“This is not a dream I’ve had before.”

Buck, sweetie, honey, baby... WHAT DID YOU DREAM ABOUT?! Or should I say who did you dream about?!?!

im not gonna watch the finale live today (cause sleep) but boy am i exited!

rooting for buck in coma btw. dunno why just feels right and could lead to a lot of stuff

Okay, someone correct me if there’s actually a good explanation for this that I’m not aware of, but WHAT the fuck is 911 doing to Black men this season?!?!?!!

So first we have both Michael and Harry off the show this season cuz they moved to Florida, and then David is naturally off the show as well because of that, then we have Athena’s old neighbors in Florida, two Black men, turn out to be murderer/accomplice and both go to jail, THEN we have Noah introduced to the call center only for him to turn out to be behind a string of serial robberies and also go to jail, and NOW we have a random character introduced, Wendell, who turns out to have been Bobby’s sponsor this whole time but we’re just now meeting him, only for him to die a horrible death in that very same episode…

Something REALLY weird is going on here this season, and I’m not so sure if I like it 😬 Aside from all that, the rest of the season is getting two thumbs up from me! 😅

OH SHIT WILDFIRE WEEK

this will either be the most inaccurate, shot-in-the-dark, completely nothing prediction I've ever made, or it'll be my most big-brained, apollo's-gift-of-prophecy, kissing-the-writers-on-the-mouths speculation yet, but i gotta place my bets before the speculation window closes, so:

calling it right now, i think Buck's gonna get blown up/be injured in an explosion at the very end of 6A/start of 6B, and that's what will lead to buddie canon. also this is how coma buck can still win

So tell me why we're wasting time We both know we want to get in closer ’Cause baby, when I think about you, I come alive

It's complaining hours and that post just reminded me. Why did they even have Maddie and Chimney break up after Boston? They could have had Maddie say that they were focusing on Jee-Yun right now instead of each other, and literally nothing else would have to change. We didn't see the break-up onscreen, we didn't get the couples counselling we were promised, they got back together pretty much offscreen (I genuinely didn't even realize they were getting back together until the next episode aired, I thought they were just deciding to live together again for Jee-Yun's sake). Boston was so good and I was expecting so much from them afterwards and then...nothing.

What is the couch theory? 😅

oh anon, where do i start!!!!! this is possibly my favourite subject of all time so apologies in advance if this gets rambly askdjfh

okay so the couch theory goes all the way back to s5 of 911. at the start of 5B buck asks taylor to move in with him, right? and because she brings all her stuff with her it means they have double of everything, including two couches. so buck gets rid of his and they keep taylor's

however in 5x18 buck and taylor break up so she moves out and, of course, takes her couch with her

when we meet buck again in s6 a few months later he still hasn't found a replacement couch. over family dinner with eddie and christopher, chris makes a joke about it (like father, like son) and buck tells him and eddie that, "he doesn't want to choose the wrong couch again" heavily implying he means he doesn't want to choose the wrong romantic partner again (he also says his last two couches came with girlfriends since ali presumably helped him pick out the first one when he moved into the loft in s2).

the episode ends with buck moving his armchair to the place his couch used to sit and sitting down with a smile on his face, suggesting he's content on his own for now and thus, the couch theory was born:

buck's next couch/romantic partner will be the Right one

so we go through the whole of 6A with no couch developments and no real allusions to it be tHEN in 6B after the lightning strike buck's parents comment on his lack of couch and his mother decides she's going to buy him a couch (which is the adult equivalent of getting him a new bike when he hurts himself but that's a different post)

so margaret buys buck a couch but obviously, it's all wrong. because buck didn't choose it himself. it's not comfortable, he can't relax on it, can't fall asleep on it. and in an episode where buck is feeling smothered by everyone's attempts to check in on him it doesn't offer the comfort he needs so what does he do???

go to eddie's house of course!

and you'll never guess what happens, anon:

buck falls asleep on eddie's couch in about five seconds flat!!!!

to say 911 had me by the throat at that point would be an understatement lmao

bc that means eddie's the couch, right?????? what other implications could there possibly be when buck has been using his couch as a metaphor for a partner and he falls asleep on eddie's couch so quickly, suggesting he feels safe and comfortable there??? i said it that time but it would literally have been less suggestive to have him sleep in eddie's bed than it would've been to have him sleep on the couch at the point skdjhf

