Cara’s Death Was Not Just A Shock, But The Biggest Mistake ‘Fire Country’ Has Made So Far
It’s inevitable that a piece of long running media is going to step wrong. It comes with the territory of storytelling. Writers aren’t always going to make choices that fans agree with even if it ultimately serves the story. Or in an effort to serve the plot, there’s a decision made that sticks in one’s craw. For me, that’s been the death of Cara on Fire Country.
In a speculation piece about who might have died in the ambulance accident–written after season 2 episode 4, “Too Many Unknowns,”–I’d said: “…it would be a disservice to Cara’s character for her to reclaim her right to motherhood only for her to lose it months later especially when she was doing her best to do right by her daughter and working hard to repair their strained relationship.”
Then in episode 5, “This Storm Will Pass,” that’s exactly what happened. The phenomenal performance Sabina Gadecki gave along with Max Thieriot and Jordan Calloway is a testament to their talent and the writing. Cara’s death is moving. It’s heartbreaking and tragic. It produces a well of emotion and opens the door to the kind of character exploration that’s going to serve the overall series well. The issue is that it’s also an example of fridging.
I say this because the two main characters that are going to be affected by her death the most are men–Jake and Bode. Cara’s story is cut short to serve theirs. This season she had tried to repair the fractured relationship between herself and her daughter Genevieve. There was plenty of road left for the character, she was growing into being a mother, Jake was going to propose, and her scenes with Bode were meaty and worthwhile as they have a history that we’d only scratched the surface of.
Fridging happens when a female character is killed or otherwise grievously injured in order to motivate or progress the storyline of a male character. Until now Fire Country hadn’t entered that territory despite both major deaths in the show up to this point being women.
The trauma and grief from Riley Leone’s passing was the emotional core of the first half of season 1. But her death, which happened before the start of the series, impacted everyone in various ways and still informs the story to this day. Rebecca Lee’s death had far more to do with Eve’s storyline than Bode’s and its framing was different from Cara’s.
We were told in the season 1 finale that Cara gave birth at the age of 19 and had given her daughter to her mother to be raised at her behest. With her passing, in season 2 she finally stepped into the shoes of a mother in a way that had been denied to her as a young adult who made a decision she regretted. She didn’t have an easy time with it regarding Gen. In fact, her child had more of an affinity and bond with Jake, which while beautiful, showcased the disparate nature of the two relationships.
Cara dies before she and Genevieve can have the same level of affection that we see brimming in the bonds between the other parents on Fire Country and their children. Yes, that heightens the tragedy but it also highlights the misstep here. It’s expected that Gen is going to mourn but the emotional weight of her death is going to fall on Jake and Bode’s shoulders.
It’s going to inform their stories, progress their plots and, at the end of the day, the focus will be them. Not the loss of Cara but what her absence means for their growth (or regression). Her death isn’t really about her. It’s ignition fuel for the jump starting of a plot focused on Jake as Genevieve’s father figure who is suddenly a grieving single parent to a preteen child who has already gone through so much. As well as a plot about Bode, her potential biological father, who can’t be with her or there for her as a parent in the way that he wants because he’s an inmate.
I’m sure it’s going to be a worthwhile story about fatherhood as the series boasts a bevy of dads whose backgrounds, personalities, and beliefs differ but who all love their children. That’s Fire Country’s bread and butter, the show deserves praise for its diverse storytelling regarding fatherhood. But did Cara really need to die for this storyline to live? Would it also not have been a worthwhile story to see a mother piece-by-piece reclaim her rightful place in her daughter’s life?
Prior to Cara and Gen, there were no prominent mother-daughter relationships on the show. Sharon’s sole interaction with Riley is in a flashback during a group celebration and we don’t know much about their relationship. Eve’s mother isn’t in the series. Gabriela’s mom, Roberta, is coming sometime in May but that relationship is fraught because Gabi believed her mother abandoned her. Manny didn’t dissuade his daughter from that belief or tell her the truth until she was grown.
So, as it stands, there is no positive representation of mothers and their daughters on this show. That might change as Gabriela and Roberta potentially heal their bond later in the season but that could have been Cara and Genevieve’s story or it could have run parallel to theirs.
I do think that it was a mistake to kill Cara. A big one. Because it unfortunately gives the impression that she became a means of giving Jake and Bode access to honored space on Fire Country and that’s fatherhood. With both of those paths established, killing her looks as if she’d served her purpose and is no longer necessary outside of triggering an emotional response for the audience and opening the door to critical storylines for them both. She deserved better than that and, as fans, so did we.
