WRT the area I bolded, a few years back I took a course in screenwriting for television. The instructor said over and over that characters on TV aren't meant to change. If they change, we'll stop watching. I replied that this makes for very boring & 'why watch' TV. Maybe Buck is one of the characters that proves that 'rule'.
I'll give them a couple-three episodes to see how/whether this plotline works itself out.