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Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Fire Country Season 4 premiere. Listen, we all knew the loss of Vince (Billy Burke) on Fire Country was going to be hard. I said multiple times last season that Billy Burke was quietly putting in one of the best performances on TV. Vince Leone is a steadying force on this chaos demon of a series, so in some ways it makes sense for him to be the one to go. We are entering Season 4 of Fire Country, and there hasn’t been a major character death in a show where the characters throw themselves into life-threatening situations every week. It had to happen eventually, and killing Vince gives you the most bang for your buck. There’s not a single character on the show who isn’t devastated by his departure, but Vince’s presence is not something you can duplicate or replace, even with freshly minted Emmy winner and The Pitt favorite Shawn Hatosy.
The Season 4 premiere picks up immediately where Season 3 left off, with a massive fireball engulfing the memory care facility, with Vince, Sharon (Diane Farr), and Walter (Jeff Fahey) still inside. The influx of flames separates Vince from his wife and father, forcing Walter to drag Sharon kicking and screaming out of the building. Bode (Max Thieriot) goes full Hulk mode to get back in the already collapsing building, and Jake (Jordan Calloway) is forced to lock Bode in the Three Rock rig so he doesn’t endanger himself (again!) and make things worse. Sharon and Walter are able to find an exit and are immediately put in an ambulance to go to the hospital. The search and rescue team also find Vince, but it’s too late. He’s pronounced dead on the scene just as Bode breaks out of the van with a fire extinguisher.
The rest of the episode gives us a taste of how the Leone extended family will cope and what the culture at Station 42 will be like without Vince’s consistent brooding and stern wisdom. The short summary is that it’s a mess, but it should be in the wake of a massive loss. That doesn’t erase the worry that losing Vince is going to do irreparable damage to Fire Country’s watchability. I can’t deny that Vince and Jake (Jordan Calloway) are often tied for being my favorite characters, so I’m biased and extra salty about Vince being gone. It doesn’t make my concerns any less accurate, and the premiere should be raising some concerns for you, too.
Funerals Bring Out the Worst in People in the ‘Fire Country’ Season 4 Premiere
My dad loves to say that weddings and funerals always brings out the weirdest behaviors in people. Fire Country seems to believe the same based on how Vince’s funeral goes down. It’s an absolute tear-jerker to see the processional. Bode tells a touching story about Vince teaching him to shave, which is a time-honored metaphor for how a father teaches a son to be a man. It’s a good way to honor Vince, but the proverbial crap hits the fan during the wake at the fire station.
Sharon is struggling not to turn into a screaming and crying mess in front of her peers and subordinates. The vultures are circling for Vince’s battalion chief job, and that includes Jake. He wanted the job before Vince died, and now he could have it without having to push Vince out to pasture. In Jake’s mind, it would be honoring Vince to step into his footsteps rather than let some outsider come into Station 42. He’s not wrong in his logic, but he is absolutely at fault for the timing. Campaigning for the promotion at Vince’s funeral is really gross and deeply disappointing. Yeah, there are other candidates at the memorial service, showing their faces just so Cal Fire brass can see and consider them. That doesn’t mean you have to stoop to their level, Jake.
I can’t blame Bode for losing it on his best friend (and as we know, I can usually blame Bode for literally anything). It’s a really bad look for Jake. However, Bode is using Jake’s crappy timing to mask what’s really making him mad. Bode claims that battalion chief is his birthright, which makes Jake scoff. He’s Vince’s surrogate son, so he has as much right to follow in their mutual father-figure’s footsteps. Plus, Bode is a probie, so he is not actually in contention for this job?? Deep down, Bode thinks that if Jake hadn’t locked him in the truck at the fire he could have run inside and saved Vince. He’s forgetting that Vince and Sharon only went into the building because Bode went in there when he wasn’t supposed to. They kicked him out of the scene because he fully busted his knee trying to carry Walter out of the inferno. Busted knees don’t magically heal in 10 minutes, and if Bode couldn’t handle getting Walter out, how would he manage carrying Vince in full gear? Jake is wrong for even mentioning the battalion chief job at Vince’s funeral, but he was absolutely correct for locking Bode in the truck.
The fight causes a scene in front of all the wrong people. Even worse, it upsets an already barely-hanging-on Sharon. She uses her position as Division Chief to bench Station 42 from active service. Honestly, that’s the right call in the moment. It becomes less of the right call when the show time jumps two months. Sharon is still an absolute mess at home. She blames Walter for pulling her out of the fire instead of Vince and she’s taking it out on everyone. Everyone at Station 42 is restless from cleaning the rigs and doing laundry without seeing an incident for over eight weeks. Bode is sleeping on the station couch because he and Jake are still not talking. Everyone is stuck in the muck of grief and no one is making the move to get out, except for Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila).
Vince Isn’t the Only One Saying Goodbye in Season 4
Fire Country bosses warned that Gabriela would be leaving the show early in Season 4. The premiere is Arcila’s last episode for the time being, and why it’s titled, “Goodbye for Now.” Cal Fire loves the optics of having an Olympian put out fires, and they want to use her story to recruit more ambitious firefighters across the state. That means stopping Gabs from being a paramedic and sending her on recruitment trips around California. It’s a custom role and one Gabs feels she needs to take — this is her next Olympics.
It’s a tough call because she becomes the person Bode depends on while processing his father’s death. He sent Audrey (Leven Rambin) away to deal with her legal troubles after she shot Gabriela’s stalker (Blake Lee) in the Season 3 finale. I have a lot of questions about why Audrey would need to be out of town while waiting for charges to be pressed, because that seems illegal? But she is conveniently out of the picture after Bode shoos her out of Vince’s funeral, allowing Gabs to step in and be there for Bode, especially because Sharon is too deep in her own grief to do it.
Here’s the thing: Bode and Gabs have needed space from each other for a minute. The push-and-pull between them turned sour a long time ago. Does that mean Arcila should have to leave the show? No. Fire Country should just find something to do with her that isn’t pine over Bode or be attacked by psychopaths. She’s an Olympian paramedic! Cal Fire finds that interesting, and the Fire Country writers should too, but I digress. She is leaving, and what makes it even worse is that the 20 minutes of “Bodiela” content before her goodbye is the most endearing those two have been together since the start of the series.
Where was this cute and bubbly chemistry for three seasons? I’d watch a whole lot more of that and it sucks to see their real potential only as Gabs is leaving Edgewater. What is Bode going to do with his girlfriend facing potential attempted murder charges and the love of his life leaving town? He’s going to contemplate a relapse.
Is Bode Going To Fall Off the Wagon in ‘Fire Country’ Season 4?
Remember those pills Bode got in Season 3 after he injured his leg? The ones he bragged to Audrey he loves having because saying no to the temptation makes him feel powerful? It was ridiculous then and it’s straight-up dangerous now that Bode is grieving his father, ignoring his best friend, and is bored to tears at work since Station 42 is benched. He tells Audrey that he flushed the pills, but that is a lie! He is still keeping contraband in his work locker, but it makes more sense this time around because he’s between apartments at the moment and he’s at least hiding the pills in a sock instead of just sitting on the shelf for anyone to find. Clearly, Jake has been too busy trying to figure out his next career moves instead of inspecting his team’s stuff.
Where is Bode’s sponsor? That person should make an appearance ASAP because Bode is teetering on the edge. Gabs’ exit inspires him to pull out the pills and show that he’s just one more bad moment away from a relapse. This feels realistic because death is a major trigger for those struggling with addiction. Bode is trying to put on a brave face instead of leaning on people for help. Manny (Kevin Alejandro) is right there, coping with his own alcohol and gambling habits, but Bode’s hero complex is preventing him from reaching out for help. And so it’s no surprise that Bode’s one more bad thing comes strolling in the door at that very moment.
A New Boss Is Already in Town With Shawn Hatosy
Station 42 can’t stay on the bench forever. For the station to get back into action, someone needs to be named as Vince’s successor. Sharon is in no place to make that call — or at least she isn’t at the start of the episode — so Luke Leone (Michael Trucco) makes the call to Sacramento for her. The upper Cal Fire brass name Brett Richards (that’s Hatosy!) as the new head of Station 42, and he comes in swinging. He’s not there to rebuild 42, he’s there to “reinvent” it.
Sharon is immediately pissed for multiple reasons. First of all, Luke made the call to Sacramento behind her back. He’s overstepping in the exact wrong ways, as he is prone to do. Secondly, Brett Richards is Vince’s nemesis. We don’t know why Vince hated this guy, but it’s obvious that Sharon ready to keep that torch burning for her late husband. Brett isn’t wrong for calling out Station 42’s dysfunctional environment. That station is in trouble, and it was only staying afloat because Vince was there to keep all of the intense personalities in check. Jake does not have the same calming influence on the team, especially Bode. Even in the best of times, Bode is a wild card on the scene, but after Vince’s death, he’s not keen to take any orders from Jake, which is a huge issue. However, the dysfunction doesn’t change the fact that everyone at 42 is keen to maintain Vince’s memory and presence at the station. Brett, wanting to “reinvent” the culture, sounds like he wants to erase Vince Leone.
I have also wanted to reach into my screen and shake the firefighters are 42 on many occasion, but eradicating Vince’s influence is an absolute no-no. In the span of one episode, I am forced to defend Bode and potentially root against Shawn Hatosy. I don’t enjoy being manipulated this way. Brett Richards is definitely going to make things interesting, but I will be a Vince defender until the very last minute this show is on air.
Fire Country continues Fridays at 9 PM ET on CBS. Episodes are available the next day on Paramount+ in the U.S.
- Release Date
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October 7, 2022
- Showrunner
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Tia Napolitano
- Directors
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Bill Purple, Dermott Downs, Eagle Egilsson, Gonzalo Amat, Kevin Alejandro, Max Thieriot, Sarah Wayne Callies, Marie Jamora, Kantu Lentz, Antonio Negret, Laura Nisbet Peters, Lisa Demaine, Nicole Rubio, James Strong, Anton Cropper, Erica A. Watson, Joy T. Lane, Jacquie Gould, Chi-Yoon Chung
- Writers
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Tia Napolitano, David Gould, Natalia Fernandez, Barbara Kaye Friend, Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Dwain Worrell, Julia Fontana, Sara Casey, Manuel Herrera, Jen Klein, Anupam Nigam, Tonya Kong
- Diane Farr is prepping her Emmy reel
- Let’s see what Shawn Hatosy is going to do!
- We’ve got a heap of drama on our hands
- Gabs and Bode are their most tolerable as she’s leaving the show
- Jake needs to remember he’s the adult in his room
- I already miss Vince so much
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