Oliver Stark on the rift between Buck and Tommy, Abby Fiance and Eddie

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Thursday’s “Confessions” episode of ABC’s “9-1-1.”

After this week’s episode of “9-1-1,” Buck (Oliver Stark) and Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) are no longer in a tree. The hour began with the young couple celebrating their last monthly anniversary and ended in their breakup, after Buck found out that Tommy was once engaged to his former love Abby (Connie Britton), who left LA (and “9-1-1 ” ) several years ago.

But it wasn’t Buck’s reaction to that revelation that ended the relationship, as Buck worked through his concerns about Tommy’s previous relationship with a woman and Buck’s first relationship with a man and eventually asked Tommy to move in with him. In fact, it was Tommy’s choice. to break up with Buck when he decided that while Buck may think he is ready to take that step, Tommy thinks that Buck will want to date other men or women down the road, and that Tommy won’t be who he is with in the long run will eventually end.

After that heartbreaking twist, Buck heads to Eddie’s (Ryan Guzman) house to drown his sorrows, along with his best friend and Station 118 teammate, who has just had a break from his recent depressive state.

In the interview below with VarietyStark delves into Buck’s latest ‘9-1-1’ storyline and where things go for him from here.

Why hasn’t Buck seen “Glee” – or has he? You Seen “Glee”? Choose your words carefully, because Ryan Murphy is listening.

Listen, I’m taking some time to think about this. I’ve seen episodes – I haven’t seen the beginning to the end. Don’t look at me like that. I’ve seen episodes. Buck is my age, so Buck was probably in his late teens, early twenties and traveling around the world. He was in Peru at that point in his life as a bartender, and they weren’t streaming Fox! He was looking for himself at that moment. And maybe if he had watched “Glee,” he would have discovered his bisexuality sooner. Watch “Glee” and discover some things about yourself.

When you saw that part in the script, did you laugh and talk to the writers about exploring this in a Ryan Murphy production?

Actually, this doesn’t happen that often, but that scene in particular was one that Tim called me about earlier and he said, “I think I really want to make this point, and I want Josh to make it.” And he explained it to me in pretty much the words that Josh uses. And I think I said to him, “And are we going to put it this way: the post- and pre- Glee world? He says, “Absolutely!” And actually I think it was a very smart way to go about it. It’s a rather profound and meaningful message, but using “Glee” in this less serious tactic to present that message actually means that it will be adopted by more people and understood in a broader sense.

In this episode, the writers bring back Abby, a character who hasn’t appeared on “9-1-1” in a long time, in a very unexpected way. She turns out to be the ex-fiancée of Tommy, Buck’s current boyfriend. What was your reaction to that storyline and how did you incorporate that into this episode and what it meant for Buck and Tommy’s future that he was evaluating his past sexuality?

Abby was such a big turning point in Buck’s life, as he mentions in the episode. So even though he’s come a long way from that experience day by day in his conscious mind, I think it’s pretty fair that it’s somewhat shocking to find out that your new partner was engaged in this hugely important relationship, to so to speak. least. And originally we saw a few more scenes of Buck going over this new information, one of which was a big conversation with Pete Krause, with Bobby, and Buck just trying to unpack everything. It was this wonderful coincidence that Abby mentioned a fiancée named Tommy in Season 1. I don’t think they knew at the time that they would be introducing a character named Tommy many seasons later – but it felt like it would be a missed opportunity not to make that connection and give the universe a sense of closure On. I think the opportunity presented itself, and it would have been foolish not to take advantage of it and give Buck the opportunity to spiral as he so often does.

After that spiral, Buck makes peace with Tommy’s past and his own, even asking Tommy to move in, leading to a very disturbing ending to the episode. What did you think of Tommy’s decision to break up with Buck, with Tommy giving the reason that because he is the first man Buck has dated since coming out as bisexual, he won’t be his last, and Tommy doesn’t want this to stay that way? Where did Tommy think this relationship would ultimately go if he felt this way?

It’s actually funny when you put it like that. So what did you do in this relationship? It feels a little unfair to Buck. But don’t get me wrong, I understand that someone wants to protect themselves. It’s clear he’s afraid of getting hurt. I would say maybe the way to approach that is to lead with that, that’s your intention. So Buck ends up on the chopping block in this particular scenario and is left behind at the end of the episode. And I was quite intrigued to see how that scene would play out, because I knew maybe two episodes before this episode. I knew they were going to break up, but I didn’t know how. And I think it’s kind of fitting in the sense that Tommy is trying to protect himself and I think that’s a completely fair thing to want to do. And I think the line that Tim wrote about, “I’m your first, not your last,” is really meaningful and beautiful. And he will always have been Buck’s first, and therefore always such a meaningful person in Buck’s life. And now Buck has to take some steps himself and really discover who he is and who he wants to be with.

Buck shows up at Eddie’s house after the breakup, unaware of what Eddie has resolved within himself this episode. When he arrives, Eddie does a ‘Risky Business’ style scene but quickly notices something is wrong with Buck and then the two sit in silence and drink before the episode ends. How does Buck feel at that moment and why is Eddie the one he went to?

I think it speaks volumes about their relationship: when Eddie opens the door and he’s standing there with his collar loose and in his underwear, Buck looks him up and down, he takes that in, and it’s like, what whatsoever. You’re dealing with your stuff, I’m dealing with my stuff – we don’t even have to talk about it right now, let’s just have some company and be there for each other. I think it really shows who they are to each other, and that not everything needs to be said and that they can both deal with things in their lives in very different ways at that moment. Eddie’s is mainly a moment of joy and liberation, and Buck’s is clearly quite a downer. But they can still be there for each other while dealing with things in such different ways. So I think it really speaks volumes about the strength of their bond.

This interview has been edited and condensed.