Season 10, Episode 4 Leaves Eddie’s Major Problem Unexplored, Disappointing Fans Again on 9-1-1

A conflict resolved too quickly

The episode sets up a need for Buck and Eddie to reconsider their relationship and what each expects from the other. But “Imposter Syndrome” settles their dispute without showing much of that process.

Eddie’s stories shift away

Since Eddie returned from Texas at the end of Season 8, the show has rarely given him a sustained story of his own. Episodes involving the popular Buck-and-Eddie pairing have, the article argues, increasingly turned toward Buck instead.

Last season, Buck urged Eddie to date after noting he had not looked at a woman in a year. The episode that raised the question shifted to Buck’s encounters with a married couple, leaving Eddie’s sexuality unexplored.

Earlier consequences left aside

In “Mother’s Boy,” Buck and Eddie argue before a car crash, and Eddie saves Buck. Later episodes focused on the accident’s continuing effects on Buck, without exploring how it affected Eddie or how he experienced the racism and homophobia directed at him during the episode.

Eddie was also stabbed in the Season 9 finale, but his recovery happened off-screen. His injury became part of Buck’s decision to foster Theo, rather than the start of a story about Eddie’s own recovery.

Buck’s parenting takes focus

Season 10’s argument could have examined the pair’s separate challenges as parents. Instead, “Imposter Syndrome” centers on Buck’s problems with Theo, Lincoln and Theodore Sykes, and his reluctance to try parenting him.

The pattern leaves Eddie sidelined once more, even in a story built around his relationship with Buck. The episode’s quick, largely unseen resolution gives little room to address what Eddie wants from that relationship.