#atomicrebelfireasks

OH THIS. YES. Inject it directly 😭

Tommy as interim captain who treats everyone like the pros they are — calm, competent, unbothered — while Buck short-circuits because “why isn’t he dazzled by my chaos?” is chef’s kiss.

Public Tommy: steady voice, clean calls, zero favoritism. Private Tommy: shuts the office door, presses his palms to the desk and mutters “EVAN BUCKLEY” at the ceiling for a full minute before writing another perfectly neutral performance note.

Give me:

Buck doing a textbook save and glancing over for praise; Tommy just radios “good work, 118 — reset lines,” like he would with anyone else. Buck: 😳

Tommy assigning the gnarly vent job to Eddie because it’s his turn in rotation. Buck: “But—” Tommy (without looking up): “Rotation stands.” Buck (quietly feral): okay.

he starts taking risks, reckless calls, trying to get a rise out of Tommy, anything to crack that composure. And Tommy never does. Professional to the bone. Even when he has to reprimand Buck, it’s controlled. Calm. Measured.

Post-call debrief where Buck expects a lecture; Tommy instead asks for two actionable improvements. Buck delivers. Tommy: “Great. Do that.” Buck leaves both offended and thriving.

No warmth. No soft look. Just professionalism. And he’s spiraling. like — did he move on?? why is he so cold?? he used to be warm?? why is he talking to Ravi?? 😭 Who is he talking to on the phone and smiling?

The office scene: Tommy finally loses his cool, takes one breath, then texts “coffee. 20:00.” Buck shows up ready to grandstand; Tommy just slides a napkin over with: “Three things you did well. Three to fix. I’m not special-casing you. You don’t want that.” Buck blinks, recalibrates, melts.

Tommy is captaining without flinching but cracking quietly where no one can see. professionalism on the outside, emotional disaster underneath. They’re both a mess - one loud, one quiet, and it’s perfect. 😭🔥

This guy wasn't there for Chris's first few years of life because he was away in the army. Signed up to go back to avoid being a parent and partner.

Was forced back, and wouldn't listen to his struggling wife's needs and then like a year and a half later up and moves his son that he only just started taking care of in person 800 miles without doing any kind of research on his needs and stuff (what would he have done without Buck introducing him to Carla??)

He could have been a firefighter in Texas but he didn't like his parents being around (even though they were helping him?) but no. Apparently his desires outweighed what was best for Chris.

And then takes a job where he's gone for 24 hrs at a time. He has sex with Shannon but refuses to let her see her son (even though she WAS there from the start).

And since they've been to LA, Chris experiences an earthquake, his mom dying, a tsunami, his dad almost dying twice, Covid (and being cut off from his dad because he's on the front lines), his dad's mental break down and scaring him, being left with multiple GFs he got attached to, and then doppelganger.

The fact that it took him MONTHS to do something about it made me think his confession was going to be that although he loves Chris, he is a regretful parent that kind of wishes he never had him.

Thoughts?

Yep. All of this.

Seeing the full timeline like that makes it really hard to keep pretending Eddie has done right by Christopher. So many of his choices read as avoidance, but the show keeps selling it as devotion. It is not. It is control. Eddie thinks being a father makes him grounded and morally right.

Eddie often feels resentful that life did not follow his plan... like he is throwing a tantrum at life ... “I had to get married too young,” “then we had a kid,” “the Army didn’t want me anymore”, “my parents don't agree with me”, “ why doesn't bobby let me resign rejoin as i like”… Instead of working through that, he shuts down or lashes out, expecting everyone — Shannon, Buck, his parents — to adjust around him. He loves Chris, I do not doubt that, but he parentifies him, treating him like a reflection instead of a kid. It is more “what would I have wanted at his age?” than “what does Chris need right now?” and that is not the same thing.

Being a father has become a shield he uses to avoid accountability. He delegates hard conversations to Buck or his partners, then seems shocked when Chris mirrors that same avoidance in his own relationships. The Kim situation could have been about rebuilding trust with Chris, but it turned into another Eddie vs. His Parents story. No apology, no real reckoning.

He is not just an avoidant partner, he is an avoidant parent. And sometimes it feels like he wants someone to take care of Chris for him, rather than with him.

It’s not about perfection, it’s about growth — and the show refuses to ask that of him.

