When it comes to procedurals, nothing can be more excruciating than waiting for the will-they/won’t-they couple to get together. While most shows use arbitrary reasons for keeping their leads apart,Fire Countryis one of the few that gives good reason for the separation between Bode Leone (Max Thieriot) and Gabriela Perez (Stephanie Arcila), namely the fact that Bode is a convict and Gabriela a free woman. But whilethe show continues to tease us with the possibility of these two getting back together, we can’t help but think that maybe they shouldn’t.
Fire Country
A young convict joins a firefighting program looking for redemption and a shortened prison sentence. He and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive blazes across the region.
From the first moment that Bode and Gabriela laid eyes on each other, we all knew there would be trouble. At the time, Gabriela had just returned to Edgewater following a “choke” at the Tokyo Olympics where she was competing for the U.S. in a diving championship. While there, she quickly gets caught up in a romantic relationshipwith Jake Crawford (Jordan Calloway), a Cal Fire firefighter at Station 42 and something of a surrogate son to Bode’s parents, Vince (Billy Burke) and Sharon (Diane Farr). To make things even worse, Jake and Bode didn’t end things well back in the day,and after Bode grew attached to Gabriela, things between them got even rockier.
But this spot fire soon became a wildfire as Gabriela struggled to choose between her boyfriend Jake and Three Rock inmate firefighter, Bode, two men who save lives for a living––including hers. Once Gabriela pursued firefighting as a career of her own, she started working with Bode regularly, and the two often saved each other from sudden death.The episode “No Good Deed"in particular details a situation in which Bode risks his life to save someone, only for Gabriela to then go and risk hers to save him.Their symbiotic need to save the other has often put them in tough situationsand has kept them from a relationship time and again. Yet, they have thus far always found their way back to each other. Well, until the end of Season 1 anyway.
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Inthe Season 1 finale “I Know It Feels Impossible,“Gabriela stands by Bode’s side even when he falsely admits to spreading drugs throughout Three Rockin order to save his friend. When Bode is sent back to prison, she continues for a month to try and contact him, but he never answers. Eventually, she gives up, and it wasn’t long before someone else caught her eye. While Bode was wasting away in a cell, Gabriela started up something new, but now that Bode is out and back in Edgewater,he continues to pine after her, but he really shouldn’t. If anything, his stint in prison proves thathe needs to be in a different headspace if he wants to be happy (and free) one day.
Bode Needs To Work on Himself Before He Should Be in a Relationship
Season 2 throws Bode a curveball. He might be the father of his ex-girlfriend Cara’s (Sabina Gadecki) younger “sister” (who is really her daughter), Genevieve (Alix West Lefler). Armed with this knowledge, all Bode wants to do is be the type of man that Gen could look up to, respect, and even love. Of all the people to talk him out of ruining his life in prison, Bode only responds to Jake (who is ironically now dating Cara) when he explains that Bode might be a father. This snaps him out of the funk he was in and allows him to move on. Unfortunately,he didn’t realize that Gabriela had already moved on without him. Bode’s recklessness, both with himself and others, has done more damage to his life and future than anything else. Until he works through that, he shouldn’t be with Gabriela, let alone, anyone else.
If Bode is indeed Genevieve’s father, that’s a responsibility that the Three Rock firefighter needs to put above anything and everything else. Worrying about being with Gabriela, and putting his life and potentially his future on the line for her, will only keep him from his duty as a father. And even if Bode isn’t actually Gen’s father, the steps he’s taken toward becoming a better, changed man, and the work he’s put into leaving his old life as a convicted criminal behind,will only make him better relationship material in the future. When Bode’s mind is fixed on Gabriela, everything and everyone else becomes a blur, but when he can focus on bettering himself, it’s only then thathe becomes the hero he’s always wanted to be. That’s the Bode who is interesting to fans ofFire Countryandlongtime followers of actor Max Thieriot, and it’s the Bode who could one day leave Three Rock for good. Or, at least leave his sentence goodbye.
Throughout the first season, Bode is constantly risking his time at Three Rock (which is very conditional) on Gabriela, leaving the boundaries of the camp and putting his future on the line just to be closer to her. Whenever Gabriela is involved,he can’t think rationally or unemotionally, which can be a serious danger to a firefighter and those around them. The work they’re doing saving literal lives and putting out literal fires is much more important, and while Bode has come a long way even in that, he still has some growing to do. As a man so focused on getting out of confinement,Bode has proven himself a flight risk whenever Gabriela is involved. Even in Season 2, he has to fight to keep himself from being the one to rescue her, even with just as capable hands there. That has to change.
Gabriela Needs To Overcome Her Own Erratic Behavior
Of course, Bode isn’t the only problem in the relationship; it takes two to tango, and Gabriela is the other half in need of some serious work. No, Gabriela isn’t doing time the same way as Bode, but she’s just as careless (if not more careless) with others as he is. Gabriela has a long history ofnot knowing what she wantsand leaving things behind as a result. She left her career in diving behind to pursue firefighting, and beginning with Season 2, she’s moved on from just fighting fires to now being a paramedic for Cal Fire instead. Likewise,her relationship with Jake ended when she confessed to loving both him and Bodeat the same time, admitting to emotional cheating with someone (Bode) she just met on the job. And that isn’t an isolated incident either.
In the few months between Seasons 1 and 2, Gabriela gave up on Bode after he didn’t return her messages while in prison and (as he told her to do) moved on with her life. While that’s admittedly what Bode asked for,the strange part comes in the form of her new fiancé, Diego (Rafael de la Fuente), a man she’s only known a few months and who she’s never told about her prior relationship with Bode. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with a whirlwind engagement, or even Gabriela moving on from Bode, it continues to establish the pattern the younger Perez has set when it comes to all aspects of her life. To put it frankly,Gabriela doesn’t know what she wants, and she continues to use people until she finds the next best thing.
Given how much Bode has been through, our favorite Three Rock inmate deserves better than that, and so does Gabriela. Until she can sit down and figure out her own life, her genuine dreams, goals, and desires,Fire Countryshould keep these two as far apart as they can. It’s one thing to tease audiences with long-term romances that we can easily root for, but it’s another to continue to foreshadow a fling we know is doomed to fail––at least before they can work on themselves in the interim.
‘Fire Country’ Has a Long Way To Go Before These Two Get Back Together
There’s no doubt that Bode and Gabriela will get back together down the line. Sure,she’s engaged right nowand he’s still in Three Rock, but these two have been the “it couple” since the “Pilot,” andFire Countryisn’t going to put that fire out any time soon. The circumstances of getting them there will continue to change, and it’s always possible that they could find love in a non-familiar place, but it seems as if these two are just sort of destined for each other. With that in mind,they both have some serious issues to work through before they can be right for the other, and the show would do well not to ignore those problems or consider them strengths, but rather tackle them head-on and healthily.
Fire Countryis a show thathas been questioned for its authenticity in the past, and while relationships like Bode and Gabriela are certainly authentic and do happen, just because that’s how something is doesn’t mean it’s the best for these characters (or terribly enjoyable for us in the audience). Conflict is inevitable, but un-dealt with toxic traits are another beast entirely. One that needs to be caged up or put downif we want their relationship to have a sturdy foundationto resist forest fires. Maybe then we’ll be happy to see these two reunited, but right now, it just feels kinda soapy. WithFire Countryalready renewed for a third season, here’s hoping that Bode and Gabriela can turn things around long before then.
Fire Countryis available for streaming on Paramount+.
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