‘9-1-1’ Star Oliver Stark on This Former Turn of Events, Tommy’s Choice and Why Buck Turned to Eddie for Comfort

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Thursday’s episode “Confessions” of ABC’s “9-1-1.”

After this week’s episode of 9-1-1, Buck (Oliver Stark) and Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) are no longer in the tree. The hour began with the young couple celebrating their last monthly anniversary and ended with them breaking up after Buck learned that Tommy was once engaged to his former great love Abby (Connie Britton), who had left Los Angeles (and “9-1-1”) several years ago.

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But it wasn’t Buck’s reaction to this revelation that ended the relationship, as Buck worked through his concerns about Tommy’s previous relationship with a woman and Buck’s first relationship with a man and ultimately asked Tommy to move out. In fact, it was Tommy’s choice. breaking up with Buck when he decided that while Buck may think he’s ready for that step, Tommy thinks Buck will want to date other men or women later and Tommy won’t be who he ends up being.

After this heartbreaking turn, Buck heads to Eddie (Ryan Guzman) to drown his grief with his best friend and Station 118 teammate, who has just had a breakthrough in his recent depressive state.

In the interview below with DiversityStark dives into Buck’s latest 9-1-1 storyline and what’s next for him.

Why Buck didn’t watch “Glee” – and didn’t You Have you seen Glee? Choose your words carefully, because Ryan Murphy is listening.

Look, I’m taking my time thinking about this. I’ve seen the episodes, but I haven’t seen them from start to finish. Don’t look at me like that. I’ve seen the episodes. Buck is my age, so Buck was probably in his 20s and had traveled the world. At that point in his life he was in Peru working as a bartender and they weren’t broadcasting on Fox! At that time he was in search of himself. And maybe if he had watched Glee, he would have realized his bisexuality sooner. Watch Glee and learn something about yourself.

When you saw that part of the script, did you laugh and talk to the writers about how you were going to explore that in a Ryan Murphy production?

It doesn’t really happen too often, but for this scene in particular, Tim called me earlier and said, “I think I really want to make this point, and I want Josh to do it.” And he explained it to me in almost the same words as Josh. And I think I answered him: “And are we going to frame it this way—the world after and before Glee? He was like, “Absolutely!” And actually, I think that was a very smart way to do it. It’s a pretty deep and meaningful message, but Glee’s use of this less serious tactic of presenting that message actually means that it’s embraced by more people and understood in a broader sense.

In this episode, the writers call on Abby, a character who hasn’t appeared on 9-1-1 in a very unexpected way. It turns out that she is the ex-fiancee of Tommy, Buck’s current boyfriend. What was your reaction to that storyline and how did you deal with it in this episode, and what did it mean for Buck and Tommy’s future that he was evaluating his past sexuality?

Abby was a turning point in Buck’s life, as he mentions in this episode. So, even though he has moved very far from the experience day to day in his mind, I think it’s fair that finding out that your new partner was previously engaged in this extremely important relationship is a little jarring, let’s put it that way. least. And initially we saw a couple more scenes of Buck dealing with this new information, one of which was a big conversation with Pete Krause, with Bobby, and Buck was kind of just trying to unpack it all. It was because of this wonderful coincidence that Abby mentioned a fiancé named Tommy in the first season. I don’t think they knew at the time that they would introduce a character named Tommy many seasons later, but I felt like it would be a missed opportunity not to do that, to kind of make that connection and make the universe feel a little better. joined. I think the opportunity presented itself and it would be foolish not to take advantage of it and give Buck the opportunity to spiral as he often does.

After this event, Buck makes peace with his and Tommy’s past and even asks Tommy to move out, leading to a very sad ending to the episode. How did you feel about Tommy’s decision to break up with Buck, with Tommy explaining that since he was the first man Buck had dated since coming out as bisexual, it wouldn’t be his last and Tommy didn’t want to keep this going? Where does Tommy think this relationship will ultimately lead if this is how he feels?

It’s actually funny when you put it that way. So what did you do in this relationship then? This does seem a little unfair to Buck. But don’t get me wrong, I understand those who want to protect themselves. He’s obviously afraid of being hurt. I would say that perhaps the best way to achieve this is to lead with what your intention is. So in this particular scenario, Buck ends up on the chopping block and is left behind at the end of the episode. And I was quite intrigued by how this scene would play out because I knew maybe two episodes before this episode, I knew they were going to break up, but I didn’t know how to do it. And I think it’s quite appropriate in the sense that Tommy is trying to protect himself, and I think that’s completely fair. And I think the phrase that Tim wrote about, “I am your first, not your last,” is really very meaningful and beautiful. And he will always be Buck’s first, and that’s why he will always be such a significant person in Buck’s life. And now Buck has to take a few steps on his own and really figure out who he is and who he wants to be with.

Buck shows up at Eddie’s house after the breakup, not knowing everything Eddie has decided within himself in the episode. When he arrives, Eddie acts out a Risky Business style scene, but quickly notices that something is wrong with Buck, and then they both sit and drink in silence before the episode ends. How does Buck feel at this moment and why did he go to Eddie?

I think it speaks volumes about their relationship that when Eddie opens the door and he’s there with his collar up and his boxers on and Buck looks him up and down and he takes it in and it’s kind of whatever. You mind your own business, I mind my own business—we don’t even need to talk about them now, let’s just keep company and be there for each other. I think it shows a lot about who they are to each other and not everything needs to be said and that they both may be dealing with things in their lives differently at this point. For Eddie it’s very much a moment of joy and release, and for Buck it’s obviously a very depressive moment. But they can still be close to each other while they solve different problems. So I think that really speaks to the strength of their bond.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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