Sign in to your ScreenRant account
Custom Image by Yailin Chacon
Warning: Spoilers for 9-1-1 season 8, episode 6.9-1-1 season 8, episode 6, titled "Confessions," aired on November 7 and lived up to its name with several surprising reveals. While Maddie shares the news of her pregnancy with Chimney, Buck realizes that Tommy was once engaged to his ex-girlfriend, Abby Clark. Unsure of how to process the information, the hour sees Buck reflect on his current romance and concludes with Tommy choosing to unexpectedly end their relationship.
One of the episode's most crucial conversations occurs when Father Brian runs into Eddie outside the confessional booth and asks him to partake in an activity that will evoke joy. Ryan Guzman's character takes the advice to heart, reenacting Tom Cruise's iconic dance scene from Risky Business and experiencing a moment of pure happiness. Guzman shares how "incredible" it was to film such an upbeat sequence, especially after everything Eddie has been forced to endure. The actor goes on to emphasize "Confession's" overall significance and teases the firefighter's upcoming journey of self-discovery.
Related
8 Best Characters To Join 9-1-1 After Lone Star Ends
9-1-1: Lone Star is coming to an end after season 5, and some of the spinoff’s characters deserve to join the original procedural series on ABC.
Screen Rant interviews Guzman about Father Brian's guidance, the key to Eddie's happiness, and his character's final scene with Buck in 9-1-1 season 8, episode 6.
Guzman Doesn't Believe Eddie Has Ever Known Who He Is
"I think he's starting to ask the right questions."
Screen Rant: Eddie has always been hard on himself, so what was it about his conversation with Father Brian that finally broke through to him?
Ryan Guzman: I think Eddie needed a third party to tell him, not somebody so close as the 118 or his own family, but an outside party to tell him, or even ask him the question that allows him to think about his own life and be introspective. His question to Eddie, "Have you done anything for yourself lately?" and Eddie having no response gave Eddie the answer that he needed. It was just, I guess, right timing for the characters.
Is Eddie’s need to punish himself a result of what happened with Kim, or is this something that’s been going on his entire life?
Ryan Guzman: Yeah, I think this has gone on throughout his entirety of him being a Mexican-American and feeling like he has to be a perfect soldier, I guess, in essence, be the All-American type individual. I think that was what led him into just trying to people please, or trying to make everybody happy, and then do what's best for everybody else. Thirty years later, however old Eddie is, because we never had a birthday party for him [laughs], but however old he is, he figures it out through this priest.
Does Eddie know who he is, and he's just been trying to hide it, or is it that he hasn't taken the steps to discover what's out there?
Ryan Guzman: I don't think he's known who he is. I think he's just figuring that—not even figuring that out. I think he's starting to ask the right questions. I believe that there's so much left to explore with Eddie. I think he has a generalized idea of where he wants to go, but I think anything you do new, you're not really good at it in the beginning.
So when the priest asks, "Have you done anything for yourself?" he's going to try to extend himself and try, in many ways, figure out what that is. I don't think he's going to be successful, which is going to be fun to watch for the audience.
9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 6 Is A "Step Towards The Right Direction" For Eddie
"If he could have grown a beard, he would've grown a beard. Him shaving the mustache is actually [Eddie] accepting himself."
He did shave the mustache, so can you talk about what that represented for him?
Ryan Guzman: The shaving of the mustache—the sad thing for me and Eddie. [Laughs] It meant turning over a new leaf, doing something for himself. It also insinuates the idea, and he actually says this in this episode, that he couldn't stare at himself in the mirror.
He didn't want to look at himself. He didn't want to see a rendition of himself. If he could have grown a beard, he would've grown a beard. Him shaving the mustache is actually accepting himself, which is the first step. It's a great step for Eddie.
For years there have been a lot of questions about what long-term happiness looks like for Eddie, and we've never gotten a definitive answer. Is that something that we might get this season?
Ryan Guzman: Again, steps towards the right direction. I don't know if it's a full-on answer, but I believe that self-love starts in this episode, and we'll see what happens in the next couple episodes.
We have to talk about the Risky Business scene. Was that choreographed or did they let you do your own thing?
Ryan Guzman: That is from the mastermind of both Kenneth Choi and Tim Minear. Tim has always been trying to find a reason to make Eddie dance, and I think him and Kenny were in a conversation, and Kenny brought up the idea of doing Risky Business, and Tim loved that idea.
