and what if taylor writes a whole chapter on the sniper situation? detailing buck's rescue attempt down to every stuttered word buck told her, laying out the aftermath by the broken moments of buck she was privy to, the crane situation, the nightmares, the shock outside of the hospital. and what if realisation dawns during eddie's hate read?

I can never come to a conclusion about whether or not Buck would have reacted the same way if it was Chim or Hen down the well. Bobby probably, but I genuinely don't know about the others. What's your take on it?

i know what you mean!! tbh i just try to think back to his previous reactions to other members of the team being hurt. he's the one who finds chimney stabbed and bleeding out on maddie's porch and obviously he’s panicked and scared but he's also very much in emt mode, trying to resuscitate chim and on the phone with 911. i know that sort of gets overshadowed in buck's head by the realisation that maddie's gone and doug took her but it's still nowhere near the reaction we see for eddie in the immediate moment

now you could argue it's bc chimney is right in front of him so buck can actually try to save him (chimney being stabbed vs eddie getting shot is probably more comparable) whereas eddie was underground and out of reach so buck didn’t even know if he was alive. 

but then i think about hen going down in the helicopter crash and i mean, yeah they skip over the initial reaction and i guess it makes sense for tk to be the one shown freaking out the most bc at the end of the day it is an ep of lone star we’re watching. but again, buck is worried but ultimately calm. he’s the one reassuring tk they survived the crash and while, yes, he comes up with the plan to save hen and owen he’s not all guns blazing about it.

and that situation is much more similar to the well in that he can’t see hen so he doesn’t actually know if she’s alive or not. but i guess you could argue it’s different bc he doesn’t see the accident happen right in front of him??? hell, even with bobby buck has willingly left him in dangerous situations before (like the tunnel fire where bobby ends up potentially having radiation poisoning - bobby tells buck to go and he only puts up a brief fight before doing what he’s told)

ultimately the only scenario i can think of where buck’s reaction has been similar to the well was the tsunami when he lost christopher. 

and none of this is to say he doesn’t love the other members of the 118, he absolutely does and each one of them is part of his family. but i think, as much as eddie is part of his ‘118 family’ eddie is also separate - he and chris occupy their own space in buck’s heart. so would he react like that if it were anyone else? honestly, based on evidence the show has given us, i don’t think so