Hey, not everything has to be romantic.
For this week’s Let’s Talk About, we’ll look at a familial relationship that’s had a lot of twists and turns, ups and downs. It’s the Melstner family! But today we’re not talking about how Eugene met Katrina or game shows or Brandon. Nope, it’s all about Buck.
Let’s start by establishing Buck. From the moment he appears on the show, he shows his abilities to be nice, kind and kinda caring, even though he can lie all at once. And as he reveals in Dinner Roll Models, he can even play the part of a Christian. That’s not good. This is why, when Eugene comes on the scene, he doesn’t even consider this guy living under the same roof as him. His only two first hand impressions are a poster hanger and a guy who throws phones around. his off the scene impressions are well, a con artist who helped bring about an operation to spread counterfeit money all over the U.S. of A. When Pastor Juan came to Eugene and Katrina to talk about adopting Buck in The Ties That Bind (which to me is a continuation of GRC), Eugene almost said no, which was conveyed across by Katrina Eugene realizing they could be a great help to Buck, went ahead and took him in. After that, it was not smooth sailing.
Buck really did want to be helpful, and in his first days in the Melstner home, he helped Eugene with stopping the bank robbers and eventually brought Vance to justice. In Album 60, his main appearance was solving a Jones and Parker Mystery, but we won’t get too deep into that. In 61, we have Old Tricks, which is key. Buck once said to Jules that he was sometimes tempted to lie, just to see if he could get away with it. This was definitely proven in this episode, and his relationship with the Meltsners was tested once again. The next episode featuring Eugene and Buck is Connie the Counselor, which is one of my favorite post-hiatus episodes, where once again, Buck slips back into his old life once again, but what I like is that this episode emphasizes the relationship between Buck and the Meltsners, Connie and Jules. Crash Course shows many aspects of the two families once again, and the scene where Buck yells at his foster parents is strangely heart-tugging and shows that the family isn’t there yet, but is still trying. I don’t want to sound like a Ties That Bind antagonist, but it was good to see some natural family conflict in there. And in Divided We Fall, Buck shows that he also cares about Eugene and Katrina the way they care about him. Moving on to the not-so-distant past. The Long End, where Eugene, after all he’s been through with Buck, helps him, encourages him, and is determined to help him find his parent’s information and stop Skint.
In conclusion…The Melstner family wouldn’t be the same without Buck, and he really is a member of the family. If this dynamic continues, which I’m sure it will, we will see a lot more familial love, turmoil, and action in the years to come. Anyway:
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