9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 8 “Wannabes” spends way too long on the cop cart storyline, and slightly too long on the Brad of it all, but it’s still a pretty decent episode despite that because the Eddie parts make up for it. As a mid-season finale, however, the episode feels truly underwhelming—at least, until Eddie’s confession that he is thinking about moving to Texas.
Nothing in the episode is leading to this, and nothing in the season is particularly leading to this either, and yet everything we know about Eddie Diaz kinda is. Who else has Eddie Diaz always been but the guy who chooses his son above everyone else? The guy who tries to find joy for himself, and then …forgets about that the next second, or at the very least, only focuses on the joy as it pertains to Chris.
This is very on-brand, even if it might feel like it’s coming a little out of left field. And after Buck’s moment on the couch (ha!) right after Eddie’s announcement, it might even be setting up bigger and better things for Eddie—and no, that’s not a Texas pun.
MORE: What questions did we want answered from Season 7 of 9-1-1? Here’s a list!
MY COMFORT CAPTAIN
Brad’s storyline was going to culminate in a big moment, and he gets it in 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 8 “Wannabes.” His turn on the spotlight can feel a little frustrating, but that’s mostly because we also spent so much time on Athena’s cop cart storyline, which I won’t really go deep into because the point is made very clear in the show. In general, Brad’s payoff is much more satisfying and he’s around for a reason—to point Eddie towards Chris, once and for all. And sure, he also gets to give everyone a moment of lightness on set.
Of course, there’s also the meta-aspect about the power of fans, but we don’t really have to explain that one.
In the end, the thing that separates Brad from Eddie is that one has good intentions deep down, but he has allowed himself to get lost in the day-to-day and the other one is willing to do everything to get to his son, now, when it matters. We don’t need any reminders that Eddie is a good father, anyone watching the show for eight seasons should know this, but this is another clear example of that. Is moving to Texas the best thing for Eddie? No. Has he allowed himself to be backed into a corner where he feels like it is? Yes. Now the question is, how does he get out of that?
MORE: How are we doing on the list of things we wanted for 9-1-1 Season 8? Check it out here!
HE LIVES IN TEXAS WITH HIS GRANDPARENTS
This episode doesn’t feature Eddie’s parents and only has a few mentions of them, but it feels like this is the right moment to discuss them again, particularly within the context of Chris. Because from the outside, they’re doing nothing wrong. They’re doing what Chris asked, and they’re caring for him. They clearly love their grandson. It’s just that every second that passes, it becomes clear they love Chris more than they love Eddie. Not just that, it’s become clear that perhaps, more than they ever loved Eddie. At least not the Eddie outside of their expectations and their imagination.
In a way, that’s about them. They see Eddie and they feel like they failed as parents, so Christopher is another chance to do that right. But that is, of course, also about Eddie, and about Helena, and Ramon being unable to appreciate the man he is now. And let us be clear, Eddie might not be a perfect man, but no one deserves to feel like he’s a disappointment to his parents, particularly when that person has a job where he helps others every day, is a good, kind friend and a great dad who loves his son, even when he makes mistakes.
Sometimes, though, especially in a community that weaponizes disappointment like Latines do, the best thing to do is break free. No, not the best thing, the only thing to do. If you’ll never be enough, then you just… shouldn’t subject yourself to the scrutiny. There’s no winning for Eddie with his parents, and a part of him knows it. That’s why moved to Los Angeles to get away from them. The fact that he’s willing to go back means that he values Chris more than he values himself, and sure, that’s what parenthood is—but you also can never be the best parent possible unless you figure out how to be the best version of yourself. And Eddie won’t do that in Texas, where he has nothing and no one.
Chris didn’t leave because of something Eddie did to him, he left because of something Eddie messed up in his personal life. Eddie has made strides, but right now, it doesn’t feel like he’s truly at a point where we can say that won’t happen again. We’re still on the same hamster wheel. Texas won’t change that. Only Eddie can. This is the setback. What’s the fix?
MORE: Well, we called it. Buck and Tommy aren’t endgame.
WE
Buck’s reaction when Eddie tells him that he’s meeting with the realtor to start the process of moving to Texas is one of support—a support that rattles Eddie, because he didn’t expect it, and maybe perhaps because he was counting on Buck to be the one to tell Eddie this is a bad idea. When Buck doesn’t, he folds. Perhaps this is what he needs to do for Chris. Maybe it’s what should have done all along.
