Ranking 9-1-1’s best ‘Buddie’ moments in order of queer significance

9-1-1 season 8b is right around the corner, and fans have a lot of questions about what’s to come. Who kidnapped Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt)? Is Eddie (Ryan Guzman) really moving to El Paso? And, most importantly, when are Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie finally going to kiss? 

Buck’s storyline has largely revolved around his love life for the last two seasons, after experiencing a bi awakening, falling into a relationship with former-118 firefighter Tommy, and, most recently, getting dumped by him. But Buck and Tommy aren’t the only MLM couple fans have been dissecting lately. There’s also the popular fanon (a portmanteau of ‘fan’ and ‘canon’ for those that have lives outside of the internet) ship Buddie. 

But after seven whole seasons of blurred lines and plausible deniability, we have to ask: is Buddie really just fanon? Like, really, truly? Many fans think not (including this one) – and possibly even Oliver Stark himself, who told PinkNews last year that he’s “here for wherever the story goes”.

As we wait to find out exactly what that endgame entails, let’s take a look back at some of the best Buddie moments that had us raising our eyebrows at the nature of Buck and Eddie’s relationship, ranked in order of significance… 

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15. Whatta Man (‘Under Pressure’, 2.01)

Buck and Eddie got off to a rocky start when the latter joined the 118 in the season 2 premiere. But the significance lies in the way Eddie was introduced: shirtless with rippling abdominal muscles on display, while Buck turned around to look at him in slow motion while Salt N Peppa’s ‘Whatta Man’ played over the scene. You are free to draw your own conclusions from these creative choices. 

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14. The grocery store argument (‘Rage’, 3.05)

There are many things fans wish they could forget about the season 3 lawsuit storyline, but Buck and Eddie’s argument in the grocery store is not one of them. Buck earned a spot on practically all of the 118’s sh*t lists when he decided to sue the fire department in an attempt to get his job back, but Eddie took particular offence to the stunt. The lawsuit meant he couldn’t contact Buck when his son Christopher missed him, and he more or less cussed Buck out for being an absent father in the middle of the cleaning products aisle.

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13. Buck comes out to Eddie (‘You Don’t Know Me’, 7.05)

This was a beautiful, tender moment and moved both Buck and Eddie’s friendship and Buck’s bi awakening forward in a wonderful way, but it’s low on the list as it’s not a specifically romantic moment… Unless you’re wearing your Buddie goggles, that is. Buck’s minuscule reaction to Eddie saying Buck being bi doesn’t change anything between them can be creatively interpreted within an inch of its life.

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12. ‘You can have my back any day’ (‘Under Pressure’, 2.01)

Buck and Eddie’s season 2 beef lasted maybe 20 minutes before they extracted an explosive from a man’s leg together and became instant best friends. After a rough start, Eddie finally got under Buck’s skin in a different way, when he told Buck that he was badass and he could have Eddie’s back any day.

This could be interpreted as a sweet Casablanca ‘beautiful friendship’ moment if it weren’t for the fact that Buck physically blushes and shyly ducks his head at the compliment. Man has been whipped from the start.

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11. ‘You have an adorable son’ (‘Merry Ex-Mas’, 2.10)

If you’re thinking, ‘Wow, only five moments into the list of significant moments and there’s a lot of season two on here,’ you would be right… which is why some fans are convinced that Buck and Eddie were destined from the very beginning.

This particular moment – one of Santa’s elves presuming Buck and Eddie were Christopher’s two dads – was short but sweet. But, most importantly, Buck didn’t deny it. Instead, he thanked her and then skipped away while cheesing his little face off.

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10. The poker game (‘Mixed Feelings’, 6.13)

This is a classic case of ‘Buck and Eddie hijinks that look suspiciously like a date’. It was an interdepartmental poker night. There really was no need for them to get dressed to the nines for it, or for Eddie to be staring at Buck like he hung the moon the entire night. The cherry on the top was when someone asked Buck if he really died for three minutes after he was struck by lightning, and Eddie chimed in with: ‘Three minutes and 17 seconds.’ That’s romance!

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9. ‘There’s nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you’ (‘The Searchers’, 3.03)

The tsunami really took it out of Buck – more emotionally than physically to be honest – after saving, losing and then finding Christopher. He was deeply in his feelings to a “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran soundtrack, but all he needed to drag him back out was Eddie believing in him (and standing entirely too close to him while he did it).

We’ve only ranked it number nine as it can be viewed as a lovely friendship moment by itself, but it still belongs in the Best Buddie Moments Hall of Fame.

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8. ‘You wanna go for the title?’ (‘Fallout’, 3.09)

Also unofficially known as ‘the kitchen scene’. Buck and Eddie were just having a nice little chat about reconciliation following the events of the lawsuit while Christopher played video games in the next room. And then they started full-on flirting with each other over it. There’s no other way to describe what transpired. The acting decisions made in this scene are absolutely wild from start to end. You can almost feel the heat radiating from the TV screen. Quite frankly, we didn’t know where to look.

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7. The hospital reunion (‘Survivors’, 4.14)

Buck’s hospital reunion with Eddie after the latter got shot would have been a nice, totally platonic moment, were it not for the fact that 9-1-1 recreated the scene almost shot-for-shot with Bobby and Athena (who have been married couple since season two, we might add) after Bobby fell into a coma in the season seven finale.

