[This story contains spoilers from the season seven finale of 9-1-1, “All Fall Down.”]
Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman) has been identified to play with fireplace in his private life on 9-1-1. However he had at all times in some way managed to maintain his son, Christopher (Gavin McHugh), from getting burned.
That each one modified within the penultimate episode of season seven, by which Christopher and Eddie’s girlfriend Marisol (Edy Ganem) stroll in on Eddie embracing one other lady named Kim (Devin Kelley), who is definitely a useless ringer for his late spouse, Shannon (additionally performed by Kelley), who died in season two. Because it seems, since seeing Kim via the window of a clothes retailer throughout a current outing with Christopher and Marisol, Eddie has turn out to be obsessive about the concept of what his relationship with Shannon may have been, and he even begins having an emotional affair with Kim to maintain that (albeit deluded) fantasy alive.
That soapy storyline reaches some extent of no return within the season seven finale of the ABC first-responder drama. After catching his father kissing a girl who appeared like his useless mom, Christopher locks himself in his room in a single day and refuses to open the door. Eddie, who begins to spiral uncontrolled out of guilt, calls his greatest good friend, Buck (Oliver Stark), to assist defuse the scenario with Christopher. However little does Eddie know that Christopher has referred to as in reinforcements of his personal: After barricading himself in his room, Christopher calls his grandparents, Helena (Paula Marshall) and Ramon (George DelHoyo), to fly to Los Angeles and take him again to Texas for at the least the summer time.
The information doesn’t go over effectively with Eddie, who has raised Christopher just about on his personal, with some help from Buck, for the final six years. However it isn’t till Eddie sits down together with his dad and mom — particularly, his emotionally distant father, with whom he lately reconciled — that he realizes that the most effective factor he can do is to let Christopher go, even when their separation is momentary.
“I do know you’re indignant, however you could take heed to me: I really like you, it doesn’t matter what,” an emotional Eddie tells Chris, forcing him to look him within the eye. “You need to go along with your grandparents? Okay. I hate it, however I really like you. So I’m letting you go, however you’ll be able to at all times come again. For those who change your thoughts 5 minutes or 5 months from now, you simply say the phrase, and I’ll come for you, okay?”
Talking about that devastating goodbye scene, Guzman tells The Hollywood Reporter within the dialog under, “I feel there’s a full acknowledgement that Eddie is just not the most effective a part of Christopher’s life anymore, that he doesn’t provide the most effective and healthiest model for Christopher anymore. That’s not solely crushing to Eddie, however now the acceptance of that reality is one thing that I don’t suppose Eddie has actually leaned into [yet]. We are going to discover it in season eight.”
Eddie must deal with not solely a brand new dynamic at dwelling, but in addition a brand new work life. Shortly after his crew was honored in episode 9 for his or her bravery in the course of the huge cruise ship catastrophe at the beginning of the season, Capt. Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) secretly submitted his resignation from the 118, believing that he was unworthy of management recognition. Bobby’s choice stemmed from the guilt that he continues to hold for inflicting a hearth in Minnesota years in the past that claimed the lives of 148 individuals, together with his spouse and two youngsters. After saving himself and his present spouse, Sgt. Athena Grant-Nash (Angela Bassett), from a hearth that engulfed their dwelling after which surviving a probably deadly coronary heart assault, Bobby realizes, as soon as once more, that being a firefighter is his true calling, and he decides to return to the 118.
However there’s just one problem: The LAFD has already determined to fill Bobby’s submit with none apart from Vincent Gerrard (Brian Thompson), the bigoted former captain of the 118, creating a transparent divide and supply of pressure throughout the tight-knit firehouse.
Beneath, Guzman discusses what that season-ending cliffhanger may imply for the way forward for the present, why he thinks Eddie and Christopher’s relationship has been irrevocably modified, and the way he has tapped into his personal private life to seek out energy in Eddie’s vulnerability.
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After we spoke a pair months in the past, you talked about that you simply had been relishing the chance to play a lighter facet of Eddie after years of turmoil, however you had but to learn what occurs within the second half of the season. How has Eddie’s newest storyline modified your understanding of him as a personality? What new layers had been you in a position to uncover within the enjoying of him this season?
These are nice questions. I feel we already knew who Eddie is, who he was and who he’s making an attempt to be. So we already had these senses of course. However now, via all of the obstacles that [co-creator and showrunner] Tim Minear wrote into this latter half of the season, we bought to discover what we knew of him, so a way of depth was given to Eddie. I really like that the primary half of this season was extra lighthearted and humorous, and allowed us to showcase a fruitful and joyful Eddie. However in direction of the latter half of this season, we bought to see the polar reverse and understand that, despite the fact that Eddie looks as if every part was okay, it was extra of a magic trick. He was hiding this lifestyle in one in all his hats. All of it unfolded by him divulging into this dream-like life-style of residing vicariously via a girl who exemplifies the spitting picture of his ex-wife, or his useless spouse.
It’s humorous how reconstructive reminiscence works — Eddie has clung onto the idealized notion of what he and Shannon may have been, however he appears to have blocked out the truth that she needed a divorce shortly earlier than she died. Why do you suppose Eddie continues to have this romanticized view of the connection, and the way do you hope these encounters with Kim will assist him transfer on from Shannon?
