9-1-1's Oliver Stark on the 'Gravity' of Buck's Donor Storyline, Including the Hurdle He Overcame This Week
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Warning: Mild spoilers from Monday’s 9-1-1 (Season 6, Episode 7) ahead.
“The universe was clearly trying to send [Buck] a message” on this week’s 9-1-1, actor Oliver Stark tells TVLine. “But sometimes we don’t listen to the universe.”
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Though most of the episode focused on a washed-up actress who believed she was cursed, we also got an important — albeit painfully delayed — update on Buck’s journey as a sperm donor. A string of mishaps, from power outages to scheduling conflicts, postponed the donation, leaving Buck understandably… frustrated.
“Anytime we do those quick, poppy montages, it’s always fun,” Stark says of filming Buck’s desperate attempts to make his donation. “And I know 9-1-1 always makes great music choices.”
While Stark didn’t anticipate this storyline for Buck (“Sperm donor was not on my Bingo card, so it took me a bit by surprise”), he appreciates that it gives Buck “a chance to ask all these questions about himself. He doesn’t quite realize the gravity of the situation yet. You can’t know how you feel until there’s possibly a baby. So I’m excited to see how it plays out and how this continues to affect him.”
“Buck is always reaching for something,” Stark adds. “He’s clawing at whatever he can to find this sense of — I don’t want to say identity, because his job is so much a part of his identity — but a sense of meaning and validation. He wants to be a thing, he just doesn’t know what the thing is.”
Buck managed to make his donation by the end of the hour, which means his part in the baby making process is essentially over — but does he know that? Unlikely. “You should always be worried that Buck might get a little overzealous in any role he’s in,” Stark confirms. “More than anything, he’ll probably put a little too much weight on himself in an emotional sense.”
Looking ahead, we can also expect to learn more about the “back-and-forth” relationship that Buck has with his parents: Phillip (Gregory Harrison) and Margaret (Dee Wallace) “are going to make a return in the back half of the season,” Stark says. “I’m excited for that one, first because I love those actors, and also because [that relationship] is such a big part of who he is. It clearly informs so much of who he is, who he has become and the decisions he has made. I’m happy to give that more exploration and time on screen, and to see how the relationship can change moving forward.”
Your thoughts on Buck’s sperm donor storyline thus far? Drop ’em in a comment below.
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