911 season 8 was a big season when it came to character arcs and major changes. Sometimes, though, it felt like the show had a difficult time balancing out the different arcs and characters in season 8, which did leave a lot to be desired. With everything that happened with Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman) in season 8, how do we expect things to go for him in season 9?
Eddie’s arc was focused on repairing his relationship with his son, Christopher (Gavin McHugh). He had been dating a woman named Marisol when he saw a woman, Kim, who was a dead ringer for his late wife, Shannon. After Chris caught them in an embrace along with Marisol, the young teen wanted to go stay with his grandparents since he was so hurt by his dad.
This happened at the end of 911 season 7, so we were hoping season 8 would show Eddie working on himself and figuring out what led him down that path with Kim. However, the season did not make mention of any of this at all, allowing Eddie and his son to really dive into what happened and how Eddie’s unresolved feelings over Shannon hurt both of them.
Instead, we mainly saw Eddie with a mustache and dancing around in his underwear ala Tom Cruise in Risky Business. The season 8 episode “Confessions” appeared to center on Eddie needing to find joy for himself rather than choosing to do things based on how things should be. We later got some context that he used to do ballroom dancing until his parents sucked the fun out of it by turning it into trophies and competitions.
How can 911 season 9 give Eddie Diaz more potential?
Eddie moved back to Texas in order to fix things with Chris, and we did get to see them work things out. Chris admitted he wasn’t completely happy with his grandparents and he had been waiting for his dad to step up and be his dad again.
As much as we loved seeing the two reconnect, it felt like they completely glossed over the reason he left in the first place. Plus, we do want to see Eddie really work on the issues that led to that situation with Kim so he can fully heal and be who he needs to be, not just for Chris, but himself.
In the end, the decision for Eddie to come back wasn’t completely centered around his own decision making, or Chris’s. It was a culmination of things that happened in the aftermath of his former captain, Bobby Nash, losing his life towards the end of the season. Eddie felt guilt for not being there, which he detailed in a scene where he lashed out at his best friend, Evan Buckley (Oliver Stark).
While grief can manifest itself in so many terrible ways, what Eddie did to Buck by shoving him in a fit of anger and putting a finger in his face was jarring. At that moment, Buck had not done anything wrong, having only been trying to help his team. There were barely any apologies and even though Eddie did later say someone was being a jerk to Buck when he brought Chris home as a surprise, it still doesn’t completely solve things
In the 911 season 8 finale episode, Eddie was about to leave, at least until he saw on television that there was a building collapse, and he could see the 118 truck in the background. He made a decision to go help the team, in a scene that was cheesy but also allowed him to do what he loved to do. He did save Buck and Ravi Panikkar (Anirudh Pisharody) so we are glad he was there to help.
He was also present for the rescue of two men in the building’s laundry room, which mirrored the team’s experience with Bobby, in which one person was near-fatally injured while the other appeared fine, but was secretly dying.
Even though we didn’t see Eddie’s reaction completely, we hope he had a better idea of how helpless the team felt with Bobby, not being able to save him since they didn’t even know anything was wrong. It worked out this time, but it was Chimney’s leadership and the team’s effort that made a difficult situation work out this time.
The show really could have done a great job with Eddie’s character learning to deal with the unresolved feelings he had with Shannon at the beginning of the season, but it felt like he got sidelined and we didn’t see him communicate much with the team. The season also ended with Eddie coming back mainly because of a speech by Chimney Han (Kenny Choi), which was beautiful, but did not show us that the decision was okay with Eddie’s son. Although it does seem like Christopher is happy being home, we hope that they will show them communicating more in 911 season 9.
Eddie needs to make some changes in 911 season 9
So where does Eddie go from here? Season 9 could do a lot for his character by really diving in to the person Eddie could be if he gives himself a chance to make decisions for himself, but doing it in a healthy way. His unresolved feelings over his wife’s death have left him stagnant and as a character, we want more for Eddie.
Season 5 had been a great season showing how therapy gave him a chance to heal from emotional wounds he had long buried. Maybe the next season could give him a chance to grow personally so he can finally be the person who reaches that growth that’s been missing for a while.
Hopefully season 9 will give Eddie a better chance at really communicating and not just doing things he thinks he has to, or making the same mistakes that led to him and Christopher being off kilter. There’s a lot to explore with his arc and we hope to see more from him and not just miss out on that growth that he has the potential for.
