9-1-1 (2018-) is an action-drama show that originated on Fox before moving to ABC on Thursdays and has been going strong for (at the time of writing) eight seasons. The hour-long procedural drama focuses on the work and lives of Los Angeles first responders — dispatchers, paramedics, firefighters, and the like — who are first on the scene during emergency, high-pressure situations. The wildly popular show focuses on members of “the 118”, including patrol sergeant Athena (Angela Bassett), fire station captain Bobby (Peter Krause), dispatcher Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), and Maddie’s brother, firefighter Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark). This entry will focus primarily on the main character, Buck, and his relationships with people in the series.
With eight seasons and counting on this television phenomenon, the lore goes deep with this series, so please bear with us as we go over the highlights — it’s a lot of ground to cover.
Buck is a deeply developed main character, full of heart and loving big and out loud — especially the other members of the 118, whom he considers family. Though he is charismatic and quite suave with women, he also has deep abandonment issues rooted in a lack of unconditional love from his early life. (Though Maddie loves him, his parents had him so they could potentially use some of his organs to save his brother.) This imbalance leads to a lot of erratic behavior when the people he considers the rocks in his life start to falter. Though he makes mistakes, Buck is still a deeply endearing character.
In the first season, Buck starts as a bit of a ladies’ man, enjoying hookups. He then starts dating Abby (Connie Britton), an older dispatcher, and realizes he likes the stability of a real relationship. He then starts looking to settle down and have a family.
By all accounts, the main person in Buck’s life is Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman), another firefighter with whom he shares an extremely strong bond. The two men have an unconditional friendship and love for each other and even co-parent Eddie’s disabled son, Christopher. The relationship goes so deep that Eddie has even changed his will so that, should anything happen to Eddie, Christopher goes to Buck. This reads to us as a ride-or-die friendship at first, but also — with the level of emotional intimacy and connection the two characters have — great potential for a slow-burn queer romance.
For the first seven seasons, Buck dated women and mostly came across as straight (save for a few potentially queer moments, like the tapeworm emergency in Season One.) However, in the seventh season, when recurring character Pilot Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) came back onto the scene, Buck found himself overwhelmed with jealousy whenever he saw him speaking with Eddie. This leads to a kiss with Tommy that veers into a relationship.
In Season 7, Episode 5, Buck comes out to Maddie and Eddie, as shown in these scenes. After another kiss, Buck essentially does a show-not-tell, coming out to the rest of the main characters in Season 7, Episode 6. Though he has not used the term “bi” to describe himself, to Maddie he notes that he has dated women but also that “sure, he’ll check out a hot guy’s ass.” To our delight, the people important to Buck — including Maddie and Eddie but also everyone at the 118 — are very supportive of his coming out.
What’s notable in all of these exchanges is that 9-1-1 cleverly sidesteps queerness as a conflict and focuses more on the intensity of Buck’s feelings. As showrunner Tim Minear noted in a discussion for an article with The Wrap:
It’s 2024. I didn’t want to make it the bravest episode of 1983. That didn’t interest me. But I also want to be honest about it. […] It’s more Buck thinking, “Well, I’m such a progressive ally. Why am I having trouble being honest with the people around me?” He’s questioning himself. He feels like a fraud. But it’s got nothing to do with sex shame or something like that. He opens up conversations and interactions with the people in his life. That’s what I like about this. He’s not siloed off into some love interest story with a character who has nothing to do with the main characters.
Buck and Tommy dated for six months, but it wasn’t meant to be. In Season 8, Tommy breaks up with Buck. At first blush and without the proper context, the scene above might appear biphobic (as this article attempts to make the argument for, including accusations from fervent Buck/Tommy fans). However, for those not as familiar with the series, there is more to this scene than meets the eye.
Despite dating for six months, Buck and Tommy don’t know each other very well (Tommy gave Buck basketball tickets as an anniversary gift, even though Buck has explicitly said he doesn’t like basketball.) It is also worth noting that Buck started dating the first man he kissed, revealing his struggles with abandonment issues. After their anniversary date, Maddie’s coworker, Josh (Bryan Safi), asks Buck if he loves Tommy, but Buck doesn’t answer. And, just before their breakup scene, in a desperate attempt to fix everything, Buck asks Tommy to move in with him, reflecting his deep desire to settle down.
So, for Tommy, the elder queer in the relationship, the breakup — and particularly the line, “No matter how bad I want it to be, I’m not your last, I’m your first” — is not a reference to Buck being bi or unfaithful. Instead, Tommy sees:
- 1) Buck is at the beginning of his queerness journey;
- 2) they do not have enough in common, and,
- 3) It is best to cut ties before they go any deeper.
The timeline of Stark’s and showrunner Minear’s support for Buck over the seasons has been fascinating. Throughout the first six seasons, when the show was made at Fox, the creators and actors acknowledged the shipping of Buck and Eddie but did not give it much airtime. However, since 9-1-1 moved to ABC, their discussion about Buck and his queerness — and their support of it — has gotten much more vocal.
Though Stark is a straight man playing a bi character, he has always been very careful about how he has spoken about Buck and his support for his bisexuality. As Season 7 came along and Buck’s queerness came to the center of the frame, he spoke about it warmly and in support of showcasing Buck’s bisexuality.
From an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Do you feel any pressure taking on the task of telling a queer story on network TV in a time where the LGBT is still clamoring for increased representation on screen?
I think there’s a responsibility to tell the story the right way. And for me, it’s a balancing act between telling a queer love story but also just telling a love story, and not always needing to focus on the fact that it is a queer story. It’s about finding that balance between wanting to highlight it but also not wanting to differentiate it from what media in the past may have seen as “normal”, and just telling it as a story that is one of happiness and joy — and just focusing on the emotions and the human beings at the center of it. It’s been a really nice gift: the opportunity to delve into this storyline, to be involved in telling it. I feel very proud of the work and just to be a part of it.
And as noted on TV Insider from Stark’s Instagram on defending his bi character from haters:
If one other character finding a new facet to his sexuality and [realizing] his bisexuality is your deal breaker — I fear you’ve missed the entire point of the show. You are not required to announce your departure.
In conclusion, Buck is a warm and lovable male bi character who is happily coming to terms with his newfound queerness. There is still much of Season 8 to unfold, so we will see where his storyline goes. But suffice it to say, Buck is a well-rounded, loving, caring, and fully three-dimensional character who happens to be bi and is starting to explore that. As such, we find him to be a rare and excellent example of male bisexuality in modern network television.