It’s humorous, the psychology of all of it. I feel it’s very relatable for human nature to remodel our previous into one of the simplest ways that helps us deal with our current. I feel the fact of him and Shannon not understanding wasn’t going to be conducive for Eddie shifting ahead, so he wanted the idealization of, “Oh no, if we had simply modified this, or had I simply completed this, then we’d’ve had an ideal life,” to permit him to maneuver on — or at the least idiot himself into considering he’s moved on. Now, with this actuality examine and permitting him to have this cathartic dialog together with his useless spouse by way of Kim, he is ready to acknowledge and acknowledge that [his relationship with Shannon] wasn’t what he had been all this time, and that the historical past speaks for itself. He did attempt to ask for her hand in marriage, and he or she mentioned no. So I feel this gives new perception on who Eddie may be and who Eddie desires to be.
Let’s break down the 2 most devastating moments for Eddie in these final two episodes. First, Chris walks in on his father kissing a girl who appears to be like eerily much like his useless mom. After which within the finale, Eddie has to say goodbye to Chris and let him return to dwell in Texas indefinitely with Eddie’s dad and mom. What did you need to convey within the quiet moments to indicate the internal turmoil that Eddie goes via and struggling to maintain contained?
I’ll contact on the primary scene the place Christopher sees a model of his mother. With that scene, I used to be enjoying extra so the truth that “I simply destroyed my son once more,” and the truth that “I’ll by no means be capable of come again or clarify this [to Christopher].” There’s no approach I can clarify why I’m speaking to a girl who appears to be like precisely like his useless mom, and why I’m preserving it from him whereas connecting with this new lady that I’ve introduced into his life. It’s only a shift of a world you could’t clarify to an individual experiencing that. At such a younger age — 13, 14 years previous — you’re not going to have the ability to rationalize that.
So, reducing into this final scene that we shot of Eddie lastly saying goodbye to Christopher, I feel there’s a full acknowledgement that Eddie is just not the most effective a part of Christopher’s life anymore, that he doesn’t provide the most effective and healthiest model for Christopher anymore. That’s not solely crushing to Eddie, however now the acceptance of that reality is one thing that I don’t suppose Eddie has actually leaned into but. We are going to discover it in season eight. There was a balancing act for myself as an actor: “How do I convey that that is breaking dad’s coronary heart? However I do know you’re making the suitable choice. I’ve to allow you to do what you could do.”
Eddie, at the least in Chris’ eyes, was at all times seen as this excellent one that would by no means betray him, however that phantasm has been shattered. To me, it goes again to this concept that, in some unspecified time in the future in our lives, we come to appreciate that our dad and mom aren’t excellent, that also they are figuring issues out as they go alongside. What do you suppose it will take for Chris to forgive Eddie? And do you see letting Chris go as step one to that path of reconciliation?
That will be very, very mature of Christopher. (Laughs.) I imply, I feel simply so far as human nature goes and particularly as males, we sort of age slightly slower than ladies do [emotionally speaking]. It took me ceaselessly to look again at my very own life and forgive my very own dad for issues that I ought to have forgiven approach earlier on. And [it’s important] to humanize your father. We at all times develop up with this idealization of “Dad is Superman, and he provides us so many solutions, so he should know every part.” And when that harsh actuality is given to us that, no, he’s only a human being making an attempt to determine it out, we are able to’t, once more, rationalize that.
So I don’t suppose there shall be a possibility for Christopher to forgive Eddie. I feel now, it’s about, how does this variation who Christopher is for the remainder of the whole thing of his life? It received’t be till he will get to that mature second the place he can look again and be like, “Oh, I’ve had sufficient trauma myself now. I can perceive, Dad, that you simply had been simply making an attempt your greatest.” So this shall be a brand new life for each Christopher and Eddie. We’ve damaged down a barrier at such a younger age that I feel propels Christopher to seek out his personal manliness, his personal manhood, in a approach that perhaps Eddie really needed, however clearly, that is the worst solution to propel it.
Let’s circle again to that speech that Eddie makes to “Shannon,” which is simply Kim dressed up as his ex-wife to offer him an opportunity to say what he needs he had mentioned to Shannon. Why do you suppose Eddie looks like he’s damaged past restore? And what do you imagine can be his first step in direction of fixing what he believes is so damaged?
I feel we go off of what we all know. Once more, going again to human nature and the relatability of it, Eddie is pulling from what he is aware of [in that scene where Eddie is talking to Kim as Shannon] — and he’s a really factual individual. “My spouse is now not right here. I can’t have this dialog. As a lot as I’d prefer to play this scene out with you, Kim, this isn’t actual. So I’ll by no means get that closure, and I’m at all times going to be damaged. You’ve at all times created this rift in my coronary heart.” There’s no sense of therapeutic in that dialog. So I feel it should take a Cap-like character [meaning Bobby] or a Buck-like character to assist Eddie heal. I might like to discover Hen [Aisha Hinds] and Chimney’s [Kenneth Choi] enter on this. These relationships have at all times been a void for Eddie, however extra enter on the therapeutic course of will permit Eddie for slightly bit extra texture.
