Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley (Oliver Stark) has had quite a few love interests since 9-1-1 first aired in 2018. He memorably dated dispatcher Abby Clark (Connie Britton) in Season 1, death doula Natalia Dollenmeyer (Annelise Cepero) in Season 6, and now has a brand-new love interest with his burgeoning romance with Tommy Kinard (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) this season. But none of these past loves were as interesting (or perhaps as controversial) as Taylor Kelly (Megan West). Taylor joined the series in Season 2 as a tough-as-nails investigative reporter who would stop at nothing to land a story. Her questionable ethics could have made her a captivating antagonist on the ABC series. But instead of making her a long-term frenemy of Buck or the members of the 118 Firehouse, the 9-1-1 writers immediately made her Buck’s girlfriend.

Taylor Would Do Anything For the Job in ‘9-1-1’

Taylor was first introduced to audiences in Episode 6 of Season 2 when she was involved in a helicopter crash while reporting on the traffic. After she was rescued by the 118, Taylor decided to film future interviews by following the crew. She was desperate to avoid going back to traffic reporting and wanted to finally land a story that would make her well-known. Despite Bobby’s (Peter Krause) reluctance to give her unlimited access to the team and the calls they went out on, Taylor wormed her way into the firehouse. During this episode, Bobby accidentally ingested LSD-laced brownies. Taylor began filming him as he revealed intimate details about his dead daughter.

Taylor called the police once Bobby made his way onto the roof and seemed as though he was going to jump. However, she was determined to get the story, and continued to film, even though Bobby was in no shape to consent to the interview. Taylor later confessed to Buck that she would have used the footage on the air, but that the news station was worried about getting sued by the fire department and wouldn’t allow her to. Taylor defended her unethical actions by saying that she had worked hard since age 14 to get where she was, and she wouldn’t apologize for the choices she made in order to bring important stories to the public.

The incident was a fascinating look at how Taylor’s brain worked: she didn’t mind putting other people’s safety or mental health at risk if she thought the story was one worth telling. She had no qualms about how Bobby would have been affected if the story aired; she was on a quest to broadcast and preserve the truth for the greater good. Buck and Taylor began dating soon after, which didn’t make a lot of sense to some 9-1-1 fans. Why would Buck date someone he knew had put Bobby’s future at risk? But the 9-1-1 writers seemed committed to the two being a couple (albeit a toxic one), even though the far more interesting choice would have been to keep Taylor as an adversary for the 118 crew. In fact, Taylor would stick around for Season 4 and 5 as Buck’s girlfriend, only breaking up after she ran another story she told Buck she’d keep under wraps. She reminded Buck that he knew who she was when they started dating, but the series writers finally decided that Taylor’s ambition and drive would be the death of her relationship.

‘9-1-1’s Taylor Could Have Been a Provocative Antagonist

There are a lot of reasons Taylor wasn’t such a great person, but that is what made her character stand out from all the other do-gooders on the series. She could have been a villain with some redeeming qualities, who would do anything to chase a story (including getting in the way of the first responders). Every episode has some type of bad guy, but Taylor could have popped up throughout every season to play a part in larger arcs. She was technically not a bad person, so she wouldn’t have taken the place of the true villains on the show, but her actions would have created plenty of ongoing conflict.

Taylor’s character was also wasted on the series because she didn’t have time to fully develop before she was immediately attached to Buck as a mere love interest. Yes, Taylor displayed some pretty gross behavior (much of which crossed a journalistic line), but she was reduced to just being Buck’s girlfriend fairly quickly. She was given some backstory (which is more than many love interests get on procedural shows), but Taylor deserved to represent a powerful woman who was fiercely dedicated to her craft. It also would have been an interesting choice for the 9-1-1 writers to continue with Taylor’s perspective as a journalist. The series represents many aspects of the first responder world (9-1-1 operators, firefighters, paramedics, police officers), so following Taylor as she tried to report on the unfolding events would have been an unexpected and enthralling choice.

No one is holding Taylor Kelly up as a hero; she was definitely the worst. But she did have a serious goal, and it was admirable that she was willing to sacrifice everything (including her relationship with Buck) in order to achieve her dreams. There were a few storylines that even allowed Taylor’s role as a reporter to help save the day, including the time when she helped distribute unused COVID-19 vaccines and when she assisted in the investigation into who caused the hit-and-run of 9-1-1 dispatcher Sue Blevins (Debra Christofferson), both in Season 4. Taylor wasn’t all bad, which is why she would have made for an unparalleled adversary for the series going forward. By labeling her as a simple love interest, Taylor lost some of her uniqueness as the writers forced her into the role of a cookie-cutter ‘good guy.’ What made her special was her ambition and her moral ambiguity, and 9-1-1 is worse off without her character and without what she could have become.

New episodes of 9-1-1 air on ABC on Thursday nights and are available to stream next day on Hulu.