It’s not a hard word. Yet two seasons have passed since Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark) came out as bisexual in 9-1-1 Season 7. Since then, he has still never said the word. I’m the last person to get hung up on labels, but when a character’s sexuality is defined offscreen in interviews but not in the text of the show, it does a disservice to bisexual representation on television.
“Let Buck F***” became a rallying cry after his breakup with Tommy, based on a quote from actor Oliver Stark. In this case, it’s time to Let Buck Say Bisexual. 9-1-1 has had multiple opportunities to define Buck’s sexuality, but side-stepped it, all the while verbalizing bisexual stereotypes.
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When Buck first came out in 9-1-1 Season 7, the show handled it beautifully. For six seasons, Buck was written as a straight character. But in 9-1-1’s 100th episode, Buck was kissed by a guy for the first time and liked it. After the kiss, Tommy asks Buck if he’s free on Saturday, and Buck says, “Yes, I am free,” a double entendre for him finally discovering the thing he’s been looking for his whole life. It’s a wonderful depiction of a later-in-life coming out, without any of the initial freak-outs or denials found in other shows.
9-1-1 has been too hesitant to highlight Buck’s journey discovering his sexuality.
During the press cycle for 9-1-1 Season 7 Episodes 4 and 5, show runner Tim Minear expressed that he did not want to write a lot of angst around Buck’s coming out arc. This is a refreshing take, and one that worked well for this arc. He accepts his sexuality pretty easily after a couple of blunders, and so do Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman). Buck meets back up with Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.), and they both decide they want to see where this relationship goes.
And that’s about as much focus as Buck and Tommy’s sexualities get for the remainder of 9-1-1 Season 7 and 9-1-1 Season 8. There are great moments between Buck and Tommy during this time, but it’s not enough, especially when they break up pretty soon after in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6.
This is where the issues surrounding Minear’s desire for no angst begin to arise. Because while it’s all well and good to not want to do the same tired coming out arcs, full of melodrama and hate and rejection, 9-1-1 veered too far in the other direction, and left Buck behind in his understanding of his sexuality.
By relegating Buck’s sexuality to just when he’s on screen with Tommy or going through a pivotal moment in their relationship, it silos off any discussion or curiosity he might have about his identity. That means that if Tommy doesn’t come back, and Buck never tries dating another man again, or if he chooses to date a woman next, his bisexual identity can easily be erased from the show because it doesn’t feel like Buck has fully embodied being a queer character.
Avoiding talking about Buck’s bisexuality feels like it’s hiding his sexuality altogether.
The breakup episode finally brings up some of the insecurities he has around his sexuality, although 9-1-1 Season 8 did not showcase it before that episode. When Buck learns that Tommy was once engaged to a woman—Buck’s own ex-girlfriend—he struggles to understand why Tommy would lie to Abby for so long.
This leads to a speech from Josh—now playing Gay Yoda to a confused Buck—about how a lot of older gay men had to hide who they were when they were growing up. It often leads to inadvertently hurting others as a means of survival. The speech makes some good points, but also presents the modern day as an oasis for LGBTQ+ people to come out in, which is certainly not the case.
Such a mischaracterization of today’s time is partly the result of not letting Buck explore his sexuality outside of his relationship with Tommy. The post-coming-out episodes present it as: Buck is dating Tommy, and everything is good. There’s no “very special episode” here, or more profound exploration of what it means for Buck to be dating a man now.
The show gets past Buck’s initial uneasiness around dating a guy with ease. The couple’s limited screen time means there isn’t a lot of information about their relationship to disclose. And in scenes without Tommy, it’s easy to forget that Buck is even in a relationship with a man because Buck rarely talks about it.
Avoiding the topic of Buck’s sexuality after the initial coming-out arcs means Buck’s queerness doesn’t feel as integrated into his character as much as it should be. On the surface, Buck was dating Tommy, and that’s all the show had to do to check the representation box.
When Buck’s bisexuality does come up, it’s through outdated jokes and stereotypes.
Opportunities abound for Buck to say he’s bisexual, but they are also surrounded by dialogue that leans toward stereotypes. When Buck tells Maddie and Josh that Abby is Tommy’s ex as well, Maddie makes a joke that Abby “turned two men gay.” As well as being a very outdated and inaccurate joke and way to talk about people’s sexualities, Buck doesn’t correct Maddie. He does call out that “it doesn’t work that way,” but doesn’t correct her on his own identity.
In 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 7, Chimney and Maddie visit Buck to try to cheer him up. Buck is deep in a baking spiral, unable to stop thinking about Tommy. Maddie and Chimney suggest there are other fish in the sea, and Buck asks, “How do I know which pond to jump back into?” It’s a vague reference to his bisexuality without actually saying it. But this phrasing is rooted in a stereotype of bisexuality, and also implies that he doesn’t quite understand his own sexuality either.
Other scenes manage better, such as the one in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 11 in which Maddie asks Buck if he’s in love with Eddie. This is the moment where he sounds the most clear about his sexuality, and where the show doubles down on not perpetuating a stereotype they previously said they didn’t want to fall into, which was having a queer character pine for his straight best friend.
Buck tells Maddie that he’s not in love with Eddie, even though everyone wants him to be. This is more of a meta-textual declaration, but it’s a step in the right direction, as Buck states directly what he wants and gives insight into how he may view his sexuality, or at least the parameters of it.
9-1-1 has to let Buck say bisexual because bisexual people are still bisexual even when dating the opposite gender.
But still. That pesky “b” word remains elusive in 9-1-1 dialogue. Despite, lest we forget, other instances in which characters stated their sexuality. Hen has said she’s a lesbian, Tommy said he’s a Kinsey 6 (and then clarified for Buck that he’s gay), and even Eddie, probably in another moment of meta-textual declaration but canon all the same, has said he’s straight.
Labels are complicated, and their definitions and presentations can vary from person to person. But in television, bisexual representation is still few and far between, and often misunderstood. There are certainly some scenes that speak to Buck still learning about what it means to be bisexual, but it all mostly feels half-hearted and falls back on stereotypes. Which would be fine if the show offered any push back on those stereotypes, but it doesn’t. Buck gets steamrolled more often than not in this regard by other characters and the writing.
Why is it important that Buck explicitly state he’s bisexual? There’s a fear that if Buck gets another love interest and that love interest is a woman, his bisexuality will get erased from the show. And that’s a valid fear, despite the fact that if Buck only dated women after Tommy, he would still be bisexual because bisexual people are still bisexual even when dating the opposite gender.
Sexuality is complicated and difficult to define sometimes: Let Buck Say Bisexual.
In real life with real people, that is absolutely the case. But Buck is a fictional character who was written as straight for the first six seasons. It would be quite easy for 9-1-1 to backtrack on Buck’s sexuality, whether unintentionally or not, because as of right now, the visual evidence of his bisexuality is Tommy, and he can’t even talk about his sexuality while actively dating a man. The odds of Buck discussing his sexuality while dating a woman are not high based on this track record.
So, let Buck say bisexual. Because sexuality is complicated and difficult to define sometimes, but 9-1-1 doesn’t have the juice for nuance. However, it does have an incredible opportunity to double down on its bisexual representation by giving it its true moment of being visible. Not just in interviews, which get easily buried, and not just in social media posts, which don’t have the same reach as the show itself. Solidify it in canon, and be proud to say bisexual on screen.
9-1-1 is streaming now on Hulu. 9-1-1 Season 9 returns in Fall 2025 on ABC.
