1. 118
We're family.
Because they're all connected and always together. Even on 24-hour shifts, they still see each other. Buck even mentions this in an episode in previous seasons.
Let's face it, Karen is the best person on this show, practically a saint in comparison. Hen's betrayal in the first season. Dealing so well with a paramedic wife. And I absolutely love her connection with Chim.
The wife and the best friend. It's adorable. First of all, Kahen is only together because of him.
They are family. All of them and all these years.
Eddie automatically going to hug Chimney.
They call Hen first. Reliable, sensible adult, mainly.
And then Athena. Even more reliable, a police officer.
Obviously Bobby as a bonus. Family man, comfort.
It's probably against the code of conduct or something, giving out personal information about public employees (police officers, firefighters, etc.) and yet Chim asked Josh to give Amber's address.
Everyone basically dropped everything for Chimney.
I love 118. And the level of friendship they have.
And, most importantly, where's Ravi? Why the hell does he disappear and show up at any time? King of the shifts? I get it, but he's literally family. He was invited to Madney's bachelor party and wedding. He even went to the chaotic part of the family with the case of the author who faked his own death. He already has a really distressing past and also trauma from his job. Where's the leading role?
Why do they only use him as a stopgap?
2. Buddie.
First, I'm getting really fed up with Buck's fans for one reason: centralism. They literally always put Buck in the middle and center him. I love the guy, and all his trauma, and yes, he is one of the protagonists. But the way they comment or give their opinions makes it seem like Eddie is really leaving him for nothing, but he is literally their son. Their son. Not a cigarette ( ha! ) or a girlfriend, or a job opportunity. Of course, it's probably not what they think ( I hope ) but that's the way you can interpret it.
Anyway.
Buck's outburst in the car. He opens up and Eddie seems to be in another world. About Maddie, about him leaving.
— It's not nothing.
And nothing is more obvious than that. And I hate plots about lack of communication or anything like that, but my god, that's all they do this season. I understand the trauma (I always do) but damn. It always seems, when they start talking in any scene, that there's going to be intrigue.
Eddie never put himself in the spotlight, not really, not for himself. About happiness (juice) and those issues. Always someone else, always the son. And then the boy leaves for another state. And the parental relationship drags on and can't go on like this, obviously. And It's not nothing to go after his son.
So here's what's going to happen. He's going to go to Texas, he's going to talk to Chris and Buck is going to die of longing like a ghost in that house. And here's what needs to happen. Father and son are going to go back home, the real home, and reunite with the other father. And they're going to be happy. No more separation/abandonment trauma.
Unpopular opinion, I don't want Buck 1.0 again. It seems too wrong, after all the development and considering that if that were to happen, he would take the 'visitors' to Eddie's house. A family home. That sounded religious, but it's not. It's sentimental. I think, I prefer, that he will return to his post-breakup state with Tommy. Roasting, distributed to everyone with one mouth, roasting more.
Taking advantage of the photos I saw of the next episode. You haven't forgotten that Buck's name is Evan, right? And that's what the E on his uniform means. Of course, E for Eddie would be much gayer, but that's a bit of a stretch, especially since it's a UNIFORM that he didn't make.
( It would be too good be E for Eddie and we know that when everything is too good in 911, things go downhill )
3. The kidnapping.
First of all, I think it's important to make it clear that the theory I created during the episode was right.
Amber with DID, super unstable and traumatized. She was the first victim.
Based on that. The actress did a great job portraying the duality of personalities. Between Amber and Peter ( is that his name? John → Peter ). In my opinion. This disorder was obvious by the way she acted in a manic state, her gaze, her hands, the way she moved. And the complete difference between Amber's and Peter's personalities is glaring.
I believe that Amber herself is the one who took on more of the anger and illness that her kidnapper had (Richard Bullock? Honestly, there were so many names that I get confused). The abused becomes the abuser, so to speak, even though I don't like that phrase. And Peter would be the victim that she was, the part of her that still seeks protection or/and security. As Peter said, he couldn't defeat her.
That Amber, the girl who was kidnapped, couldn't beat Richard Bullock.
So she got together with him in a strange and less stereotypical kind of Stockholm syndrome. Not passion. Maybe need and a bond from the trauma. I mean, for her to develop a second personality, there was probably a breakdown after the kidnapping, or during it. Maybe Bullock took advantage of that, maybe not. Considering that Amber managed to manipulate and kill the man.
Which brings me to this. This plot, and all its magnificent cinematography reminded me a lot of Tobias Hankel (Criminal Minds). Who, after the death of his father and the religious trauma, developed two different personalities besides himself. His father's and a religious one.
In this regard, Amber. She, despite being unstable, was intelligent.
I also think it is highly likely that she covered up other kidnappings of Bullock.
I don't remember if they really worked together, because if they did, Amber thinks fast. Having Athena's attention and soon putting Bullock's name as a vendetta.
Now, within this plot, but not yet about Maddie.
Jayna. Tell me about the bad luck this girl had. Kidnapped, then saved, but then kidnapped again by the detective who had helped save her.
Athena Grant. I always trust this woman's instincts. ( Breaking the fourth wall that doesn't exist, dying to see her in Doctor Odyssey )
Chimney Han. He's the best man, the best husband. Best father.
He couldn't wait a second without his wife and my god, how could he not go after her the first time, but now he does.
— She wouldn't run away and I wouldn't treat her like she was broken.
He didn't want to believe that Maddie would have run away again. With a daughter at home, with a son in her belly ( yes, I had completely forgotten about Maddie's pregnancy )
I love any and all quotes that refer to Maddie's past and everything she went through. Only because it generates more trauma but also because she survived. How strong she is.
The postpartum depression and that she got out of that ocean.
I expected there to be flashbacks of what happened to Doug. Because, in my opinion, there was symbolism in all of this.
— I'm glad to be here.
She submitted to her kidnappers because it meant survival. And trying to help them because it meant she was still useful to them, and therefore, she wouldn't be killed immediately.
Quoting a little off, I'm in love with Jennifer Love Hewitt's performance.
The whole basement scene, I felt smart for not having thought that her having her throat cut was a hallucination, it wouldn't make sense. Not without showing the duality of the real scene to this supposed hallucination. Or even an indication.
Aside from the fact that having her cut open will always remind me of Abigail Hobbs, I will never get over how strong Maddie's protective instinct is.
She thought she had hurt his daughter and her way of protecting him was to walk away. Her being a buffer between Buck and her parents. Her with a woman she didn't know. Her with all these people she doesn't know.
Her, almost dying with her throat cut open and bleeding, still doing everything she could to protect Chimney.
All the symbolism of being silenced. All those years of being the same for Doug. For Amber. And she learned to defend herself in other ways.
And I don't know anyone stronger than Maddie.
This is a very basic analysis of what I would normally have done if I hadn't procrastinated until the last second. For example, a little bit about Romero, the detective. A little bit more about Maddie (a lot more) and the symbolism with Doug. A little bit more of everything.
