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Schrödinger’s Kiss: The Debacle of the EddieKim Kiss and the Consequences of Filming Multiple Outcomes of a Scene

In season 7 episode 9 of first responder procedural, 9-1-1, firefighter Eddie Diaz fucks around and finds out. In the midst of a Vertigo-inspired storyline, Eddie finds himself seeing the doppelgänger of his dead wife (Shannon) named Kim behind the back of his girlfriend, Marisol. In a series of events (Eddie’s friend, Evan “Buck” Buckley, crosses paths with Kim and confronts Eddie about this development, which causes Eddie to confide in Kim that she looks exactly like his dead wife, and Kim suddenly showing up on Eddie’s doorstep dressed as his dead wife to cosplay for therapeutic purposes), Eddie’s then-girlfriend (Marisol) and his son (Christopher) walk in on an intimate moment between Eddie and Kim.

The intimate moment itself poses a problem, however.

In the episode that aired, the two only share a close embrace that is then interrupted by the two coming home. Stills released for the episode, however, indicate that a different version of events was indeed proposed and rehearsed at least:

The confusion continues as the following episode (season 7, episode 10) seems to have been written with the understanding that the two did more than just embrace. The confusion continues as promotion for season 8 of the show also seems to indicate that Eddie and Kim did indeed kiss:

That meant not backpedaling on Gerrard (Brian Thompson) stepping in as the new caption of the 118. Not to mention picking up where things left off with newlyweds Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chimney (Kenneth Choi) taking over fostering Mara (Askyler Bell) from Karen (Tracie Thoms) and Hen (Aisha Hinds), while the latter deal with a local councilwoman out for revenge. Then there's Buck (Oliver Stark) dating Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.), and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) blowing up his home life after kissing a doppelgänger of his son's deceased mom. (Source, emphasis mine)

In an effort to see how the fandom might interpret these series of events, this author decided to introduce a pulse poll shown below. It was open for the maximum allowed days on tumblr and received 379 votes in total. (Please note that there is a limited sample size compared to the standard viewership for this procedural. It is also limited to users of tumblr versus a widespread poll. The author recognizes the potential faulty experimental design but encourages readers to voice their own interpretation of both this essay and the scene in question.)

The breakdown for results is as follows:

Of the 379 total votes, roughly 191 voters said that yes, they believe Eddie actually kissed Kim; roughly 161 said no; and 27 voted for nuance/bald/other. Some that offered nuance via tags offered thoughts of the following:

No because he was trying to convince himself that it wasn’t cheating if it never progressed in the physical sense (this would be based on the interaction between Buck and Eddie in 709 wherein he is adamant that he has not progressed to anything physical with Kim)

No because it wasn’t included in canon

No, but Chris thinks they kissed

No, but they were headed there if they hadn’t been interrupted.

Yes, but we didn’t see it onscreen.

In the physical canon sense? No. In the spirit of canon? Yes.

As you can see, there’s a bit of variety occurring with the question of the elusive, Schrödinger’s kiss between Eddie and Kim, and the variety has even bled into the current reporting for the upcoming season. Reporters themselves appear unable to find common ground on what exactly happened with this storyline. In another essay, this author investigated the language of a controversial journalist (linked here) whose bias was such that incredibly vague language was used when discussing the storyline in general. There, the journalist merely sums it up as Eddie “[got] involved with” the doppelgänger of his late wife. That is, obviously, contrasted with the example above wherein that journalist opts to outright say Eddie kissed said doppelgänger.

Now, the question of whether this will be resolved during season 8 remains to be unseen, but it appears the ability to discuss this storyline at all is in contention. Although those that answered the pulse poll predominantly seemed to agree that if the two hadn’t been interrupted that it would have indeed ended with at least a kiss, others outside of the poll continue to take issue with the storyline itself. Some refuse to label the situation an emotional affair despite media for the procedural even describing it as such. The logline for season 7 episode 9 described it as follows:

The 118 and Tommy are presented with the Medal of Valor for their work on the cruise ship rescue. Meanwhile, Hen and Karen encounter an unforeseen hurdle in their foster care journey, while Eddie’s emotional affair develops further. (Source, emphasis mine)

Although the show itself certainly isn’t helping the confusion around the storyline, this author can’t help but wonder if fans and journalists are perhaps influenced by particular internal biases towards Eddie in particular. Those biases, therefore, could also be influencing their understanding to what exactly Eddie did that was so bad and the consequences of that decision.

To be clear, despite stills indicating an alternative ending, in season 7 episode 9, Eddie does not kiss Kim. They are in the midst of an embrace when Chris and Marisol interrupt. That said, it stands to reason that many individuals out there have decided to interpret that scene and the storyline arc as a whole in wildly different ways from a range of merely “getting involved with” to outright saying Eddie kissed Kim, and a viewer’s ability to adequately understand what was so bad about this storyline will likely impact their understanding of Eddie’s forthcoming arc going into season 8. It is this author’s opinion that regardless of whether one believes Eddie and Kim kissed, regardless of whether the procedural retcons the decision and tells us that Eddie did indeed kiss Kim, a viewer must at least understand the severity of the emotional affair as shown in canon in order to understand the journey Eddie must take in season 8 before he redeems himself in the eyes of his son. And in the interim, 9-1-1 has placed itself in an interesting situation given the wide range of interpretations offered on the scene and storyline. The show has the opportunity to confirm one way or another if they so choose and the potential consequences that would follow in confirming the question of whether Eddie did actually kiss Kim.