Ok wow I just had like the biggest revelation and omg guys just hear me out—
So a blogger did a wonderful take on Eddie’s panic attacks during this season and they made a very amazing observation.
During the air traffic attack (5x01), the paramedics treat a man named Nick who is suffering from a heart attack (add that to the season 5 heart motifs) but there is a very odd part in the scene where we see Eddie with a very concerning look on his face while he’s looking at the guy. The music that plays implies that Eddie is having a small panic attack before Chimney snaps him out of it. Why does this happen you may ask? Well see for yourself
The guy. His hair. His face shape. His white collared shirt. He looks VERY INTENTIONALLY similar to Buck, specifically on the day Eddie got shot
Now we know from that episode that Eddie asks if Buck was hurt after seeing his blood on him, completely ignoring the fact that he literally got shot himself. Even while bleeding out, Eddie still worried about Buck’s safety. This comes back to haunt him in 5x01 when he sees a man with the same face and clothes as Buck that day almost dying (and it’s 100% CERTAIN that he was thinking about Buck because he appears to look at the man’s shirt first, and what other reason would there be for him to notice the clothing first if he didn’t sense the resemblance).
“Ok cool so what?” You may ask. First of all, awww. The fact that the image of Buck on that specific day is etched into his mind that he thinks about him whenever someone looks slightly similar to him is so sweet yet so tragic. After being hit by a bullet, all Eddie could see throughout that ENTIRE encounter was Buck in that white shirt. Covered in blood. Eddie knew he got shot, but he also thought that Buck was hit too (“are you hurt?”).
Back to the panic attack (which Eddie has a LOT of this season) the trigger this time around was that he saw someone resembling Buck almost dying, making him think back to the day he thought Buck was hurt (interesting editing choice: the screen gets blurry when Nick’s face is shown, because Eddie doesn’t see Nick in that moment, he sees Buck). Which is why later during the same scene, he consciously puts a hand on Buck’s shoulder (his favorite place) to make sure he was ok and here with him. To make sure he wasn’t the one dying.
So what we can take from THIS moment is that part of Eddie’s trauma of being shot involves the horrified look on his best friend’s face and the thought of him also perishing with him.
Which brings us to 5x13, when Eddie finds out that his army friends, the ones he thought he saved, are all dead. And obviously this sends him down a spiral of emotions
Being in the army makes you establish a sense of camaraderie (friendship/closeness) with your fellow soldiers. Eddie really cherished those friendships despite not talking to them for years. So we know how much meaningful relationships actually MEAN to Eddie. Cue Buck, who is the closest friend Eddie has right now. The fact that Eddie makes Buck Christopher’s legal guardian speaks for itself. He trusts and values him with the same amount of trust and value he had with his soldier friends. Which is why he is comfortable enough to let Buck see his pain.
While we were all distracted about Buck’s fear of being abandoned, we never even thought about it from Eddie’s perspective. His ex wife? Dead. His friends? Gone. Ana? Bye. His parents? Kinda assholes (who also threatened to take Christopher away from him). Eddie has been struggling this entire time to not be alone. The call about his soldier friends was basically his breaking point and now he is scared that important people in his life will fade away from him.
So how does this come full circle?
Now I know basically EVERYONE is hoping we get a scene where Eddie worries for Buck the same way Buck does for him, whatever that scenario may be, but looking at what we have, it’s almost inevitable. There would be no reason for that particular part of the scene in 5x01 to be implemented unless it would come back in the future (maybe in the finale). Which ultimately means: something will happen to Buck, and Eddie will absolutely panic. And something tells me it will be MUCH worse than when Buck panics about him. Because he thinks he’s about to lose someone else close to him. He can’t afford it. Because just as much as Buck is afraid of losing Eddie, Eddie is afraid of losing Buck.
Look I only want the best for my favorite touhous
I went on a rant the other night and so i present to you a glimpse into a world where Flandre Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and Gengetsu Lotus Land story are best friends (and this is where the picture with the flying cars utopia should go to prove my point)