Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Fire Country Season 4 Episode 4.There’s a big shake-up happening on Fire Country, but not in the way that you’d expect after the last few episodes. Richards (Shawn Hatosy) finishes his tenure at the troubled Station 42 and makes his recommendation for Battalion Chief. And I’ll go ahead and tell you that Bode (Max Thieriot) is still employed by Cal Fire, but I still have a lot of concerns about how his hoarding pills is handled in this episode, even if I’m alright with Richards’ overall plan. Richards’ exit means there’s some moving up and some moving out going on. Some bridges are rebuilt, but maybe not with the strongest materials and Bode is still teetering on an emotional ledge that could still lead to disaster. There’s still some bombshells coming down the pipeline, and it’s unclear whether the crew at Station 42 is ready for the revelations coming for them.
Manny Sticks Up for His Boy in ‘Fire Country’
It’s hard to believe that last season Manny (Kevin Alejandro) was begging Vince (Billy Burke) and Sharon (Diane Farr) to keep Bode away from his daughter. Now, he’s willing to risk his own restarted career to give Bode a second chance. He confronts his former charge about his stashed pills at the beginning of the episode and knows Bode is lying to him about why he has them, and whether he’s tried them. Still, even knowing that Bode is lying, Manny advises Sharon not to tell Richards about it. And when Sharon insists on Richards being in on the loop anyway, Manny takes personal responsibility for Bode on the scene that day. Bode’s rapid drug test comes back clean, but that’s still a massive risk on Manny’s part.
Manny has a lot of empathy for Bode. He sees a lot of his younger self in the probie firefighter. So you get why he’s the one willing to reach out to Bode, but risking his own career when he knows Bode is lying? Gabs (Stephanie Arcila) would not approve. Manny has worked so hard to get to this point and he’s putting it at risk for someone who isn’t telling him the truth.
Bode does eventually come clean by the end of the episode. He’s been tempting himself with the pills and went as far as almost taking one, but spit it out. That’s why his drug test comes back clean, but it very nearly cost both him and Manny everything. This frankly-too-late confession is enough for Manny to applaud Bode. He even lets Bode flush the pills by himself without supervision. Bode does it, but again, this seems wild considering how erratic Bode has been acting lately. Manny’s logic is that Bode admitting he’s been lying is enough to prove that he’s trustworthy, but I think there should be some more measures of accountability here. Can we at least make Bode go to a meeting or something? Saying everything is good after the concerning behavior he’s exhibited is just wild behavior.
Three Cheers for Audrey in ‘Fire Country’ Season 4 Episode 4
There is at least one person at the station willing to say Bode has some trust rebuilding to do. That’s Audrey (Leven Rambin), who spends most of the episode putting up with Bode’s temper tantrum after he finds out she told Manny about the drugs in his locker. You also lied to her face, dude! As a fellow addict, she recognizes the sign and stepped up to make sure someone she cares about gets taken care of.
Once Bode calms down and they face a close call on the job, he realizes that Audrey was doing the best for him and apologizes. However, Audrey got some clarity during her time away while the Finn (Blake Lee) business was sorted out. She’s recentered and thinking about her own sobriety, which means she’s too fragile to be in an intense relationship. It’s recommended that recovering addicts wait at least a year into sobriety before embarking on a serious relationship. So Audrey is the only one at the is station making sense when it comes to Bode — they both need to focus on themselves and their respective journeys before they can consider being together.
She wants Bode to earn her back, which may be difficult because she’s moving to another station. We’re losing another competent female firefighter because being around Bode is too hard, and they need to focus on themselves. And we still think Richards is out of line for saying that Bode is the problem? It’s getting really frustrating to see character after character pay the price for Bode’s actions and that price once again is leaving the show. At least Audrey isn’t being killed off, and there’s always a chance to bring her back in the future (but would they do that instead of Gabriela? Probably not). Audrey deserves more. Her relationship with Bode deserves more. It sucks to see another good character exit, especially when the show is setting Bode up to continue on his spiral.
