Buck’s Journey With Addiction

Things are heating up on 911 and I’m not talking about the fires. If you have been watching the show the last couple of weeks, you know that Eddie and Buck went to Nashville to take part in the Firefighter games that Bobby signed them up for just before he died and while travelling back to L.A by car, they run into a problem while making their way through New Mexico. They get ran off the road. Eddie lands in the hospital and Buck gets kidnapped. All is good and Buck gets saved.

When they get back to L.A, Eddie senses that Buck isn’t coping with the aftermath of the kidnapping and he starts to get onto Buck about going to therapy to help him, but with Buck being stubborn, he insists he’s fine and that people deal with things differently.

By the end of the episode, we see that Buck had been stashing different types of medication and he takes a few of a certain prescription. So, we know that he is getting help since he has the medication, but we don’t know what they are used for since Buck never mentioned that he was taking medication and what they were used for. For all we know, they are from someone else and he’s never actually got help, but he’s never said he actually is getting help. He hasn’t denied it either.

Knowing that Buck is self-medicating to deal with possible PTSD is dangerous. Not only is he putting himself at risk, but the people around him. He acts like he’s okay, but he’s not fooling anyone. Eddie knows something is going on even when he sees that Buck is doing “okay,” but there’s more to it than what Buck is showing. He is struggling with something and is dealing with it on his own.

After everything that has happened over the past season with losing Bobby, Buck is dealing with a lot. He knows he’s not alone, but he wants to be strong and deal with things by himself. He’s never fully come to terms with losing the person he considered a father figure even his own dad said he wanted to know the man that helped raise his son.

Giving Buck an addiction storyline is something we never thought we’ll see, but something like this was about to happen at some point, but at what cost. Will it affect his job? Will it interfere with his relationship with the 118?

Maybe this will finally make Buck realize that he can’t do things alone and that he needs to have a support system to help him deal with everything in his life. He can’t keep hiding from the people who care about him. He needs to be honest and be open about what’s going on even if it hurts.

Buck feels lost and is coping in a way he thinks is right. He’s putting on a brave face for the 118 and its starting to show that being alone is not going to help if he doesn’t speak up. Someone who is struggling with addiction have a hard time admitting they need help no matter where they are in their addiction.  

We can hope that Buck can find the right tools and resources to help him take care of himself. It may be hard for him to come clean and he may get defensive about what’s going on, but he knows that the 118 looking out for him and will help him. He can’t turn his back on the people who mean so much to him.

I hope that this isn’t a one-time thing and they just let it go. Addiction is something that shouldn’t be taking lightly and seeing one of the main characters go through something like this and seeing how Buck deals with it will be interesting. I hope that will help Buck understand more about himself and the people around him.

Bobby’s own recovery with alcohol should inspire Buck to do the same thing. Have Bobby always be there for him even when he’s not there physically, his sobriety should help Buck and encourage him to get the help he needs.