#neethu answers

[captain-hen]

i have an issue with the show i am not sure what to think about. i see people saying athena is a strong black female character and therefore awesome. but i just don't like her. i think she's a bully and constantly abuses authority. on multiple occasions she puts being a cop above the safety of her family (the bad stop, recently with harry being a victim of racism). she literally hit her own traumatized child. people keep talking about chimney punching buck, but everyone seems to forget athena hitting harry. idk, i also love some characters that are problematic, but i feel very iffy about such an uncritical approach just because a character is not a white cishet guy

okay, so...let me start off by saying i hear you, and this is an issue that i and most people have had with athena's character. that being said, conversations about copaganda have happened, at length in this fandom. it's not as common these days, but more so during the season 5 era—and i'd also like to add that the scene where athena slaps harry got a lot of pushback when the episode aired, and people were pretty outraged about it. i think it's just that this show has had a lot of copaganda since s1, and it doesn't look like that's about to change anytime soon.

i don't fully agree with what you're saying about athena, but, again, i get where you're coming from. i think the show's tendency to portray the police in the manner that it does often conflicts with how they choose to write athena as a character outside of her job, if that makes sense. that's why you get episodes like next of kin, worst day ever, rage, athena begins, desperate measures etc that make her look like an outright bully who has no regard for procedure or abuse of power. do i think this is gonna change? no. it's been like this since the very first episode and i don't see it changing.

the thing about 911 is, when it gets something right, it gets it really right. the flipside is when it gets something wrong...oh boy. that's how you can have important moments like michael talking to harry about race that feel very well-written coincide with insane scenes like athena playing devil's advocate for the racist cops who nearly shot her son.

honestly, i don't know how to approach this, mainly because i'm not american, and while i come from a country whose law enforcement has major, major issues, i'm obviously at the same time coming from a very different cultural context and lack of sufficient knowledge concerning the history, etc of policing in america. so i really don't know what else there is that i can say on this topic.

#neethu answers #anon

[captain-hen]

For me it's also the fact that they've been on 2 dates (one that went terribly) and barely know eachother, but suddenly they're endgame material, perfect for eachother, and Tommy needs to be protected from heartbreak. They're not even in a relationship? Fandoms treatment of the women in Buck's life in comparison is glaring

yeah. and look, i don't want to dismiss the fact that a lot of the initial response to this arc came from a very emotional place, which i absolutely get. but i honestly expected people to act a little more balanced about it once the initial high of 7x04 faded, and they just...didn't? it legitimately feels like everyone collectively lost their minds (not in a good way), and to be honest, the way queerness is being discusssed—the blanket accusations of biphobia/homophobia that are being slung around (ironically, by people who are falling into biphobic stereotypes while talking about buck rn) at anyone who is critical of the way it's been executed—it's frankly made this fandom a very uncomfortable place to be in rn.

#neethu answers #anon #fandom discourse

[captain-hen]

honestly I like tommy and what we've seen of him so far but I'm not going to pretend the fan reception as a whole doesn't bother me when people have spent seven years acting like all the female characters are the devil. you just know if they had brought lucy back like they wanted or even introduced a new female pilot and left everything else the same—she was friends with chim and hen, she helped them save bathena, she was friends with eddie, and buck had a crush on her (treating chim and eddie like crap in the process)—everyone would have been bitching and moaning and begging for her to be killed off like they did in season 5. But since he's a white guy everyone wants him to become a regular next season

can you imagine the fan reception if everything were kept the same except for tommy's gender? no for real, can you? it would have been an absolute shitstorm. i was there during 5B—i saw the way everyone treated a female character just because she drunkenly kissed a guy. if this had been a woman in 7x04—if buck had injured eddie over the attentions of a woman—if they had flirted over eddie's being injured and then kissed? oh boy. oh boy. and, yes, i do think fandom should examine why their response is so different with tommy than to what it would have certainly been if this were a female character. because it's so incredibly transparent at this point.

