The Misery-inspired installment featured a Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) roadtrip that had Buddie fans howling. But the episode also showed the dynamic 118 duo get into a car crash, Buck get kidnapped, and the two risk their lives to save each other.
Shortly after premiering on March 12, “Mother’s Boy” dethroned Season 3’s “Sink or Swim” as the show’s top-rated episode on IMDb. It’s clear that the people are hungry for more 9-1-1, so DECIDER spoke with creator/showrunner/”Mother’s Boy” writer Tim Minear about what’s in store for Season 9’s final episodes (and beyond).
As noted in our “Mother’s Boy” post-mortem piece, although Buck was rescued, lingering trauma, grief, and potential medical issues will follow him home. “As far as how does he come out of this, not all injuries are visible on the outside, and there will be ramifications to what has happened,” Minear teased. “We actually start to pick that up in the next episode. And it is not over right away…”
When Buck begged to see a doctor during Episode 13, he mentioned that “fever after a car accident can be caused by internal bleeding, bone trauma, or blood clots.” Before he and Eddie drove back home, he also told his sister Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) that he was cleared to travel, as long as he stopped every 90 minutes and walked around to prevent clots. Considering the double mention — plus Buck’s Season 3 history with blood clots and blood thinners — it’s possible that blood-related complications could crop up again down the line. But beyond medical issues, Minear confirmed that Buck’s invisible injuries will include grief over Bobby (Peter Krause).
Photo: Disney/Christopher Willard