(and none of this is even getting into the fact that when buck wakes up eddie is the first person buck is honest with in the episode about how he's feeling after the accident, further cementing the idea of him being buck's safe space)

anyway by the end of s6 kameron gives birth on buck's couch and effectively ruins it meaning it's time for him to get a new couch again. now this is where everything falls to shit and i WILL be bitter about this for the rest of my life lmao but basically because of the fear of cancellation s6 sort of pivots in the last few eps and the finale makes an attempt to give each of the characters a mini happy ending in case it really is the overall series finale. and buck's 'happy ending' was to ask natalia (who he'd recently started dating) to help him pick out a new couch

now my personal opinion?? i Hated that. not even from a buddie perspective, just as someone who is very dedicated to buck's seasons long romantic arc and the couch theory, i thought it was really weak and far less satisfying than if he'd just ended the season single. especially bc the point was buck was supposed to pick the couch himself. but!!! some people are suggesting he still doesn't have a couch in s7 (though it's hard to tell since all the shots we've gotten have been in the kitchen) so i am privately holding onto the hope that the couch theory lives on aksjdfh

TL;DR the couch is eddie. eddie is the couch 🛋️❤️

Last year I found 911 and buddie and just fucking binge watched the whole thing up to 6a.

Stuff happend and I didn't get back to it until last week, when I started missing those two and went to AO3.

Now, to my surprise I just see a bunch of posts and sneak peaks about todays episode and how things might finally start to happen?!?!?!

(And Eddie is dating again wtf)

Ooooh my

My heart can't fucking take this build up any longer

I've just been hyperventilating here for the past 2 hours.

In all honesty. After 6 seasons, do you think the show will make buddie canon at one point or they will stay best friends ? Ngl it feel very much a dean/castiel from spn situation. It could happen if they want, but after 6 seasons I think it's safe to say they don't want it. Or maybe in the last season so the gp who don't care about them well, won't impact the ratings for a new season. What do you think ? Is there a chance abc care enough to tell the writers room to do it because I think a lot of fans are counting on it too ? I kinda think they won't care and if 911 doesn't do good enough for them they'll just cancel. Station 19 who had better ratings that grey's is out so I don't think abc care enough.

Unless ABC is upfront about when the final season is (instead of a repeat of 6x18) and the folks with more of a say than Tim give him the go ahead because there's nothing left to lose anyway, I can honestly say that I stopped watching scenes of Buck and Eddie in terms of "Buddie" as a romantic pairing back in 6A. I had hope going into the season - family dinner, the original couch metaphor, both being single at the same time - but it was around 6x04 when Eddie yelling after Buck on the bike was WAY overblown and neither guy's solo story line involved the other that I thought "😬 This isn't gonna be good, is it? 😬" and my *ahem* negativity progressed from there.

I think people have a hard time understanding why Buddie probably won't happen because we ofc like to believe things are changing for the better with time, but the fact that Tim or his bosses were never confident enough in the *overall* fan base's support to even confirm Buck as bi to back up the "jokes" ("boy crush on Eddie", Josh saying he'd think they were on a date if he didn't know better, TK thinking Buck was being flirtatious in the crossover) is a HUGE red flag. Season seven is the "test", IMO. I know how I think it's gonna go (despite protests to the contrary, LOL), but if the goal is to capture the ABC audience's interest and Buck and Eddie continue dating women or at least focusing on the relationships they've had with women, there will be no more playing "the long game" with these networks or this staff. People wanted to blame FOX. Then they wanted to blame Kristen. What's left in the event that nothing changes? (It's homophobia. It's always homophobia.)

Buddie predictions/speculation for the remainder of 6A:

SPOILER TALK/BTS

Episode 7 (Cursed):

Eddie gets cursed by the bracelet lol (he just doesn't believe it until later).

Eddie doesn't think anything of it (because curses aren't real...right, Eddie?).

Eddie and Chris go to the beach and Buck has plans to meet them there (Evidence: Ryan and Gavin were seen filming on the beach a few weeks ago).

Buck calls Eddie while driving and says that he's almost there (Evidence: Oliver was seen filming in Buck's jeep near the beach a few weeks ago).

Buck gets another call from the sperm donation clinic that there is some kind of complication and he won't be able to donate (Evidence: Oliver mentioned in an interview that the sperm donor storyline would reappear in episode 7 and indicated that there would be complications).

Buck spirals and while he's spiraling/still driving, his jeep gets t-boned (I'm taking the car incident in episode 4 as a foreshadow. I don't think buck is out of the danger zone just yet when it comes to car accidents).

Episode 8 (911, What's Your Fantasy?)

Buck winds up in a coma/on a vent.

Eddie spirals and starts to believe in curses.

The episode title comes in to play as we see snippets of Buck and Eddie's fantasies about their futures. Perhaps Buck (while in his coma) dreams of having a family and kids. Perhaps Eddie thinks about a potential romantic future with Buck.

Regardless, we get some kind of confirmation that eddie is feeling non-platonic things for Buck. This could be as simple as an obviously romantic-coded look/shot, or it could be as big as a third party confession. But either way, we will KNOW buddie is headed in a romantic direction by the end of this episode.

Episode 9 (Red Flag):

As I mentioned in a previous post, "Red flag" is a term used in Emergency Medicine to indicate that something really serious could be happening with a patient. I think Buck's condition will worsen before he gets better (a sort of tarlos parallel). Perhaps the red flag will have something to do with Buck's heart (dropping BP, heart rate issues, etc.) so we can have the heart theme from 5B continue.

Eddie continues to spiral.

Buck finally starts getting better.

There is a cute mid season montage and in the middle of that we get a third party confession from Eddie (to probably chim) that he's in love with Buck. And that's our cliffhanger for the season.

Do I think all of this will happen? Absolutely not. Do I think some of this could happen? Absolutely! Do I believe we will know that buddie is definitively going in a romantic direction by the end of 6A? Yes 100%.

Let me know your thoughts! Feel free to add things!

Re: the timeline - I think everything pre-season 4 is supposed to be counted as "present day" (at the time of airing), so 3x18 should be (roughly) taking place in spring 2020 (sans pandemic) and then, yea things get a little weird after that with the beginning of S4 being set in Sept 2020, but airing in Jan 2021. But I think you can solidly consider everything pre-season 4 to take place similarly along the date it aired.

I remember there being some timeline confusion this season in 6x11 (March 2023) when Bobby tells the hospital staff that Buck is a 30 y/o male. Which, if each season is roughly set against the time it's airing, I think is hard to figure when Maddie says Buck is 28 in 3x01 (Sept 2019).

But I do think the writers screw up their own timelines sometimes - ex: I think Buck should have been 31 if not 32 in 6x11, I also don't think Eddie and Buck are meant to be the same age even though the glimpse of Shannon's headstone in S6 would indicate they are closer in age than what's been implied in several previous eps/seasons. So, TLDR; Idk if the writers/producers keep as close of a watch on little timeline details as we do to know when they're contradicting themselves lol.

Yeah, I think s4 screwed up their time line plans and they kinda said fuck it by season 6 because to give us a definitive date for Shannon's birthday and death really messes with things there, they put a definitive date on the s2 finale, they defined Eddie's age, when they haven't really defined it for anyone except for the occasional mention to Buck's age and the general Bobby is in his 50s along with Athena. And like, Buck being 28 before the tsunami, 29 when he finds out about Daniel and 30 by the lightning really compresses the timeline there, even if we assume he had just turned 28 in s3 and is about to turn 31 during the lightning (which doesn't make a lot of sense in regards of when Buck's birthday would be, not that I actually think they have a set birthday for any of the characters) that's still a lot things happening in the middle, because there's also Jee being born, so if they really pushed s3 back, like, how old is Jee supposed to be at the end of season 6? Because she's walking and toddler talking by the end of 6a, so she has to be close to 2 around there? With her being born end 2020/beginning 2021, it has to be 2023, but Maddie left a few months after she was born and she was way for 6 months, so Jee is pushing 1 by the time Boston happens, which kinda adds up considering the time jumps that are established around the shooting, but also with Buck being 29 while Maddie is pregnant, how can he still be 30 and Jee be almost 2? And there's also the way another whole baby is created and born during 6b. Because eve. considering the way the baby is born early, it has to be what? 8 months from cursed to the finale? The more I think about the more knots are created in my brain.

And even more so considering the injuries at the bridge and the way the season ends with Chim coming back and Eddie already there, when the recovery time for broken ribs is close to 2 months in real world but maybe not in 911 world because Lena broke her ribs during the tsunami but she's perfectly fine the next episode. So, like, what's the truth?

I feel like the whole time line I created is around Buck's age and I'm starting to believe Buck may need to be even younger than we assume, because if he's 26 in s1, 28 in s3 and he's still just 30 in s6, the math stops mathing somewhere along s5. Because, like, either things are happening real quick during 5b or the time line is just wrong. But I agree, I don't think they've been all that careful with the dates there, and they didn't think about the implications of giving us the Shannon related dates.

