuck that. Because the best way I know to help is to help Athena. And I know to help Athena. I have to get dad because dad fixes everything. Dad knows everything.

And it's not just like a. My. He's my captain, and he is smart, and I have all this faith in him that he'll know what to do.

It's literally that child belief you have in your parents when things are going wrong, that they'll fix it.

So if Bobby has faith in his people around him, Buck has faith in Bobby, period.

And it's like, if you think about it this way, because even though, like, at some point, Maddie was able to get in touch with Bobby, I think that was, like, mostly through Buck.

But, like, if Buck didn't go all, like, jump all of these hurdles to get Bobby and bring him, you know, down the highway, this whole emergency could have ended in a completely different way because Athena and Bobby, like, in tandem, were the ones to save the day. So, like, if Buck didn't. If Buck didn't, like, bring Bobby into the fold, because nobody.

Because everybody else was busy doing the triage, which was also important. But, like, if you think about it, like, this was one of the most important things that. That he could have done.

And that just goes with what he was doing in, like, the first episode as well, where he was solving. Helping to solve the problems in a way that, like, other people weren't really thinking about it.

And so, like, he's a little out of the box, and it seemed like when he. I think when the. The bells were sounding and it was calling all of the engines and all the stations to go to LAX or whatever, and.

And Buck just kind of split, I was like, I gotta go get Bobby. Like, that was actually the thing that, like, saved the day or we don't know much longer.

It would have taken Bobby to figure out what was happening, right. It didn't even have bucks help. You know, Brad wasn't going to be the one to shut down that other mile and a half of highway. Absolutely not.

I know he would have.

Bobby would have tried his best to do it, but, like, we just don't know that it would have worked out without Buck getting there as soon as he could, letting Bobby know what was happening, them stealing a truck together, them figuring out a solution together.

So he was just as intrinsically responsible for helping save the day as Bobby and Athena arguably. I mean, I think Athena probably did most of the legwork. Yeah.

But, like.

But you know what I mean?

She needed a safe place to land, and it wouldn't have happened with arms, wouldn't have happened without Bobby and Buck. So I just wanted to bring that up. I do want to touch a little bit on the birthday party for Buck a little bit, just because.

Yeah, I think it's just important to note we talked about all his emotional turmoil. He's also experiencing this loss of basically his child right now. You know, we don't really know.

It's not established if he is able to talk to Christopher at all outside of the way. Yeah. Like, if Christopher is talking to him outside of it. From what we're shown to doubtful. I'm doubtful. Especially because of how he left. Right.

Which we talked about in our season seven wrap. So, yeah, Buck is there trying to do whatever he can for Eddie and for Christopher.

And the most that he can do right now, because Christopher isn't there, is to help Eddie decorate. Yeah, I know. Like, word on the street, on the Internet, everyone is hypothesizing that, like, decorating and having the stuff was that.

It was Buck's idea. We don't know. Anyway, he was excited to very poorly put up decorations. Don't let Buck hang signs. Just don't.

He's the worst. He's so bad hanger ever. He can't get it straight. And Kent, like, why would we expect it.

If we're gonna expect someone to, like, do things straight? No one can hang signs at the 118. We'll. Except for Bethena.

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Allegedly.

Anyway, I just saw the hanging fruit.

That was low hanging fruit.

It was.

Well, you know what?

Stop it.

Anyway, can't be any lower than the signs.

On top of all of this other turmoil and change and instability, anxiety, all of those things. I think he's a little. Just a little smidge depressed, probably. Maybe. Mayhaps I think he's depressed.

I also think he has.

I don't want to call it guilt, but I mean, you know, Eddie, at the end of season seven, he wanted him to talk to Christopher and just fix it like he always does. But, like, you know, that didn't work out. And there's some kind of guilt in there.

I think there is, and I think it's. And we. I forget if we probably did touch on this in our season seven rap.

But I think that aligning of Buck with Eddie as, like, more of a parental figure is one of the reasons why that is one of the first times that didn't work for Buck and why I would assume, therefore, that Christopher is not in as much contact with Buck either, as well, because you can see it on his face how disappointed he is. And I. And I think that's because he is now kind of, like, in a weird way, not. Not that weird.

He is, in Christopher's eyes, more of a parent person than a friend person now. And so this just for.

For Buck, the having Chris, like, out of the picture, like, that is very similar to having Bobby out of the picture at work, but this is on the much more personal side. So you still.

This contributes to Buck's feeling of hanging on by a thread, but, you know, he's gonna be there where and when he can for Eddie, because, like, arguably worse.

I'm just gonna say one thing real quick. I'm glad that they are doing it.

Okay.

If we're gonna explore, like, Buck's feelings about Christopher leaving and all that, I'm glad that they're doing it this way, where it's not like he's having, like, secret contact with Christopher and all that. Like, I'm kind of glad they're doing it that way. So, like, it establishes his role in the Buckley Diaz family even more.

Exactly, because then, otherwise, that would put some.

That would put, like, a wall between Buck and Eddie that I don't think can be there right now if they're trying to be able to support each other in these different ways. Like, Eddie is trying to support Buck at work, and Buck is trying to support Eddie at home.

So, like, if Buck was in contact with Chris and he was either, you know, saying it or not saying it or in keeping it from Eddie, which, like, I don't think that's physically possible for him to do.

Yeah. He's not capable of doing that.

No, no. But that would. That would.

Would put, like, a little wedge of not necessarily, like, animosity, but maybe like, a little bit of jealousy, and it would put them on uneven playing fields, which we always know. Buck and Eddie are, like, almost always on the same page.

Yeah. I did want to a little bit touch back on the guilt thing, because. And again, this is just me trying to be inside the character's head.

But I think he not only feels guilt about not being able to fix it because he's the guy who wants to fix things, but because he's always been able to, you know, get ludicrous before. So he feels guilt about that.

I think he also probably feels guilty for not noticing what was happening with Eddie earlier, because he feels like if he had, then he could have stopped this from happening. He could have stopped the whole fucking mess.

Because obviously, the issue, the crux of why Christopher is gone is because he walked in and saw this woman who looked like his mother there. Right. So if Buck had been able to notice even a little bit earlier, he probably feels like he could have stopped it.

And so he's probably ruminating on that shit. He's really going through it.

Yeah.

Yeah. I love it.

Yeah, it's great. It's great. We love to see our fav suffer. Sorry. It's for the plot.

We're going to be happy about it.

We're going to be happy about it. But oh, my God, the heart. Just the, like, how much is portrayed in that short little scene? Like we're gonna get into Eddie next.

But just how much is portrayed in that little scene when you are just shown just a couple little facial expressions on Buck's face and how much just kind of like quiet devastation there is.

There because Buck doesn't have any dialogue during the video call. And so that's all that is two tiered.

It's fantastic directing because it's showing not telling which is what you want to see in a visual media like movies or television.

But it's also excellent on Oliver Stark's part because gonna use this example to align him with Jensen Ackles knows how to do the facial expression and, like, activate the character when the camera is not focused on them. Like they're always in and they're always in character. They're always acting as the character even when they're not the focus of the scene.

And it just makes it that much more immersive and that much more rich to, like, be able to look at the character that way. And I think Oliver went to the Jensen Ackles School of acting.

Oh, yeah. Those micro expressions.

Yeah.

Yeah, I. Yeah.

So you can really tell that Oliver Stark really loves his character that he portrays kind of the same way that Jensen ackles loves Dean. I think, like, I think there's a lot of care that they put in and their portrayal of their characters. And it's kind of like at the same.

Kind of the same level, I guess, so to speak. Caliber level.

Absolutely.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So let's talk about the main character, right? You know who the main character is?

Season eight.

The main character of season eight. Talk about that stache. Right?

The mustache.

The depression stash.

Ooh.

Cause you know how it's like people grow depression beards.

This is his depression, the depression stash. But it's like, it's a depression stache. But it's supposed to look more fun than a depression beard. And that's not gonna lie.

If he was growing a depression beard, people would be like, let's roll, buddy. You okay? That's like the male equivalent of getting bangs, I think.

Uh huh.

It kind of is. Yeah.

Mustache. Yeah.

But, yeah. So Manza's really putting on a good front, I think, except for, obviously, the birthday party.

But he trying.

He's still trying. He's still trying there.

He's definitely going through the motions, putting the, like, oh, there's nothing wrong. I'm okay. Just doing the job, getting through.

Gerard, pay no attention to the depression behind the curtain.

Conceal, don't feel the man behind.

Yes. Yeah, I think he's definitely trying to swing. He's overcorrecting to try, overcompensating to try and fly under the radar.

And I think it's working for the most part, that we see, just because everyone has their own shit going on. So.

No, I think you're right, because usually Buck is who is so attuned to Eddie and vice versa.

So, like, we already know that Eddie is very, you know, being very conscientious about Buck's feelings and what Buck is dealing with with Gerard and everything like that. And Buck is usually the same way for Eddie. However, because Buck is so overstimulated and consumed by all of this going on, he can't really.

He doesn't have any mental or emotional room to look as deep as I think he normally would for Eddie and be able to notice, like, three episodes. Yeah, so far.

So far, yeah, because he's got. I think he'll get to deal with, but I feel like so far, you know, and, I mean, we don't know.

Obviously, we don't know what's happened over the three months, but it seems like, you know, the codependency is running strong, and he's probably just hanging out. Like, everything is regular and normal for the most part. And, like, yeah, he's sad and he's struggling, but, like, he's fine. And that.

That's probably where Warbuck is at.

Yeah.

And he's just kind of more consumed with, like, all the other things happening and also his own feelings about Chris being gone that he, to our knowledge, at this point, yet, has not seen past the facade.

Yeah. Like, to use the pot boiling over analogy again, there's just. There's just no more room in the pot in his brain space. It's just. It's.

It's filled to the brim, and it's boiling over that, like, again, kind of with when he.

When Buck saw Bobby and it was able to, like, simmer back down, I feel like we'll have to see something else happen to, like, help that simmer back down for him to really clue in how deep I this is going for Eddie because, of course, he recognizes that Eddie is going through it and having a hard time. But that paired with how Eddie is trying very hard to not add to anyone else's stuff, which is also a very Eddy thing for him to do, too.

