9 Biggest Moments & Reveals

Warning! SPOILERS about Fire Country season 3, episode 8 ahead.

The midseason finale of Fire Country season 3 included multiple stories culminating in the midst of a difficult fire, leaving the safety of many of the firefighting drama’s protagonists up in the air. With Bode’s Cal Fire firefighting journey being at Fire Country season 3’s center, it was inevitable that his first shift as part of Station 42 would have been a big deal. However, Fire Country season 3, episode 8 quickly highlighted how that could have also been for the wrong reasons, as the midseason finale showed Bode’s propensity to make a promise he couldn’t keep about the house.

While Bode’s first shift as a Cal Fire firefighter was an important milestone in Fire Country season 3, episode 8, many other momentous occurrences happened, some of which have been hinted at throughout season 3. Chief among all was the Edwards family patriarch finally making an appearance in Fire Country after Eve’s story took more space in season 3, especially her disconnection from the Edwards. Similarly, Gabriela’s crisis reached a dangerous breaking point after Fire Country season 3 had long detailed how bad it got for Gabriela, setting up a cliffhanger ending ahead of Fire Country season 3’s second half.

9 Bode Visiting Manny Before His First Station 42 Shift Shows How Grateful He Is

Bode Wouldn’t Have Become A Firefighter Without Manny’s Input

Bode cherishing his having been an inmate firefighter before succeeding in becoming a Cal Fire one highlighted how he didn’t forget where he was coming from, unlike Manny who pushed for Bode to leave his past as an inmate behind. However, Bode visiting Manny before his first shift as a Station 42 firefighter showed him sharing his view of never looking back to his past at Three Rock, turning the page without being nostalgic for the group the inmate firefighting camp made possible.

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Manny’s Fire Country’s Worst Downfall Leads To His Best Story In Season 3

Manny’s fate led him to the fire camp that inspired him to become a firefighter & it could lead him to a better future after his sentence’s end.

Bode visiting Manny before starting his first official day as a Cal Fire firefighter also had an ulterior meaning. Indeed, Bode would have never become a firefighter without Manny’s influence. Bode already wanted to be one before getting to Three Rock, but it was Manny who taught him the basics of firefighting, who gave him a home away from home at Three Rock and who even convinced him to stay, as Bode wanted to be away from Edgewater in Fire Country season 1. The meeting let Bode finally thank Manny properly for his guidance on his journey as a firefighter.

8 Jake & Gabriela’s Talk Highlights How Nobody In Edgewater Gets Her Perspective

Jake Doesn’t See How Much Do Gabriela’s Problems Affect Her

Jake and Gabriela catching up in Fire Country season 3, episode 8 proved the last straw for Gabriela, as Jake seemed more focused on having to come clean with Bode about hooking up with Gabriela than he was on her wellbeing. Indeed, while Gabriela’s reaction also showed her unwillingness to understand his perspective, Jake made it about him and his problems, which he deemed more important than hers, essentially proving himself as yet another loved one to undermine Gabriela’s crisis.

Jake’s reaction also prompted Gabriela to feel even more alone than before. After her fight with Manny and taking it out on him because punching Luke Leone got him incarcerated again, Gabriela kept pushing away those close to her. Gabriela couldn’t let Eve or Bode in, instead only pushing for a casual relationship with him. When people like Sharon or Jake looked out for her, Gabriela lashed out. Doing so with Jake in Fire Country season 3, episode 8 took out the last loved one she deemed a safe space, prompting her to feel utterly alone.

7 Bode & Audrey’s Bonding Moment Celebrates Audrey Officially Joining Edgewater

Audrey Had Only Been Temporarily In Edgewater Before Then

Audrey and Bode’s chemistry had been clear since her appearance in Fire Country season 3, episode 2, even as the two spent time bickering. However, Audrey’s presence in Edgewater had always been described as transitory, as she was there for the Cal Fire training program and was in a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend. Audrey and Bode’s friendship potentially hinted about something more between them in Fire Country season 3, but their talk at the lockers implied more than that.

Before setting out his intent with Audrey, Bode had mentioned closing a door on his past at Three Rock only to Manny. Doing so with Audrey inevitably made her part of his future at Edgewater, and their banter about his teddy bear and picture of his family in the helmet also led to Bode’s hint about Edgewater giving Audrey a bigger family than just her cat if she stuck around, implying even more how he, his friends or his family could also come to mean something to Audrey.

6 Eve Staying With Elroy Proves Her Wish To Reconnect With The Edwards

Eve Even Disobeyed Orders To Put Her Family’s Ranch First

Before Fire Country season 3, little was known about Eve’s family. While Fire Country season 1 introduced Jake’s mother and season 2 expanded Sharon’s family, the focus on Eve’s private life only included her romantic partners rather than her family. Eve’s FireEducated program introduced a potential for conflict by letting Fire Country share more about Eve’s past growing up on the ranch, especially as it put the Edwards’ ranch exactly where FireEducated would have created the bigger impact for Edgewater.

Fire Country season 3 detailing Eve’s hesitancy in contacting her family, despite doing so with her brother, thus suggested Eve would have been less than inclined to pop by the Edwards’ ranch to ask them to burn some vegetation. Returning there and seeing her childhood horse about to give birth nonetheless pushed Eve to choose to prioritize her family over her work, revealing her willingness to do a lot to establish her bond with her family again.

5 Manny Helping Cole Establishes How Good He Is As A Leader

Manny Can’t Follow His Advice But Can Steer Other Inmates

Manny’s return to Three Rock had the potential to cause much strife, especially as going there as an inmate was so very different from having been there as the captain. There were reasonably also doubts about how the other inmates would have reacted, especially after returning there for such a foolish mistake as hitting Luke in front of the governor. However, the reception of Manny at Three Rock was mostly positive, until his arrival meant threatening the very thing Manny wanted for his inmates when he captained Three Rock.