While Eddie is thinking that, Buck seems to be cycling through many different emotions. Perhaps the prevailing one is that he promised to have Eddie’s back, and he’s willing to do that, even in this. But above all, it feels like Buck is doing the same thing as Eddie—prioritizing Chris. He knows Eddie doesn’t want to move, doesn’t want to leave the 118, leave him. But he also knows how much Eddie loves his son, and how hard it has been for him to be without Chris. And Buck is the guy who likes to fix things. Right now, this seems like the only way for him to do that.
Is he really fixing it though? Wouldn’t it have been better for him to point out how much of a bad idea it is for Eddie to go back to Texas? Probably! But this is TV and we need drama, and it seems like the drama right now is to try to “fix” Chris and Eddie’s relationship in the worst way possible, and break up the we that is Eddie and Buck by introducing distance, or the possibility of distance.
Eddie’s whole demeanor when Buck says “we,” when this decision doesn’t cost him Buck, is telling. Sure, perhaps Buck should have pushed, but Eddie’s moment of contentment at having someone not just accept the decision he’s making about his son, but support him, says a lot. Eddie hasn’t had a partner in his personal life for so long, and yet he has had one—Buck. It’s just that he hasn’t realized the extent of it, just as Buck hasn’t realized that’s exactly what he’s doubled as. Now, the moment seems to hit them both in very different ways. And that, well… that’s something for the show to explore as it returns from hiatus.
MORE: Do you miss Eddie’s mustache? We wrote an ode to his facial hair here!
A MOMENT OF …REALIZATION?
There’s a moment for Buck, as he sits on the couch, a very short moment, but a moment nonetheless. The camera pans to him and pauses, holding his face as his expression turns from a smile to a grimace. We don’t, of course, know what he’s thinking right at that moment, but it feels like Buck is realizing something and he doesn’t exactly like it.
If you want, you can interpret this as Buck’s oh moment regarding Eddie, but I’m not quite sure if we’re fully there yet. It is, however, an oh moment in general. Perhaps just an oh moment of “Omg Eddie is leaving, what am I going to do without him?!” or an oh moment of “I don’t want to be without Eddie,” or even an oh moment of “My life without Eddie looks kinda empty,” but it is clearly played like one.
Whatever Buck realizes in that moment isn’t as important as the fact that he gets that moment. Because of course, Eddie is Buck’s best friend. Of course, the fact that he’s leaving will affect him, hurt him. Those are all obvious things that don’t require the storytelling decision to focus on Buck, to hold the camera there and let us see the devastation taking over his face. Both within the writing and the directing, that’s a choice. One that is likely leading to at least, a conversation between the two of them later on, but most likely the show focusing on the importance of Buck and Eddie’s connection.
They’ve done this before. So why are they doing it again? Where are they going with it? Likely somewhere they haven’t gone before, otherwise, what would be the point?
MORE: Is Tommy coming back to 9-1-1? Read our Lou Ferrigno Jr. interview
Things I think I think:
- Okay, but is this moment of everyone watching Hotshots exactly what happens when firefighters watch 9-1-1? Someone, please confirm.
- Eddie and Buck being the ones who tell Brad the truth, even if nicely.
- “Like Buck said.”
- You should have quit while you were ahead, Eddie.
- “What?” YOU BROKE BRAD.
- Look, I kind of agree with the cart cop. People can get hurt!
- Okay, this is still copaganda in the “Athena is the good cop” kinda way, but it’s a much better storyline than the last one!
- It’s just taking too damn long. Let’s talk about pacing here, please. Because a lot of this isn’t even Athena!
- The fact that Buck and Eddie FaceTime regularly considering how much time they spend together GETS ME. Does Eddie have anyone else? Don’t answer that, it was a rhetorical question. But also, there’s only one person I want to talk to as much as these two talk, and I married him.
- Did they FaceTime as Buck was baking? [insert crying emoji]
- I get you’re desperate, Eddie, but using Brad Torrance to connect to your kid?
- “You’ll send it to me?”
- Look, I could kill Eddie’s parents with my bare hands.
- It’s not that they’re not trying, it’s that they’re actively cutting Eddie out of Chris’ life. They don’t even care about their own son.