SaL anon here friend, hoping your in the mood for some incoherent Friday rambling because that's where I'm at right now and have been for days. First off, i think we should both thank and curse the new intern 911 hired, who apparently switched out the promo team's decaf for some Columbian dark roast. Seriously after spending the first half of the season practically catatonic between episodes suddenly we can't catch a break for even 24 hours before the next unhinged thing comes out. Next, let's

thank Mr. Ryan Guzman for looking at his character's scene notes, apparently rolling his eyes, and deciding to take matters into his own hands. Look, I'm not trying to say the rest of the 118 doesn't look devastated, but Eddie looks like he's about to start bawling on the floor and that's the real reason he grabbed Chim. I'll come back to this but his moments sure don't hit like pure platonic concern, there is some real desperation there. Also not to bring up KR rambling but lady if you were so surprised by Ryan's performance and didn't want it to come across like THAT, aren't you in charge? Couldn't you make the call and say "I need you to give me less"?? Anyway, the parallels between this and Eddie's shooting are ridiculous, so I also gave to think if this isn't going somewhere what the fuck is the point?? Why go through all this trouble to make it so obvious and heartfelt and hurt so much if it just goes back to business as usual?? That more than anything would piss me off. Yes, let Buck learn a thing or two about his own worth (we've only been waiting SEASONS for it), but also can we stop pretending putting these two specific characters in these life and death scenarios where they have to watch the other dying and their whole world looks like it's coming apart doesn't mean anything?? Finally (for now) here's what I'd like to see next episode. We know Buck is going to see the people he loves but not in the way he knows he knows them. So I'd love to be what prompts him to wake is seeing Chris. But not just any version of him. This Chris is an orphan, his mom died and there wasn't anyone to save his Dad from getting shot. He lives with his grandparents (pre Ramon reckoning), he had to go to them since there was no other parent in Eddie's life to take care of him. So this bright, brave kid is now sad and scared of the world, and Buck knows its wrong. I'll leave you with this mess of thoughts 😭.

Hello friend! We had people over this evening so I'm trying to get this done before I get to bed because I really do need to clear out my inbox (RIP to everyone who came to be salty with me and KR's interviews because we immediately got sneak peeks and poker stills and DO MORE, and my brain went offline).

Seriously, I don't know who started slipping the promo team cocaine but damn. Let us REST for a second! Between them and the fandom coming out in FORCE to wreck us or be horny on main, it's A Lot and I need sleep!

Ryan is out here giving us The Most and KR acting *shocked pikachu* about it just shows how much she sleeps on Ryan as an actor and Eddie as a character.I rewatched 6x10 and like, I know he's got a lot next episode but for a premier maybe we could have checked in with him and Chris since we checked in with literally everyone else at their homes? I'm trying not to be too negative because after s5 and 6a, this is THEE most excited I've been in awhile and I really do think the show is at least trying to course correct after....whatever TF 6a was and the weirdness of s5.

And the stuff with Eddie, it's like, you're right they COULD tell him to do less! They could say "this is what we're looking for" or at least "this is what we're NOT looking for" but clearly his actions were signed off on and made it to air knowing full well what people would see when they watched it. And what you see is a man desperately broken by the possibility of losing his partner. Which is GREAT if the show is working on a s7 Buddie reveal plan (I'm with @outrunningthedark I don't think they want to overshadow the Madney moment coming up which is fine), but it's....disappointing when there is so much good stuff going on right now and all KR wants to talk about is how much fun they had forcing Eddie "they're not really my type" Diaz to casually date randos because that's something he's ever been interested in doing. He really seems like a guy that enjoys wasting his limited free time meeting lots of new people only interested in getting into his pants instead of taking care of his partner who literally died for several minutes, and doing things with his son. Sure Jan. FFS, read the room! Or read the character profile before you start throwing storylines at the wall to see what sticks (lookin' at you sperm donor plot that is apparently giving Nothing). Yeah, yeah, managing expectations with a showrunner like her is good, but it's also a lot of whiplash right now between what we're seeing on our screens and what she's trying to TELL us we're seeing on our screens. I'm just so sick of them giving what should be THEE moment for Buddie only to follow it up by shoving some woman between them like "oh, nothing to see here!" Give me a break. And then what are they going to do for the actual reveal? How are they going to raise the stakes AGAIN? How are they going to be like, "yeah this is the 5th time one of us has almost died, but THIS time it's allowed to be an "Oh" moment for us because TPTB finally signed off on it!" 🙄🙄🙄 On the bright side, the Buddie of it all has kept the show trending off an on for almost two weeks and will certainly continue through next week so at least whoever is paying attention to that stuff and saw how dead everything was after the finale has some comparison to work with!

