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For six seasons now, fans of 911 have been watching the friendship between Evan “Buck” Buckley and Eddie Diaz play out, with more than half the fandom hoping that their relationship would blossom into something more; and even though “Buddie” is still a possibility in the future, their dynamic has changed from co-workers to friends to best friends to parenting Christopher Diaz together - they’ve been through hell and back with each other! It’s technically impossible to boil down their “best” episodes or even scenes when practically every single one of them screams - Just. Get. Together. Already!!! But even so, in lieu of doing a typical breakdown of top episodes for them, why not showcase some of their strongest scenes which are more “arc specific” overall? Chronologically even!
Season Three: The Tsunami Arc:
Season Three: The Tsunami Arc:
Yes, I know that we got to see how Buck and Eddie became fast friends over the course of their first meeting in the season 2 premiere episode, “Under Pressure” when Eddie joins the 118; but it’s the beginning of season 3 that really cemented their status as “Buddie” - namely over the first three episodes that dealt with the tsunami and its aftermath. “Kids Today”, “Sink or Swim” and “The Searchers” showcased Buck and Christopher’s relationship as the two of them stuck together once the tsunami hit the pier, with heart-racing scenes of Buck losing Christopher and then spending every second after that doing his very best to find him, even without realizing when he was injured, Buck just kept going. And it’s only at the very end when Eddie comes across Buck does he find out what happened, but the scene culminates in Christopher being brought to that same location where patients are being treated and they’re all reunited together.
It’s the aftermath of this disaster that really drives the importance that Buck has in both Eddie and Christopher’s lives though. When the father-son duo show up at Buck’s loft the very next day, Eddie is quick to reassure Buck that there’s no blame on his part at all. Christopher remembers Buck saving him in the face of a natural disaster that no one had any control over. He’s Christopher’s real father and he has failed him countless times, but that doesn’t mean Eddie doesn’t love him any less or will stop fighting for him, and it’s something he knows is true for Buck as well. He basically says they’re equals when it comes to their son. The entire scene between Buck & Eddie is filled with countless quotes that people still can repeat verbatim all these years later, one of the most heartwarming ones being - “Buck, there’s nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you."
Season Four: 4.12 and 4.13 - “Suspicion” and “Survivors”:
It’s the aftermath of this disaster that really drives the importance that Buck has in both Eddie and Christopher’s lives though. When the father-son duo show up at Buck’s loft the very next day, Eddie is quick to reassure Buck that there’s no blame on his part at all. Christopher remembers Buck saving him in the face of a natural disaster that no one had any control over. He’s Christopher’s real father and he has failed him countless times, but that doesn’t mean Eddie doesn’t love him any less or will stop fighting for him, and it’s something he knows is true for Buck as well. He basically says they’re equals when it comes to their son. The entire scene between Buck & Eddie is filled with countless quotes that people still can repeat verbatim all these years later, one of the most heartwarming ones being - “Buck, there’s nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you."
Season Four: 4.12 and 4.13 - “Suspicion” and “Survivors”:
Look, there’s no way to choose between Eddie’s shooting and the “will reveal scene” because the two because they both are so entwined with each other, just as Buck and Eddie are! It is absolutely one of the most intense scenes we’ve seen over the entire course of the show’s run. Like something out of a movie, Buck was standing right in front of his best friend when he got shot, the blood spatter hitting him in the face too. Time slows to a complete standstill. They both fall to the floor, hands reaching out for the other, and Buck, Buck who had an entire fire truck at the end of season two on top of his legs, doesn’t even hesitate to dive under one all so that he can drag Eddie to safety and get him to an ambulance, all the while trying to save his life - and of course in his barely-conscious moments, Eddie is the one who asks Buck if he’s okay???
