9-1-1 season 8 has delivered its fair share of shockers so far, for sure. However, there’s one character who’s not going through enough, to be frank, and that’s Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman).
From near death experiences like Chimney being infected with a superstrain of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and Maddie getting her throat slashed by a serial killer, to just plain old actual death experiences (RIP Bobby Nash), the show’s other characters are really being put to the test this season.
From the moment that c*nty moustache hit screens back in September, Eddie Diaz has been the season 8 ‘it girl’. However, most of his it-girling activities have taken place off screen as of late.
After leaving Los Angeles, we went with him to El Paso for a while, where he attempted to mend his relationship with his son Christopher. But after just two episodes of development in his new home (welp!), we’ve been seeing less and less of him as the weeks go by.
Three whole episodes of this ensemble show featured no on-screen Eddie Diaz at all this season – including the one in which Bobby actually fully died – and then he popped back during the backend of last week’s episode just in time for his captain’s funeral. But despite the dwindling screen time, Eddie has still consistently eaten up every scene he’s been in and left little to no crumbs.
Here are Eddie Diaz’s best moments from season 8 so far, ranked from great to greatest…
15. His chat with Brad (“Wannabes”)
Eddie Diaz fans lamented his slicked-back hair in this scene, but slut strands aside, his chat with Hotshots star Brad Torrence marked a turning point for Eddie. We knew he was having a hard time without Christopher living with him in LA, but the state of Brad’s depressing B-list celeb life and his non-existent relationship with his son really put things into perspective. Eddie’s house might be in Los Angeles, but his home is wherever Chris is. The scene showed a softer, more honest side to Eddie, who had previously been working hard to grin and bear it.
14. His werewolf costume (“Masks”)
This moment doesn’t come with much impact as far as Eddie’s wider story is concerned (unless you believe in Halloween Costume Theory, where fans have theorised that the costumes worn at the Firehouse Haunt Fest foreshadow future season 8 storylines…). But it’s just really fun and silly, so it makes it to the list. The kids’ unfazed reaction to his werewolf really captures the essence of Eddie Diaz. He’s dad-cringe personified trapped in a hot firefighter’s body.
13. When he went to confession (“Confessions”)
9-1-1 went into “Confessions” hard, with Eddie spilling his guts to the hot priest straight after the title card. Eddie isn’t exactly an open book so the confession booth set up was probably the only way we were going to get his true feelings on the whole Chris situation at this stage in the game. The scene gave everything: it brought the jokes, hit the emotional notes and gave us a little look into Eddie’s psyche after episodes of him suffering in silence.
12. ‘They’re not in LA, they’re in El Paso’ (“Wannabes”)
The 9-1-1 writers were cooking from start to end with this scene. From the definitely intentional gay porn innuendos at the start, Buck bursting in with baked goods and Eddie having a small breakdown trying to hide his tablet screen to the El Paso move reveal and both Eddie and Buck’s reactions to the admission, this scene has been clipped, giffed and cornplated within an inch of its life.
11. When he haunted the narrative from Texas (“Holy Mother of God”)
It felt weird ranking this earth-shattering, history-making moment higher, purely because Eddie wasn’t even in the episode. However, the fact that he managed to haunt the narrative throughout all the way from Texas just shows how powerful he truly is. The first episode post-Eddie’s move had a huge Eddie-shaped hole in it: Buck couldn’t shut up about him, Tommy referred to him as ‘the competition’ in his relationship with Buck, and Buck fully spiralled when both Tommy and Maddie suggested that he might be in love with him.
10. When he went full medic on Buck’s boils (“Masks”)
Eddie had been sliding his way into Buck and Tommy’s relationship for a while, so this is just another entry in the long list of Buck and Tommy scenes that inexplicably (or not…?) feature Eddie as a third wheel. Here, ‘the competition’ really got to showcase his medic skills – if you can even call poking your best friend’s boils with a cotton swab while your best friend’s boyfriend watches ‘medic skills’ – while he attempted to both comfort Buck and convince him that he was losing his mind. The whole scene is a joy from start to end.