ANYWAY

Sad an lonely Chris would be HEARTBREAKING and my heart couldn't take it! 😭😭😭 That boy deserves ONLY good things! I will say I am a little...not mad but I am certainly side-eyeing this coma storyline seeming to be about how Buck's work as a firefighter is what changed everyone's lives because like, YES him being at the 118 changed everything for everyone, but also this is the guy who panic-sued the department to get back to work because he felt worthless if he wasn't doing his job. Which we then found out stemmed from childhood trauma and neglect, but right now, for where he's at, he's not questioning his choice of job so he doesn't need a push like Eddie to come back to where he belongs. And he's already wrapped up in a storyline that SHOULD be about him giving up parts and pieces of himself to make other's happy at cost to his own happiness (though right now we don't know WHAT it's suppose to be about since he's not going to struggle with walking away per Oliver and he's not learning anything so what's the point?). So how is better for him to be facing a life where Daniel lived and he's loved and happy (which is what they've been making it sound like) but everyone at the 118 is a mess without him, proving that it's better for everyone ELSE if he sacrifices everything and doesn't get the happy life he always dreamed of? Like I'm not trying to be negative and I'm still REALLY excited about the episode (as you can see from my unhinged posting this week) and I just KNOW everyone's performances are going to slay us, and this storyline might go differently than I'm expecting and be something really great! But I'm just...getting my side-eyes out because if KR has proved anything it's that she can't plan a fucking arc for shit, and she lacks a basic understanding of the trauma and driving forces behind the characters.

Final note because I didn't want to end on that one, I think everyone in the firefam deserves an Emmy for what they're going to give us and I am READY for their reactions to rip my heart out and stomp on it. It is TIME Buck wakes up with his REAL family around his bed and knows how very much he is loved for just being Buck and how hard they fought to bring him back to them, because he's their family and they CHOOSE him. Buck is always the one being left, but he's going to wake up and hear how everyone he loves begged him to stay with them. It's going to be *delicious*

I can't believe I am now only noticing Buck is having the same arc as Eddie last season and vice versa for Eddie.

Buck was the seemingly content one, but as viewers we also knew he was slightly troubled. But Eddie was the one suffering. Eddie spoke to Carla and made a decision to leave the 118 without consulting Buck. Then Eddie breaks in the back half and it's Buck who helps him while resolving his relationship issues.

Now we have Eddie as the content one, but we also see he is slightly troubled and lonely. Buck makes a huge decision but consulted Hen not Eddie. And the news dropped in the mid season finale.

Or am I reading to much into that? Either way I'm excited to see how it plays out when Buck inevitably does have some sort of crisis in whatever form

It really sort of lines up, though, with what I have always thought about how Buddie being Canon goes. Which is to me a sprinkle of realization at the end of a season in order to secure another season. Both of them are happy and healthy of mind by the end of 6, and some small acknowledgment of Buddie in any form is enough to drive speculation all summer..

Hi Nonnie! Thank you for this ask.

No, I don’t think you’re reading too much into this at all! It’s kind of what I meant when I kept saying that so far, the story telling structure seems to be parallel between 5a and 6a, which is one of the reasons I’ve been assuming we’ll also see similarities (and the same kind of coming back together of Buck and Eddie) in 6b’s structure to 5b. I’m pretty sure I also explained it at some point in terms of how they came back together as Buck came to Eddie’s help, and now we’re waiting to see Eddie being there to help out Buck, but I’m so sorry, my vertigo’s too bad to try finding the relevant posts for you. If you look through my ask tag, I hope you can find them! Or if anyone skilled and kind would wanna help? But basically, you’re so very valid, I agree with you completely.

And not just about these s5 and s6 parallels, I’ve also said before that I pretty much expect 911, if it lets Buddie go canon, to reserve that first moment of actual canon-ness (hush, it’s a word now) for a season finale, because that will for sure generate a buzz, get more people interested, maybe bring in new viewers who can binge watch the show during the hiatus between the seasons, so they’ll raise the viewing figures for the show when it returns...