And of course it’s an unspoken obvious thing that Buck will be the one who has to tell Christopher about his father - the two of them sharing a tender moment when Buck breaks down - all of which leads to the moment when Eddie is getting discharged from the hospital, that he tells Buck about naming him as Christopher’s guardian should anything ever happen - not his family, not Christopher’s grandparents, but rather Christopher’s second father. And that’s not even the icing on the cake! Eddie changed his will a year ago after he had been trapped in the well in season 3 - another emotionally charged moment when Buck had literally clawed through the dirt trying to rescue him. He spent the rest of the year keeping this a secret from Buck, choosing to reveal his truth after Buck said that he wished he had gotten shot instead.
It’s then that Eddie realizes he needs to tell Buck that he is worth more than he sees himself as - the truth of which Buck, Eddie and we the audience learn in “Buck Begins”, but he goes even further by calling him by his first name, that left everyone more shaken than they were in the previous episode! “Because, Evan… you act like you’re expendable, but you’re not.”
Season Five - Buck was in the room:
And of course it’s an unspoken obvious thing that Buck will be the one who has to tell Christopher about his father - the two of them sharing a tender moment when Buck breaks down - all of which leads to the moment when Eddie is getting discharged from the hospital, that he tells Buck about naming him as Christopher’s guardian should anything ever happen - not his family, not Christopher’s grandparents, but rather Christopher’s second father. And that’s not even the icing on the cake! Eddie changed his will a year ago after he had been trapped in the well in season 3 - another emotionally charged moment when Buck had literally clawed through the dirt trying to rescue him. He spent the rest of the year keeping this a secret from Buck, choosing to reveal his truth after Buck said that he wished he had gotten shot instead.
It’s then that Eddie realizes he needs to tell Buck that he is worth more than he sees himself as - the truth of which Buck, Eddie and we the audience learn in “Buck Begins”, but he goes even further by calling him by his first name, that left everyone more shaken than they were in the previous episode! “Because, Evan… you act like you’re expendable, but you’re not.”
Season Five - Buck was in the room:
Throughout season 5, we see Eddie dealing with the aftermath of his shooting; he’s having panic attacks as early as the premiere episode, he leaves the 118 to find a more safer job working at the Dispatch Center, starts therapy with Frank, and everything he’s been through since even before we met him - the PTSD of his time in the army, losing Shannon - twice, being in a high-risk profession - all of it builds up to Eddie’s breakdown in 5.13, “Fear-O-Phobia”, when he takes a baseball bat to everything in his locked bedroom. And even though Chris doesn’t know everything about what his father’s going through, his first instinct is to call for Buck to come over and help. Not 911. Not anyone else. Buck. The one person he trusts after Eddie. In the blink of an eye, we see Buck checking on Christopher first before he breaks down the door.
It’s an incredibly vulnerable scene for Eddie, not just to have unleashed his pain and anger and sadness to let it all out, but to sit in front of Buck afterwards and tell him his deepest fears that he couldn’t even be honest about to Frank or anyone else, not even himself. Until that moment.
“What are you afraid of?” “That I’m never going to feel normal again.”
Of course, we see in the next episode itself that not only is Buck taking care of Christopher while Eddie is still processing everything he went through, Bobby also checks up on him; plus we get to see Buck taking Eddie to meet Charlie - the kid that he had saved in the season four finale, someone who survived and is getting better day by day. It’s a quiet moment where Buck tells Eddie that because of him Charlie is getting to have a second chance at life.
Season Six: The lightning strike:
It’s an incredibly vulnerable scene for Eddie, not just to have unleashed his pain and anger and sadness to let it all out, but to sit in front of Buck afterwards and tell him his deepest fears that he couldn’t even be honest about to Frank or anyone else, not even himself. Until that moment.
“What are you afraid of?” “That I’m never going to feel normal again.”
Of course, we see in the next episode itself that not only is Buck taking care of Christopher while Eddie is still processing everything he went through, Bobby also checks up on him; plus we get to see Buck taking Eddie to meet Charlie - the kid that he had saved in the season four finale, someone who survived and is getting better day by day. It’s a quiet moment where Buck tells Eddie that because of him Charlie is getting to have a second chance at life.