Eddie has now developed a behavior of counting on Buck to come back in and speak to Christopher when the going will get powerful — we noticed it at the beginning of the season, when Eddie enlisted Buck to speak to Chris concerning the perils of courting a number of individuals directly — however there’s little or no that Buck can do to assist treatment the scenario within the finale. Do you suppose Eddie has used Buck to fill that co-parenting function for Christopher, whether or not he consciously realizes it or not?
I feel Eddie’s the kind of individual to make the most of, perhaps, an individual that’s higher at these kind of conversations than he’s, virtually like a scapegoat. He’s like [to Buck], “I can’t take care of this. I don’t know the right way to take care of this. Hey, you’re higher at this. Are you able to do it?” And I don’t suppose that truly gives maturity to Eddie. So this new life-style that he’s been thrown into, being by himself, to be trustworthy, goes to offer him the chance to be like, “Perhaps I may be self-reflective and perceive that I can’t pawn off these conversations to Buck, and I can’t pawn off these conversations to anyone. I’ve to take care of them alone.” Perhaps we’ll see a extra mature Eddie subsequent season.
Eddie was raised with the poisonous masculine splendid that he needed to suppress his feelings, and it’s solely been via his relationships on the 118 that he has begun to really feel extra snug with expressing his emotions. How do you suppose Eddie’s upbringing has influenced the sort of individual he’s within the current day? And as somebody who has drawn loads of parallels between your self and Eddie, what components of your individual lived experiences have you ever drawn from?
I pull from a whole lot of my very own private historical past. I at all times had feelings once I was youthful. Rising up in Sacramento, it was at all times frowned upon to have these feelings and even making an attempt to grasp them. Really, I used to be informed that it was gay to really feel these emotions, and I’m like, “Wait, so having emotions makes me be this type of individual? I don’t perceive this.” So it was at all times one thing that I by no means may perceive within the setting that I used to be rising up in.
Now I take advantage of that as a conduit to Eddie, as a result of the setting he was rising up in was related. Coming into this new household of seeing Hen and now Buck being variations of themselves who’re residing of their fact, it now permits Eddie to dwell in his fact and see there’s new life and new alternative. He’s permitting himself to be susceptible and understand, “No, [being vulnerable] doesn’t make me much less of a person, and it’s not a sign that my sexuality has to utterly change as a result of I really feel these feelings. I’m nonetheless the identical man. I simply now have a better consciousness and better depth of who I’m due to these feelings.” This has at all times been one thing that I’ve needed to painting on digicam, and having Eddie be the conduit for that has been an unbelievable alternative for myself as an actor and as an individual. I really like the truth that I’m in a position to present to the world, via Eddie, that having this vulnerability along with your brothers or your sisters doesn’t make you something that the world would possibly throw at you as a title. It simply makes you extra conscious of who you might be and offers you a chance for some emotional intelligence.
Marisol is neither seen nor actually talked about on this episode, aside from when Eddie tells Buck about what occurred along with her on the high of the hour. Is it secure to imagine that she and Eddie have damaged up? Did Tim ever provide you with an indicator of the state of that relationship?
I do know Eddie says it within the scene with Buck. He’s like, “Properly, that’s over.” Marisol is a girl of God, and I do know she may very well be very forgiving, I’m positive. However on the identical time, I don’t know if there’s any getting back from this.
Eddie ends the season seemingly extra alone than ever earlier than, and now he and his teammates must deal with the captaincy of Gerrard, whose oppressive regime on the 118 he had in all probability heard about from Hen and Chimney however by no means skilled for himself. What are you most trying ahead to exploring with Eddie subsequent season? Have you ever spoken with Tim in any respect about the place we’ll discover your character in season eight?
I’ve not as a result of Tim likes to maintain us in the dead of night.
Massive shock. Though, to be truthful, I’m not even positive if he is aware of precisely how that storyline will play out subsequent season.
(Laughs.) Yeah, it’s an enormous shock for each us and the viewers of the place our characters go. So realizing the actual fact of Gerard being an oppressive pressure, I feel that is also a parallel to Eddie and his personal historical past with the armed forces. I feel there’s a sort of a balancing act once more for Eddie: Can I discover this new life-style with new questions, or am I going to tug from what I do know I’ve prior to now and am I going to close down once more? Do I lean into this new life-style of being lonely? Am I going to be the person I used to be within the navy the place the feelings don’t come out as a lot and I’ve bought to simply be a soldier that retains on happening? Each provide unbelievable obstacles for me as an actor, so I’ll play both facet that Tim decides. However reducing off the heartstring of the 118, which is Bobby — he’s the beating coronary heart. He’s the one which stored us all collectively. He’s the one which created the open area for vulnerability and conversations like we’ve seen with Eddie and Bobby. That shall be a brand new panorama for the entire 118 to take care of subsequent season.
All episodes of 9-1-1 are actually streaming on Hulu. The present is scheduled to return this fall on ABC.