Just since we were already at the birthday party a little bit, I guess we can talk about that. So right off the bat, I guess. I guess.

I guess that, like, it's just the three of them hanging out all the time now because it's like he's just, like, the third wheel, right? Cause he's gonna be there for Eddie.

So then it's just like, I guess since Eddie and Tommy were already friends, it's like, well, of course he has invited everything. It's fine. And that's probably working to Eddie's favor right now because he doesn't want to talk about how bad he's doing, so.

Yeah.

Yeah, he probably not.

Well, yeah, he's probably. He could potentially just use Tommy as an. As a buffer, like, yeah, bring Tommy along so, like, we don't have to talk about feelings.

Cause Tommy doesn't give a shit.

No, he doesn't. So weird, though. Still fucking weird.

Still really strange how weird it was to fucking see him in the Diaz house with. That was so bizarre.

The only way it could have been.

Weirder is if Chris was also there, like, in person.

Yes, man.

Intruding in that space.

It's so weird because we never see anyone else in that house.

It's giving. When Eddie comes back from the hospital at the end of season four, and Taylor's just randomly there. Well, not randomly, but his welcome home party.

Yeah.

So fucking weird.

Yeah. And, I mean, it's not like, the thing is, it doesn't seem, like, too out of place because Chris has met Tommy, and I guess they've hung him.

I guess. But we've never seen him interact.

Yeah.

So it's bizarre.

Well, how could we? We have seen Tommy Conardev screens for five minutes, like.

But, yeah, I guess they were also, like, probably Buck and Eddie were also thinking, yeah, we'll bring Tommy because Chris thinks Tommy is so cool.

It's cool.

As far as they're aware, you know, he's probably still going to be texting with, like, confetti when.

I think they're gonna break up. Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Was that ice cream for dinner?

Yes, that was ice cream for dinner.

Epic. Yeah. So as far as, like, we. And they are aware, Chris thinks Tommy is cool, so that. So they're probably also.

We're including Tommy in that way as a buffer, not just for Buck and Eddie, but for, like, Eddie and Christopher. As. And, like, bucking Eddie and Christopher.

Eddie and Christopher. Yeah. To, like, hear someone who isn't your parent, like, be chill. Yeah, talk to us, please.

Like, that's just a big, big. Yikes.

Big, big. Oof. So then Eddie seemed so excited. He told Buck that he did a great job with that sign, even though it literally said, kri, stop her.

He said, great job, babe. You're doing amazing, sweetie. He was like, ooh, cupcakes. Yeah. Like, ooh, hats. Like, he was excited.

He went all out, too.

Yeah. For a party for a kid that can't probably see most of what was there. And, you know, he gets. He gets a. Uh huh.

Like, completely shut out.

Ow.

Incredible dad joke.

It was so good.

Seems like you were 13 when yesterday. Something about the dad joke delivered with the mustache is just peak.

Peak dad energy. Like, Eddie Diaz has never seemed more dad than in that moment.

Never seen more dad than when he is childless. Oh.

Oh, God.

So sorry.

Just to make this pretty depressing, I just gotta say, listen, I really leave, you know, him letting Christopher go is. Okay, fine, whatever. He doesn't want to. He doesn't want to be, you know, like, his parents and just be.

I don't even know how to explain it, but I'm sure everyone gets what I'm trying to say. But, like, the whole. It's been, what, three months? Christopher is not back home. Christopher's just getting the. Aha. Giving him the. Uh huh.

It's, like, a full improvement, supposedly.

And that's an improvement, supposedly. So I. Not to get too personal, but, like, I mean, I've. I've. I've been away from home for two weeks, tops, before. It's like, can you please come home?

So, like, um. I need. I need. I don't. Again, I don't know what's gonna happen, but I need. We need to get this.

We need to get this resolved, and we need Christopher back homeye ASAP. And it's not. And then, not to mention, it's not even his. His grandparents not helping the situation, right?

No, not at all. Come on.

Like, I have never hated someone so.

Much until never wished bodily harm on a fictional character as much as I have on. And Helena Diaz.

Like, that's saying a lot for you.

Not even the Buckleys, right?

You know, it's. Bad one. Yeah.

I feel like, specifically Helena. Like, Ramon. He wasn't there, so I can't.

People are saying, like, that's a sign he's being the absent dad now.

He's being absent grandpa.

All I know is when they were taking his son away, his dad looked sad, and he did look remorseful. Please don't make the mistakes I did. So his dad's actually trying to help, and his mom is like, buy.

Oh, if he forgot anything, we'll just buy it for him because he'll never be back here, basically. And she's, like, fucking gleeful on this call. Like, oh, you know, he's still. It's fine. He'll be fine. It's an improvement, right?

Better than last time. Oh, my God. But look at him with all his friends. Oh, my God. You're at the pool club.

And I think we're gonna put a.

Pool in for him because he's never leaving here. And Eddie's like, hmm, time to take a trip to the smoosh sites.

Yeah. Like, I.

I don't know how much we truly want to get into that since we've only seen, like, the one episode, but it seems to me that if Christopher has been gone for three months and is still only at the.

Uh huh.

Not even to. Not even at, like, the full word high, at least. And Eddie, who just wants to.

His entire mo, for his entire character, for six season, six, seven seasons for Eddie Diaz, is do right by Christopher. So he's not going to. He thinks that, you know, having Christopher over there, if that's what Christopher wants, is right.

But to me, that indicates that there is no effort to mediate on either Christopher or Eddie's behalf by Helena or Ramon. And that is what is so, like, I know this show has had, like, a history and kind of, like, a pattern of, like, redeeming parents and whatever.

And hopefully that's over.

But, like, I don't understand.

I don't understand how this could be redeemed if it's because that's what it seems to me like, if you are a grandparent looking over your grandchild and you're supposed to want to help them get back to their parent where they're supposed to be. And I think that is the crux of the issue, because Helena never felt that Christopher was supposed to be with Eddie in the first place. So she's.

It doesn't seem like they're doing anything to repair that relationship between their grandson and their grandson.

She's getting exactly what she wanted.

Yeah.

Raising a kid, part two. She's getting her. Part two, her redo. That's what she's getting.

And that's what's like, you know me. I'm always kind of like, well, look at it from this point of view. Whatever. Whatever. Like, I have not been able to find.

Again, I'm working on, like, limited knowledge, I guess, until we get deeper into it.

But, like, at this point in time, I don't see how there is another point of view to that, except she is not doing anything to repair the relationship between her son and her grandson. And that is, like, one of the most selfish things anyone could do.

Sure.

I also want to bring it back a little bit to how, if she gave a shit about her son, not even her grandson, maybe instead of just snatching his child away, she could have thought of other solutions to this or, I don't know. Ben showed concern for Eddie and tried to support him.

You want to talk about.

You would think.

You want to talk about people dismissing other people's feelings, like with Tommy and dismissing an invalidating buck. How about Eddie's mom invalidating and dismissing all of Eddie's, like, emotional needs? Absolutely not.

So, like, in that instance, also, that is putting Eddie and buck in, like, a very similar position. Again, just saying it makes me wonder.

Like, how much was Eddie allowed to show his more vulnerable side, like, with his parents, especially his mom, because it's almost non existent at this point because, like, she does not give a shit.

He had to be basically a parent at, what was it, nine years old?

Mm hmm.

Something around that, you know, which.

Yeah, okay. His father said that to him, but his mother relied on him and let him do it and didn't make an effort, as far as we know, to let him be a kid.

I it's that atlas personality again.

And then was hyper critical of, like, any mistake he made. Sorry, parenting at ten years old. So, you know, and when we see Eddie begins, we see that she has nothing nice or supportive to say to him.

And Eddie fucking fled the state, not just to get away from them for him, but because he didn't want his son to be raised or partially raised by them around them. Right. He didn't want his son to have to go through what he had to go through.

He's trying to break the generational trauma.

Yes, exactly.

So the fact that Eddie was in such a bad fucking place that he let that happen, and his dad, who was supposedly trying to repair his relationship with him and recognize that he was a shitty father and was trying to be present and supportive. And we even see it a little bit.

A couple phone calls, whatever, the fact that no one was like, hey, maybe we should make sure that Eddie's okay and he has support, even if we do take Christopher to Texas. Texas? Like, make sure that Eddie is okay and that he. Yeah, I don't know. Goes back to therapy, has someone here for him.

Like, he's obviously not doing well, and he's obviously not going to be doing well once we take his kid. And I'm sorry, we should stop soon, but I just think that it's ridiculous that.

That his parents didn't go, hey, maybe we could just take Christopher and, like, rent an Airbnb so he's not torn away from his entire life, but he has space for you. Mm hmm.

It's. And I think that's because they always viewed it as, like, Chris's entire life is supposed to be in Texas with them.

So, like, essentially moving to LA was kind of like the vacation or whatever.

Right. So. So my. My point here is that they don't seem to actually give a shit about Eddie or Christopher.

They give a shit about what they think Christopher should be doing in their own vision of what his life should be.

But we see time and time again, Eddie is the only one that actually understands and knows and advocates for what's best for Christopher because he lets Christopher have that independence that Christopher doesn't really get with anyone else, especially with Helena. And I have a feeling that, like, in that instance with. With Ramon, he was. He was probably, like, very disappointed in Eddie, first of all.

But, like, with Helena, like, he was. Probably had to choose sides a little bit. This is just me, you know, thinking. There's also. I know it's a quote from some tv show. I forget which one.

I saw it as a tweet where.

Where it was equating, you know, the whole idea of, you know, Helena and Ramon, like, wanting to maybe build a pool for Christopher and, like, creating that community for Christopher and everything like that. And, like, from Eddie's point of view, it would.

It was something like that just means that if his parents were capable of doing that, they just didn't want to for him. And I forget what show that's from. Is that Buffy? I don't remember at the moment.

I don't know. I mean, I've had that same kind of thing be brought up in a bunch of fix, too, where it's like, oh, so you could have done this, but you didn't.

And why didn't you put eye for that? Wasn't worth it, right?

Or. Yeah. Why are you such better grandparents? Like, why are you good at being grandparents but were terrible at being apparent.

Well, they're still terrible grandparents anyway.

Well, yeah, but, you know, it's. They're showing. They're showing surface level, like, caring. But anyway, fuck them.

