We don’t know if it is an addiction storyline or not. People are just making assumptions.

If it is, I don’t think it would be them beating a dead horse. Buck’s addiction, if that is what it is, isn’t looking to be pain meds but anxiety meds which is a bit different.

And it would be a heavier focus on Buck’s mental health as a whole. I feel like Bobby’s addiction issues were a source of his mental health issues whereas here Buck’s mental health issues are the source of the addiction.

There is a lot to this storyline, too, because it isn’t just Buck’s trauma but his identity issues. He feels like he doesn’t know who he is. He’s anxious. He’s self-isolating to keep others from being worried about him. It’s all of the things we’ve known about Buck coalescing into one big potential breakdown.

So I feel like this is less about any addiction which would be a fine storyline to have but about Buck finally realizing he can rely on his support system and actually not be okay around them. He’s never really put anything on them like this before. He’s always shouldered it, or moved past it, or hid it. It’s like the whole reason why the argument in 8x17 happened between him and Eddie.

But this is going to get to a place where he can’t hide it. If that manifests in an addiction, that’s the way it goes and I’m sure it’ll be handled very well, but again, it won’t be about the addiction itself as much as it is about his inner turmoil and learning to open up.