#ship what you want and go forth etc #but let's not all pretend there isn't a major amount of hypocrisy informing the way we're reacting to this storyline #neethu answers #anon #fandom discourse

[captain-hen]

buck telling chimney he's seeing tommy and chimney being supportive and all and then mentioning how he had a thing with some guy at the academy where they sucked each other off and buck's all like "yeah, ally, just bro's helping bro's, right? high five" and chimney just levels him with a look and goes "no, buck, it's because i'm bi"

buck, quietly: so...you've always been more than an ally...

#neethu answers #anon #confidently bisexual chimney would be everything to me actually

[captain-hen]

how do you feel about the spec re tommy saying chimney & then buck kissing him in front of everyone

i did not know this speculation existed until you brought it to my attention, but my opinion is that it would be in extremely poor taste for them to have buck (and tommy) become the centre of attention in an episode that's supposed to be all about chimney and maddie and their love for each other. buck already had his moment to shine in the past 2 episodes. let chimney for once take centre stage without being overshadowed.

#neethu answers #anon

[captain-hen]

i do think everyone in this fandom needs to examine why there was so much talk surrounding buck & eddie's previous love interests maybe having trouble accepting buck's place in chris & eddie's life, even though there was nothing in canon indicating that, but now the overwhelming assumption with tommy seems to be that he will be perfectly fine with it no issues whatsoever

i'll give you a hint: it's the ✨misogyny✨

all i'm saying is that if tommy were a female love interest? whew. (she) would be the most hated character on the show rn. this storyline would be received even worse than the bucklucy kiss was. the actress would probably be getting death threats and oliver would be run off social media. lol. absolutely no one would be saying that buck is off the hamster wheel.

#neethu answers #anon #fandom discourse

[captain-hen]

I honestly despise the Eddie as jealous and possessive take (I mean I hate that trope in general)….it’s not who he is AT ALL……like even with Eddie stomping away in the train car in response to Abby or being sassy to/about Taylor that was more so Eddie being protective/supportive of his best friend and in some instances a bit of frustration comes out but it’s never really been blatant jealousness or possessiveness of Buck….but you know who is jealous and possessive…his name might start with B and end in K. Like he was so jealous he maimed his best friend (Buck’s own words) or how he felt so possessive of his spot among the 118 and jealous that he thought he was being replaced he filed a whole lawsuit about it….or how he couldn’t stop talking about Eddie being back with Shannon until Chim told him it was none of their business….but that’s a conversation the fandom can never have because Buck is sunshine ☀️ and we’ll skip the fact that he still can’t communicate how he feels or properly regulate his emotions/responses when he’s feeling some type of way…

what i keep saying!!

#'eddie has been disrespectful to all of buck's love interests' he invited taylor. into his HOME. shut up lol #neethu answers #anon

[captain-hen]

What do you think are the fandom ~~classic buddie fics?

i think this is a very subjective opinion, but i can tell you which fics i really love and constantly re-read—and which, in my opinion, should be read by everyone in the fandom :)

Leave the Light On (I'll Be Coming Home) by @hmslusitania Rated M | 44k | Completed Summary: An accident on a call leaves Buck with custody of Chris after Eddie is... missing presumed. While they navigate their new family circumstances—and fight to stay together, despite Eddie's parents' best efforts—a John Doe wakes up in a coma ward with no memory of his own life beyond the knowledge he has a son named Christopher and, somehow, he needs to get home.

a bleeding sun on a silver screen by rarakiplin Rated M | 130k | Completed Summary: One day, Buck will tell an interviewer that he would be happy to make movies with Eddie Diaz until the day he dies. But first, years before that, he sees Eddie for the first time on the set of Chimney’s fifth movie. (or, the actors au)

i want your midnights by @littlespoonevan Rated T | 36k | Completed Summary: In which Eddie decides to rent out his spare room to help with mortgage repayments right around the time Buck decides to move out of Abby's place after some not so gentle prodding from Maddie. It's a coincidence. Or serendipity. Or maybe just really good timing.

maybe we'll make something by @buckactuallys Rated E | 76k | Completed Summary: On a road trip with Christopher, Buck and Eddie finally work through their various traumas, and Eddie faces his parents again.

what a heart can do by @bvckandeddie Rated T | 86k | Completed Summary: In which Buck becomes the guardian of the daughter he never knew he had. Together, they discover what happiness truly means to them.

