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.