Season Six: The lightning strike:
Three minutes and seventeen seconds. That’s how long Buck was dead for; we know this because Eddie counted. He counted every second and minute that passed since lightning hit Buck atop the fire truck, stopping his heart. It’s a scene that parallels not just Eddie getting shot, but being trapped in the well - the roles are reversed this time, with Eddie climbing upwards to try and get to Buck, to pull him to himself while screaming his name every step that he takes. To be the one to drive the ambulance himself. To yell at the doctor’s to “DO MORE!” as they wheel Buck away for surgery. Even afterwards, when Chris, who technically probably shouldn’t even be at the hospital let alone getting snuck into Buck’s bedroom to talk to him, Eddie is completely devastated and can’t even bring himself to look at Buck, hooked up to tubes and wires - it reminds him too much of when Shannon died, but he’s there for their son. Because Buck needs to remember that he has a family to come back to.
And even after he gets discharged and the two of them go for a round of underground poker to show off Buck’s newly acquired math skills, a lighthearted moment for Buddie leads to something even more poignant when Buck shows up to Eddie’s house, and we see that for the first time, he falls asleep on Eddie’s couch within seconds, because he’s safe, he’s home, and he doesn’t have to worry about any nightmares. Which then leads to the two of them a chance to really talk about what they both have been through over the years, a conversation that has been seasons in the making. Buck has avoided answering any questions about how he’s doing, brushing off both Bobby and Maddie’s concerns, but not with Eddie, whom he trusts enough to be open with, he can say that he doesn’t know. “The best way is to allow yourself to feel it.” Buck died and he isn’t alone when it comes to figuring out how to move forward from there.
Season Seven: Buck’s Bi Arc:
And even after he gets discharged and the two of them go for a round of underground poker to show off Buck’s newly acquired math skills, a lighthearted moment for Buddie leads to something even more poignant when Buck shows up to Eddie’s house, and we see that for the first time, he falls asleep on Eddie’s couch within seconds, because he’s safe, he’s home, and he doesn’t have to worry about any nightmares. Which then leads to the two of them a chance to really talk about what they both have been through over the years, a conversation that has been seasons in the making. Buck has avoided answering any questions about how he’s doing, brushing off both Bobby and Maddie’s concerns, but not with Eddie, whom he trusts enough to be open with, he can say that he doesn’t know. “The best way is to allow yourself to feel it.” Buck died and he isn’t alone when it comes to figuring out how to move forward from there.
Season Seven: Buck’s Bi Arc:
In the hundredth episode of the show, season 7’s fourth episode, “Buck, Bothered and Bewildered”, we see Buck undergoing a journey of self-discovery as he realizes that he’s bisexual, opening up a new storyline for himself to find out who he is, thanks to Tommy Kinard, his first boyfriend. It’s something that definitely has shifted the perspective of everyone in the fandom, with people perhaps being divided over the “Buddie” and “BuckTommy” of it all; but the impact of it is something that is important and shouldn’t be overlooked - for a show that has had queer characters since day one, Hen being an openly married lesbian with her wife Karen, Athena’s ex Michael finding happiness with his husband David, multiple characters over the years that everyone has met on calls - to get to experience Buck’s story unfolding as he’s experiencing it himself, is something unique in and of itself too.
Eddie is such an intrinsic part of Buck’s life that even though he went through several fumbles and awkward moments - Eddie’s basketball injury courtesy of Buck, the secondhand embarrassment we all felt when Eddie “crashed” Buck and Tommy’s first date - in the end, when Buck finally gathers up his courage to tell Eddie about Tommy, about him being bi, it’s such a moving scene because you know that Eddie will always be supportive of his best friend, no matter what. “This doesn’t change a thing between us.” Regardless of the “Buddie” factor in the equation right now, the show is still telling us a story about two friends who have so much trust and respect and love for each other - even if it’s not romantic yet - that Eddie is happy for Buck. And we even got a hug out of it! After three seasons of nothing!
There’s two episodes left in season seven, but an entire full season eight ahead for their story to continue and maybe even more in the future! Who knows where Buddie will go in that time or how they’ll end up, but one thing’s for sure, they’re each other’s person and that hasn’t changed and never will.