Hot Ghost Problems by ebjameston Rated T | 40k | Completed Summary: Eddie is the newest firefighter at the 118. Buck is the ghost haunting the 118. Unfortunately for both of them, Eddie's also a witch and needs to put Buck's spirit to rest, because that's what witches do. Turns out, Buck's spirit? Super not interested in being put to rest. Very interested, however, in flirting with Firefighter Diaz, who is just trying to survive his candidate year. (Also turns out, Buck? Super not dead.)

Both Blade and Branch by @cal-daisies-and-briars Rated M | 62k | Completed Summary: The chances of being struck by lightning twice are incredibly minute, but Buck still manages to pull it off. During a double date with Marisol and Natalia, nonetheless. Eddie manages to resuscitate him, but as Buck recovers from yet another trauma, Eddie can’t help but notice there’s something very different about him. He’s not quite sure what version of Buck he got back.

we're not in love (but the sex is good) by elless Rated E | 15k | Completed Summary: Eddie is new to LA. Feeling lonely, he goes to a bar for a drink and meets a beautiful stranger that kisses like a dream. What starts as a one night stand quickly moves to frequent no strings sex. When circumstances lead to them spending time together out of bed, Eddie realizes he’s attached to Buck in a way he never planned for.

for all the haunts and homes of men by euadnes Rated M | 113k | Work in Progress Summary: The year by the old calendar is 2025. Home is gone. Home is a failed rescue mission and an echo of a memory. Home is a lost boy living in a wooden house by the sea. But first, there was a promise. Christopher, when it's safe, I'll take you back to your father. Buck had all but given up on keeping it after the world had died and everyone in it. But just as some oaths refuse to be forgotten, so the same can be said about the endurance of love.

things we shouldn't do by Ingu Rated T | 21k | Completed Summary: The one where Buck and Eddie accidentally get set up on a blind date with each other, and everything snowballs from there.

#i know there's probably a ton i'm missing but these are some really good ones to start with! #neethu answers #anon #fic rec #i read for all the haunts and homes of men recently and let me tell you. this fic. this goddamn fic. it made me cry like a baby.

[captain-hen]

Pour one out for Ravi who just got stuck in a sewer while Buck seethed with jealousy over Eddie and Tommy. He’s about to find out Buck’s the one dating Tommy

ravi, probably, sometime in s7: i don't know what's going on with buck and eddie and that white guy they've chosen to be their third, and at this point i'm too afraid to ask

#neethu answers #anon

[captain-hen]

'and honestly i can talk at great length about how fandom's obsession with eddie being super jealous and possessive feels very motivated by racial stereotypes but i'll stop now lol'

no please don't stop i'd like to hear more. (also i enjoy jealous buck wayy more than jealous eddie so i'm wondering if that's why)

i mean, this anon articulated it really well. and...i think the whole "eddie being extremely possessive" thing comes from where the rest of the very popular fanon interpretations of his character come from. buck—the white guy—is basically sunshine personified, he makes everyone around him happy, chris likes him more than his own dad, bobby and athena are basically his parents, he's friendly with everyone and has people hitting on him or thirsting over him all the time, he speaks in perfect therapy-speak all the time...

...and meanwhile, eddie is this brooding, anti-social loner who only has friends because buck, the extrovert, 'adopted eddie into his friend circle', who doesn't know how to regulate his emotions, he's basically a deadbeat dad who needs buck to pick up after him all the time, he gets crazy possessive and jealous, he's super rude and disrespectful to all of buck's girlfriends (whereas buck is a perfect angel saint who is always so respectful and supportive of eddie's love life)....

see where i'm getting at? like, it's definitely a Problem, the way eddie gets vilified like this for traits he doesn't even have, all because fandom has projected all these stereotypes conveniently onto the brown man. like, this isn't even an exaggeration. whether it's on ao3 or right here on tumblr, this type of characterization is super prevalent and...it's very telling, to say the least. 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️ and i was just bracing myself for more of this after 7x03, so that new synopsis has come of something of a breather, lol.

