The recurring use of a framing that puts Eddie in the middle of Buck and Taylor is intriguing per se, but it’s even more interesting to see how every time it is applied, it depicts substantially different meanings- because while in both previous cases (namely, 4x12 and 5x11) Eddie was supposed to feel like an addition to the main couple, the third wheel basically, in 5x16 that role was covered by Taylor herself. Taylor who has, now, literally moved to the side. We were used to see Eddie portrayed as the outsider looking in (in 4x12 while buck and taylor prepare their plan, in 5x11 during that dinner) but the three of them were participants to the same scene:
now he and buck are “outside” the scene together, they are physically turned to face the other, they are not even (if not for a brief glance) watching the scene playing out in front of them- it’s two whole different scenes happening there:
They quite literally don’t even seeher- and once they do, they decide it’s better to ignore her and keep chatting. And, unlike the other two scenes, now Taylor is actively walking away, not bothering to stop to offer her support to her boyfriend. The framing always focuses on Eddie, right in the middle, but what has changed through seasons and episodes is the depiction of the relationships the characters have with one another (and how each one of them is directly or indirectly affecting such relationships) through the physical placement of the actors: at the very beginning of his relationship with Taylor, Buck was trying not to leave Eddie behind, earlier this season Eddie himself tried to accept this relationship with the most awkward dinner ever and now, it looks like Taylor is walking away without even saying goodbye and Buck and Eddie are too busy with each other to even notice.
This meta isn’t fully formed in my head yet but I can’t help thinking about the parallels between Jonah and Buck, weirdly enough?
Like. When we saw young Jonah, he’s rambling about his special interest and then we see him save the bus driver’s life, and you know what I thought about? Buck, who loves talking about whatever he’s hyperfixating on. They both have this moment as kids where they realize doing something dangerous has given them the attention that they’ve desired - Buck with getting hurt on the bike and seeing his parents worry about him, and Jonah with seeing the attention that he gets from being a hero. And they both try to replicate that as children, and again as adults.
Even as adults, we see they move around from place to place until they find the 118, and both feel like they belong. Except it’s so different how they view it - Buck sees this as a family, where he can grow with the people he loves, while Jonah saw it as a group of heroes with intense stories, where he could earn his place if he could have these heroic calls. They kind of replicate the attention they got as children (though obviously with the benefit of 5 seasons, we’ve seen Buck grow from that mentality as well), but it’s so interesting to see how it affected them so differently, that Buck rushes headlong into danger to protect people, while Jonah creates the danger to benefit himself.
Now I’m thinking about how you can draw parallels between Jonah and TayKay…
Taylor obviously had it rough as a kid, what with her dad maybe-probably-definitely killing her mom and the media firestorm that ensued. That is apparently her reasoning for being so obsessed with going after The Truth™️
(even though you’d assume that would make her more empathetic towards people not wanting their pain broadcast for everyone to see, but that’s not the point here)
Taylor doesn’t set out to hurt people, but she’s also shown to not be all that concerned if they get hurt along the way, so long as she can justify it as being collateral damage in the name of journalism. It’s the same with Jonah: he didn’t set out to kill people, but he made the choice that it was an acceptable risk so long as he got the adulation he wanted.
Are these equal offenses? Absolutely not, but they both demonstrate a mindset that says, “so long as I get what I want and can justify it, it’s okay if others get hurt.” Taylor has been perfectly alright with capitalizing off of Bobby’s pain, playing at being an investigative journalist when she’s actually a reporter (yes those are two different things!), and violating both ethical boundaries and personal relationships by reporting information that was supposed to be off the record. Like our queen Karen said: once is an accident, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern.
tbh “taylor never changed” is so much less compelling that the idea that she did change, or at least tried very hard to, but now she sees that all of that effort and vulnerability and trust was absolutely pointless and just left her more hurt and alone than before. that, for the first time probably since her mother was alive she allowed herself to care about someone else and she just looks like a fucking idiot for it. she tried to make a life with someone just to be shut out at nearly every turn without being turned away completely, still being fed just enough to tell herself it was enough and trying to do the same for him
but at the end of the day after everything she tried she’s still just an outsider looking in. she knows her place in buck’s life and knows that everything he has (everything she’s wanted) will never be for her, and it’s made her resentful and vicious. because i truly do not doubt that she did love buck and that she did try to support him through maddie and chim’s absence, but what the hell did it get her? what good has caring about anyone gotten her? why shouldn’t she burn it all to the ground?
oh myyyy what I wouldn’t give for buck to turn around at the end of the episode, after the story runs, and say; “you put my family in danger.” adjskskskd
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