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

via CBS

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

via CBS

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?

Image via Sergei Bachlakov/CBS

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

via CBS

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

October 7, 2022

Showrunner

Tia Napolitano

Directors

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

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

Pros & Cons

• 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

I “met” Emma in January, but apparently, we’d already been talking for weeks. She was the one helping me reserve dance practice rooms at the library—week after week, behind the desk—faithful, kind, steady.

One random Thursday evening, however, she messaged me on IG. I didn’t realize it was Emma from the library. Quickly, in a half a dozen audio messages and texts, she shared her story, asked questions about faith and mental health, and started opening up. I’m still not sure how, but we instantly clicked. I felt like I’d known her my whole life, but I’d only truly known her for a few weeks.

Over the next few months, we swapped dozens of voice memos and texts. By May, we finally met up in person. Three hours later, sitting across from each other at a coffee shop, I knew I had a new friend.

When Friendship Finds You

Emma was different. Her life shone a light that you could only understand if you’d met her. She didn’t have all the answers about faith, but she loved Jesus deeply. You could tell by the way she lived. The way she listened. The way she showed up. The way she inquired. The way she thought and pursued knowledge and holiness.

She was funny in that dry, roll-your-eyes-and-giggle kind of way. It took a special kind of person to understand her humor, but once you did, you realized she was hilarious.

She was kind, always putting others first—through her job, her proofreading business, her words. Very few people displayed the work ethic that she did, and it was evident to all. Once you met her, you wanted to hire her for every position you had available.

She was a light, the kind you could text for prayer on your darkest day, of which I would do often. As I updated her on my life, my publishing journey, and my health scares, she never failed to remind me of God’s goodness and plan. She reminded me that He would fulfill His purpose for me. She lived by example. 

Then, one day, it was my turn to be a light for her. 

When Grief Hits Without Warning

Emma texted me on July 3rd that she’d been diagnosed with stage 3 adenocarcinoma. It was my husband and I’s wedding anniversary, so I didn’t get the message until late. I was dumbfounded. Emma had never smoked, and neither had anyone in her family. Doctors were scratching their heads at where it came from and how it developed so fast. 

By Friday, July 5th, I learned the diagnosis had progressed to stage 4. I asked her when my husband and I could visit her in the hospital. I told her silly jokes about me having my first accidental overdue library book. I told her I was praying, and I was. 

About a week went by, and I hadn’t heard from her. I figured she was just overwhelmed, exhausted, and busy. She was getting radiation and chemotherapy, and I knew that was a lot to handle, especially at 24 years old.

She was strong, walking through illness like it was nothing, always hopeful, always pressing on. And then, she was gone.

Emma’s cancer had taken a turn for the worse on the evening of July 14th. The family traveled in from Iowa and spent their last moments with her. July 15th hit harder than I can explain.

I didn’t know Emma for long. Not like so many of her friends did. Their posts bring me to tears. I wish I’d had more time with her. But I’m so thankful for the time I did have.

What Emma Taught Me About Living Well

Losing Emma has shaken me. She was only 24. She had so much life. But she also had this quiet peace—like she knew her time wasn’t hers anyway. Like she would eternally praise the God who gives and takes away.

And now I can’t stop thinking about how fragile life is. How quickly things change. How each day really is a gift. How scared I am that someone else I love is going to get cancer. 

What if it’s my husband?

What if it’s my mom?

What if it’s my dad?

What if it’s my grandma?

What if it’s me?

I didn’t get to see her after she got sick, but I did get to meet her family at the visiting hours. No matter how many times we call these events “Celebrations of Life,” something within me churns. I know she’s in a better place. I know she’s pain-free. I know that life in heaven is better than anything we could conjure up here. But I like to remember people alive. As they were. Before death or sickness and disease took hold of them.

Their tears were too much for me to handle. I looked at them, but beyond. I told them how I knew Emma. I told them we’d only been friends for about half a year. I wanted them to know the profound impact she’d had on my life. I told them I was so sorry. But that was all I could muster out before the tears. 

As we approached her body, I knew it didn’t look like her. I took a quick look and glanced away. My eyes found a poem she’d written earlier that year. Part of it read this way: “To release and be empty is not a loss, true, but leaves my hands open to fullness of you.” 

You see, Emma wasn’t in that body in the casket. And though I can still picture her smile, the way she made people feel seen, the way she loved, fully, she’s no longer here. Because she’d fully surrendered her life to the Lord in health, sickness would not be the end of her story. This release. This emptiness was the path to fullness. Of life, of love, of eternity. Just earlier than we’d expect for such a young friend. 

Emma’s story still doesn’t feel fair. It pains me to think of her and the grief her family is experiencing. But it’s made me remember something crucial.

Living Like It Matters

We don’t get to choose how long we’re here, but we do get to choose how we love while we are. It’s a gentle reminder to live life well, to the full, while we have it. That no matter how hard life gets, it’s a blessing, a gift, we’re still here. 

And though this earth is not our eternal home, we’re all just passing through, and we can look forward to a place that is. We don’t need to fear death, for death is not the end. Rather, to see and receive Christ is just the beginning. As John 11:25-26 notes: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?'” (NIV).

Today, I want to know the Emmas in your life. Tell me about them. Let your heart remember and reflect. And if they’re still here, tell them how much they mean to you. But then, I want you to think about this: 

-How are you living? 

-Is your life in line with Christ’s? 

-What are you holding onto that doesn’t matter in the end? Who do you need to forgive, thank, or reach out to today?

-If today were your last day, are you living like life matters?

Before she passed away, Emma texted me this: “I’m so thankful for your support. I thought of you a few times while in the hospital—when you were diagnosed with all those conditions at once, and how it must have felt a little like this.” I immediately thought to myself, my chronic health issues are nothing compared to cancer. But yet again, Emma displayed wisdom, humility, and submission beyond her years: “I would be grateful for prayers for a correct diagnosis and humility to accept what God has for me even if it changes a bunch of stuff I thought I could do.”

Near the end of her days, Emma never lost that humility. Her friends tell me over and over again that she wasn’t scared; she knew the Lord was near. I can’t say with certainty that I would display such faithful courage. I hope and pray that I would, but I also pray and hope that I don’t have to experience what she did. 

Emma’s kindness changed me. It’s a reminder to all of us that we can change someone’s life just by the way we live. She also reminds us that it’s okay to ask the hard questions about faith and life, especially when the answers to those questions seem to go unanswered. 

I don’t know why Emma had to get diagnosed with cancer. I don’t know why she had to die so young. My mind still struggles to understand. But I do know that she lived with open hands, as we all should. 

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25, ESV). 

Friends, choose one way you’ll live differently today. 

Send the text. Forgive the person. Start the journal. Make the appointment. Pray the prayer. Pursue the dream. 

Then waste no time. Live changed. Be changed. And change others’ lives. For the good. For the better. Because the hope of Jesus isn’t just for the afterlife, it’s for the now. He gives meaning to both life and loss, and we will walk that road together.

Agape, Amber

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/KatarzynaBialasiewicz

Amber Ginter is a teacher-turned-author who loves Jesus, her husband Ben, and granola. Growing up Amber looked for faith and mental health resources and found none. Today, she offers hope for young Christians struggling with mental illness that goes beyond simply reading your Bible and praying more. Because you can love Jesus and still suffer from anxiety. You can download her top faith and mental health resources for free to help navigate books, podcasts, videos, and influencers from a faith lens perspective. Visit her website at amberginter.com.