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Bode’s Fire Country Season 3, Episode 7 Success Highlights Why Manny Is A Failure

Bode’s success in Fire Country season 3, episode 7 highlights his biggest difference from Manny, whose stubbornness risks jeopardizing his future.

After Eve didn’t make Cole first saw but Manny for his experience, Cole got angry because that could have been the chance to get him to parole. However, once their differences were smoothed out, Manny proved an excellent mentor for Cole. This couldn’t have been clearer than in Fire Country season 3, episode 8, when Manny was able to de-escalate the situation between Cole and Eve’s cousin, doing so without a fight and letting the inmates return to do their job with ease.

4 Eve’s FireEducated Program Makes Eve Reconciliating With Her Family Impossible

The Controlled Fire Not Working Risks Cementing Eve’s Disconnection With Her Family

Fire Country season 3 greatly focused on Eve’s wish to reconcile with her family clashing with her convictions as a firefighter. While Eve didn’t disconnect from her family as a consequence of her FireEducated program, the program’s existence didn’t help, as it effectively planned a way to force landowners to agree with what Cal Fire recommended for a specific area threatened by a fire. Eve choosing to stay with Elroy and her childhood horse let Elroy warm up to her, but her actions towards Fire Country season 3, episode 8’s end make Eve’s relationship with her family more critical.

With Elroy seeing Eve choosing firefighting as becoming a Leone, it was impossible for him to see her recommendations regarding the fire as her professional opinion, instead seeing it as a reminder of the fact Eve chose the Leones years before and did so even now that she was trying to mend fences with the Edwards. The stables risking burning make the chances Eve will reconcile with Elroy more difficult, setting up a similarly heart-wrenching story for them in Fire Country season 3, episode 9.

3 Bode & Audrey Being Trapped In The Pool Endangers Them Like Never Before

Bode Trying To Keep His Promise To Save The House Risks Dooming Them

Bode and Audrey ending trapped in the pool next to the house Bode was so intent on protecting put them in danger unlike ever before in Fire Country season 3, episode 8. The life-or-death moment can also kickstart Bode and Audrey’s romance in Fire Country season 3. They tiptoed around their feelings for one another for two episodes already but ending up alive after the harrowing experience of not only being engulfed by fire but also having to face Audrey’s fears by getting in a pool despite not knowing how to swim ups the stakes of their choices.

Finding themselves in such a terrible situation as a direct consequence of Bode’s inability to follow orders because of how intent he was on keeping his promise also highlighted how Bode becoming a firefighter might have happened too soon. After all, if it wasn’t for the hostage situation in Fire Country season 3, episode 7, Camden would have failed Bode, and he would have been right to do so, as Bode displayed a worrisome tendency not to follow orders as Camden’s cadet, but also as Jake’s cadet and as Manny and Eve’s inmate firefighter.

2 Gabriela’s Crisis Effectively Put Her Life In Danger

Storming Off Was Impulsive & Put Gabriela’s Life At Risk

Fire Country season 3 showed the many ways in which Gabriela deciding not to go ahead with her wedding in the season premiere affected her. However, her reaction to push everyone away in Fire Country season 3 revealed her tendency not to rely on others if she was hurting, behaving the same way Manny did in Fire Country season 1. Still, Manny’s problems throughout Fire Country never got to the point where he put himself in danger while refusing to receive his loved ones’ help and support.

Fire Country showed glimpses of Gabriela already getting there throughout season 3. However, running to the fire without the means to fight it, instead doing so only to get away from Jake talking about her behavior, indicated Gabriela’s crisis reached a point where she cannot be left to herself to sort it out, as it already endangered her twice, at the fire even putting her life at risk. This hints at Gabriela’s story in Fire Country season 3’s second half being particularly difficult if she were to survive the fire.

1 Manny Going To Save Gabriela Can Have Dire Consequences For His Sentence

Manny Going To Save Her Can Potentially Count As Escaping

Manny learning about Gabriela storming off and running toward a fire put him in a difficult position in Fire Country season 3, episode 8. Manny’s pact with Sharon in Fire Country season 3 was put in place precisely because he didn’t have the freedom to keep an eye on Gabriela like he wanted to, serving his sentence at Three Rock. However, all the Edgewater residents who tried helping Gabriela were eventually pushed to the side.

Manny taking the matter into his own hands now puts him in danger of prolonging his sentence. Manny’s situation was already difficult because the fire department wanted to make an example out of him, if they learned Manny had left the inmates to find Gabriela, it could count as him trying to escape. Fire Country already showed how those presumed to have escaped lost all their privileges and returned to prison, making Manny’s choice to try and save Gabriela’s life particularly weighty in Fire Country season 3, episode 8.

Fire Country is an action-drama series created for CBS that follows Bode Donavan, a man in the middle of a five-year stint in prison looking to redeem himself. Given a unique chance to do so, Bode signs on to a unique prison-release program where he’ll have the rest of his sentence commuted if he works with firefighters in Northern California. What starts as a chance at redemption becomes a confrontation with his past when Bode is assigned to his hometown – where his life went down the wrong path.

Release Date

October 7, 2022

Cast

Max Thieriot , Kevin Alejandro , Jordan Calloway , Stephanie Arcila , Diane Farr , Billy Burke , Jules Latimer

Seasons

3

Writers

Max Thieriot , Tony Phelan , Joan Rater

Showrunner

Max Thieriot , Tony Phelan , Joan Rater

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