They came to me, and they asked me, "Hey, how would you feel about being in your chonies doing the Risky Business dance?" So no, it wasn't choreographed to answer your question. I looked at the scene from Risky Business and just did my version of what Eddie might try and do.
There's this beautiful moment at the end of the scene where Eddie experiences pure happiness. How did it feel for you, as an actor, to give that to him?
Ryan Guzman: Oh man, that was incredible. I've had some of those moments in my own personal life, and I know what that feels like. It was one of those, "There's not a worry in the world," and finally, after everything Eddie's gone through, he can just kind of sit in himself, relax, there's nobody to impress, there's nobody to take care of. It was a breath of fresh air.
Guzman Teases A Great Opposition Between Eddie And Buck In Upcoming 9-1-1 Episodes
"You see two different avenues."
What do you think it will take for Chris to feel like it's the right time to come home?
Ryan Guzman: I don't necessarily think it's going to take anything as far as convincing Chris to come back home. I think it's going to be more of Eddie, again, finding self-love and understanding what his role really is. It's not to be best friend, it's not to be anything other than father.
There is only one father for Christopher, so I believe that when he does make that decision to have that conversation—and we haven't done any of those scenes at all or anything like that, so who knows? [Laughs] Tim could change this at a moment's notice. But I feel, looking [from the] outside in, that it'll be more of Eddie figuring out who he actually is and coming with a much more grounded resolve and then that would resonate with Chris.
Do you feel like he could have had these revelations with Chris still around, or did he have to leave for Eddie to find himself?
Ryan Guzman: I think it sometimes takes the destruction of a life before you see the rebirth or something new to grow from it. Eddie's life did need Christopher to kind of be vacant and for no one to be at home for him to take care of.
Buck comes to Eddie after the breakup with Tommy, and they don't need to say anything to each other. What was the significance of that final scene?
Ryan Guzman: Going towards where Eddie was in his head at that time—he's in a moment of bliss. Nothing can bother him. There's not one ounce of trouble in the world. And then, on the other spectrum, it's Buck who has had the worst day of his life, a horrible time, and he wants to do what he wants to do, which is go to his best friend. But I kind of like that he just walks right past him, and they just sit in their silence and one's living his best dream, and the other one's living his nightmare.
Moving forward, what is their dynamic going to look like with Buck mourning his relationship and Eddie trying to explore his own happiness?
Ryan Guzman: You see two different avenues. You see one person really holding onto the past, which is what Eddie used to do, and then you have another person just living his best life, doing whatever he's got to do. So it'll be a great opposition to play between Buck and Eddie.
About 9-1-1 Season 8 On ABC
Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Tim Minear reimagine the procedural drama
9-1-1 explores the high-pressure experiences of first responders — including police officers, firefighters and dispatchers — who are thrust into the most frightening, shocking and heart-stopping conditions. These emergency responders must try to balance saving those who are at their most vulnerable with solving the problems in their own lives. The show draws from the real lives of first responders who regularly face situations that are often unpredictable, intense and uplifting at the same time.
Check out our interview with Oliver Stark, as well.
9-1-1 season 8 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
9-1-1 is a television series that explores the intense experiences of police officers, paramedics, and firefighters. Premiered in 2018, it follows these emergency responders as they navigate high-pressure situations and attempt to balance their demanding work with personal challenges in their own lives.
Cast Angela Bassett , Boon Pin Koh , Deedee Magno , Diane Mizota , Kenneth Choi , Mark D. Espinoza , Pat Asanti , Peter Krause , Albert Malafronte , Dana Powell , Heather McPhaul , Livia Treviño , Zarah Mahler , Aidan Bristow , Andrew Lee , Andy Hoff , Cynthia Rose Hall , Demetrius Butler , Nikea Gamby-Turner , Jeff Pierre , Michael Andrew Baker , Rachel Breitag , Skye P. Marshall , August Maturo , Ty Parker
Character(s) Athena Grant , Thao Van Lanh , Surgeon , Ann , Howard 'Chimney' Han , Uncle at Funeral , Murray , Robert 'Bobby' Nash , Gregory Abewell , Carol Sykes , Carol , Property Manager , Ariel , Tony , Man , Bartender , Female Firefighter , Riverside Sheriff , Doctor , Emmett Washington , Theo , Tatiana , Sonia Moss , Bowen Lark , C.J.
Release Date January 3, 2018
Seasons 6
Showrunner Tim Minear
Producers Angela Bassett
:quality(85):upscale()/2024/11/15/862/n/1922153/911b7d1c6737a4111b6008.57513343_.png)
English (US) ·