9. The U-Haul goodbye scene (“Voices”)
We’re veering into ‘best season 8 Buddie moments’ territory here, but Eddie was also holding his own through this scene. Firstly, he was sporting one of his gayest looks to date, which is really saying something considering the whole moustache thing. And secondly, he was more vulnerable than we’ve seen him be in a while. While Buck spent the scene awkwardly trying not to show his hand too much, Eddie got real. He referenced the ‘thing’ between them both, told Buck he matters to him and that he was going to miss him, and gave him the classic rom-com look-back while he walked to his truck. Be still, my heart.
8. His post-chess match chat with Chris (“Invisible”)
Eddie has always been a good dad to Christopher, he just needed a little reminder. This tender scene between him and Chris after that disastrous chess match showed Eddie continuing his vulnerability streak, and realising that all he has to do is love and support his kid. Chris asking ‘You’ll be my dad again?’ was kind of heartbreaking, but Eddie’s response – ‘I’ve always been your dad. I’m gonna start acting like it.’ – marked his return to hands-on parenting.
7. When he confronted the cheerleader’s dad (“No Place Like Home”)
Eddie was really in his element in “No Place Like Home”. After pulling off a REBOA in a speeding ambulance he was on top of the world. But the number of parallels between Eddie’s and his young patient’s family lives led him to examine his own feelings through the medium of confronting the patient’s father and calling out his toxic masculinity, saying: ‘You think being a cheerleader makes your son weak?’ He’s come so far.
6. The Freddie Fakeman reveal (“Sob Stories”)
None of us were prepared for what “Sob Stories” had to offer. The episode promo didn’t show it, but hidden alongside the serial killer storyline was what turned out to be one of the most glorious Buck-and-Eddie B plots we’ve ever had. It followed the duo as Buck became increasingly devastated about Eddie moving and Eddie became increasingly stressed about finding someone to sublet his house. The dramatic but ridiculous hijinks accumulated in one of the most Buddie scenes of all time: the reveal that Buck had ended the lease on his loft to move into Eddie’s house while he was gone. The result is some of Guzman’s best unhinged-Eddie work to date, with Eddie burning through the full feelings wheel in the space of a few minutes. This is cinéma.
5. The Uber driver montage (“Disconnected”)
I don’t know what we were all expecting from Eddie’s move to El Paso but it definitely wasn’t a six-minute montage of him learning how to be an Uber driver. This scene has everything: Eddie gushing about Chris, Eddie yapping to unwitting passengers, Eddie repeatedly putting his foot in his mouth, Eddie chugging an energy drink, Eddie gipping while cleaning up vomit… But the comedy bit ends with something sweet, with him getting into the swing of it, celebrating the wins in his new career, and finally making enough money to drop a twenty into the convenience store donation box.
4. When he stood up to his mother (“Invisible”)
After almost a full season of womp-womp storylines for Eddie, him finally standing up to his parents was a real punch-the-air moment. Helena and Ramon Diaz have been in his business when it came to Christopher pretty much from the day he was born, so this was a long time coming. What made it even sweeter was the way he stood up to them: he was firm but also kind about it, which showed a lot of growth for him as a character considering how he usually is around his parents. The scene also delivered the incredible reveal that teenaged Eddie did competitive ballroom dancing, which was just the icing on the cake.
3. His chat with the hot priest (“Confessions”)
Eddie’s second run-in with the hot priest delivered and then some. His whole lewk – cut-off sleeves, the moustache and the one perfect strand of forehead hair – paired with him thinking the hot priest was hitting on him and then the hot priest maybe actually hitting on him drew us in. But the following exchange with Father Brian quickly became one of his most meaningful of the season. One deep chat and a juice metaphor later, and Eddie’s season 8 storyline was derailed and gently directed down a whole new path.
2. When he was chased by bees (“Buzzkill”)
I know, I know. We’re wasting the number two spot on a comedy moment that has no bearing on anything at all, but there’s something about Eddie Diaz being chased through a garden by a swarm of angry bees to ‘The Flight of the Bumble Bee’ while a neck-mounted camera captures his horrified face that is just so fun and silly and whimsical. If beenado Eddie Diaz has no fans, I’m dead.
1. When he shaved off his moustache and finally let himself feel joy (“Confessions”)
There could be no other winner. This is the Eddie Diaz season 8 moment. Maybe even the Eddie Diaz moment of all time. There’s something so moving and liberating about watching this character, who historically has had a pretty tragic go of it, finally let loose a little, shed this disguise and let himself enjoy something just for the hell of it. And thank god that it came in the form of an incredible rendition of the dance from Risky Business.
