Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Fire Country’ Season 3 On CBS, Which Starts With A Helicopter Crashing Into A Wedding And A Romantic Triangle
Fire Country is a show that fits well into CBS’ Friday night lineup because there are spectacular rescues and fire fighting scenes among the interpersonal drama. It also has a large ensemble that works well together. We see more of that in its third season.
FIRE COUNTRY SEASON 3: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Bode Leone (Max Thieriot) walks out of the church where Gabriela Perez (Stephanie Arcila) is getting married to Diego Moreno (Rafael de la Fuente).
The Gist: Knowing that his kiss with Gabby isn’t going to go anywhere, the newly-freed Bode approaches his uncle Luke (Michael Trucco) about joining Cal Fire as a free man. “Fire fighting is my first healthy addiction I’ve ever had in my life,” he says. Luke tells him that there’s too much red tape, and maybe going back to fire fighting, like he did when he was in the Three Rock prison program, isn’t the healthiest thing they can do.
In the meantime, Gabby’s father Manny (Kevin Alejandro) is being carted away by a sheriff department vehicle before the ceremony is over; Gabby herself hesitates when asked to say “I do.” “This is going to get spicy,” Bode’s dad, Vince (Billy Burke) says to his wife Sharon (Diane Farr). At the nearby tavern, Jake (Jordan Calloway) has just heard that the old high school friend Rick Stengler (Adam Aalderks), who was a bad influence, is the biological father of his stepdaughter Gen (Alix West Lefler).
As all of this is going on, a helicopter pulling a banner congratulating Gabby and Diego crashes, sending pieces hurtling into the church and the bar, collapsing the bar’s roof and interrupting the wedding before Gabby says “I do.”
Even though Bode isn’t a firefighter at the moment, he jumps in to start trying to snuff out the leading edge of the fire. Gabby, in her wedding dress, also jumps in. Vince and Sharon help the sheriff’s officers transporting Manny; Sharon uncuffs Manny so he can also help. As Manny helps out, he sees Bode and Gabby arguing and knows that what they’re having is a “lover’s spat” as much as anything, and knows that the two of them are going to be really bad for each other.
At the bar, Gen and Rick are stuck behind roof debris, and Jake works with Eve (Jules Latimer) to get them freed.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Chicago Fire and Station 19, though the fires being fought in Fire Country are of the wild variety.
Our Take: The third season premiere of Fire Country feels like the show is making a bit of a turn, from a show about a convict finding his way through Cal Fire’s program that trains inmates to fight wildfires to more of a family and relationship series that has firefighting as a backdrop. The first episode felt like one of those event arcs that 9-1-1 has used to kick off its last few seasons, but the disaster that is at the center of the episode doesn’t really take precedence over the interpersonal drama.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, of course; you can only fight so many spectacular fires before that gets a little rote. But the first episode was soapier than we expected, with lots of talking and longing looks. Even when Diego joins Gabby and Bode as they try to save the helicopter pilot, the discussion was more about Gabby and Bode than about the task at hand.
With Bode being out of prison, his quest to join Cal Fire as a free man will likely take up a decent amount of the season; even if his uncle Luke helps him get in, though, he’ll take some time to adjust to life on the outside. But given the fact that he calls fire fighting a “healthy addiction,” what will he do when he doesn’t have the structure of being in prison to help him pass the time between fires?
The story of how Jake’s relationship with Gen might change with Rick in the picture is somewhat interesting, but feels a bit easy. We’ll see if that gets a little more complicated as Rick does what he promises, which is be more a part of Gen’s life.
Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.
Parting Shot: A huge explosion happens in the area of the downed helicopter, just as the fire was mostly under control.
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Diane Farr, who plays Sharon Leone, mainly because we’ve been fans of hers going all the way back to when she was on The Drew Carey Show.
Most Pilot-y Line: When the delirious helicopter pilot assumes that Bode is Gabby’s now-husband, he asks them about their honeymoon. Gabby gives Bode a look to just play along. That’s not what was annoying; it was when Diego got annoyed that they were doing that.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Fire Country might be taking a bit of a soapier turn, but the fire rescue scenes are still well done, and the now-well-established cast work well together.
