Episode Details

“From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes, I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this”

This week Han, Cil, and Rachel make the friendship bracelets, take the moment (or several hours) and wade into the psychological depths of Season 4 Episode 5 of 9-1-1, “Buck Begins.”

We dive deep into one of the most demented, genius character origin stories the show has ever pulled off, unpacking the reveal that Buck was born a savior baby for his late brother Daniel and just how much of Buck's entire personality traces back to it. We bring the receipts too — actual psychology and medical research on emotional neglect, abandonment, and complex PTSD, because apparently every source out there studied Evan Buckley without knowing it. And of course, we drag Margaret and Philip Buckley through the mud for their station visit, because "we're proud of you for saving people like you were born to do" does not count as an apology!

From there we follow Buck cross country, breaking down every job on his postcard tour (mixologist, ranch hand, aspiring Navy SEAL, we catalog all of it), Maddie's gut punch of a goodbye note, and how a guy at a bar in Peru saying "you go, we go" somehow rerouted Buck's entire life to L.A. We also get into Athena's one scene this episode doing more parenting in thirty seconds than the Buckleys managed in thirty years!

Then there's Eddie, quietly rearranging his entire understanding of Buck in real time. We go on a real tangent about the Village People being extremely queer coded, and connect the dots between Margaret's "you think you're indestructible" and a certain someone telling Buck he's "not expendable" nine episodes later. He's also the first one to reach Buck in that fire, obviously, because nobody gets between these two being there for each other first.

“You're on your own, kid. Yeah, you can face this.

You're on your own, kid. You always have been.”

Episode title inspired by “You’re On Your Own Kid” by Taylor Swift

📔 Articles & References From This Episode 📔

🫂 What Did Eddie Say to Margaret & Philip Buckley? – Check out this week’s Patreon-exclusive Best Buddies Mini-Segment here!

📰 Interview: Jennifer Love Hewitt Talks Maddie's Season Nine Journey and Growing with '9-1-1', by Sophia Soto for Awards radar

📰 9-1-1's Oliver Stark takes us inside that Buck-centric episode, by Ruth Kinane for Entertainment Weekly

📰 9-1-1's Oliver Stark Reacts To Buck's Tragic Origin Story, Including How 'He Can Finally Start To Move Past It, by Andy Swift for TV Line

📰 '9-1-1's Oliver Stark Promises a Renewed 'Lightness' to Buck After His Origin Story, by Meredith Jacobs for TV Insider

📰 9-1-1's Oliver Stark Hints at What's Next After Brother Bombshell, by Emily Longeretta for Us Weekly

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