I want to just talk a little bit about, before we, before we move on, two things. I want to talk about Ryan's acting in that scene, and then I want to talk about the Cilly, goofy awesomeness we get.

So we mentioned that Oliver acted his ass off in that scene, even though he didn't really have any lines once the call started. Ryan, Eddie doesn't say that many things on the call. Right. So he is also going to this multilayered level of face acting where it's like he is.

It's just so good. He is portraying the, like, person who is trying to be supportive girl, who is going to be okay.

I'm so glad that my kid is happy without me and not talking to me. And you're building a pool for him. That's great. That's so great. Smiling through.

Literally smiling through the pain.

Yeah. And he looks, like, despondent. Like, you just snapped, you know, like he was a puppet and you just, like, cut his strings.

Like, he is also hanging on by a thread.

Not anymore. Yeah, I don't.

That acting, that acting was also fantastic.

Just like that entire scene had so much emotional emotionality, had so much emotion brought forth with not a lot of dialogue because, again, it was, like, very reactionary. It was very a show don't tell. But, like, man, Oliver and Ryan, they knock it out of the park.

Speaking of which, can I also just mention Ryan's absolute perfection of comedic timing?

Like, in that first episode when Buck has the idea to have Eddie run and, like, you know, have the bees chase him and just like that, like, you know, look like, oh, me. You're talking to me about me.

He's not gonna like it.

Just like, that was played so well and Ryan Guzman's comedic chops, so undervalued. Like, that was hilarious. And also just let him be funny.

All through the season, just at the beginning.

Also just the physical comedy of, like, the running comedy. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Like, his, like, ah, whoever was like, get a go pro shot of this. I could kiss you.

I don't think I've laughed that hard at something on television a long time. I was, like, crying, and I think I laugh just as hard every single time I watch it. It's fucking ridiculous.

That's never gonna get old. Like, the maintain and then cut to running.

Yeah.

And that's, like, the perfect flip side to the coin of, like, this whole birthday party. Oh, my gosh. That's what. That's the perfect, like, flip side of the coin to Eddie at the birthday party thing, where it's like he's trying to laugh.

He's trying to, like, hide the pain, and it's very emotional. And then you get this, which is just pure physical comedy, as good as it gets, and it creates a fantastic balance.

Are you still laughing about the thought of that scene?

Yeah, because I'm thinking about when they get in the tent and buck's like, are you ready? Isn't his name Gunther?

Monty.

Monty. Sorry.

Monty. Weird fucking name.

Are you ready for Monty? Who?

Oh, my God. It's so good.

And he's like, I've been shot before. I think I'll be fine.

I can't.

He's just so funny. He's, like, so nervous. He hates everything that's happening, but, you know, he's the same. Like, it'll be great. And gives him a thumb up. Thumbs up.

And he's like, give you a little smile. He's just so fucking funny. He's so funny. All of his facial expressions, like, in the. What are we calling it?

Which one?

Buzzsaw gate.

I. Oh, my God.

That last shot. That last shot when Gerard is hugging Buck just like.

Like, so funny.

So good. He continues to be the king of. He's just a living meme.

He's just a.

Literally is king of being a living meme. I have a whole meme folder.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

Of just him.

But he also.

So, like, in the first episode, like, after Buck tackles him, and he's like, you saved him. And then they pick it right back up on the second episode, and he's just like, hands on hips, like, all of those facial expressions fold.

Fucking incredible. Just could not pay attention to anything else that was happening the first time I watched it, to be honest, because.

They were so distressed. And Eddie. Serving. Yes, serving fate.

Your best friend in eight year situationship is having a mental breakdown, and you're dancing.

Oh, my gosh.

Since we're talking about that scene, I do also want to just comment on when this whole buck tackling Gerard and everything, Eddie is immediately the first person to say. The first person to say, like, oh, my God, you saved him.

And then when we pick back up in the second episode, and Buck's freaking out, like, he's gonna kill me. No, he's gonna fire me. And then he's gonna kill me. And then he's just like, why? You saved his life.

It's just, like, absolutely no contest in his mind that, like, even though Buck admitted at that point, he was like, I just kind of wanted to hurt him. And he's just like, you saved his life. There's no question in his mind that fuck would cause anyone harm like that.

Talk about blind faith and devotion, right?

Someone tweeted, and I won't forget. Cause I'm just like, absolutely. They were like, glad we have confirmation that buck could kill someone. You go, girl.

No, but also. But also, like, imagine this. This whole scenario just, like, came out, like, the opposite end. Like, it was, like, so wrong.

Gerard wants to, like, I don't know, fire him, sue him. Eddie's gonna be like, no, that's not what happened. He didn't try to hurt him. He tried to save him. No, he did save him.

So he's just gonna stick with that story?

Yeah, absolutely. It's. What is it from supernatural when Bobby. Or was it Rufus, who goes to Bobby and was like, I need you to help me, like, bury a dead body?

And Bobby's like, that. That is them. Just like, no questions. Like, yeah, okay.

Yeah, that's.

That's, uh. That's the real friendship situationship.

That's Bobby's relationship. You need too many.

Oh, my God.

Too many Bobby father figures in our.

I think we adopt parental.

I mean, not everyone goes to supernatural, so I guess it a good delineation to make also, actually, I don't think I need to get into that anyway. No, I was just gonna say. I'll say one sentence, and then we can move on.

I was just gonna say, that's an apt comparison, because I don't know if it's huge all over the fandom, but every single fucking destiel fic I've ever read that has Rufus in ithood. It's Rufus and poppy together romantically. So. Apt comparison.

Yeah.

Moving on.

So we see a lot.

I think what Eddie's going through is a lot of, like, his family issues at home, but so are Hen and Karen and Chimney and Maddie are very, like, intertwined in similar slash same kind of family issues at home as well, because we've got hen and Karen, who are trying to get their foster license reinstated. So that's one of the reasons why hen is very much just, like, put your nose to the grindstone and just, like, keep on trucking sort of thing.

Meanwhile, chimney and Maddy are so connected to this because they're taking care of Mara in Hen and Karen's stead. So it's great because they're kind of like a big combined family unit now.

And Chimney is also doing the same thing that Hen is doing, because he's got two kids at home, at least until Hen gets her foster license reinstated. So this whole. And I think we're going to see.

It's mentioned only very briefly, I think only in the first episode, but it's a nice way to pick up on where they left things off. And we see them all gathering together with all the kids, and Denny's there as well.

And it's just lovely to see them, to see, like, this community, this larger family unit come together and support each other in these ways and how everybody is co parenting a little bit. And that's kind of where they leave it off, because it's just like that one evening of get together.

But it seems that it's very much a consistent thing in their lives now over these last three months. And I love that for them. Like Henry Madney, bestieism. Let's go.

Unfortunate, the way that it is happening.

But.

Yeah, I think we're gonna get into problems just based on some synopsis we have for the future. But what we were shown is very sweet. I think that. And maybe. I don't know how much we're shown of this because I didn't rewatch this scene enough.

I don't know.

When she's watching Mara with chimney, she gets this look on her face that just makes me think that she's having some concerns about insecurity, maybe about how close they're getting. And I don't know.

It's just an awkward situation, right, where you're a new parent to this kid, and we're just forming a bond, and now I don't even know how long they had her. Maybe Maddie and Chimney have had her for almost as long now. So, you know, there could potentially be some.

Conflicts. I kind of had the same thought.

That's kind of like a story they can so, like, forget the councilwoman, because that's one of the major factors right now in getting her foster license, like, reinstated and all of that. But then you're gonna. Mara is gonna have, like, she's gonna get attached to chimney and Maddie and, like, watch. She doesn't want to watch.

She doesn't want to go back to hen and Karen, but still considers them, like, family. Like, it's. It's just, like, a weird conflict of interest.

And then we don't even know where, like, chimdhenna, like, how chimney and Maddie are gonna feel. Like, it's just a weird. It's just a weird situation. I was like, here's the solution. Just, like, go get a duplex.

Duplex the whole family, and just go get a comedy. Like, just start your own little commune. You know what I mean?

No, that would work.

Yeah. But it's non traditional family, non traditional parenting that they're doing right now, and it's kind of forced, and, like.

Like, Maddie and chimney had the absolute best intentions, and I know that hen and Karen are so fucking grateful, you know, that they still. Not only that, they know that she's safe. Right? She's safe. She's being taken care. Taken care of.

And she's so close to home, and.

She'S so close to home, and they still get to be in her life, but it's not the same. And I really feel like we're gonna see, especially between chimney and Hen, who are, you know, besties who are ride or die. They are ride or die.

Yeah, literally. I need you to help me hide a. It's the same thing, you know, platonically. I need you to help me hide a body. Okay. Like, no questions.

I think we're gonna see some tension and some misplaced anger, anxiety, just, like, a lot of the negative emotions that hen is feeling that probably going to bubble over at some point, and it's probably going to be directed at chimney, because that's, you know, he's obviously going to be part of the problem that's making her feel that way.

He's also the closest person to her, easiest to explode on the people closest to you, because you, deep down, have that confidence that they'll still be there after you do that. So I just think there's gonna be some. Obviously, there's gonna be councilwoman shit that's gonna be happening.

But, no, that's kind of what I have been thinking as well.

I feel like they have to deal with the councilwoman issue and the corruption there, which will probably also something to do with, like, Gerard, you know, through. Through the wayside. And once that happens, because when you're looking at it, you're.

Or when you look at it, you're risking destabilizing Mara's environment again. So it's kind of like, what Eddie does. Like, what is the right thing for Christopher? So I think they'd probably.

They'll probably have to really assess what would be the best for Mara. And I think what gives a lot of hope is that Mara is addressing Hen and Karen as mom and Mama, and I think that's so sweet.

Even though she is with chimney and Maddie.

But, yeah, I think there will be some conflict, because, Han, I think you said there was some sort of emotion on hen's face, and I think that is remorse. Like, remorse for not being able to further that bond that they were building altogether as a family and then seeing that happen for someone.

She's not getting these moments. Part of these moments that she should be part of.

Yes. It's remorse, regret, happiness that Mara's getting that, but sad that she's missing out on that, as well.

Yeah. Because they're basically being relegated to aunt status as far as capacity of how often they can be there.

So I'm just like. Like, we've already seen Hen have a not so great feelings about Maddie at some point, you know, during the.

When Chimney wanted to propose and all of this.

Yeah.

So I'm kind of like, oh, great. I hope we don't. I hope we don't get, like, a part two, but I have a feeling if this is what they're trying to do, we're gonna see that. And then.

But it's also. But then we're gonna have chimneys into that kind of conflict.

Yeah. Right. That'll be gonna put him in a difficult spot.

That'll be interesting.

And that'll also give, like, hen a slightly different storyline where it's still, like, revolving around family sort of thing, but, like, in a different way that, like, gives. Gives her conflict with chimney, which I guess we haven't seen, really, in a while as well. So that will be, like.

Because everyone keeps asking, like, just let head and Karen be happy with their family.

Yeah. I do have to say I agree with my timeline that keeps saying, please stop giving.

The only storylines we basically see Penn and Karen have are, like, them trying to have a family, so. And it keep being ripped away from them. And this is.

It's not like I feel like I don't want to complain about it until I see it through to the end of it, but I feel like, narratively, we could have just been done with it once they got Mara, I understand they set up the councilwoman thing, and I trust to see the story through, but after they get her back, after it's all worked out, whatever happens, please, please, please do something else with them. Like, there's so many situations that you can put these people in instead of just trying to take the black lesbians children away from them.

Like, we're.

It's enough.

Let's. Yeah. Yeah.

We've done that a couple times now.

So chimney and hen serving comedy. Serving always in the best way. Oh, my God. Oh. Chimney was especially funny when. When Bobby was like, where's Gerard?

And he was like, oh, my God.

I'll put him in the hospital. I could explain that, but it's funnier if I don't. I just peek. Peak chimney humor. I just feel like. I just feel like everyone is, like, at.

At their peak personalities right now, which. I don't know, it feels like a weird thing to say because I feel like the writing on the show is pretty consistently great and not.

I don't have a lot of issues with thinking things are out of character, but, I don't know, it just seems, like, extra good. Like, there's extra oomph.

It's at the forefront, definitely.

Yep.

I love our characters.

I love them all so much. And I understand that we have to put the blurbos through the things, because that's tv, but, yeah, just let them have their families, please.

Oh, my God.

Mm hmm.

And, jeez.

This was only, like, the first three episodes.

I know.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. We have 15 more episodes.

15 more to go. Oh, my gosh.

It actually feels short.

It does feel short, actually, because we're, like, what, a fifth of the way through 6th. Yeah, six all the way through.

Yeah.

I know how to do mathematic.

Yeah.

I did even say it was the first of six episodes. Anyway, I think that wraps up our character portion of our special episode.

I think we can just briefly, briefly touch on some of the themes from this three episode arc.

So to get into the themes that we see so far, I feel like a lot of times, the overarching themes that we'll see kind of, like, weave their way throughout the season are kind of established in the first few episodes, and this is just kind of what we're ahead catching or, like, picking up on currently.

And I'm sure there's going to be more down the road, or, like, these kind of themes may evolve in certain ways that, like, we might call them something else cohesively in the first three episodes, I think there's an element of being out of your element.

I didn't write this down, but as we were talking, it occurred to me, because we were speaking about Athena being so usually unshakable, and this was very much not her usual kind of interactions with anybody. She was very much relying on other people.

And, yeah, she's usually unflappable, but we really saw her flappable in these episodes, which is ironic because you can't flap a plane's wings, but she was trying.

Why isn't anyone ever just whelmed? Right? Why is it for my young justice?

People can't be whelmed. And we see Buck as well, like, totally out of his element with Gerard and just.

And even Eddie and Bobby, people just out of their usual environments, having to. I guess this goes into the idea of having to adapt and improvise, that we see a lot as well.

I don't know. I had a different word for being out of your element, but I don't know. It might be slightly different, but I.

Had being displaced, literally in a different environment.

Yeah. Because being displaced is something that's being done to you, which I feel is what is happening to every single person here. Like, everything.

Everything that's happening that's making them feel out of their element. It was something that happened to them, maybe as a consequence of their own actions, but none of them.

Not as a choice to be in the places where they're out of their element. And then. Yeah.

Having to adapt and improvise and having trust issues because you are displaced and uncomfortable and then on the side of the coin and being able to get through it all because of the trust that you have in your found family. And this is just always a theme with 911. But I think particularly in this arc and probably this whole season, I'm going to bet unresolved trauma.

And hopefully we're going to solve it or work through it, have some sort of. You know what I mean? Because trauma is never untrammed. Like, you can't untramatize yourself. But being able to have closure. Yeah, closure.

Or being able to work through it to a point where it's not something that haunts you. You know what I mean? Where it's something that, like. Because that's the thing with trauma.

It can still trigger you, but, you know, to be able to move past a point because these people are so fucking traumatized. And a lot of it just. They just have to keep rolling because things keep happening. And, you know, a lot of that has to do with their job. But, yeah.

So, like, we see off the bat, obviously, that Athena had this big unresolved trauma where kind of on the surface seems resolved because she found the person who killed her fiance, but she obviously still had a lot of trauma about it that she was actively angry and feeling turmoil over. And I feel like she is at a point, like she said in her own words, where she can let go of that anger.

So I hope we're going to see a lot of that through different arcs. This season. No one else is really working through anything yet because no one else's arcs.

Have really taken off or Bucks has.

I think. I guess Buckshe Bucks would be the most at this point, but it's not after Athena, but we're just at the beginning.

This is going to be, I don't know how long, whatever this weird thing with Gerard is going to be or any of the other things that are happening. I don't know how long any of those things are going to take, but they definitely aren't resolved.

Yeah.

And I think we're going to see a lot of stuff kind of come back to the surface being revisited, and I feel like they really set that in motion at the end of season seven, and I think we'll see a lot of that follow through for probably a majority, if not the entirety of season eight with, you know, literally the episode titled ghost of a second chance. Like, we.

We were already seeing these, these previously thought of as, like, being over sort of things bubble back up to the surface and that revisitation of that trauma. And a lot of times that has to get worse before it gets better. So I think season eight is really the extension of that.

And I have a feeling with more time, if they had had more time in season seven, it probably would have gotten deeper and that would have been the main theme of season seven. I feel like it's one of them, but I feel like I think we.

Started it off with Bobby.

It's this connected. It's not on its own, just part of season seven.

It's really linked into season eight where I think they'll be able to explore and expand on that in ways that will really benefit the characters, like we're already seeing with Athena and being able then to see how the characters are operate, having actually moved past that rather than just, like, repressed it. So I have a feeling that will be one of the biggest season themes that we'll see time and time again.

Because I loved what they did with Athena and obviously we're not going to have a giant three disaster arc for everything because that's just the fireworks split celebrating the new season, but they did such a beautiful job of having such a deeply impactful story amongst the spectacle. Right. So I hope we just continue in that same vein for the rest of the characters through the rest of the season.

And they did that in such a condensed period of time, too. So that really makes me hopeful for seeing what they can do with the rest of the 15 episodes.

Yeah.

And it's just like, I think they do get some of the benefit of time with this season to be able to play with the. Really delve into it. Yeah. In a way that maybe they didn't get so much in seven.

So keep an eye out on those as we continue on this season eight journey.

I think that's it for themes for now. I'm sure there'll be more. There's always more, but those will probably remain.

Yeah, this is what's sticking out so far is like something that we can see, like, throughout.

We're gonna need the jaws of life over here.

So now that we've talked a lot about the meat of the episodes and everything like that, let's take a step back and kind of look at the production aspects and kind of all of these things that are happening behind the scenes. So this will essentially be our deep dive for these three episodes so far. I'm sure we'll find a lot more interesting stuff as it goes on.

But we mentioned on the production side, we mentioned how season eight so far, even so early on, feels like it has kind of a new life breathed into it.

And I think one thing that so many people are picking up on, and if so many people are picking up on it, I will preface this like it's either a really good thing or a really bad thing when people notice the cinematography. And sometimes it can be really bad because then that means, like, if someone's picking up on it, it's like, ooh, that's not good.

This is the complete opposite. Everyone has been picking up on how fantastic the cinematography for these first three episodes have been.

And it's so exciting not to say that the cinematography hasn't been fantastic in previous seasons. I think Joaquin Cedillo did so much of the seasons, I think from seasons two to seven, and has created some of these beautifully iconic shots.

This is just a different take on it and it's really cool to see.

It was also very exciting because we were super fucking nervous once we found out that Joaquin was leaving. We were like, this is our first season from the start and we love him so much and he left. So, yeah, we were a little nervous about that.

A little bit. Yeah.

Yeah.

We needed to see it to believe it. So it appears that the new director of photography, or cinematographer, I'm not exactly sure what the difference is, but it's a different credit.

I think it's director of photography that he is credited with.

He's credited as the director of photography for it.

So the new director of photography is Andrew Mitchell. Great job. So far, please keep it up, because it's been absolutely phenomenal.

And just to briefly read a little bit of his resume, he also was a director of photography for American Horror Story for ten episodes. He did five episodes of 911, lone Star, and then he was also a camera operator, so a different position.

Granted, this is, like, further back in time, but he was a camera operator for 120 episodes of Glee, so he's very much in. And I think we'll see this with a lot of the people that I'll be talking about. He's very much in, like, the Ryan Murphy sphere extended universe.

Yeah, yeah.

Connected universe of cast and crew people, which is great, because it's like, if you like working with people and these people are your friends, like, keep working with your friends. And it's probably something that, like, helps perpetuate that, like, joyous feeling behind the scenes that we were talking about as well.

And so, like, his cinematography in these first three episodes is just, like. It feels really fresh, kind of different. And, han, I know you've mentioned while we were watching these episodes, it's very movement based.

Yeah, it's very movement based, which I only noticed because I was paying attention specifically to the cinematography because I was nervous. It's super interesting, and it appears to be even more so when they're at the station.

When at the 118, there's so much movement happening for most of the shots, and there's a lot more close ups, extreme close ups, that we, to my just own recollection, did not have anywhere near as many of. And again, this is only a three episode sample size.

And maybe it was just specifically for this buck arc that was happening, because we were, like, in his head, but it was just so good. It felt very immersive. It made you feel like you were there.