- And I’m going to point out that I have storytelling issues here, as well, because this Chris seems way less mad than Episode 1 Chris and we just haven’t seen how he got from A to B. It’s not just about Chris coming home, it’s about the journey. What’s he thinking? Is he actually less mad? Does he answer more often than not these days? We should know these things! Even if we can’t see them, we can hear about them.
- Plus, Chris is a teenager, not a kid. He should start catching some of these things. I know he’s hiding in his anger, but he should.
- ALSO, THEY’RE NOT EVEN SENDING THIS MAN PICTURES OF THE THINGS CHRIS IS DOING.
- My hate for the Diaz parents knows no bounds.
- LOL at “one of those faces.”
- Okay, this way to die reminded us of the car wash scene in The Final Destination, just saying. (Lyra caught this one >.<)
- Eddie and Buck are literally moving together in this episode, everywhere one goes, the other one is there.
- Is that …a rainbow?
- In-charge Bobby is my favorite Bobby. He’s honestly so attractive.
- Brad, what are you doing? No, seriously, what?
- AND THE HERO SHOT. While the real heroes are like whuuut.
- “In this firehouse, it’s Captain Nash.”
- Someone save me from how much screen time this cart cop storyline got this episode.
- EDMUNDO.
- Too much Edmundo for my liking.
- But the meta-commentary on 9-1-1 is funny.
- “He lives in Texas with his grandparents” KILLED ME.
- What do you mean by 3 months? WHAT DO YOU MEAN 3 MONTHS? You mean everything we’ve seen has happened in like, what, back to back days?
- Yeah, I can see Brad trying out for a Pilot on The CW.
- “Still holding out hope for an invitation” kinda killed me.
- But “Don’t let the gap between you grow another inch” is good advice. I JUST DON’T LIKE WHERE IT’S GOING TO LEAD.
- Poor Eddie is trying so hard to convince that dude and failing.
- “My comfort Captain.” AGAIN, THIS IS SO META.
- But hey, I’ve met people who would probably do something like this and literally get down for their favorite actor.
- IS HE QUOTING HOTSHOTS? Would any of you quote 9-1-1 like this??
- Aww at Buck just using his key to walk into Eddie’s home, where he’s “not a guest.”
- “I almost relapsed,” lol.
- The timeline for this show is insane right now, but with Eddie saying Chris has been away for three months, that means very little time has passed since Buck and Tommy’s breakup. In that regard, it makes sense that Buck is obsessing about it! It even makes sense that Tommy has had second thoughts (Tommy because I think he did care about Buck, despite thinking it wasn’t going to work, Buck because he just doesn’t get it). Neither of them is bridging the gap, though, and if there really is a time jump after this episode, we can assume they didn’t and Buck will feel better about the breakup then.
- The comfort level of pretending this person deserves privacy all while knowing you will just snoop on them anyway because they love you and they won’t get mad and you love them and you want to know! Eddie isn’t even upset, which kinda reads as this is something that happens all the time.
- What’s with this MUSIC as Buck realizes what’s going on?
- “WE”
- WE
- WE
- This scene is LOUD.
- Eddie is loud.
- But nothing is louder than the moment on Buck’s face. Is that …realization? Not sure if we can say full realization yet, but it does look like something just clicked for Buck. At the very least, I think he always knew how important Eddie was to him, but now he’s realizing he doesn’t know what he’ll do without him.
- And Eddie, the way he processes that Buck’s got his back. Always. Even if this isn’t something Buck wants for Eddie, or for himself.
- Who cares about the case now? I’m still on that previous scene.
- The reason why it feels like the cop cart storyline got too much screen time is because it’s about nothing. Athena didn’t learn anything, we didn’t learn anything. Maybe we can say that it helps further Athena as a mentor, but that still means it got too much screen time.
- “By setting an example” is a nice sentiment, just… these days, I’m not sure it works.
- HIT BY A BOWLING BALL.
- And all of them as extras!
- Plus the accent joke!
- Hen, you marvelous woman.
- I’m still thinking about that Buck and Eddie scene.
- Also—my pre-episode theory was that Eddie was going to go to Texas because of something Brad said, I just thought he’d literally leave this episode.
- Time for fanfic I guess?
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 8 ‘Wannabes’? Share with us in the comments below!
9-1-1 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.
Our 9-1-1 Season 8 Reviews:
