Heat wave episodes are usually a God-tier-level trope in episodic television. It’s a physical manifestation of any tension that’s been bubbling before the AC breaks down. The desperate need to cool off leads characters to make impulse decisions. If there’s a slow-burn romance you’ve been waiting to see ignite, a heat wave episode is the perfect excuse to get those two stubborn lovebirds together. In the case of Fire Country, where our main characters consistently make rash judgment calls and have agreed multiple times that they need to stay away from each other, a heat wave pours kerosene on a fire that’s already out of control.
Insufferable temperatures hit Edgewater in this week’s episode of the CBS firefighter drama. Shockingly, no fires break out, but there are problems with the electrical grid that force Ladder 42 and Three Rock to work together. That’s bad news for Gabi (Stephanie Arcila) and Manny (Kevin Alejandro), who are still playing chicken with who is going to talk to the other first. Neither Vince (Billy Burke), who is offered early retirement from CalFire HQ at the top of the episode, nor Jake (Jordan Calloway), who is projecting a hurt ego that Gen (Alix West Lefler) wants to go spend the rest of the semester in Idaho with her biological dad and siblings, nor anyone within shouting distance. The person in shouting distance of Jake for most of the episode is Bode (Max Thieriot), who I must admit takes the abuse pretty well. However, short tempers and a stressful day at work lead to decisions that are going to have repercussions down the road. Let’s get into it.
In ‘Fire Country,’ Never Take an Elevator During a Heat Wave
Like I mentioned before, there is no fire in this episode, but there’s still nightmare fuel. Three Rock makes a pit stop at 42 to enjoy some air conditioning after finishing a brush-clearing job. While they’re there, Vince gets a call that a local office building is experiencing a power outage which leaves multiple clients and customers stuck in the elevator. The teams pair up to tackle the call, forcing Gabi and Manny to ride in the same rig together. It’s painfully awkward for everyone else stuck in the truck with them.
This incident is also the final step in Phase 2 of Bode’s training. If he can get through it without incident, Jake’s approval will mean that Bode can officially be assigned to Ladder 42 full-time. However, Jake still has not forgiven Bode for lying during the hot wash and cheating during the dummy test. Bode is a liability out in the field and Jake wants him to prove that he can follow directions rather than being the hero all the time. Not jumping immediately into the action proves to be a major trial for Bode during the preliminary steps of the incident.
When they get to the building, Vince is immediately incensed that almost nothing is up to code, including the backup generator and the building fuse box that would allow Vince to override power to the elevator. Without the override, the team has to force the elevator doors open where it’s stuck between floors and help the stuck victims climb out. Manny and Gabi end up jumping into the elevator to help get the people out, and make it to the last two people before the power cuts out again and the elevator drops another several floors. The estranged father and daughter are then stuck in the elevator with a freshly divorced couple.
To make things even more stressful, they are in an express elevator, and it drops to a floor without a main door in the building. This means that Jake has to strap on a harness, climb down to the elevator from an upper floor, and help pulley people out through a maintenance hatch. It becomes a two-man job when Gabi radios that the woman in the elevator is diabetic and her sugar is bottoming out. She needs an emergency sugar dose, and it’s going to take multiple people to help out. Jake reluctantly allows Bode to strap up with him and warns that if Bode does anything that Jake doesn’t instruct him to do first, he will fail the incident and his chance of joining his parents’ fire station will be dashed.
While Jake and Bode postulate about who is in charge and who has the better ideas, Manny and Gabi are stuck with the couple that can’t stop fighting. The ex-husband is more empathetic when he realizes his ex-wife is truly sick. Their squabbling inspires Manny to give a speech about how it’s important not to waste time with the people you love and don’t wait for near-death experiences to realize how much someone means to you. It’s advice for the couple, but also an overt plea for Gabriela to consider talking to him again. She acts like she didn’t hear what he said until Manny passes out from the heat in the elevator and his advice becomes all too real.
Gabi informs the rest of the team that Manny has collapsed, pushing Jake and Bode to move even faster down the elevator shaft. The rush causes Jake’s secondary harness to snag, and he has to disconnect it to continue traveling downward. It’s at this point I grab my laptop a little tighter because this snafu feels like foreshadowing for something I am going to hate. Bode tells Jake that it’s taking all his willpower not to let go of the harness and jump down to the elevator to save Gabriela and Manny. Jake commends him for digging deep and finding the restraint. I question my sanity for agreeing with Bode, because they must hurry up and get these people out before anything else goes wrong with Jake’s harness.