These different angles, like you were a.

Character moving along with that movement.

There are different camera angles that we got within the station that felt different. So it feels like we're getting more of a 360, like, immersive. Yeah.

Did you say that as someone who has a swiveling head, who can look around and see different angles? You know what I mean? And that's why it feels more immersive.

And, like, not to take away any flowers from Joaquin, because I think we made this comparison that Joaquin's is such intentional framing.

Yes. That's what I was trying to remember what I said.

Yes. It was like, the framing and all of the setting up behind that. And, like, obviously, the angle as well.

And not to say there wasn't movement, but that just seems to be, like the biggest difference that I can point out. And both are great.

Yeah.

For different reasons.

It's ways to tell story or it's different ways to tell the story, but it still works as effectively as one another. It's just kind of. It's basically like seeing two artists and having them have different styles of painting. It's the same thing.

It's just like the way that they come at the craft a little bit differently.

Yeah. It's just a different direction or vision of how to tell that story. You know what I mean? It's the same story.

It's just a slightly different interpretation, if that makes sense.

So that'll be really cool to see moving forward.

I'm excited to see how it develops. Welcome. Andrew Mitchell.

We love you already.

We did not notice a credit while we were watching the first episode.

And then when I woke up the day after, I was like, first thing I did was go to Hulu so I could find the credit because it was not online yet listed anywhere because I was like, this guy was amazing. And, yeah, just welcome. Thank you. The vision is visioning.

We see it, we love it, but carry on. So I think that was, like, the biggest noticeable difference visually that we've been able to catch on to in the first three.

And notably, I think there are also a bunch of new writers on the team, and we only have the first three out, so. Don't you love her fun.

Anyway, writers.

Anyways. Yes. New writers.

Got a big one.

Yes. So on. I was just going to go in order of the episodes. So the first episode of the season, we have a couple new writers.

It's Molly Green and James Leffler. And they seem to work as a writing pair they've previously written about. I think it was 30 episodes for 911 Lone Star as well.

So they're kind of keeping it in the 911 family a lot here. And they wrote an episode for Station 19. So it seems like they are very familiar with firefighter y. Firefightery things.

And I just want to point out, this is just my opinion, but it seems like whoever, whichever writers are given the premiere episode, like the first episode, that's like, in my mind, someone who's not in a writing room at all.

That's like a big kind of vote of confidence a little bit because you're really setting things up because the expectations are high and it's like, okay, you're setting the tone. It's like you're gonna deliver. So I think that's great that it's a couple newer folks to 911, but they're familiar with the 911 universe.

And then this is the big get and I don't know how many other episodes he's writing. Tim Mynheer co wrote episodes two and three with Ted Griffin who has as one of his writing credits Ocean's Eleven, the movie.

And that is like big, big blockbuster hit writer, only one of, like the.

Best, most popular, successful action movies. Didn't he also write a final destination movie or a couple?

That was James Wong. That was the director. Okay, I have it in there.

Okay. Okay. I knew final destination was in here somewhere.

He co produced the Wolf of Wall street. He wrote, I think, must love dogs, a rom.com and the Jennifer Aniston rom.com. rumor has it that's actually a funny movie.

So he's been on some big movie productions.

I didn't see a lot of tv listed there, which I know is like, there's a lot more fluidity between tv and movie than there used to be before, like streaming and everything like that. It was like people worked in movie or they worked in tv and there was not a lot of crossover. So I think that's kind of an amazing get.

I have no idea how that occurred. And I'm fairly confident in saying that Ted Griffin and Tim Minear as a writing duo a fantastic. More, please.

That was because I think for episodes two and three, not that one wasn't fantastic. It was just a little different because it was the be NATO stuff leading into the plane crash. Yeah, it was the setup. So the whole plane crash.

Not plane crash. It didn't crash. The whole plane emergency between these two episodes was done so well.

There was a lot of, like, ramp up of tension and then come back down and then, like, the pacing. Pacing was pretty fantastic. Which is also very hard to do in a 42 minutes episode. Yeah, I don't feel like we have any complaints.

It was a good idea to get someone who does action movies because, like, essentially, if you think about it, the way they do the opening emergencies is kind of like a feature length movie.

So to have someone who comes from writing and pacing for something that length and for specifically action packed type things, I think it's in his wheelhouse. Yeah.

Yeah. And I love. I think this happens fairly occasionally on 911.

But I do like that they had the same writing team for both episodes because it helps with that consistency.

Yeah.

Which brings me also to the directors. So Bradley Bucher, who we've seen all over the entire series, our good friend Bradley Buker, tried and true I'm just.

Always surprised when it's not Bradley Bucher, to be honest.

I think he is there. Hang on. There we go. Nope. I feel like he is their director on retainer. When in doubt, go to Bradley Bucher.

He's done so many episodes throughout 911, including the pilot. And he's also been a director or credited as executive producer for American Horror Story, Glee 911, Lone Star as well. He's an executive producer on.

I think IMDb has all 106. I think it's more now episodes. So he's also in that Ryan Murphy extended universe. Extended universe of friends.

The RMD EU.

The RMEU. Exactly. So Bradley Bucher directed the both 802 and 803, which also with the writing team, helps with that consistency.

I think he is very, just very consistent, like, across the board. I also thought it was interesting that he's directed a number of other opening disasters, like, specifically, like the two thirds of the.

Of the three part disasters that we see often.

So in addition to 802 and 803, he also directed 202, which is 7.1 with the earthquake, and 203 help is not coming, which we were just talking about during our rewatch, regular stuff. He directed 501 panic and 502 desperate time, and he directed last season, 702 don't rock the boat and 703 capsize.

So he is, like, very much one of their go to guys, especially for these, like, longer, bigger ones disasters. And I think that's probably, like, very challenging, too, because as a director, you have to plan for, like, an extra episode.

And I think it would be, like, more of a movie set.

Because it's movie.

Yeah, because it's such an extended plot. And then he's also done a lot of.

He directed the pilot, but he also does a lot of the finales, or he has, like, he did the finale for season one, the finale for season two, and the finale for season six. And I think what happens there is he ends up directing a lot of episodes that were written by or with Tim Minear.

So I'm wondering if they're, like, kind of a tag team sort of thing. They probably have this really good rapport because they've worked in the same RmeU sphere. Sphere for so long.

I feel like we're. I feel like we're doing, like, Brad Falchuk erasure. Because he's like, Brad Murphy is. Brad is too. Sorry.

I also heard sold, as it said, do not separate.

So Bradley Buchert did two out of the three, but the director for the first episode was James Wong, who notably directed and wrote final destination like the original final destination and final destination three, which is, I think when we were watching 801, we were like, this is like some final destination shit with the saw stuff. That's why. Because it's the same guy, which is fantastic.

He's also done, like, 61 episodes of the X Files as both a writer, a director, co executive producer. He co executive produced American Horror Stories. So he is also very much in that same group of friends. And then he's also directed a couple other.

I wonder if. Do we know who's working on the Halloween episode yet?

No, we don't. We know nothing would be fun for that. That would be amazing. And he's also directed some other 911 episodes. This isn't his first one.

So he directed 508 defend in place, 607 cursed, and 707 ghost of a second chance. So I think he is very familiar with the vibe of 911 as well.

And he brings those kind of, like, final, destinationy perspectives which lend itself really well. Yeah, the horror suspense. Maybe a little like spooky Wookie. Spooky spoopy. Do you think I'm spooky? X files reference.

So that's kind of what I wanted to talk about with the new cinematographer, writers, directors, who are not so much new as just notable. Very briefly. The ratings have been fantastic so far for the first three episodes. Again, I don't really understand how it all works.

I just know that deadline had an article.

Someone on Twitter. Yeah, we have to follow up, do a thread or a. What are they going to do?

I think it's going to be, like, a consistent thing. But we can ask, because I would love to learn.

Can we have a meeting where you teach us how the fuck this works?

No, actually we should. We should. That would be fun. We'll take notes. So deadline had an article that basically said the season eight premiere.

So 801 is buzzing towards 10 million viewers across platforms in the first week, which is like, I don't know much about anything in there, but, like, 10 million people sounds like a whole lot of people. So they've amassed, at the point of writing, about 9.8 million viewers after seven days of multi platform viewing.

That's a 106% increase from the live plus same day audience of 4.8 million. That sounds huge. And then apparently the second episode was watched just like, same day stuff.

So this isn't even factoring in, like, that extra seven days in streaming, 802 was watched by 4.2 million live viewers. And 803.

Sorry, the number you have here is 4.92, not 4.2 oh, I'm sorry.

It was watched by 4.92 million viewers and 803 was watched by 5.52 million viewers. So it's been like the number one scripted show for Thursdays all three weeks, season nine renewal. I see it coming the pike pretty.

Soon, so I better hear it by January because I feel like, yeah, oh.

I think it's gonna happen. I think it'll happen before then, honestly.

Yeah.

Yeah. So hope to keep that up. It seems like if everything continues going the way it is in the first three, no reason to believe that it wouldn't continue.

And I think ABC would be remiss if they did not renew it and renew it early because even I know those numbers, you can't really argue with.

I mean, they replaced their I previously top performing shows with 911. So I think it's safe to say.

It'S here to stay.

It's here to stay. Yeah.

Love that for us.

I would like someone from the Grey's Anatomy fandom to tell me what is happening over there.

I have watched the show, have loved the show, but I've never been like a part of the fandom, so. And I'm still like a season and a half behind right now. I really thought that they were just going to be like, yay, we got to 20 and end.

And then when they didn't stop there, I was like, are they just doing this forever? Is this like literally just like a days of our lives now?

Like we're just going to keep doing until literally no one from the original cast is left because we're close or three characters away from having no one.

From the original cast at one point. Does Grey's Anatomy become like a ship of Theseus sort of thing?

Yeah, I don't know.

Anyways, where did I hear that? Wandavision.

Yeah.

That was the episode with vision and, and him, like, what am I? Sort of thing. And, yeah, am I still the ship of Theseus if. Blah, blah, blah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Because I heard that recently. Yeah. I have incorporated that into my vernacular not every day, but especially philosophical vernacular.

