ABC Retcons Buck's Personal Role In 9-1-1 Season 10
Alexandria is a British-Canadian writer with a passion for network TV.
She has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Aston University, Birmingham. After initially working as a software tester, she rekindled a passion for writing and has written for blogs and publications like Hidden Remote, Make a Living Writing, and The Daily Voice. She has interviewed various actors and showrunners, with her most memorably being Tony Shalhoub and Mark-Paul Gosselaar.
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Throughout the buildup of 9-1-1 season 10, eyes were on how Buck would handle being a father to Theo. After seasons of seeing him so great with other kids, there was a lot of excitement to see him take on that task himself. There is a learning curve to being a parent compared to being an uncle, and it's clear that this is going to be part of Buck's arc, which could clear a path to a romance with Eddie.
The problem is that the 9-1-1 season 10 premiere has retconned everything fans know about Buck, temporarily placing an obstacle in front of Buck and Eddie's romance. His entire character has done a 180, compared to the way that he has helped with Christopher and Jee-Yun. He even became a mentor to Harry throughout the ninth season, helping him through the loss of Bobby and with how to handle Athena's fears of becoming a firefighter.
In the space of just two scenes, Buck has been made to look like a terrible parent. He's even making excuses for Theo after being hit in the face, causing a huge gash and what almost turned out to be a broken nose. When it comes to being an uncle, it's okay to explain the situation and leave it to the parents to handle the consequences. Buck is now the parent, though, and he needs to step up, because he's not the bad father that 9-1-1 is making him out to be.
The benefit is that there are up to 17 more episodes in which to address this issue, creating what could be an exciting arc that offers Buck his best season of 9-1-1 ever. It takes time for some people to understand that they have to be a parent first and a friend second, and this is the journey Buck has to go on to rectify the problem.
9-1-1 Season 10 Presents Buck As A Bad Father
The 9-1-1 season 10 premiere quickly showed the difficulties of parenting, with Theo running around and causing injuries with his antics. Instead of parenting Theo, the series decided to make Buck look incompetent, completely changing everything we know about his ability to be a father. Throughout eight seasons, Buck has shown he can listen to what a child needs and figure out the best way to support them, as he's helped Eddie raise Christopher.
Viewers have watched how Buck grew up through being a second father, a trusted adult who Christopher needed. As Christopher struggled to deal with Eddie's secrets and lies with the woman who looked so much like his mom, he decided that he wanted to live with his grandparents. Of course, nobody wanted to see this boy move back to Texas, but Buck realized that the best way to support him was to see this through. The more Eddie fought it, the worse he was making it.
He's also been great with his niece, Jee-Yun, interacting with her in a way that she enjoys. Buck understands how to get down on a child's level and figure out what they're interested in, so it doesn't make sense that he can't do the same with Theo.
The entire dinner scene with Eddie and Christopher makes it look like Buck is a terrible father. He allowed Theo to run around rather than sit and eat dinner, leading to Christopher falling and creating an uncomfortable situation for all. Buck didn't even note that he was part of the reason Christopher fell, because if he'd told Theo off rather than letting him run around, none of it would have happened.
Why Buck's Parenting Style Doesn't Work On Theo
With the development throughout the seasons, Buck should be a great father to Theo. The problem is that not all children are alike, and different parenting styles are needed. Even with siblings in the same family, a different parenting style can be necessary, and this is something Buck needs to learn.
Buck knows that Theo is living with the trauma of losing his parents. It's something that he brought up with Eddie, and he is hesitant to be too harsh on this young boy. He's seen what it was like for Christopher to lose his mom, and he wants to offer the same support for Theo as he did back then. There are some major differences in the situations, though. Christopher was a little older, he'd been estranged from his mom for some time, and he still had Eddie in his life.
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Theo is dealing with the loss of both his parents at the same time, and he's much younger, so he doesn't quite understand everything that's going on. It's up to Buck to figure out how to support him through that. It's also possible that he has ADHD, which is something that the 9-1-1 creative team has discussed.
Buck Is Not A Bad Dad In 9-1-1, But He Needs To Adjust
Buck isn't a terrible father, though, and season 10 offers him the chance to prove that, by showing that he can adjust his skills and provide 9-1-1 with more heartwarming moments. Whenever he's helped with Christopher and Jee-Yun, it's been more as a secondary guardian. He knows he isn't the parent of either of those children, so he has no authority to discipline them. Stepping up as a guardian of Theo means that he needs to adjust his way of thinking, understanding what it means to deal with the bad behavior as well as the good.
This is something that will take time, but the first step is to recognize that he's doing Theo an injustice by not adjusting. Of course, he may not even realize that he's doing anything wrong just yet, and Eddie and Maddie need to explain what it really means to be a dad. Theo is at an age where he's learning how to control his impulses, but if Buck doesn't figure it out soon, someone other than Buck could end up seriously injured.
Getting Theo help if he does have an ADHD diagnosis is also going to be essential. With that, Theo's brain won't work the same way as Christopher's and Jee-Yun's, and he could end up needing other medical help to balance things out. There's no shame in admitting that, and Buck is doing Theo more harm by not acknowledging this possibility.
It's time for Buck to admit that he's struggling and turn to all the other parents on 9-1-1 for help. After all, he has Eddie, Maddie, Chimney, Hen, and Athena, and this entire storyline promises some more growth for the character who was originally the daredevil child of the 118.
- Release Date
- January 3, 2018
- Network
- ABC, FOX
- Showrunner
- Tim Minear
- Directors
- Bradley Buecker, John J. Gray, Brenna Malloy, Jennifer Lynch, David Grossman, Marita Grabiak, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Jann Turner, James Wong, Marcus Stokes, Chad Lowe, Juan Carlos Coto, Christine Khalafian, Dawn Wilkinson, Maggie Kiley, Millicent Shelton, Sarah Boyd, Tasha Smith, Tessa Blake, Aisha Hinds, Kristen Reidel, Shauna Duggins, Jonathan Lawrence, Robert M. Williams Jr.
- Writers
- Tim Minear, Andrew Meyers, Taylor Wong, James Leffler, Molly Green, Christopher Monfette, Nadia Abass-Madden, Stacey R. Rose, Nicole Barraza Keim, Bob Goodman, Brad Falchuk, David Fury, Ryan Murphy, Ted Griffin, Erica L. Anderson, Matthew Hodgson, Zachary Reiter, Tonya Kong, Adam Penn, Aristotle Kousakis, Molly Green, Rashad Raisani, Ian Sobel
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Angela Bassett
Athena Grant
-
Peter Krause
Bobby Nash
A group of first responders—including police officers, paramedics, firefighters, and dispatchers—manage emergencies while balancing out their personal lives.
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