RECAP: 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 — “Confessions”

Confession: this is going to be a long one. In 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6, Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chimney (Kenneth Choi) discuss having another kid, Eddie (Ryan Guzman) confronts his role in Chris leaving, and Buck (Oliver Stark) asks Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) a question. It’s an episode full of breakthroughs, heartbreaks (“I’ll see you around, Buck,”) and realizations. If you’re down for interesting dynamics and frustrating character choices, this one’s for you!

The rescues this week are a little on the weak side in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6. The opening one involves stopping a woman threatening to throw her husband’s mother’s ashes over the side of a building, upset that even in death, she still ranks second in her husband’s life. The second rescue showcases a sneezing attack that explodes a guy’s intestines everywhere. And the third is a recreation of the well rescue from “Eddie Begins,” though it’s not as long nor as exciting. 

It’s been a while since we’ve gotten good Maddie and Chimney scenes. While their arc in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 is shorter than the other two arcs in this episode, it’s a great showcase of how far they’ve come as a couple. Maddie wants a second child so that Jee, sad about Mara not living with them anymore, can have a sibling. A second pregnancy worries Chimney, who is scared that Maddie will go through postpartum depression again. But Maddie and Chimney have grown a lot since then, and their communication is crystal clear. 

After Chimney realizes how much a sibling would benefit Jee after witnessing an older brother save his younger brother’s life, Chimney agrees to have a second kid. But they each lay ground rules: if Maddie ever feels she needs help, she goes to Chimney. And Chimney can’t treat Maddie like she’s broken. It’s a beautiful moment punctuated by the reveal that Maddie’s already pregnant. Cheers to them!

Eddie’s arc in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 finally has him confront how he’s been punishing himself for the Kim debacle. He returns to confession, but when the priest (Gavin Stenhouse) gets to the hail mary part, Eddie decides he isn’t worth forgiveness and leaves. 

The priest runs into him again at a juice shop. Thinking the priest is hitting on him, Eddie clarifies he’s straight, and the priest introduces himself as the person who heard Eddie’s confession. This more relaxed setting allows the two to have a more open conversation. The priest suggests that Eddie is punishing himself because he doesn’t feel worthy of joy. 

This is an excellent take on Eddie’s character and a great direction for the Vertigo-inspired fallout from last season. While ridiculous, it finally lets Eddie voice his regrets about traumatizing Chris (Gavin McHugh). 

For the past five episodes, Eddie hasn’t done much to fix things with Chris; he has mostly just sat back and accepted Chris’s anger at him. He grew a mustache because he didn’t want to look at the face that hurt his child. Acknowledging that mistake is the first step, but the priest tells Eddie that he has to earn forgiveness, yes, but to move forward, he has to stop punishing himself. After all, we can’t take care of others if we don’t first take care of ourselves.

Eddie takes that in and ends the episode, shaving the mustache off and throwing a dance party, allowing joy in for the first time in a long time. Eddie’s grief over Shannon remains unresolved, but finding a way to forgive oneself, even briefly, was a fantastic start to moving Eddie’s character along. 

Buck interrupts Eddie’s dance party by showing up to his house with some beer because … well, folks. We have to do it. It’s time. Let’s talk about Buck and Tommy in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6. And Connie Britton’s Abby Clark?

Buck coming out as bisexual in 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 4 was a groundbreaking moment for network procedural television. A 32-year-old getting a later-in-life coming-out arc is rare, and to see it done late in a show’s run amplified that significance. Buck’s struggle to understand why it took so long, especially since he always considered himself an ally, was deeply relatable. It also showcased that it’s okay to come out at any time in your life; just because you didn’t figure it out before doesn’t make your identity any less valid. 

This coming-out arc for Buck also introduced a new love interest in Tommy Kinard. Though Buck and Tommy haven’t had many scenes, what with a truncated, strike-affected Season 7 putting them on the back burner, their relationship has steadily been building in the small moments. Tommy’s integration into Buck and Eddie’s friendship says a lot about Buck and Tommy’s comfort with each other. 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 5 showcased a more domestic Buck and Tommy.

There were also little acknowledgments of something deeper with Tommy, perhaps a loneliness he’d felt for a long time. His frequent remarks about wishing for and being jealous of the kind of bond the 118 has have been pointed, as was what he said in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 5: “It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it? Having a crew like this behind you? Even when things go wrong.”

And, go wrong, they did, but Tommy only has himself to blame. 

Hang on. Let’s backtrack. At a dinner date for their six-month anniversary, Buck gets asked by a pretty blonde woman to take a photo of her and her friends. She also asks for Buck’s number. This opens up the sexuality-label discussion between Buck and Tommy, during which Tommy says he’s gay. Buck asks him if he’s ever tried with a woman before, and Tommy says, of course, because he struggled with his sexuality a lot. But there was one woman in particular he hurt — Abby Clark. 