Sending you love 💛 xoxo

This renewed theory of "tommy wanted eddie first" really annoys me because that's not what we saw at all. 7x4 was all blurred by buck's pov and his jealousy anyway but this theory is also hugely influenced by people who simply cannot fathom that buck would be anyone's first choice instead of eddie.

Yes. Exactly. All of it. Thank you for saying it and reminding me— this is such a beautiful observation.

Tommy’s whole vibe with Eddie was loud, casual, and “bro” energy, characterized by surface-level camaraderie ( so is Eddie vs Buck at times), which ended as it started. There was zero romantic or flirty undercurrent in what we saw, and that’s good. But it’s a completely different tone from how Tommy interacted with Buck.

Even before 7x04, in 7x03 in the helicopter, Tommy was soft on Buck — answering his comments and questions when others ignored them (“can’t see out there,” “hurricane/after showers”). In 7x04, we literally see him checking Buck out on that tour, and not once looking at Eddie that way. During the basketball game, Buck was focused on Tommy and Eddie’s interaction, but Tommy? He was tracking Buck as well: blocking him, pushing him, being wherever Buck was on the court.

We might not have gotten Tommy’s POV, but his interest was pretty clear from the beginning. And at the loft, even before the kiss, there’s a fondness in the way he talks to Buck that simply isn’t there with Eddie. The contrast is obvious again in 7x05 7x06 at Chim’s party — polite with Eddie, defending his presence, but soft, warm inflection for Buck.

Absolutely beautiful, the way the writers did that. And instead of matching Buck’s high-energy chaos (like Taylor did), Tommy meets it with steady, deliberate affection.

For some, it’s almost unthinkable that Buck could be someone’s first choice over Eddie, so they retrofit the story to make Eddie “the one that got away” and Buck “the consolation.” It’s not in the text. It’s in the bias.

What we actually saw was Tommy choosing Buck .... in tone, in focus, in intent, from the very beginning. (Wish we had gotten 703 initial meet). Breakup or not, his calmness with Buck reads as naked affection, and it was deliberate. They wanted us to spot it, to see the intimacy without making it look like a casual fling built only on “fun energy,” and for Tommy to stand out among others in Bucks' life.

Tommy’s more settled, and he complements Buck.... a risk-taker himself, but one who takes Buck’s eccentric, impulsive energy in stride and with genuine fondness. That’s why the “Tommy wanted Eddie first” theory doesn’t track. Yes, there’s that old interview floating around where someone mentioned Eddie, but I think it’s been taken out of context. It’s more likely Tim always wanted one character to come out as bi, and between Eddie and Buck, Buck was the only realistic choice. But people ran with that, and it turned into a way to pile hate again. 🤷‍♀️ Sending much Love 🩷🩷 .. thanks for sharing this with me!! xoxo

i think the problem is more with the director, who had the idea that eddie should be aggressive. the director was the one who said the "don't you want to punch him?" and ryan was the one who had to talk him down and tone down the scene. and in the end, it was a shoulder grab and a finger point.

i kind of agree with you in the sense that i think because directors would know that ryan and oliver have worked together for 7 years now and have built up a level of trust (as oliver said) and friendship, directors might be inclined to take risks and push for improvised moments, trusting that ryan and oliver's chemistry and ease with each other will make it work.

according to what everyone says about ryan, wouldn't he be the one who'd have a bigger problem with intimate scenes that aren't fully discussed and carefully choreographed beforehand? oliver seems to be fine with "energetic" intimate scenes with his previous love interests (taylor in the bar bathroom, buck's hook up with tommy etc.)

or what do you think about bucktommy's hook up in 8x11? was it all carefully discussed and choreographed beforehand? or was there improv involved?

Thanks you for sharing this and yeah, I see where you’re coming from. Apologies in advance, it’s a bit of a long reply — but I wanted to share where my head’s at and clarify a few things on my end, and please feel free to share your take on it as well.

oh this means so much, thank you for taking the time to write all this 🩵 and honestly? i felt every word. season 8 really was confusing... the pacing, tone shifts, and tommy vanishing for episodes made it hard to tell what the writers even wanted the relationship to be.

