There are two things that I know about this show. There is a special place in hell for Vince and Jake, and both of them need to go there and stay there.
That’s the good thing about Fire Country though, it brings so much out of you that you can’t help but love the show. The emotion that it makes you feel. We’re only on episode two and even with that – I know that I am all in. I am like give me more. Make me feel more. Don’t let me feel less. Keep me interested.
Keep going on the road that you are going on.
From the beginning we know that Jake holds Bode’s fate in his hands, because if he tells anyone that Bode punched him, Bode would go back to prison. Yet from the beginning we know also that if Jake does that, he’s going to loose one of the people that means the most to him – Eve.
Fire Country knew what we needed – we needed a flashback to learn more about Riley. We did get just that, a flashback to Riley’s birthday and flashes of the day that she died.
The flashback came a lot sooner than we thought that it would. We thought that we’d have to be begging for sometime for pieces of the puzzle to be put together, but this episode gave us a lot of pieces. Now, normally, I would frown upon this, but I do believe that there are a lot more pieces that will come.
Hear me out – Fire Country giving us these pieces so that it can move forward with the present. It’s giving us the pieces so that there can be healing – which this show so desperately needs – especially after the secrets revealed this episode. It’s not living in the past, but is giving us the pieces of the past so that we can see how it needs to move forward with healing.
Personally, I can appreciate this.
In the flashback, we see Riley’s heart get broken by Jake and the anger that it makes Bode feel. Yet, we also see little pieces of the two of them in the car and the accident that cost her, her life. This is important because it puts some pieces together – but also we get to see how this affects Eve. This is important, because Eve and Jake are supposed to be best friends.
Yet, Jake, kept the biggest secret ever from her. How Eve will ever be able to forgive that man, I don’t know.
What I wonder is at what point Jake will start to grow as a human being and take responsibility for his actions. Because right now, his actions are a catalyst for the demise of a family.
And what really sets me over the edge is that Vince – Bode’s own father – worships Jake, but treats his own son as if he has the plague. Does he not get what a horrible person Jake is? No. Instead, he’s totally okay with Bode going back to prison and even encourages Manny to make that choice.
It is Manny’s choice on what happens to Bode and he isn’t willing to make a choice without collecting all of the facts.
The thing is with this show – the facts are always something that we may not have. Granted, it is that way with a lot of shows. However, with this show it feels as though the pieces are coming out in a different way (as I said before). They are coming out to try to show the pieces that are needed to heal. They are not coming out for dramatic effect.
Now, I guess that I should take a second to step back and talk about the fire part of this episode.
It’s a dry lightening storm, which means a lot of fires everywhere. So everyone is doing their best to stop them. Manny’s team is set to help a rec center, and try to keep the lightening from destroying the building. So as they are cutting line and are moving forward with the task, lightening strikes a tree, and they are forced to put out little fires everywhere, without any water.
That’s an issue.
Now, it’s worth nothing that Gabriella has been teaching in the pool and she’s rushing her kids out to take shelter. When the fire jumps and hits the awning of the building, Manny’s team all gives up their seats on their bus to get the kids out. However, Gabriela is supposed to be on the bus, yet she doesn’t go. She finds water for the team and helps them put out fires.
Pretty sure Manny was going to have a coronary there at that moment.
If it wasn’t for her though, they wouldn’t have been able to control the fires as well as they had. And it was during this time that we really get to see Bode shine. Of course he thought that he was just doing this because it was his last day in Edgewater, and he wanted to give it his all.
Yet what Bode doesn’t realize is that he’s a natural born leader. He’s used to being knocked down, because that is what his father has always done to him. Knocked him down and treated him as less than. It’s evident when Cal Fire comes to help put out the fire, and he treats Bode like a fire he has to piss on. Vince is just a horrible person to his son.
And everyone sees it. Including Manny.
What does come out later that night, when Cal Fire is at the bar celebrating their win, and Vince goes to talk to Sharon about what secrets that he’s keeping. He told Bode to leave and never come back. He told his son off, when his son needed him the most. Sharon, understandably, is pissed. She lost two children the day that Riley died, because of her husband. If she never forgives him, I would totally understand that.
Do I understand that Vince was hurting? Absolutely. But that doesn’t absolve him from his sins. Because he effectively, helped to destroy his family. Honestly, he’s the worst of the worst – because pain isn’t an excuse for what he did. Do I understand that he lost his baby girl and that was destroying him? Absolutely. BUT, again, that doesn’t make it better.
He’s not the only one though that is horrible. Jake. If we can all agree that he is horrible – I will be happy. However, if you think that he’s a good man, please make me understand why. Cause I don’t.
Eve being mad at Jake – we get. They were supposed to be best friends, but also – Jake kept a secret from her that is about her best friend. Eve is having to mourn again and that’s not okay. If you think that I am going to find some redemption for Jake, BECAUSE he doesn’t put into the report that Bode punched him, you are wrong. He still is a cheater, a liar, and a bully.
Who I did gain more respect for in this episode is Eve, because she stood up for what she believes in, but also held her friend to the fire for what he did.
Now, Sharon wants to know if Manny is going to send her son back to prison or if he was going to send Bode away. Manny says that he is going to transfer him and her response – she’s sick. She’s got kidney failure and she wasn’t going to say anything. She hasn’t told anyone. She was just going to deal with it. She thought she had lost both her kids along time ago.
But Bode being back, she needs him. She has hope.
It’s Manny telling Bode that he believes in him and that he’s not going to transfer him for me. He tells him that he sees that Vince’s voice lives in his head, but no matter where he runs, that’s not going to change. He needs to face it and he believes in Bode. He believes that he’s a leader and that he can do great things there.
He challenges Bode to be the man that he believes he can be and that his Mom believes that he can be.
Hell, I believe in that man too.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- You will never be able to convince me that Jake is a good man.
- I can’t believe that Gabriela is settling for Jake (and yes, I call it settling because she deserves better)
- Jake convincing Gabriela to join CalFire… well, Manny’s gonna hate him too.
- Eve and Jake saving the police guard… I was happy for them.
- Eve needs to learn to believe in herself more.
- If I was Eve, I would never forgive Jake.
- Can I say how much I hate Vince again?
Fire Country airs Fridays on CBS.