I hope this helped? Have a lovely day! As always, my ask tag’s here.

tbh i feel like we're all maybe forgetting that 6A was kind of destined to be a little bit boring or slow-paced from the get-go because of how 5B ended so *perfectly* with everything tied up in a neat little bow. i mean 5x18 was literally called "starting over," and this is a show that (for better or for worse, this specific post is not pro-911s-pacing or anti-911s-pacing but a secret third thing, confused-and-trying-to-make-sense-of 911s-pacing) routinely and consistently takes right around ~10 episodes to cash in on big narrative plot points. not situational or episode specific or more technical plot points, like madney going from unsuccessful house hunting to finding a place within 2 episodes, or buck agreeing to be a sperm donor inside of 1 episode- those are typically resolved pretty quickly, within an episode or two. the show scaffolds these more-quickly-resolved plot points together into larger, more character driven arcs that typically always take around ten episodes for the full emotional fallout and significance to play out. 911 has always been a show where what happens matters a hell of a lot less to the story than how the characters feel about what happens, so because this is such a character driven show, inside of those ten set-up, pawns-on-the-chessboard episodes, it can be pretty difficult at times to figure out what they're angling at, or where they're planning on going (buck! where the hell are you going!), or how any of the plots are going to coalesce into something useful, profound, and cohesive. typically, the B season ends with at least a *couple* of loose threads that carry over into the arc-resolution-conclusion phase in the following A season, giving us an A season that's like 70% setup for new arcs and 30% wrapup of old arcs- but 5B ended on a true blank slate, so almost *everything* in 6A (with the exception of the conclusion to hen's super-drawn-out-but-very-realistically-paced med school arc) has been... scaffolding from the ground up.

and scaffolding looks pretty unimpressive and odd and boring on its own, like a big pile of ugly junk getting in the way of everything, but put it alongside the Sistine chapel ceiling it was built to accomplish, and suddenly it seems a little more worthwhile.

okay the thing about 911 this season is that obviously there is a glaring lack of buck and eddie even speaking to each other, regardless of what u think that dynamic is it's wild to write away from one of the bestie pairs on the show that have been so instrumental to each other's growth. but okay let's put that aside. it's just a lot of bad writing across the board this season! honestly the only characters who have escaped it are hen and karen, who the writers - thank god - have always gotten really well from the very beginning.

madney left s5 in an uncertain place and they, i thought, were trying to set up a more complicated journey back to each other but instead they immediately wrote that off with what can only be described as a bad fancam montage and "i felt sad" ??? that's so lazy lol. and a great example of how they just drop plotlines whenever they get bored! see the lack of throughline with many eddie plots. i'm always asking for kristen to prove me wrong but they're constantly inventing a new problem for eddie to deal with for a single episode instead of pulling on literally any of the things they've brought up previously. eddie breakdown being about afghanistan instead of the shooting. eddie saying "i feel like i'll never be normal again," and then never explaining or returning to that idea. more recently, eddie out of nowhere saying he thinks he might be cursed and not explaining or bringing that up after that episode. these are all interesting ideas i wish they'd explore! i don't think they will.

anyway, we're getting new combos of characters this season isn't that fun?? not really. it's mostly quips instead of actual conversations or even hijinks. the eddie athena cursed pairing feels entirely unmotivated. if you really wanted to explore eddie feeling cursed and pair him with a character he isn't normally paired with - maddie? anyone? it's almost like they have a ton of similarities in their stories and it would be interesting and fulfilling to see them interact. instead it's a bit of character backstory that's been made up specifically to fit with the episode theme & probably won't be brought up again, some quips between less common pairings, and way too much focus on side characters.

i don't care about these one-off characters this much !!! some of the 6a episodes have felt so focused on these one-off characters it feels like the main cast is incidentally there, instead of the other way around where the emergencies could have thematic resonance to the problems the characters are struggling with this season. which is something they've done in the past! the minutes long amnesia montage for Just Some Couple in the middle of the s5 finale was the canary in the coal mine lmao

so yeah on top of all of this buck and eddie barely speaking and being glaringly absent from each other's lives is a characterization issue. they were distant last season but it was, and this is vital, commented upon. there were scenes i could see with my eyes about them being distant and why that was. it's actually not good storytelling to just have people imagine what's happening in the background with two main characters lmao. it's not "subtle storytelling" it's bad writing. it's not even bait at this point flskjdfa