They eventually make it to the elevator with drugs for the diabetic and electrolytes for Manny. When everyone is conscious, they start hoisting everyone up to the maintenance hatch. Everyone is up and out except for the diabetic woman, whom Jake gives his harness so that she can get out. They plan to send the harness back down so Jake can re-strap up and get out himself. Wouldn’t you know it? As soon as the woman is out, the power starts to fade again, and it becomes very obvious that Jake is seconds away from plunging to his death along with the elevator. Bode chooses this very correct moment to be the hero and reaches back into the shaft for Jake, grabbing his arm just as the elevator plummets and saves Jake’s life. Jake is so grateful that Bode saves his life that he passes him on the incident. So Jake is alive, Bode gets to work at Ladder 42, and I didn’t have to break my laptop by throwing it at the TV. It doesn’t really get better than this.
A Dysfunctional Family Reunion Is on the Horizon in ‘Fire Country’
As Three Rock and 42 head out to the office building incident, Eve (Jules Latimer) is informed that Cole (Tye White) has gone missing. The Three Rock security officer thinks that Cole has gone AWOL, which is distressing to Eve because she admits that he’s her favorite inmate. Cole was begging Eve to get the crew back to Three Rock so he wouldn’t miss his call with his family that afternoon. Eve has to consider that maybe he slipped away to try and make the call, not expecting they would be called to another incident while it happened.
Cole did not screw up his progress at Three Rock by leaving unsupervised. He passes out in the 42 break room from heat exhaustion. Eve and Sharon immediately leap into action along with the straggling firefighters still at the station. They cover Cole in ice packs and get him an IV to bring down his temperature and rehydrate him. It takes a little while, but they are able to bring him back to consciousness. When he’s loaded onto a stretcher to go to the hospital, he begs Eve to let him just sleep it off at camp so he doesn’t miss the phone call with his family. Eve does him one better and informs him that his family will be at the hospital to see him face-to-face.
It’s a heartwarming moment, until it gets Eve talking about her own family. This is the second time this season we are warned that Eve is estranged from her biological family. We now learn that they aren’t talking because Eve was training to be a firefighter when her father had a stroke, and her family blames her for not being with them when it happened. Eve knows she couldn’t have done anything to prevent what happened to her father, but she’s still so hurt by her family’s accusations that she can’t be the one to call them first. Sharon asks if Eve would rather be right or would rather have a relationship with the people who raised her. Mic drop!
All of this foreshadowing must mean that we are heading to Eve’s family farm at some point and we can see what all of this tension is really about. We’ll see if Eve can mend the bridge between her and her family. At the very least, Manny and Gabi might see how tough Eve has it and finally get over their egos. Gabi acknowledges Manny’s words from the elevator when he’s conscious again, but says she’s still not ready to forgive him, so they remain at odds. If this show has taught Gabi anything, it should be that time is not guaranteed, especially in her family’s line of work. Everyone on this show should take Manny’s sage elevator advice. Gabi does follow it to a certain extent, just with the wrong person.
It’s an Ice Bath for Two in ‘Fire Country’ Season 3 Episode 4
No one thinks straight in a heat wave, but for two people like Gabi and Bode who don’t think straight even when the temperature is normal, that can spell out disaster. They manage to stay out of each other’s way during the office building call, separated by stuck elevators and Jake’s very watchful eye, but that doesn’t last long once they are back at the station.
In this giant fire station that has an incident command center, a full kitchen, and a break room, there is only one ice bath. Bode is freezing himself in it first when Gabriela comes in, and he tries to get out to let her have it, reminding her she very recently told him they aren’t good for each other. Gabi informs him that she’s not in the mood for being good. I hate to say I told you so, but I did say that conversation about them working on themselves would be for naught.
They start making out in the ice bath and then make their way to… Vince’s new airstream camper. Bode tries again to get Gabriela to talk, but she shuts it down and takes off her shirt instead. That’s twice in this episode I’m siding with Bode and acknowledge he’s trying to make the right choice. Why won’t Gabriela let him?! Also, this is so disrespectful to Vince’s Airstream. That man works so hard and just wants to have a nice trailer he can go camping and fishing in with his wife. It’s for Vince and Sharon to bone in, not Bode and Gabriela!
At the risk of being a hater (just kidding, I’ve obviously been a hater since the premiere), this hook-up is a mistake. Neither of these characters has done the work that needs to be done to make them a more compatible couple. Everything that Gabi says in Episode 4 is still valid. They are destructive together. The audience knows it. Manny knows it. Vince and Sharon know it. Gabriela and Bode know it, though they pick and choose whether they want to admit it or not like they pick out fresh underwear. This show is a melodrama, so the idea that they can just hook up and go back on the path they were on is a fallacy. Everyone should cross their fingers and toes that these two somehow remembered to grab a condom between the ice bath and Vince’s trailer. The cool rush of reality is going to be a lot harsher for these two than any air conditioning blast. We better buckle up for whatever this leads to going forward.
Fire Country continues Fridays at 9 PM on CBS. Episodes are available the next day on Paramount+.