805 worked for me; it had that bit of domestic calm... but 806 felt off. buck didn’t act like a boyfriend at all, and that sudden josh conversation & “i see a future” line came out of nowhere. the moving-in thing too. it’s like they skipped the emotional build-up completely.

the breakup was meant to be final, and i really do think tommy popularity changed that. tim even said later that tommy could be “more than just buck’s bed buddy.” the baking and pining after in 807 was a quick fix...trying to make it seem deeper after the fact. and i completely agree about lou: he gave tommy soul. the writing left gaps, but his performance made those gaps feel intentional, like he was carrying an entire inner world we just weren’t being shown. that’s rare.based on his interviews, it’s clear he really invested in tommy. and so many of the scenes we love... from the first kiss to the hospital to the breakup ....were improvised by lou.. i really hope lou lands a major role soon ...something that lets him show the full range of what he can do. he’s such a grounded, thoughtful actor, and he deserves that kind of spotlight.

thank you so much for this 💛I am with you on this!!! where do i sign this petition. Eddie has struggled...not just as a dad, but as a partner and a friend. When we first met him in Season 2, I really thought the show was setting him up for a journey of growth. He was a single father without a support system, and Buck helped him find that “village”—introducing Carla, encouraging emotional presence, everyone helping him prioritize Chris. It felt like the beginning of something better. But over time? It’s felt like Eddie uses Chris as a shield. Anytime he doesn’t want to deal with something, whether it’s emotional accountability or conflict he created, he falls back on “I’m a father” to justify avoidance. Or worse, he uses Chris to smooth over the damage he's done. That’s not growth.....it’s deflection. And the way he’s modeled relationships. Man just invited his dead wife’s lookalike into their home without a word of concern for how that might affect his kid. Then waited literal months to even go after Chris once he left, and at least onscreen, we’ve never seen him actually apologize for putting Chris through that. Treated girlfriends like placeholders. And then he wonders where Chris learned to be so flippant about dating.

And honestly? The more we learn about Eddie, the more I understand Shannon. Her choices weren’t perfect, but they start to make a lot more sense when you look at how Eddie handles emotional responsibility. She was hurting too, and the show never really gave her the space, empathy, or grace that it gave him. She’s still blamed for walking away… but no one talks about what she was walking from.

I never expected him to be perfect. But I was hoping we’d see him grow.

Absolutely agree — I thought the scene was just supposed to be about them being irritated with each other. That whole “don’t you want to punch him?” take from the director and Ryan just doesn’t make sense to me.

I’m so tired of that “you make it about you” narrative. everyone makes things about themselves. Buck is almost never actually centered in his own storylines, yet he’s constantly framed as if he’s taking up too much space. We’ve seen him just as lonely, surrounded by people who keep him at arm’s length or avoid his efforts entirely.

And the way it plays, it’s like if you’re not there in someone’s exact moment of need, it’s suddenly your fault. Why can’t Buck’s grief and everyone else’s grief coexist? Why does he always have to be the one who’s fine, the one making sure Eddie and co. are holding it together? That’s not his job. Maybe check on him once in a while. I honestly don’t get Eddie’s reason for being mad — is it just because Buck didn’t wreck his own life in the same way Eddie did?

And Eddie only ever shows that level of aggression towards Buck when the rest of the 118 isn’t around. Says a lot.

I’m with you — I don’t get how anyone can watch that and enjoy the aggression. If that’s how they think friendship looks… yikes. Says a lot about why “Buddie” doesn’t land for me the way it does for others. They romanticized this dynamic, and to me, Eddie’s hardly shown himself to be a solid friend to anyone. If this is his way of showing “love,” then no thanks.

I totally agree with you on everything you said.

Yeah, he’s the weakest actor in the whole ensemble. At this point, they could hand him a soliloquy written by Shakespeare and that character & RG still wouldn’t be redeemed. After the last two seasons of storylines and acting choices, he’s just exhausting to watch.

And season 9 starts with an overload of Eddie — leading every rescue, “I know this from Afghanistan,” next ep will probably mention his Silver Star 🙄 and suddenly he’s everyone’s best friend 🙄 please. And Shannon ghost forever haunting us🫠

Honestly, I think Tim’s on this “Eddie redemption tour” because RG wouldn’t stop complaining in interviews last season about not being in the big episodes.

Sorry if I sound like a hater…..sending you love 🧡