>>119681644To be fair, him saying "I love you" to Buck wasn't really an autism/misunderstanding of social norms thing, it was because he sees Buck as a father figure due to what a dogshit dad Cotton was, and at that exact moment he was overjoyed that he was getting a promotion he'd worked hard for, which he interpreted as acceptance and pride from his father figure.
Like, jesus, that whole episode outlines this, and Cotton throws a huge fit over Hank treating Buck like a father figure. I agree with the "Hank is somewhere on the spectrum" theories, but he's actually not remotely bad with social norms. If anything he's a little too uptight. The main things are his hyperfixation on his Special Interests, his difficulty expressing emotional attachments, and his dislike of new things and change.