And then I think just more for deep divey things. Like in typical Tim Mynier fashion, he based the opening emergencies on fairly schlocky but enjoyably schlocky seventies disaster movies.

Shocking. I'm shocked.

I think in that movie they were like bioengineered and then happened to be on the loose and started killing people, as one does. But as we know now, that was kind of the vehicle to get to the airplane emergency.

So that was like they were eating the pilot. Eating the pilot. Nobody got blinded, obviously. Like, they make it their own every time.

But it's such a fun way to see, like, they're jumping off point to be like, okay, we're going to kind of do this, but like, make it 911. And I think that's fantastic.

And what a way to, like, honor, you know, these seventies disaster movies and just like, show how much of a disaster movie fanboy Tim Minear is.

Yep. He's just a little nerd.

I respect it.

I don't think I have the post here, but the marketing for the season eight opener, you know, I mean, we always had like, oh, it was going to be B NATO. Be NATO this, be NATO that. And then the plane emergency. Just like the plane emergency. The 802 title on probably the worst day to announce it.

Listen, I don't think that Tim has any control about when that is announced because I think, think those titles are automatically released.

They dropped 21 days, three weeks ahead of time. And it just so happens.

So it's not exactly, I mean, to fall on 911.

It was unfortunate, right, the timing that the title of that episode came out, especially because Tim just did an interview where he said the bees were there because you can't advertise a plane crash story in September, so.

And they were ABC. You were so right for that.

And also, like, thank you for be NATO and all of the marketing for be NATO because that is just Cilly, goofy, fun time bee disaster.

Hilarious. The CGI was atrocious, which was perfect.

I didn't mind it that much.

I think it's fine because that's. We're not here for realistic beasts, you know, we're doing swarm also. It was just so funny because it pissed off the Internet so much. So much.

And it just did exactly what they probably were aiming for, too, which was to just hype up the show, get everyone talking about the show. Any press is good press. So just masterful marketing. Really fun. Like, we just got to make puns and jokes about bees for, like, how long? A month.

Actually.

I did find it. I did find it.

He does credit the ABC saying that it wasn't his idea to market be NATO, but it was a brilliant move on their part because in the month of September, you're not supposed to market airline disasters.

I mean, they weren't given much of a choice. It was either, like, be NATO or plane crash in September.

It just happened to be unfortunate that they did release that title.

It was funny because we told our friend Nikki, who, well, previously knew nothing about 911. We got her. She's watching it now. She's halfway through season two anyway. But previously no affiliation or knowledge.

And we told her about this because we were particularly laughing because we had rescheduled our entire week of social media.

It was September 11.

Oops. Yeah, we pushed all of the. The bomb jokes and references, you know, to, like, after Sunday.

And after we did that, it was like the next day that title dropped. And we were like, why did we give a fuck if ADC didn't?

We were trying to be sensitive, but we told.

We told Nikki about this and she was like, that's actually hilarious.

It was just like a perfect storm of events of that happening because the titles are dropped. If they're not released by press, the titles are dropped. I think 21 days in advance of the episode airing.

And it just so happened that 21 days before the second episode was September 11. Oopsie. But they can't control that.

It was just.

That was just one of those, like, uh. Oh.

Yeah. I don't think anything bad really came out of it. It was just like, oh, my God. I like that. On top of just all of the shit people were giving a.

The be NATO marketing. I don't know. It was just.

It was funny.

It was great. It was a great time. Thanks for that.

I loved being online. Yeah.

Okay, so I just have a couple things. The first one are just a few callbacks or, like, meta references. So we get in episode one on the hotshot set.

They are filming a scene where Brad is taking an ax to a toilet.

And someone stuck in a toilet.

Someone stuck in a toilet. And that was a direct call back to season one. Love to see it.

The pilot, the pilot. The infamous pipe baby.

Yes. Hope we get more of these. I want the meta references. I want the team watching the show anyway.

I want some every episode so much.

Then we get Buck's medal line about Brad's accent, which is just so unfortunate that people who don't know that Oliver is british, they don't get how funny that fucking was. But it was brilliant. And he's like, oh, can you say that word again? Oh, my God. I had no idea he was british.

That was for us. That was the people in fandom who are like, can't be normal about this show and then realize it.

Or the people online on TikTok or whatever, and like, wait, Oliver Stark's british? Or that guy is british? And it's like, yeah, it's a shock to everybody. Yeah, loved that.

Then my final little callback that I noticed was Brad's line in episode three when he's the girl with the. A really roughed up leg when she thanks him, and he's like, it's what we do. That is a callback to the Lone Star crossover episode.

And I believe Buck says that to TK. And then we just have a couple little whoopsies just for fun, you know, because nobody's perfect. There were a couple.

Well, there's one that everyone noticed, and then there are two that I got from 911 wiki. So a suction cup prop holding the saw blade is still seen after it lands into the fire truck shortly after.

Gerard is like, they didn't edit that out. Yeah, on first watch, I just thought that was part of the saw blade.

I did too.

That's just me being stupid.

Well, let's be real. Like, no one's really paying attention to the sawblade there. It's all the other spectacle.

But then earlier in that episode where they ran out of the CO2 when they were on the highway trying to get the bees off the car so it wouldn't work then. But then when the truck catches fire, they're magically able to put out the flames with more CO2.

Just a little maybe.

They.

Inconsistency.

Maybe. Maybe. And then the last one is in episode three.

The airline that's written on the plane is different when it's in the air than when it's on the ground. And that was just probably a whoopsie with the prop plane on the ground.

Or, like, post production with the visual effects I did because I was watching it earlier today. They did go over that on a couple. The wrong airline is on there a couple times, but later on in the episode, it was corrected.

So they must have just missed it.

They must have just missed that because it does say key star or whatever. Keystar. Yeah, yeah, I think later on. So, like at the kind of end of the emergency. So they probably just missed a couple.

I mean, there were some great jokes that came out of that. It was something like, I don't know, it was like day so stressful or something. Like, it's a totally different plane when it landed.

Something like that. It was funnier than that. But yeah, but that's all I've got for goofs.

That's cute. We're gonna take this time to kind of like recalling it, like into the looking glass sort of thing.

So kind of like backwards and forwards at the same time.

Sliding doors.

Exactly. Sliding doors. Seeing things, reflecting. So we have, like a couple, I think, parallels to previous seasons that were starting to connect already.

And do you want to take a couple of these? Because I just have a couple at the end.

We already talked about it, so I don't need to get into it in detail. But we have season one book. His issues with authority are paralleling season eight. Buck with his resurgence of issues with authority.

And then we have a couple. Athena inter parallels with themselves season four. I think it's the finale. It's the finale. Survivors.

It's after Eddie's shot, Bobby goes into the building with sniper. He gets shot. And Bethena. Bethena, Athena goes in, like, puts on turnouts and goes in and saves him. Mm hmm.

So I thought that was just like a nice little parallel where, like, I mean, I don't want to, like, say save. They save each other. You know what I mean?

Like, no one is a damsel in distress who constantly needs to be saved because obviously they're both very capable people.

But they're always, they take charge to do the saving.

Yeah. They're always gonna go out of their way to help each other. And even if it means literally putting their lives on the line, they're going to do it.

So we see that paralleled in this episode. And then we have one of my favorites, which is when Bethena parallels buddy Anne.

It's always so good when they can do that.

I love it.

So Bobby says to Athena when he finally gets to talk to her on the phone and shes like, ha ha, im not going to see you at LAX because were going to be flying right over it tells him whats going on and he just says, what do you need? And shes like, hahaha. Do you have a Runway? And no. Then he makes it happen, but its just literally, what can I do for you?

And that is a direct parallel to season seven, when Eddie calls Buck over after everything happens with Kim and Chris has locked himself in his room, isn't talking to him, isn't coming out, and Buck comes over and he sits down and Eddie's freaking out and is explaining everything that happened. And book just goes, okay, I'm here. What can I do? So it's very much just, I'm in it with you. What can I do? How can I be here for you?

How can I support you?

And trusting the other person to, like, one tell you what they need and also be able to, like, provide that.

Stability and having it be your go to person where, like. Like, you know, Bobby was trying to reach Athena immediately and Athena was trying to reach Bobby.

And, you know, the first person that Eddie thought to call was Buck. And Buck immediately came running.

Yeah. And kind of, kind of to that point with Bobby and Nathina when, you know, Bobby is standing on top of the fire truck out so romantically.

And.

He sees the plane coming in for the landing, and he's like, I see you. And Athena finally sees him through the windshield, and she's like, I see you, too. And to me, that was very much giving.

Norman and Lola from Buck, actually 208, where we all remember Norman and Lola. Did you know Norman?

And I just wanted to say I thought it was real funny how, you know, twice now in 911, we've had a husband and wife couple stop traffic and on a very busy la highway. Just for the other to say, like, I see you, which.

Which I think interesting.

We had so much.

We have so many nickels.

We have so.

A lot of nickels. We're rich now.

I wish. But we need to start charging more than nickels. I think we should start charging like, $10 for every time we have one.

Of these, which you can't say, I have 210 bucks.

You know, I mean, just duplicate buck, copy paste.

Okay, continue.

Buck bucks. Yeah. Funny. Cool. That's fine. It's fine. Not every. Not everything is a winner. That's okay.

I'm sure Meg is listening and laughing.

So just imagine that, Meg, that was for you. And then I also thought there was kind of a parallel with Bobby being so involved in the Hollywood sphere of it all.

And I kind of connected that back to dost with. With Bobby and Taylor. Taylor wasn't really like Hollywood, but like that kind of entertainment industry sort of thing. This.

He fucking hates it.

Bobby was about to get hit by a camera, wasn't he.

Yes.

And he was just like, take me out. It's fine.

Yeah. She's a stake in the wheel, and I just think it's the cameras.

Again, my number one enemy.

I just think it's so funny that anytime there's a camera involved, Bobby doesn't want to be around it. So there's probably something about, you know, something.

Something about having stories being told that aren't necessarily, like, the truth, that kind of thing. I don't know.

I want to see more of Bobby's hatred for, like, the Hollywood and entertainment industry and his, like, just absolute distaste for Taylor and what she was doing. And I feel like. I, like, there can be a lot of overlap there, so I'm excited to see that. Cause he's just, like, so over.