Bode Isn’t Out of the Woods
Bode flushes the pills, but there are two emotional freight trains heading his way. The first comes from Jake (Jordan Calloway) and Eve (Jules Latimer) who decide it’s time to show Bode the mysterious letter from “R” that Eve found in Vince’s guitar case. Again, earlier in the day everyone thinks that Bode is falling off the wagon. He manages one call where he doesn’t snap at someone in authority, and suddenly it’s safe to be telling him things you know are going to set him off? The note implies that Vince was having an affair before he died (Don’t even think about it Fire Country, for the love of God). At the very least, Vince had a secret he was keeping from Sharon, and someone is dying to tell her about it. It’s something that could impact Vince’s legacy, so obviously, Bode is going to handle this situation in a calm and rational fashion. That is intense sarcasm. He is a powder keg, and this is going to be a huge mess.
And that’s not even the only mess! Richards stops by Smokey’s on his way out of town and informs Sharon that Cal Fire’s investigation in the Zabel Ridge fire indicates that it started with arson. He specifically says that he’s giving her a heads-up because he’s worried about how Bode is going to react to the news. The revelation is played over Bode suiting up for another bruising session at the gym. It’s just mind-boggling that everyone agrees Bode needs to be told about this in the exact right way or else he’ll go off the handle, but we think he’s mentally stable enough to be fighting fires on a daily basis? Either he’s in control of his emotions and trustworthy, or he’s someone that needs to be handled with kid gloves.
I get that Bode is grieving (but so is everyone else). He lost his father just after they truly reconnected, and that is an intense thing to go through. But the show is teasing that he’s on the brink of a very dark path, while having its very smart and observant characters just give Bode a pass. Is he a potential danger, or is Bode on the up and up? It seems like there’s still massive potential for Bode to blow up his entire life, and it’s going to be because the people around him enable him instead of holding him accountable for his continuously reckless actions.
There’s a New Man in Charge and It’s Definitely Not Jake or Bode
Reining Bode in is going to fall to one man, and it is not Jake. When Manny decides to take full responsibility for Bode, Richards makes him incident command for that day’s call. The team has to save two farmers injured by their dilapidated corn silo. Manny has to make the call between the safest plan and the fastest plan, which means going toe-to-toe with Jake, who thinks the latter option is the best plan.
Manny keeps Jake and Bode in line and figures out how to go through with Jake’s plan without blowing up the entire silo. He listens, but also doesn’t cower at confrontation. He shows emotional intelligence when it comes to Bode’s current struggle and empathy for Jake struggling with Manny being incident command over him. Richards is keenly observing all of this during the call and decides that Manny is the one who should be the next Battalion Chief. That means he’ll be in charge of ensuring Bode respects authority and continues to prevent his protege from giving in to his darker urges. I hope Manny knows that this is going to be even more difficult than getting Bode to admit he almost swallowed one of the pills.
Then there’s Jake. The captain takes the news relatively well — actually, maybe too well. He’s been campaigning for this job for almost an entire season, since way before the Zabel Ridge fire killed Vince. Manny doesn’t even want the job, but he sees he might be the best man for it (and he is). Jake isn’t thrilled he lost the opportunity, but it only takes him half a scene to admit to Eve that he doesn’t like who he’s become while looking for the job. I agree that Jake has been overly eager, but this is an intense pivot from where he’s been for months now. It’s good to see him focus on being a good captain and rebuilding his relationship with Bode, but it goes from being ice-cold to totally fine between the two of them too quickly. This revelation of Jake’s feels too fast and unearned considering how much time and energy was spent getting him to argue for the promotion in the first place.
Richards is leaving without making any real changes to how Station 42 operates, and they actually need to be reformed. Audrey is leaving just as she’s proving to be one of the most accountable people in the building and a good influence on Bode. Jake and Eve are just nodding along to the idea that Bode is committed to his sobriety while throwing emotional curve balls at his psyche, and that’s all before he realizes there is potentially a single person to blame for the fire that took Vince. It’s an absolute mess over here, and I’m worried Manny doesn’t have the backup he needs to get this all cleaned up.
Fire Country continues Fridays at 9PM ET on CBS. Episodes are available the next day on Parmount+.