Some might claim the Buddie shippers are delusional, but when compared to the tropes hit by the three main canon couples on the show, it feels like this romance is writing itself.

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6. The entirety of ‘Buck, Bothered and Bewildered’ (‘Buck, Bothered and Bewildered’, 7.04)

The show’s 100th episode delivered some surprises when it ended with Buck kissing a man, and thus beginning his long-awaited bi awakening arc. But even so, the wildest thing about that episode was how he spent the scenes before the kiss being obsessed with Eddie in an absolutely unhinged way.

In a recent interview with Today, Oliver Stark even teased that Buck’s jealous feelings from the episode are going to be unpacked further in the second half of the season. “I think they’re going to be kind of explored and looked at in a way that is more obvious than kind of has ever been done before on the show,” he said. “To an extent where I was actually surprised by the extent to which it’s going to be explored.” We cheered.

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5. ‘They’re not in LA, they’re in El Paso’ (‘Wannabes’, 8.08)

Our most recent Buddie scene has made the top five for sending gasps across the internet. The cliffhanger about Eddie’s potential move was shocking, but even more devastating was Buck’s reaction to it, leading some viewers to wonder if he was finally having his, ‘Oh. Oh!’ feelings realisation moment.

The scene also felt significant because it may have marked the start of Buck and Eddie, who are usually extremely emotionally open with each other, hiding their feelings from each other – Eddie initially hiding his intentions to move, and Buck hiding just how much the notion upset him.

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4. The shooting aftermath (‘Survivors’, 4.14)

There’s so much to unpack here. The 118 and co. often find themselves at death’s door on the show but the shooting arc at the end of season four really feels like a TV near-death experience told through a romantic lens. 

First there’s Eddie actually being targeted by the sniper. Then there’s the shot of Buck covered in Eddie’s blood. Then there’s Buck dragging Eddie under the fire engine with him before throwing Eddie into the back of it and tending to the wound. Then there’s Eddie deliriously asking Buck if he’s hurt, despite him being the one actively bleeding out. Then there’s Buck begging Eddie to stay with him. Then there’s the fact that much of the finale ended up revolving around Buck’s reaction to Eddie being shot and coming very close to having a breakdown over it.

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3. Buck digging through the dirt to get to Eddie (‘Eddie Begins’, 3.15)

If Buck had a dime every time he feared for Eddie’s life and had a quick emotional breakdown, he’d have about 30 cents. One of his most heartbreaking reactions was when the well collapsed on top of Eddie, and Buck started digging through the mud with his bare hands to get to him. If you’re thinking, ‘I’d do that for a friend, that doesn’t make them romantically involved,’ then where were Chim, Hen and Bobby, also Eddie’s friends, while this was happening? They were doing their jobs as firefighters and calmly devising a rescue plan. (Bobby was actually holding Buck back while he sobbed, but that makes it even more damning, to be honest.)

Following the digging and sobbing, the whole crew started treating Buck like they would the spouse of a victim on call, tiptoeing around the fact that Eddie might not have survived. The evidence stacks itself here.

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2. The couch scene (‘Confessions’, 8.06)

Some may question this scene in the number two spot, especially considering that Buck and Eddie don’t utter a word to each other (or, indeed, throughout the entire episode). This is an instance where context is integral. 

The scene comes after a couple of key moments: Buck is dumped by a guy who tells him he’s Buck’s first but not his last (eyes emoji at Eddie), and Eddie is finally opening himself up to joy after a gay priest told him to. There’s nothing like silent beers on the couch together to drum up some sexual tension. Just ask TV slow burn veterans Jess and Nick, Brennan and Booth, and Mulder and Scully. That’s the kind of subtext dreams are made of. And that’s not even going into the whole thing with Couch Theory…

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1. Eddie’s will (‘Survivors’, 4.14)

With three moments from it in the top ten, the season four shooting arc has solidified itself as one of the most significant Buddie storylines and for good reason. It all came to a head when Eddie recovered and dropped a bombshell that both devastated and delighted the citizens of Buddie Nation forever… when he revealed that he’d secretly put Buck in his will as Christopher’s legal guardian in the event of his death. 

This was a ‘what the everloving gay hell?’ moment for a number of reasons:

1) It proved that Eddie saw Buck as his family, having chosen him over Christopher’s own grandparents.

2) He revealed he actually changed his will the season before after the well collapse, which begs the question: why did he keep it secret for so long? Eddie surely knew how it looked.

3) He only finally told Buck about it after Buck started devaluing himself, which you have to admit is quite a romantic gesture.

4) During the reveal, Eddie called Buck ‘Evan’ for the first time, which, at the time, was a name only his sister Maddie used for him (and then later Buck’s actual canonical love interest, so…).

And 5) Even though the will reveal was shocking to say the least, it hasn’t actually been brought up since. (On the show, that is. It’s been brought up in fanfic a lot.) 

And thus concludes the evidence for Buddie Canon 2025. The defence rests. We’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions, but we’ll be laughing (and screaming, crying, throwing up) when those two firefighters finally kiss.

9-1-1 season 8 returns on Thursday 6 March on ABC in the US, and sometime in the spring on Disney+ in the UK.