He does not want to be involved at all.

This made me think of a meta or a callback. I don't know what it would be. But on hotshots, they have the firefighters that they call out Sanchez and Jones. Right. And that's.

That's paralleling, like, Diaz. Sanchez. Diaz and Jones is Oliver's actual last name.

Mm hmm.

Which means so funny.

Which could be nothing.

Which could be nothing.

Could be a little wink wink, nudge, nudge.

I'm also like, I guess you can't say it's a parallel. It's just, like, a wish, a hope, a dream that a hotshot show is. Yes. An educated wish that the hot shot show is based off of Taylor Keller's book.

I want that so bad. Taylor Kelly.

That. But let her be evil.

Yeah, it's fine. We don't mind.

And then I think the last thing I just want to point out, it's not necessarily, like, a seasoned parallel, but our little superstar pilot Jem and his dad, and how that could be linked or parallel to Eddie and Christopher, this little kid who lost his mom, and he and his dad are trying to honor her memory sort of thing, but also move on. I don't know. Sounds really similar to me. That's all I'm saying. So maybe I think it's something to look out for.

Maybe it's a sign of foreshadowing. Maybe Eddie should go to the lake with Christopher.

Yeah.

Wait.

Yes. Like, because they were going. Jim and his dad were going to Hawaii.

Right?

Because that was one of the mom's favorite places.

Yeah.

When Eddie goes to pick up Christopher, they can have their whole, like, come.

Together, little chat with them, like, on a rowboat or something. It'd be so cute.

Okay. I love that idea.

So I will say, I think it was kind of sort of missed opportunity to not have Eddie. I don't think Eddie was anywhere near Gem and his dad.

Yeah.

So kind of, like, missed opportunity to kind of.

All you had to do was, like, show him looking at them. And I wonder if there'd be, like.

A deleted scene or like a. Something left on the cutting room floor, maybe that.

Maybe.

So I think those are, like, some parallels that we've been seeing so far. We can take a brief look at what's coming down the pike in the next couple of episodes.

So, like, when we do our next little, like, special season eight installment, we'll be covering 804, 805, 806. So 804 is no place like home. So we're still going to be expecting a lot of wizard of Oz references. And we do have a synopsis for that.

It's when it finally looks like Hen and Karen may get their foster license back, they are hit with another obstacle. Meanwhile, the 118 races to the aid of the cheerleader involved in an infield collision.

I think when we release this episode, it will have already been out. It might have already aired, but that is literally all we know about 804. That's it. That's all we know.

And then we have 805, which is, I think, being marketed as the Halloween episode. And I think ABC is doing all of their Halloween episodes that week. Lake and the.

We don't know a lot about this one either, but the synopsis is the 118 is once again working on the spookiest night of the year and missing out on all the tricks and treats. Meanwhile, Buck's Halloween decorations become a little scarier than he had hoped, which I think everyone is kind of like, cross burn the loft.

Burn the loft. Because it always comes back to any.

Little crumb where we can. Where we can imagine it happening. We're like, do it. Do that thing.

Just, you know, I think at this point, it's a little bit for kicks and giggles, but it's also like. But actually, though. And then I think the only other things. Oh, and then for 806. At this point in time of recording, we know absolutely nothing.

We don't have a title. We don't have a synopsis.

We got something. It's supposed to be an Eddie heavy episode. We know that five is supposed to be buck heavy, and six is supposed to be Eddie heavy.

Do we even have an air date?

No, not yet.

We don't have a confirmed air date.

We only know there's not an episode on Halloween. We don't know when it's coming back.

ABC can either do like, the funniest thing imaginable and air it on November 7, aka election week, or it'll be after words. So basically, other than that, the only things we know about episodes five and six is that five is going to be a really big episode for Buck.

And Oliver has talked a little bit about it.

What big episode for Buck, but Cilly, goofy, basically, is how he's described it.

Yeah, I have the quote here. So a big episode for Buck. Silly, goofy.

He's excited to have some funny moments and there will be some moving moments and it will lead to a big movement in Buck's life. And everyone's like, movement. Buckloft burned down. And then literally the only signals. Okay, he is Easter egging us a la Taylor swift.

Okay, it's fucking. He's done it before.

Mynier and Oliver Stark went to the school University of Taylor Swift to terrorize their fans.

They majored in Taylor swiftification. And then literally the only thing that we know about six is that it is more of an Eddie centric episode.

And Tim Mynier has said that Eddie has to communicate with himself. It's time to take a look in the mirror, literally and figuratively, and probably ask himself why the mustache?

And specifically, there is a reason behind the mustache that will be revealed in episode six that Tim has gone on record and said is one of, I think, his favorite scenes that.

Yeah.

That Ryan has shot. Ever so terrifying, scary. Can't wait for it. Can't wait to collapse.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe Oliver said that there is a buddy scene where they don't really say anything, but it's.

I don't know what episode that is.

I don't know what episode that is in either. But I'm assuming it's in one they've shot. So that would be four or five or six.

Four. Five or six, yeah.

Because when he did that interview, it was like a couple weeks ago, so they wouldn't have even started seven years. It. Yeah. So what was it? It was like, there's a buddy scene where they don't really say that much, but it still says, I think it.

Was something like he's being. He's like being there for him through the whole Christopher thing.

Oh, it was like comfort.

It was like find comfort without really.

Saying yes, which is what we've seen at the end of the season seven.

Finale and also like, what we've been talking about since the beginning of our coverage of season two. What was it?

I think in 202, we were talking about how one or the other is kind of that sigh of relief, that quiet place that they and reassurance go to. So.

Which is so funny, actually, because I.

Was reading not really one of the.

Articles that came out before. Yeah. Before 704 aired, before Buck bewildered came out.

And Oliver was talking about how something was going to happen for his character where he finally gets to breathe a sigh of relief.

And we were like, is he listening?

I mean, it was like a year ago, but, yeah, I just.

The ones that are recent, I was like, yeah, hello. Is that not exactly what we. What we just put out?

Yeah, but they are.

And they're very much like, you know, able to be there for each other a lot that we see where they don't talk a lot, you know, but still that comfort and support, even though.

We don't even know when our episode for that will come out because we don't know when 806 is going to happen.

Yeah.

And that'll be two weeks after that. But trust that we'll be absolutely insane. We'll be insane no matter what happens. We're gonna be off our rockers. So look forward to that.

Should be super unhinged and normal if.

It'S during election week. I just. I don't think I'll be. I don't think I'll be a functioning human being.

No.

If it's just as insane as we're.

I was thinking earlier today, and, like, maybe this is getting now into our final section, which is like, kind of a what if clownery. Like, what if, what if kind of a wish list, clowning. What if this is what happens going forward?

But I was just thinking it would be the sweetest fucking reward, vindication. I don't even know. Just if we get either feelings, realization for either of them.

Gay Eddie, like, something on November 7, do you know how healing that's gonna be? Do you know how much I'm gonna fucking cry? That's gonna, like, heal some sort of deep wound in my soul? Like, I'm actually being so serious.

I had to talk for real.

I agree. In therapy after the supernatural finale, two sessions. Two sessions. All I talked about was how much that fucked me. Up.

So I'm being so serious that it.

Was like, you could say that we are, like, resurgence of trauma and closure, but, like, healing moments. Yeah.

And I don't want to compare them too much. Yeah. It's very different. It would just be. It would mean so much. I know we joke about it. It would be the funniest thing ever, and it would. It would.

So they should. But also, like, legitimately, like, kind of healing something. Something healing. Generational trauma.

Generational queer paid trauma fandom. Fandom. Generational trauma. Generational fandom.

Drama. Yeah. You know.

Well.

Five.

Mm hmm, mm hmm, mm hmm.

Almost 20 years ago.

Jesus Christ. Okay.

It's not watching it for that long, but, like, close.

The thing that I'm most looking forward to. And I actually don't even care how.

This happens, just that it happens.

Just that it happens. And I actually don't even think I care when it happens because I know it's going to happen. So, like, I know everyone's like, it needs to happen now.

And I'm like, listen, it's going to be great, whatever they do, but, oh, man, I am so looking forward to buck Tommy bones.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. It's going to taste so good. I'm not.

Sweet, sweet victory.

I'm gonna be. It's gonna be literally super bowl. It's gonna be the Super bowl on that watch. I'm gonna be up. I'm gonna be screaming anyway. It's gonna happen.

I don't even need to talk about the ways that it could happen because I don't care.

It's just so obvious.

There's just so many ways that it could happen. He is a plot device. He is a plot device. I don't even.

I don't know how to tell you and explain to you that he's a plot device if you don't already understand.

It's bad enough that we haven't even referenced him by name at least right now.

Oh, I think I did. I think I said Tommy Kennard earlier.

No, I'm. Well, I meant right now.

You said Tommy Bones.

Oh, well. Well, we said Buck Tommy Bones, but yeah, hashtag that. I don't mind the nicknames. I don't mind saying his name.

Like, I don't think it's like, a taboo. Like, he's got a fucking speak the name conjur the bean Voldemort situation.

But I mean, like, I mean, like, he's, like, not a character that's even, like, worth talking. Like, you know, what? I mean, like, worth referencing, giving him a name.

What do we know?

He's just that man.

Helicopter. He wants Buck's life. He wants Eddie.

He wants that cookie, too.

Yeah. So what else do I know about him other than that he thinks Buck is hot and likes having sex with.

Him and was in the army and is basically just a mirror for Eddie with it.

Like a surface level mirror. Sure.

Yeah.

Um. That's it. Yeah. That's all I know.

I just advice to help bring in Gerard.

I know it's gonna end. I don't care if it ends because Buck realizes his feelings. I don't care if it ends because Buck realizes that Tommy's a piece of shit.

I don't care if it ends because Buck realizes that he deserves better. Like, literally, we're all of the above.

At the same time.

There's so many ways that he can be used as a plot device. Do all of them. I don't care. Go off. Have a great time, Tim.

Go off. King.

For real. No, there's literally no bad way to do it. He is a plot device. And however, dad has decided to implement the plot device is going to be great. Yeah.

And it's like, listen, I'm not even trash talking him. I'm just stating facts and stating that he's a plot device.

It is.

Sorry. Anyway.