#neethu answers #anon #fandom discourse

[captain-hen]

Fr like Eddie didn’t need a new reason to get jealous, he’s openly hated every woman buck has ever dated. meanwhile buck…..

okay, i'm just gonna stop you for a moment here, because it's a major stretch to say that eddie has ever hated any of buck's girlfriends (and i keep seeing this rhetoric going around and i have Opinions, so it's your bad luck that you sent this message to me, anon, because i need to rant for a bit).

anyway, eddie has never said anything negative about any of the women buck has dated—not even taylor, who he actually disliked, and he wasn't even special in that regard, because, y'know. every single character on the show aside from buck disliked her (and he invited her into his home and made conversation with her, so...). at most, eddie has been protective over buck, if he thinks buck is gonna get hurt. but he's certainly never hated any of them. he's barely had an opinion about any of them—he's only ever expressed his reservations about natalia, and he didn't do so with any animosity or hatred, because...that's just not who he is? like, this portrayal of eddie as this jealous and possessive character who starts frothing at the mouth if he thinks buck is interested in someone is, well...i think y'all are projecting hard onto him, lol. 'openly hating' all of the women buck dates is just not a thing eddie has ever done.

#neethu answers #anon

[captain-hen]

Objectively funny for anyone to think buck is ready for buddie when he quite literally in the last episode said “im not sure what Im ready for but Im ready for something, and I think that something could be with you” like 1. Admits he doesnt really know what he wants while also acknowledging something was wrong with his past relationships and 2. Despite being into tommy seems to be directing his feelings in the wrong direction based on 704 gym scene and 705 maddie/buck scene. Its like both him and eddie are close to being ready to try/learn a romantic relationship together but eddie needs to sort out his newfound catholic guilt and prioritizing himself in a relationship and buck needs to take all of his ideas about what might make him happy and streamline them into things he knows he needs to be happy. Hope they take the time to flesh it out in a longer season 8 :)

yeah, this is what i keep saying—buck might now know he's into men, but he still doesn't have any clue about what he wants, or he's fooled himself into thinking he wants something else. his conflicting conversations with maddie and tommy in 7x04 are proof of this—on one hand, he straight up admits to maddie that it was eddie's attention he wanted. on the other hand, he does a complete 180 with tommy and says the opposite—and even tommy can clearly see right through his bullshit lol. this man actively does not know what he wants, keeps misrepresenting it to himself and/or others and is just now learning to use his words about it. like you said, even buck had admitted that he's not sure about what he wants out of this relationship with tommy. are we really gonna sit here and assume he's anywhere near ready to take a good look at his six-year relationship with eddie and see it in a different light? lol. lmao even.

honestly? if i had to sum up where both buck and eddie are at right now—

buck can accept the fact that he likes men, but he can't comprehend the idea of being in love with eddie.

eddie knows on some level that he's in love with buck, but he can't accept the idea of his being attracted to men in general.

thank you for coming to my ted talk :)

#neethu answers #anon

[captain-hen]

the ‘sunshine personified’ / ‘he makes everyone around him happy’ thing is sooo interesting because i don’t think we’ve really seen that from buck, have we? and by that i specifically mean in the fanon context of buck being the social PTA dad at all of chris’s school functions while eddie broods in the corner and only wants to talk to buck. if anything, we’ve seen the opposite behavior with eddie — he’s clearly good friends with chris’s friends’ parents, he was so happy and glowy when he first met the 118, he befriended may and linda so easily at dispatch, and i could go on and on.

he just seems to connect with people so easily, and i think a lot of that genuine friendliness is lost on people because he also has a tendency to get casually snarky with people he isn’t so fond of, whether it’s annoying temporary coworkers or selfish people on calls or opportunistic reporters. the same thing goes for his private nature vs. buck’s bleeding heart — it’s assumed that eddie isn’t a people person because he likes to keep his innermost feelings close to his chest and it’s also assumed that buck is good at instantly forming connections bc his feelings spill out of him at all times.

and like. it’s not that buck isn’t a kind and friendly person, but i do feel like his specialty is deep acts of love for the people he loves. idk if i’m articulating this right but i’m trying to point out that he’s never more ‘sunshine personified’ than when he’s with the 118 and co. he would do anything for them and he lights up around them in a way that he doesn’t really do with anyone else. and we haven’t seen him be so casually close to people outside that friend group.

