9-1-1's Fan Favorite Character Came Out As Bi and Released All Hell

Edit: A previous version of this post misnamed the character Eddie Diaz as Eddie Ramirez. I apologize for this mistake and it has been corrected.

On most Thursday nights, when I look in the 9-1-1 tag on tumblr, or notice a mutual going ham on reblogs and gifs, I get hit was a wave of fandom nostalgia - a story being released week by week is having an affect on a small population of viewers and we are vocally responding. A few weeks ago, I was surprised to find out there was actually a divide and a small amount of vitriol in the posts I was seeing. Up until then, I had thought everyone was on the same page in regards to the queer storyline for a favorite character - we're just happy to be here. Instead, I realized there was actually an ongoing slash ship war that reaches new levels in fandom wank.^[1]

9-1-1 is a Ryan Murphy-produced & influenced (our favorite guy!) first responder show about a bunch of fire fighters, call center workers, and policemen. It takes heavily after the influential 1970s show Emergency except the rescues are "crazier" and there are way more personal storylines, keeping with the pace of modern serialized TV trends. The youngest himbo on the squad is Evan (Buck) Buckley, who has anchored the show since its pilot despite burning buildings, tidal waves, and lightning strikes trying to take him out. In the second season, a new young hunk by the name of Eddie Diaz joined the squad and a new slash classic was born. For many, the reason Buck and Eddie belong together is because they are best friends, share a single brain cell, have equally massive amounts of repression and trauma in different ways, and Buck is basically like the second dad to Eddie's kid, Chris. For me, it because Eddie gets shot right in front of Buck and splatters blood everywhere. Let's look at the evidence again.

Now you may be asking: is there an mmm watcha say fan edit of this moment? and of course there absolutely is, yes

I would say because of that scene I am lightly invested in the pairing - I'd read fic, I enjoy the reactions, the gifs are fun. As is normal for a ship with lots of h/c and guns and things blowing up, it is surprisingly domestic, and it's hard not to have a soft spot. It's not in my top tier of ships, but it's what's going on right now.

Now, 9-1-1 is an interesting case for modern slash, because there have always been lots of queer characters in the show. Hen and Karen have been married since the first episode, throughout the seasons there has been strong queer representation across the board.^[3] Yet, Buddie still existed because, I think, it fulfilled a lot of the traits and tropes of historied slash. I like it because it feels like a throwback - I don't get the same queer yearning from modern canonically queer characters. ^[3] Fans could argue that if these two straight guys were meant to be gay, they'd already be gay - other characters are. But that's not going to stop the idea of slash, because it's a fandom of its own at this point. Buck and Eddie's backstories and ongoing relationships paint a familiar picture to anyone who has spent years looking at/for queer relationships in media.

So here's where the insanity starts. At the beginning of season 7, 9-1-1 moved from Fox to ABC. Also, in the fourth episode, "Buck, Bothered and Bewildered," Buck kisses a man. He then decides he wants to go on a date with that man. Tommy, Buck's love interest, was a guest in another character's backstory episode, came back for the season 7 opener and met the rest of the crew. He immediately bonded with Eddie, Buck got super jealous, then he and Buck started dating. There is talk saying that Buck being bi was an idea back in Season 4, some say Season 2, but got shot down. Now, on ABC, they can go ahead. Everybody online is whooping. Bi Buck is finally canon - we are one step closer to Buddie.

I don't think the split was instantaneous but in terms of ship wars, you can kind of see where this is going. At the end of (the very short) Season 7, Tommy breaks with up with Buck because Tommy feels Buck hasn't quite figured himself out yet. In the currently airing Season 8, Buck helps Eddie move back to Texas to be with his son, then moves into Eddie's old house. Buck spends an episode talking nonstop about Eddie, his sister questions him about this, then he invites Tommy over to hook up and Tommy joins him the next morning to have this conversation:

So, okay, look. Since the 2000s, slashers do sometimes get acknowledgment from the writers. Just look at Clexa - where one character died right after. Or Destiel^[4] - where in the last episode one half of the ship says "I love you" and then gets forever banished into goopy superhell. It's not that writers are no longer aware of slash but there has for some reason been a resistance to a slow burn slash romance that's not a slap in the face to fans.

I happen to think the writers might be going for it. Two episodes in a row where different characters position Eddie as Buck's crush seems to be indicating that the writers at least want to explore the idea. Eddie, canonically, is still straight. But, you know, details. What's fun is that every episode is seemingly dropping new hints and teasing things out in a way that feels validating. It's not like the last 8 seasons of theories would meaningless if they never date - classic slash (crack notwithstanding. I love you, crackships) in my experience is almost always definitely there, even if no one on set is willing to admit it (at least one person usually is).

What was super surprising to me, though, after everyone was freaking out about Buck moving into Eddie's house, was seeing someone argue that Buck should just forget Eddie, because Tommy has already canonically been his boyfriend and is good at it. Eddie is straight and Tommy cares about him. THERE ARE TOMMY AND EDDIE SHIP WARS. I had seen fans been happy about how cute Buck and Tommy are together, and yes, they are. I thought that was the entirety of it, I thought we were all at the same party. I wasn't rooting for them to break up and I don't see Tommy as a roadblock to The One True Ship, but neither do I understand disliking Buddie shippers because they're being delusional. Delusionality is what got us here in the first place. I thought we were all just happy to see our dumb golden retriever of a boy toy figure out something about himself and be joyful about it. But some fans seem to be mad at other fans because they've gotten attached to the new character.

This type of thing usually happens when fans get attached to a canon girlfriend character, and can't stand that slashers won't shut up about their soulmate pairings. They see it is a devaluation of what's actually happening on screen. I have never seen it in relation to canon m/m pairing. It's a whole new level of fandom madness. And the season is only half over.

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