My Thoughts on: The 9-1-1 Bosses on Buck and Eddie's Dynamic
Hey angels and biscuits! In this blog I’d like to discuss the recent interview that the showrunners did for the fox drama, 911. They in particular discuss upcoming events in season five’s second half, and the ongoing relationship that is Buck and Eddie. If you’d like to read the whole article here is the link:
I found much of this article rather disingenuous, so let’s break it down. My concerns come in about when talk of Buck and Eddie’s relationship comes up.
Yes, I am one of those who is of the opinion that Buck and Eddie are being written as a couple and either that needs to stop or they should be written as a couple and not just written with romantic tropes and subtext. We can get that right out of the way. I won’t hide it or try to deny it.
Getting right into the article let’s start here: “In some ways, fans might argue, Buck has become inextricably linked with Eddie and Christopher.” Well, yes, fans do argue this because ever since the tsunami Chris has been quite attached to Buck. Eddie openly admits there’s no one he trusts more with his son. Eddie makes Buck Christopher’s legal guardian in the event something happens to him. It’s not just fan speculation, it’s a fact that they are inextricably linked.
Here’s where we start to get into the most disingenuous parts of the article: “Minear said in an interview last May that Buck and Eddie's relationship has "come up specifically and continuously" in the writers' room, Reidel said that, while the writers' "original intention is never to string anybody along," she doesn't know if there has been a goal about defining their dynamic, even if she realizes the actors who play them "have terrific chemistry." As a woman who has many "amazing, deep relationships with other women in my life that are platonic," Reidel said, "I personally have always seen [Buck and Eddie] as a great friendship."
There are a few major problems I see with this part. And the part that follows:
"But I think the struggle with the Buck and Eddie relationship is, we write a thing and we have an idea in our head of what the scene means and what those lines mean and an intention behind it, and then it goes out into the world," Reidel added. "People may receive it in a way that we had not expected or that we had not planned on, and I'm not gonna tell people that they're watching the show wrong because people see what they see. But I think that they're very good friends, and in a lot of ways, they are family, and I think that's where they are right now."
Over the years, there have been numerous nods to their dynamic—an elf mistaking Buck as one of Christopher's fathers, Maddie teasing Buck about having a "boy crush on Eddie," some social media users saying they think Buck and Eddie would make a great couple, Eddie telling Buck "there's nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you." But in the Season 4 finale, Eddie revealed that, if he were to die, Buck would become Christopher's legal guardian, marking another step in the evolution of their relationship.”
The first big problem I have with this is the show runner is taking her personal experiences with her female friendships and using that to justify Buck and Eddie as being “just great friends.” Those characters are not you and men can have different relationships with each other than women. Using personal experiences is okay to some extent but just because your experience was one thing doesn’t mean that is how you are actually writing the relationship between Buck and Eddie. Not to mention the show runner’s experience is not the only experience of deep friendships out there. Other’s with amazing deep relationships that are platonic may very well see Buck and Eddie as written romantic.
The second thing I find very disingenuous is that this show runner openly admits they put nods to romantic implications of their dynamic to follow that up with they are very good friends, family. Not to mention claiming they don't want to string anybody along but if that were true why continue to write them with so many romantic tropes and subtext? Why admit Buck and Eddie come up often in the writer’s room? It begs the question if that is true, why then, are you not changing how the characters are written? Knowing that you are writing them in a way that is perceived romantically and continuing to do it. Knowing you ARE in fact stringing people along by keeping the status quo? In season two it was perfectly acceptable to say “we didn't intend for Buck and Eddie to come across as romantic or for them to have such chemistry. It’s not how we intended to write it.”
But after four seasons of the pair on screen together, that IS intentional. You know how the writing comes across. You know if you continue with the tropes as you have been, the style, and just the chemistry in the acting, you know how it’s being perceived. If you really didn't want Buck and Eddie to be perceived outside the platonic, the writing of their characters would change. But it doesn't, it hasn’t in four total seasons of them on screen together.
As a writer, I find it very disingenuous to say that “well we don't mean to write them this way and if that's how fans perceive it that’s fine but it’s not our intent.” Because writing is intentional. Lighting of a scene is intentional. Positions of the actors is intentional. Music is intentional. There isn’t a lot left to chance when you’re making a show. Fans can have theories, wishes based on what’s given, but ultimately those things are based on the narrative by the writers and show runners. Fans have a limited amount of information and it’s given to us edited, scripted, all with purpose.
“Reidel, who wrote that fateful finale, said the episode was based on her own experiences of being raised by a single mother. Her mother's will "named her best friend as my guardian, because she felt that if something happened to her, the best thing for me would not be to be raised by my grandparents—it would be to be raised by her best friend," she explained.”
As we go on in the article the show runner is once again using her personal experiences to explain her choices. Her mom willed her best friend to be a legal guardian. Okay, and? It does not matter what you experienced, it matters how you write the story and characters you are in charge of. Because that was your experience does not mean Buck and Eddie’s situation has to be the same dynamic. Inspiration is one thing, but make sure it’s fitting the characters you are writing for. If your intent was to make it platonic then write it that way. If they are intended to be best friends and not the kind that get married, then write them that way. If you look at the way they are written Buck and Eddie are written more like Booth and Brennan (a canon couple) from the show Bones than say Jake and Charles (amazing best friends) from the show Brooklyn 99.
"To me, that's kind of an example of, I intend one thing and people see it a different way. And there really is no right or wrong—you see what you see," Reidel added. "So I completely get why people saw that as something deeper and more meaningful. They went from two guys who didn't really get along because Buck was super jealous of Eddie when he got there, and they have become family. And family doesn't always look the way you think it's going to."
Again, if your intent was to be purely platonic then it should be reflected in the writing, and for Buck and Eddie I do not see that it is. If family doesn’t always look the way we think it is going to, why can’t Buck and Eddie become a romantic couple as the writing keeps hinting to? It would be unexpected for the characters themselves. They have not yet quite realized they have a small family unit built. It would be genuine to how the writing has been thus far for these two.
I love Buck and Eddie. I love Buck and Eddie’s friendship. But I also love the dynamic being built between them that seems more romantic than platonic. Using romantic tropes, subtext in the writing, scene setup, lighting, music, all the fun stuff. They have been writing Buck, Eddie, and Chris like a family slowly being built, worked towards. Articles like this ultimately bother me as they come across as very disingenuous and look to me like the show runners are trying to have their cake and eat it too. Claim anything can happen (even Buddie) but yet also claim they are just best friends and nothing more. Claim that it’s ok if fans see something we didn’t intend but continue to admit to putting in romantic dynamics being fully aware of how their writing is continuously coming across. And at the end of the day I don't enjoy that.
For now, I am sticking with the show. I do wish perhaps the show runners and writers would just stay out of talking about things like Buck and Eddie’s relationship if this is how they will continue to do it, but until the series ends I, as a fan, really won’t know what will happen. I can, however, have predictions for days, and I do. I can also hope to be surprised by the show runner’s and writing staff. Hope they will do these characters justice in the end. Whether that is changing the writing to fit their intent or to follow through with the current dynamic they have unintentionally wrote and apparently continue to write.
And That’s The Tea