when we got a glimpse of connor and buck’s friendship, it seemed more about what they could do for each other than about true connection. when we got that episode about buck and red, a lot of it was projection on buck’s part re. his fear of abandonment and his desire not to let his future turn out like red’s and it was also about his need to fix things for everyone else so he can feel like he’s needed. when he met lucy, he was desperate to fill a void and not feel as hollow as he felt going home to taylor kelly every night with his sister and his brother in law and his partner gone.

don’t get me wrong, i’m not trying to ascribe selfish motivations to buck bc i do believe he always tries to do the right thing, but when it comes to people outside of the 118, with the way it’s been written in canon, i feel like those dynamics have always been more about his own issues than they’ve been about actual friendship. and this isn’t even getting into how he acts when he feels like someone new is encroaching on his territory (see: eddie in 2x01 and lena). idk….i just think that kind of casual connection comes so much easier to eddie for whatever reason. maybe it’s because his abandonment issues are a whole other flavor, or because eddie’s upbringing was so different from buck’s. either way, it’s so interesting and ppl blinded by fanon are really missing out. i apologize for the long ass rambling and i don’t think i really articulated this well, so TL;DR — fanon sunshine buck and broody eddie do not exist in canon and i’m Very excited to see the way that mr. possessive, jealous, broody evan buckley acts when eddie meets someone new this week :)

no, you're so right about all of this, though! buck genuinely does light up and is at his most comfortable and golden retriever-like around the 118, because he sees them as family and trusts them so much—and i think people get carried away and attribute the same thing to everything else (like, for example, the social PTA dad thing). when in canon, buck on multiple occasions has not dealt with new people too well—whether it was eddie, or lena, or ravi...and now, as it looks like, tommy. and you kinda hit the nail on the head about how most of buck's relationships outside the 118 being very transactional in nature up to this point, it's sad, but it's true.

eddie is the complete opposite in this regard, though, like, the guy goes around collecting new friends like they're pokemon. lol. he is so wildly different to the fandom portrayal of him as this anti-social loner that i struggle with understanding how people even got there in the first place (i mean, i know why. but still).

anyway, buck's issues with jealousy and insecurity are sooo interesting to delve into as character flaws and so much more compelling than fandom's portrayal of him as a perfect angel baby who's never done anything wrong, but 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️ at least i have canon giving me the stuff i want lol

#neethu answers #anon

[captain-hen]

when the synopsis for 7x04 drops the only thing it's gonna say is "buck plays basketball"

#neethu answers

[captain-hen]

I agree that eddie, on some level, is aware of his feelings for Buck. Things like making Buck Chris’s legal guardian and then not telling Buck is one of those things that to me seems like he’s aware on some level of his feelings for Buck but doesn’t want to poke too closely at what those feelings *actually* are for various reasons like what you mentioned (assuming Buck is straight, his issues with intimacy and relationships) and instead just kind of ignores them/compartmentalizes them/just doesn’t think about them

^^^ yes, all of this. i've always said that the act of putting buck in his will is not romantic by itself, but the fact that eddie chose to deliberately hide it speaks to something deeper and indicates that he is well aware that his feelings for buck go beyond friendship. also, the fact that out of the both of them, eddie has never once defined what buck is to him—not as his friend, not as his best friend; once as his partner in a very brief work context, if you wanna count that but personally i don't—because he *knows* that all the traditional platonic labels don't fit them, but at the same time, he doesn't want to actually do anything about it because of his issues with intimacy/rejection/abandonment

#neethu answers #anon

[captain-hen]

do you have any recs for good eddie fics?

honestly, i'm really bad at remembering fics i like (or bookmarking them) but here are some great ones!

anything by @henswilsons but especially it was you, love

@tawaifeddiediaz understands eddie SO well, so all of her fics, but especially in the dark (with the stars)

if you want a good eddie fic, just go through @hattalove's entire catalogue, but especially tell me about despair

i REALLY enjoyed The Scroll of Saint Barnabas by Amiril — it doubles as a character study and a time loop fic!

your heart of gold by woodchoc-magnum is really good; told from chris' POV during eddie's breakdown

anything by @extasiswings but especially of men and angels

#neethu answers #anon #i can't believe i haven't bookmarked most of these?? need to fix that asap