Yes, that Abby Clark. Connie Britton’s character from 9-1-1 Season 1, who, with Buck, has his first transformative relationship. There’s a throwaway line in the first season when Abby references an ex named Tommy, and fans ran away with the theory that Abby’s Tommy was also Tommy Kinard. Tim Minear, this is the funniest thing you could have done. 

Tommy admits he wasn’t great towards Abby, struggling with his sexuality and then calling off their engagement. He then unknowingly calls Buck a himbo, referencing the much younger man Abby got with after their failed engagement. This obviously throws Buck for a loop. 

Abby was Buck’s first real relationship. When we first meet Buck, he’s a womanizing, self-diagnosed sex addict who decides to take things slow with Abby. That relationship improved him, even though it ended on bad terms with her. This Tommy and Abby connection sends Buck running to Maddie while she’s at work, which also brings Josh into the conversation. Concerned that he doesn’t know Tommy as well as he thought, Buck struggles to understand how someone could lie that much to someone they supposedly love. 

Josh breaks it down for him by using Glee as a barometer for gay acceptance. Okay, Josh. But he tells Buck to stop judging Tommy because during the time Josh and Tommy were growing up, being gay was not as accepting. It was terrifying, which means a lot of gay people probably did things to protect themselves that they might not be proud of now, such as dating a woman for two years and then calling off the engagement.

In this more accepting post-Glee world that Buck came out in, you can’t judge the things other people did to keep themselves safe in the pre-Glee world. You honor those scars and thank those who came before you to fight for your rights. 

This monologue from Josh is important for Buck and the audience to hear. However, it makes the post-Glee world sound better than it really is. There are many LGBTQ rights that we are at risk of losing now that Trump has been reelected, making coming-out or living as an LGBTQ individual right now dangerous. Josh has a point, though — Buck did have a fairly smooth coming out. Although, the continued homophobia and transphobia of the world can lock people into heteronormativity, which is pain just as hurtful in a lot of ways. But Josh’s point that guys like Tommy grew up in an era of less acceptance is really important in understanding Tommy’s character better. 

At Buck’s loft, Buck tells Tommy about Abby. They agree it’s a little weird but not a deal breaker. Buck calls his relationship with Abby the most transformative one he’s ever had until he met Tommy. And then Buck asks Tommy to move in with him. Tommy says no.

His reasoning follows how he departed their first date — saying he doesn’t think Buck was ready to date a guy. In 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 5, Tommy clarifies that he didn’t want to pressure Buck while figuring himself out. But it’s been six months. Tommy declines Buck’s proposal to move in because Buck is “still figuring himself out,” plus, the fact that Tommy doesn’t want to get his heart broken, and despite wanting to be Buck’s last, Tommy says he can’t be because he was Buck’s first is … a lot to unpack. 

First, Tommy can’t tell Buck that Buck is still figuring himself out. Only Buck can answer that. Buck may not understand a lot of LGBTQ history, but he knows enough to correct Maddie when she makes a “turned two guys gay” joke. Plus, Buck’s a quick learner, as evidenced by him acknowledging Tommy’s past struggle with his sexuality and thanking him, just as Josh suggested. During 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 5, Buck says he’s not sure what he’s ready for, but he thinks that something could be with Tommy.

In 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6, Buck knows what he’s ready for, and that’s to take the next step with Tommy. The talk with Josh made him realize this, but there wasn’t a huge indication this step was coming. Still, he seems confident, which makes Tommy’s response frustrating.

That is, until Tommy says, “You’ll break my heart.” It’s clear there’s love between Buck and Tommy, but Tommy’s decision to end it with Buck feels born out of being scared to go through heartbreak again. There’s also a lack of trust Tommy has in Buck’s feelings, which has nothing to do with Buck but with Tommy. There’s a past here that’s not about Abby Clark, one that Tommy needs to confront, or he will miss out on that family he craves so much. And he will miss out on Buck, who seems ready for this next step.

For Buck, this heartbreak comes after what seemed like a real shot, at least as far as Buck was concerned. The final shot of him drinking the beer on Eddie’s couch lost in the revelation that he just put himself out there and was shot down, hurts. Buck has come a long way in handling relationships. In that sense, this callback to Abby was a great way to remind us of Buck’s journey since Season 1. It was refreshing to hear him be so confident in what he wanted, making the rejection much worse. 

Though it was hard to watch, props to Oliver Stark and Lou Ferrigno Jr. for playing this breakup scene with so much emotion and love in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6.  Stark continues to play up the layers that make Buck, Buck, and wherever Buck goes from here, it’ll be exciting to peel back another layer of him. As for Ferrigno Jr., despite the little of Tommy we did get, Ferrigno Jr. really gave a lot to his character, in these past two episodes especially. Whether there are more plans for his character or not, Ferrigno Jr. brought to life a hidden depth to Tommy in such a short amount of time that deserves praise. 

9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 had some lackluster rescues, but it delivered standout performances that brought to life heartbreaking moments and joyful revelations.

9-1-1 airs new episodes every Thursday on ABC and Hulu.