Fire Country Season 3 recently hit its mid-season finale with the latest episode, “Promise Me.” Thus far, Fire Country Season 3 has delivered too much too soon. As a result, the show is losing its previous focus on firefighting in the fictional town of Edgewater. Additionally, the show is spreading itself too thin with its abundance of new characters, subplots, and increasingly overbearing romantic melodrama. Fire Country works best when it focuses on the firefighting aspect. With that in mind, it’s a good time to examine Season 3’s overall performance up to this point.
‘Fire Country’ Has Been Leaning Too Much on Romantic Melodrama
The romantic melodrama problem with Fire Country technically started in Season 2 with the love triangle featuring Bode, Gabriela Perez (Stephanie Arcila), and Diego Moreno (Rafael de la Fuente). Even with Gabriela breaking up with Diego early in Season 3, the issues with the romantic subplots in Fire Country have grown far worse. Currently, the writers can’t make up their minds about how they want to handle Bode and Gabriela. Since the season began, the incessant parade of “Will they? Won’t They?” scenes involving Bode and Gabriela have become tiresome. Gabriela’s been in a downward spiral since breaking up with Diego, but she can’t make a firm decision about her feelings for Bode. Additionally, Gabriela’s drunken fling with Jake Crawford (Jordan Calloway) in Season 3, Episode 7, “False Alarm,” was also maddening.
At this point, Bode potentially sparking up a romance with Audrey James (Leven Rambin) would be a preferable choice. Although the writers seem determined to keep Bode and Gabriela as the show’s perpetual endgame pairing, Bode and Audrey are a breath of fresh air by comparison. The characters constantly acting so hung up about their relationship status hurts the show. It’s difficult to like Jake and Gabriela when they let their recent drunken fling affect their work in the field, and it was the same with Bode and Gabriela.
‘Fire Country’ Is Losing Sight of What Brought It to the Dance
At its heart, Fire Country is a show about the firefighters of Edgewater. The greatest parts of Fire Country are the firefighting sequences, and the show truly shines when it leans on the action-adventure elements over the dramatic elements. The series works best when Division 1501 or the Three Rock inmate firefighters put aside their differences or past issues for the greater good. Fire Country is a show about people of various backgrounds coming together to help others, which is best exemplified by the Three Rock firefighters. When confined at the Three Rock Conservation Camp, Bode Leone (Max Thieriot) and the other inmates work to put the demons of their past behind them and improve their lives. Freddy Mills (W. Tre Davis) in Season 1 and Cole Rodman (Tye White) in Season 2 also demonstrate how the series excels when it showcases the heroics of the firefighters and convicted criminals seeking atonement for their past crimes through firefighting.
To some extent, the format of Season 3 has changed. Bode has been released from prison, and he is now a recruit in Cal Fire’s 1501st division. The Three Rock arc for Bode was redemptive for the character, as he sought to make amends for his past mistakes and become a better person. That resolution occurred at the end of Season 2 when Bode received his parole. While it’s interesting to see Bode progress in his journey, the series has moved a bit too far away from the thrills and excitement of firefighting in favor of personal drama.
