‘9-1-1’ Boss on Tommy’s Wild Revelation, Buck & Eddie Figuring Themselves Out

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 “Confessions.”]

Tommy may be a common name, but it’s not that common in the world of 9-1-1.

We knew that Abby (Connie Britton‘s Season 1 dispatcher) had an ex with that name, but as Buck (Oliver Stark) learns in the latest episode, her Tommy and his (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) are the same person. It’s shocking, but, after a great talk with Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Josh (Bryan Safi), he’s ready to move past it. Tommy, however, responds to his suggestion they move in together by breaking up with him.

Elsewhere in the episode, Eddie (Ryan Guzman) is doing much better after a conversation with a priest (yes, the same one who spoke with Peter Krause‘s Bobby) about not punishing himself. He even finds a bit of joy in an homage to the Risky Business dance! And, after Maddie raises the question of potentially having another baby and Chimney (Kenneth Choi) admits his concerns after her post-partum last time, she reveals she’s pregnant!

After those big moments, TV Insider had to talk to showrunner Tim Minear. Plus, read what Guzman had to say about that dance, Eddie figuring himself out, and more here.

We have to start with the Tommy and Abby of it. Why? When did you come up with that?

Tim Minear: We actually talked about that last year, just as a fun way to complicate Buck’s life. Because in the pilot, Abby talks about she’s coming off the breakup of a long-term relationship with a guy named Tommy, and I think initially, it just amused us and it was just a great way to introduce a little conflict into a scene from the beginning. I love pulling from canon whenever possible. It’s just like when you have all these episodes stored up, you can always go back to the pantry and see what leftovers you got to make something delicious.

Disney/Ray Mickshaw

Moving on to Buck and Tommy’s breakup, talk about your approach to it. Why was Tommy sure that Buck would break his heart?

Tommy’s older and Buck is very new to this, and whether Tommy was correct or not, I think what he felt like was exactly what he said: I’m not your last, I’m your first, which is a special thing to be, but as Tommy says, it doesn’t usually end up being the same thing. And I think based on what we know of Buck, he’s maybe not wrong. Buck’s a little impulsive when he’s feeling a certain kind of way. He’s like, move on in, bring your couch. So I just think because Tommy’s a little older and wiser or maybe at some level he feels like he doesn’t deserve Buck, I don’t know. But I think he accurately diagnosed Buck. Buck’s still figuring himself out, and boy, that would be quite risky to move in with that guy as much as you would love to.

That does seem to be Buck’s go-to, which isn’t the best.

Exactly.

Are we going to see Buck single for a significant period of time now? Is he trying to figure out what he wants really out of a relationship?

Yeah, I think that’s right. As Tommy said, you’re still figuring yourself out, and his options have increased by 50 percent of the population. So knowing Buck, that’s going to be choice overload. He’s got to navigate that with a little self-awareness.

Eddie seems to be doing better. Why did he need to hear those things from a priest? Speaking of, loved you bringing back the priest (Gavin Stenhouse).

Yeah. The episode’s called “Confessions,” and the title doesn’t just come from Eddie in a confessional, but Eddie—we sort of reestablished Eddie’s faith, or at least his tradition of faith, last season. And I think that he is punishing himself. He’s denying himself joy. I think the priest had that 100 percent and it just felt like a nice way for Eddie to unburden himself to somebody who didn’t know the story. So just technically as a writer, that’s a good way to kind of recap something because he’s talking to somebody who hasn’t already heard it, but he did need to hear that. And I think Eddie’s trying to get in touch with himself in a similar way that Buck is figuring himself out. Eddie’s got to figure himself out. As the priest says to him, you’re a caretaker, but we can’t take care of others until we take care of ourselves. And Eddie has a history of not taking care of himself.

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'9-1-1': Oliver Stark on What Buck Wants in a Relationship

What does figuring himself out look like for Eddie going forward?

I think it’s loosening up a little bit and figuring out how to repair his relationship with his son and stop living in so much survivor’s guilt. I think Eddie has a tremendous amount of survivor’s guilt. I mean, you think Bobby does? I think Eddie does, too, from his military service to the fact that the mother of his kid passed away and he couldn’t prevent that from happening. I think he’s got a tremendous amount of survivor’s guilt. I think he needs to get past that in order to live in joy, which we know he can, because the guy can bust the moves.

Speaking of, loved that Risky Business—I was so happy to see him smile.

Yeah, I think that’s what I wanted for the audience and for the character. I just wanted to see something that let him kind of cut loose with abandon, and I don’t know why that image popped into my head, but that was the first thing I thought of was just him sliding into frame in his stocking feet and recreating that moment from Risky Business. And boy did Ryan Guzman nail it.

You spoke about the Christopher situation. What does this turning point for him mean for how he’s approaching that?

I just think it means that instead of all this sort of metaphorical self-flagellation, he’s going to have to try to find a different path to reconnect with his son, and that’s what he will do.

Then there’s the happy news for Maddie and Chimney. Why is now the right time for them to have another baby?

It just felt like that’s where the story kind of wanted to go after—I was just sort of speculating on what life must have been like during the hiatus while they had Mara in their home, and we saw that it had a positive effect on Jee-Yun, and so it’s really what Maddie says. I was just thinking it might be nice for her. It was kind of great to have Mara here, but really I think what brought it all to a head is the fact that she’s actually pregnant.

Disney / Ray Mickshaw

Talk about having the reveal like you did because both pregnancy reveals have been very apt for where they are in their relationship at the time.

Yeah, when Maddie discovered that she was pregnant—and this would all be sort of in my head off-camera—given their history and what happened after the first pregnancy, I think that would be a very touchy subject for the both of them. And clearly, Chimney is a little bit freaked out. She almost died last time, and she disappeared. It almost broke her. He wants her to be okay. He’s obviously thrilled to have Jee-Yun, but I think this would be a conversation they would need to have. So that’s why I have Maddie approaching it the way she does. She has this information, but she wants to kind of ease into the revelation and talk about it before revealing it,

Speaking of last time, they’re already being proactive about that, so what are we going to see coming up there? 

Yeah. It will figure into some upcoming episodes, that conversation that they have at the end of that episode. What I don’t plan to do and what I’m not going to do is just tell the same story again.

I have to say I loved the Callback to “Eddie Begins,” which is one of the best episodes of the show. Why did you have that in this episode, which is important for Eddie, but then you connected it to Chimney?

Yeah, it was really more for Chim than it was for Eddie. It is definitely a callback to “Eddie Begins,” and we don’t ignore that in the scene itself. Bobby even says, “You’re not going to fit this time.” But really that story is for Chim because he’s just had a conversation with his wife about maybe their daughter would benefit from having a sibling, and then he just sees these two little boys—probably the most adorable little boys who have ever been on the show, and that’s up against some pretty stiff competition—and he just sees that bond and how much value there is there.

9-1-1, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC