It was a season of highs and lows for Eddie Diaz as he navigated a new relationship, the unfortunate typical peril of life at the 118, and an unexpected dalliance with a stranger who bore a striking resemblance to his past.
Eddie’s up-and-down journey culminated in 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 10 with Christopher, the most important thing in his life, making a decision that would change their relationship forever.
It was such a game-changing decision that we had to spend some time chatting with star Ryan Guzman about all things Eddie, as he saw a lot of change in the closing minutes of a season that proved to be quite the whirlwind for the firefighter.
During 9-11 Season 7 Episode 9, Eddie decided to come clean to Kim, the boutique saleswoman with whom he struck up a relationship purely because she looked identical to his deceased wife, Shannon.
Eddie’s situation was messy, and it only got messier when Kim pretended to be Shannon to give Eddie the closure he desperately sought.
It’s a shocking moment for Eddie, who initially pushed Kim away before succumbing to the temptation of revealing so many of the feelings he’d never been able to express.
While he succeeded in getting the words out, that may not be the end of his journey toward healing his old, open wounds.
“I think for Eddie, when he says something like what he did with Kim out loud, there is growth in there,” Guzman explained. “So, he’s hearing it himself. It’s the start, though; it’s not the end.
“When it comes to the healing process, it’s a day-to-day thing. It’s a moment-to-moment thing. I think most of what we see in season eight will be him trying to figure out how to heal now that all of these old wounds, or I guess the wounds he’s been hiding, have resurfaced.”
After Eddie broke down his feelings to Kim, the two embraced and were caught by Marisol and Christopher, who mistakenly thought his mom was actually there.
We found out early in the final hour that Christopher was shunning his dad after the traumatic reveal, even going so far as to keep him locked out of his room.
Without a line of communication to his son, Eddie reached out to Buck, whom he has always known he could turn to.
“Eddie’s always relied on Buck a lot, especially in dealing with Christopher,” Guzman said about Eddie’s decision to bring Buck in when his son was shutting him out.
“I actually just said this in a previous interview, that it was an idea for Eddie in a moment of chaos and not knowing what to say to pass that torch off to somebody else he thought would be better at saying it.
“When, in retrospect, Eddie should be the one having that conversation. He shouldn’t be passing that torch to anybody else other than himself, but it’s all about safety for Eddie. It’s about what he knows and pulling from what he knows.
“He knows that Buck has been there in the past and that he’s handled certain situations with a sense of grace and has guided Christopher back to Eddie in multiple scenarios. So maybe he can do it again.”
Unfortunately, neither Buck nor Eddie could break through to Christopher, who ultimately decided to return to Texas to stay with his grandparents, who touched down in Los Angeles after Christopher summoned them.
Eddie’s decision to let Christopher go was difficult, and it felt like the start of a new chapter for Eddie.
“He’s going to be lost,” Guzman shared when asked about what Eddie looks like without Christopher in his day-to-day as it’s always been for him.
“From what we know of Eddie when he’s lost, hell comes with him. So I hope this is a new Eddie, and we get to see a version of Eddie with more of a hopeful side rather than a darker side.
“But knowing Tim and how much he loves drama, maybe we see a repression of Eddie and then a destruction of Eddie again.”
That father-son dynamic between the Diaz men has been a thread throughout the many seasons of 9-1-1, and it played in a big way here, with Ramon imploring Eddie to listen to his son now rather than thirty years into the future.
It’s a small piece of advice that was important for Eddie to hear.
“Now that Eddie’s father has gotten to a better sense of who Eddie is and opened himself up to a healthier version of communication, that was crucial for Eddie to hear and allow Eddie to grow in his own manner, like, ‘Hey, don’t make the same mistakes because look what happened to you.’
“And not to say that that’s supposed to be thrown in his face, but at the same time, it is a reality check.
“If you don’t want to screw up your son and waste years and years of your life trying to reconnect with him, you got to do something different than I did.
“And since Eddie is a guy that pulls from what he knows, I think that was a great segue for Eddie to start something new.”
As previously mentioned, in totality, it was an interesting ride for Eddie, with peaks and valleys throughout, which was exactly the way Guzman saw it.
“Two steps forward, one step back,” Guzman replied when asked to describe his 9-1-1 Season 7 journey. “I think Eddie would be in that life for the beginning half of the season. And then, as the latter half happened, those numbers flipped—one step forward, two steps back.
“At this point, I think he’s further back than he is forward, even though we’ve shown a sense of growth in him and the way he handled Marisol, saying that I shouldn’t move as fast as I’ve done in the past.
“We’ve also seen him entertain the lighter side of life and be there for other people rather than having to be the one people are there for.
“I think it’s very reflective of what life gives us all. It’s just as much as we’d like to change; there’s always going to be some sense of obstacles from our past that are holding us back.
“And until we heal those, we’re never going to get to the place that we want to get.”
Related: Ryan Guzman Teases ‘Hopeful’ Eddie Diaz & 9-1-1 Season 7 Humor
Eddie’s season 7 journey may have ended with him in a down place, but there’s another season on the horizon, which means more time to delve into Eddie’s story.
And Guzman had some ideas about what he’d like to see from Eddie moving forward.
“I would like to see since Gerrard is now in play, and I think Gerard is going to run the 118 in a way that parallels the military for Eddie,” Guzman shared.
“Eddie is now given an opportunity to revisit his past yet again. Is he going to fall to the point where he’s that soldier with no emotion and just kind of carries on?
“I would love to see that obstacle play out in front of the 118.
“And then I’d also like to see Eddie, again, destroy everything that he knows so there is some rebuilding of a foundation. A more stable foundation.
“Let his actions speak louder than his words so that when he does have that run-in with Christopher again, he can show Christopher, ‘This isn’t just talk, buddy; this is real life. This is what you can expect from Dad from now on.’
“I think that should be shown in season eight, but we’ll see what Tim does.”
***This interview has been edited for length and clarity***
You can watch 9-1-1 on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.
Whitney Evans is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lover of all things TV. Follow her on X.