So we already kind of mentioned, like, feelings realization, and, like, gay Eddie realization leading to buddy is gonna happen. I don't know that, like, the buddy of it all will happen in this season because I kind of want a little bit more, like, anxious kind of.

Yeah, I don't want it to happen.

I do want build up.

Give us the slow burn.

I want build up.

Like, I don't care if it's already been seven seasons.

Do you know what would be hilarious?

Like, pining.

Yes. I want that. But, like, you know, it'd be hilarious because I love suffering.

Oh, God.

As if we get a cliffhanger of some sort of confession or some sort of moment where you're, like, holding your breath to see what's gonna happen. Cliffhanger.

I hate those.

So much for the finale. Oh, my God, it would be so good.

What? And give Tim the opportunity. The time jump. Like, three months later, and we're just.

Like, no, don't time jump.

See?

See, that's why I wouldn't want, like, a cliffhanger at the end, because then we would miss out on some of the best parts about the beginning of that relationship.

Kind of like how we lost out with the beginning couple of months with Bobbi and Athena, and it's just like, I think we really need and we deserve to see that developing.

I don't think it would be the same thing, though. Listen, I don't think he's gonna do this.

I just think it would be great if he picks it right back up, because it's a much different situation for Buck and Eddie than it is for Athena and Bobby, because they weren't, of course, like, they were friendly. They saw each other at Arc.

They had a mutual friend. I just want to see all of those firsts together and how there's no way that. How they transition from platonic to romantic.

I just think that there's no way that they would not milk every second that they could out of what is one of the biggest draws for new audiences and old fans. You know what I mean? This is like. This is like, scripted television. When you have a really, really good will, they won't they.

You want to draw that shit out, and then when they finally get together, you want to see all of it.

Yeah.

But I do love the classic cliffhanger of, like, a confession or a kiss and then, like, you know, like a. What the fuck did we just do? Look at each other and then a cliffhanger. I love that. So, like, fine if that was, like, mid season.

Yeah, like. Like a mid season or an episodic cliffhanger where we get something, like, the next week or a couple weeks end. But I wouldn't want that.

Like, that would be fine for me, but I don't want that as, like, the season. In the season.

Okay.

Bad hiatus would be unbearable. I don't.

Everyone would be so feral. It would be hilarious. And I kind of want to see that.

No, that's what I'm saying.

No, Tim.

Do not listen to her. She's crazy.

Mister Chaos demon. He is a fucking chaos. He loves.

He loves to, like, just stir the pot and then, like, turn his phone off and go to sleep in front of you soundly knowing that he has turned us into feral little creatures.

Let me check my phone.

I think that feeds him. It does? Like, the monsters, Inc. Laughs and screams. Feeds.

Oh, my God.

Feed the monsters in monstropolis.

Okay, got it.

You got it.

There's that Disney reference.

Hey, he's on ABC now.

It's fine as far as feelings, realizations. I have preferences. But again, I don't really care. Like, I don't care because I know it's gonna be good. It's gonna happen.

I would prefer if Eddie realized first. I would prefer that to sit with it. Yeah, because I want that jealousy and possessiveness. Because juicy. It's so good, right?

And it's already there even without him realizing his feelings. So just imagine realizing his feelings. It would be so good. Yeah, but, yeah, I don't care. I have a preference, but I don't really care.

Just that it happens.

Just, like, general wish list check.

I kind of want them both to realize at the same time, but, like.

Pining, but I think the other one doesn't feel the same way.

Obviously, the mutual pining or that they.

Can'T are friends requited.

I'm required.

Like, one of them's going through something right now, so it's like, don't want.

To rock the bow.

Yeah. It's the pining. Mutual pining. Slow burn angst. That is so delicious.

That would be peak television. To have an episode parallel either the same or, like.

Like, I don't know, five and six, something like that, where they both realize at the same time, and then we get the rest of a season of them being bigger idiots than they for the best.

That would be my kind of optimal scenario, is, like, just to have that simmering again, and then eventually it boils over. So, like, that could be possible with this season, with, like, the whole, like, you know, know, simmering, boiling, simmering, boiling with.

With buck and stuff. So, um. It's about the yearning is about the yearning. I I'm. I'm big on yearning.

Yeah, that's my thing.

Yeah. Um. Okay, what about.

And I'll say. I'll say one word. I are not buddy related. I'm. I'm skipping over this one. So I've mentioned it before, and I'm going to say it again. I want the whole.

I need Eddie to go and get Christopher. I need him, whether it be a road trip, he takes a plane or whatever, he goes to Texas and gets Christopher.

I'm okay with both. I think at first, I was like, Buck has to go regardless.

Yeah.

Like, he'll. He'll drop everything. Even Tommy and Tom is just like, so I don't know. But I'm good with either.

Like, what if Eddie is, like, I'm gonna go get him. I'm leaving tomorrow. And Buck's like, okay. And then Eddie goes to leave his house, and Buck is there waiting for him.

Pick him up.

Yeah. At the driver's door of the truck.

Mm hmm.

Yep. Yeah.

Need that.

Because Eddie can't drive the whole way to Texas.

He's a passenger, princess. Of course he can't. Yeah. But that would.

That would also, like, really, you know, underline the whole, like, they're very much, like, parenting partners. I don't know why I said it weird like, that. Co parent partners in co parenting, Christopher. Which is kind of, like, where it's aligning Buck already.

And contrary to, I think, like, some belief, I don't think we're going to get any of that in the. There's no place like home, which I know had, like, some potential because of the whole wizard of Oz. Like, there's no place like them.

There's no place like them. I don't think that's happening yet. I think we might see some, like, some sort of homesickness, hopefully, in whatever capacity, but, yeah, that. Yes.

So, yes.

Along those lines, since we're there, I would like Eddie to tell his mother specifically. Oh, yeah. To fuck off. I want him to call her out for how she has treated him.

I really, like, I just need him to have a conversation, and it can be any level of aggressive. He could be calm. I don't care. I need. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Yes.

And that would be such a great. That would be such a great parallel to have Eddie, like, confront specifically his mom, because I think he's kind of already made a little bit of.

You think I'm not equipped to be a parent. I've been a parent since I was ten years old. Like, it would be such a great parallel. Right. Cause you think my job is dangerous.

I have walked through fire every day.

Right?

Yeah, exactly. Yes, exactly. That would be so great. And that would just be, like, put.

Us in the production room.

Tim would be a fantastic parallel. People would not stop talking about that forever because it's just like.

Because that helps with, like, what we've been talking about with, like, season two is, like, the self actualization.

So if Eddie is able to do that, you know, once he's kind of, like, been working on healing like, that, those parts of himself, to even, like, stand up for himself like this and to say, like, no, I am enough to be Chris's parent. I know what's best for him, and you're never gonna take him away from him again.

It's going to be that same self actualization that we saw that Buck had with Buck begins in season four, not five. Like, I think I said earlier, and it just, like, just chef's kiss. Delicious. Like, I need that now.

I also want him to have, like, a parallel.

I mean, obviously not a direct parallel, because I really hope that Eddie doesn't have a coma dream, but I would love some dream elements, parallels, right?

Maybe.

Or, you know, whatever priest, whatever the. Whatever clownery we're cooking up.

I don't care how it happens, but he's working through figuring out who he is, and he's supposed to learn to love himself, right? That's what we keep hearing from. From Ryan, from Tim. So I want a parallel where he's like, I am enough. I am enough.

And it's not okay that my parents have always treated me like I wasn't. And I am not going to let my child be with people who made me feel like that, who could potentially make him feel like that. Yeah. I just want.

Which is also just such a great, like, parallel to him and buck. It's just like they're such perfect compliments for each other.

It's just.

So good.

Chef's kiss getting worked up.

It would be so good. Yeah. So I would. I would love to see that. I just. Oh, someone needs to kill. If it's not Eddie Buck, it could be Christopher. Oh, my God.

That would be great. Someone needs to tell someone. Someone needs to make her feel as small as she has made Eddie feel his entire life. Like, I am so serious.

I'm so for real right now. I'm past any sort of redemption for this woman. I don't even know what you could do.

Not a lot.

No.

And then kind of switching gears, I think. I think whoever mentioned Maddie and. Or Madney and Henry versus the councilwoman, I'm pretty sure we're going to see that.

Yeah, I would love to see that. I would love for the councilwoman to get her comeuppance. I think that would be.

She's been ready.

I am so ready. She's literal trash lady. She's second trash lady. Number one is Helena.

Yeah.

She is number one on her shit list this season.

Yeah.

Then the councilwoman and then Gerard, I guess.

Yeah. I wonder then if that would be.

And I guess Brad after. Oh, sorry.

What's going on? Oh, no, wait.

Tommy. We need to put Tommy there then Brad.

Yeah. I honestly just, like. I don't know. I just discount him when I'm thinking about things. I forget he exists sometimes.

You existed.

Yeah. I think it's hard for him to, like, be on my shit list just because I'm like, you're. I've already.

You're already gone, basically.

You're already gone. Exactly.

And then Brad being Helga, pataky levels of craycray, Dilulu. I just want to see how weird they can get with Brad.

Make it as weird as possible. I'm so serious. I'm talking about, like, Sue Sylvester with that fuck ass puppet. The clean reunification arc. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

Be fucking unhinged about it.

That's gonna be fun.

That's all I want.

Just pure entertainment for us.

Yeah.

And Bobby being so done.

Yep.

I wanna see 118 parallels and hotshots. I know I mentioned this a little bit earlier, and I wanna see the team watching it.

I wanna see Bobby watching so many scenes being filmed and being like. Like, fuck. And them figuring out that it's based on Taylor Kelly's book. Yep.

Yeah.

From Buck's fucking apartment down. Just.

Just. And move in with Eddie, obviously.

And we haven't even talked about the potential tension and uncomfortable truths that we're gonna see between, like, oh, my God. So that could be one of them.

There could be so many. There could be so many things. It could be all of them. Who fucking knows? There's so many things that they.

It's three months, and they're still getting to know each other. They're still not calling each other boyfriends. Kind of like, what have you guys.

Been doing for three months?

Sleeping together.

Crazy schedules. Guys.

I love how it was so different.

And sleep together happens.

I almost feel like they. Oh, I don't know.

What?