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Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Fire Country Season 4, Episode 7.It’s bring your estranged family to work day on Fire Country this week as both Sharon (Diane Farr) and Jake (Jordan Calloway) find familial relations they haven’t talked to in years, or in Jake’s case, ever, waltzing through Station 42 and causing chaos. Now is not the time for people to be distracted because Manny (Kevin Alejandro) is returning from his Battalion Chief training in Sacramento, fired up about climate change, and ready for everyone at 42 to lock in. California is burning! No distractions allowed! We need a winter storm, or else everyone is going to die in a giant inferno!
As someone who lives in California, I did not love this slap of reality thrown in my weekly dose of soapy enjoyment. I wasn’t the only one who didn’t take kindly to Manny’s extreme messaging. Eve (Jules Latimer) takes Manny’s message to heart and basically torpedoes her entire personal life for the sake of fighting fires. Meanwhile, Bode (Max Thieriot) is trading being a vigilante for being a mentor to troubled youth. He does need something to do with his free time that isn’t counting pills he shouldn’t be in possession of, but I have a lot of questions about Bode’s influence on developing young minds. So let’s get into it.
Grandma Ruby Is Sticking Around With the Leone Family
We’ll start with Ruby (Christine Lahti), who showed up unannounced at the end of the last episode. She parades through the Leone house profusely apologizing for how she’s treated Sharon in the past, but she can’t be blamed for taking money that Vince (Billy Burke) freely offered to her. Who is she to turn down a free vacation? Not a crazy woman! Sharon isn’t in the mood for the apologies and she’s been burned too many times to let her mother back into her life so easily. However, Ruby’s check for everything that Vince ever gave her goes a long way to repairing the bridge between mother and daughter.
Bode is a lot easier to win over than Sharon. That guy is a sucker for every one of his grandparent figures, but Manny agrees with him. Ruby is a problem that won’t be solved by ignoring her. So both Bode and Manny encourage Sharon to at least try and see where her mother is coming from. Sharon eventually agrees to twice-weekly morning coffee dates with her mom, which Ruby is eager to accept. We’ll see if she actually shows up or what kind of trouble she’ll bring to them because it’s already been teased that Sharon is still set to go off the rails this season.
For now, Ruby seems like a genuinely nice older woman trying to reconnect with her family. I’m hoping she can keep up the good behavior at least for a little bit because she seems like a lot of fun.
Jake Is Also Looking for Family With His Half-Brother
Apparently Jake has a half brother. Don’t worry if you forgot that he mentioned that back in Season 1, because you are absolutely not alone. Jake’s dad had a baby with another woman right before he died. That kid has now grown up to also be a firefighter, and after Jake had a blast from the past at his childhood favorite barbecue place, he’s interested in reaching out. Bode, Eve, and Jake’s girlfriend press him to just swallow his pride and make the call.
He does, and leaves the most awkward voicemail that you could ever imagine. He doesn’t even say that his name is Jake until about halfway through and there’s a lot of emphasis on the fact that they have the same dad, but not a lot of push on “Would you like to hang out sometime?”
Honestly, leaving the voicemail should have been damage enough. But it wasn’t! It turns out that Malcolm had no idea he and Jake shared a dad, or that the dad in question was different from his sister’s dad. Jake’s insane voicemail is how he found out about this crucial secret that’s been kept from him his entire life, and Malcolm’s family is not stoked at how all of this came out. Malcolm isn’t talking to any of them, and the enraged sister in question has told Jake to stay the hell away.
Reaching out to secret half siblings is tough business, and Jake definitely did not go about this the right way. However, the toothpaste is out of the tube now. Jake better not hide from the mess he has created, but man up and see trying to establish a relationship with Malcolm through. If he bails now, he’s fractured this family for absolutely no reason, and that’s far more unforgivable.
Eve Is Somehow Worse Than Bode in This Episode
Jake is on the precipice of being on my “Fire Country Makes Characters So Freakin’ Dumb” list, but Eve decided to steal Bode’s perennial spot at the top of the list this week. Eve almost never offends me because she’s usually playing peace keeper or solving environmental crimes or riding horses. I love Eve, man. That’s why this week really hurt me, because what the hell, my girl?
A few weeks ago, Eve committed to supporting her girlfriend, Francine (Katie Findlay), in fostering a kid. It’s finally time for the social worker interview in this week’s episode, and all Eve has to do is say she and Francine aren’t going to jostle the kid between apartments or ditch them to make out with each other. It’s so easy. Again, she isn’t signing up to be a co-parent, just a consistent adult in Francine’s life. The questioning falls apart when the social worker asks if Eve would be willing to step in if Francine gets sick and needs some help. It’s actually a way easier question than the, “Can you promise you’ll only have sleepovers at Francine’s?” quandary, but it totally throws Eve for a loop.
She can hear Manny in her head talking about climate change, and the entire state is going to burn to the ground if everyone at Station 42 isn’t locked in all the time. It’s so important that she fight fires all the time that she can’t even volunteer to take a sick day if Francine gets the flu and needs someone to pick her foster kid up from school. It’s so wild to watch her fumble this situation. Then, she gets up in the middle of the interview to take a phone call because it’s about Three Rock. Jake just proved that voicemail exists, and Eve absolutely could return the call later. She chooses not to, and Francine is rightfully pissed because Eve says they are in this together, and she’s ready to support her girlfriend, but she’s not actually willing to do it.
Francine goes back to the interview alone and they rehash the fight back at the station, and it’s obvious from the start of the scene this is heading towards a breakup. Episode director Alexis Ostrander tries to do something really cool and emotional by doing close-ups on Latimer and Findlay as they reckon with the disintegration of their relationship, but the effect is ruined by this entire situation being so stupid.
Yes, California is going to be on fire. It is always on fire! Manny said don’t be distracted because he has men on his crew that like to stalk fireworks enthusiasts for nefarious reasons. He did not mean forsake your entire personal life to be at the station because if you dare take any time off the fire will consume us all! Francine is being as understanding as she can be in the situation. She’s asking Eve to help with pick ups and drop offs sometimes. She’s asking for a partner to be in her corner and Eve is deciding that she can’t do it, but acting like it’s an obstacle there is no way for them to overcome.
In the end, they break up, and Eve changes her name on Francine’s application from partner to reference. She gives a glowing recommendation that shows just how much she loves that girl, which makes this entire breakup so infuriating. It’s another romantic interest it feels like the show got bored with. Why did we have Eve realizing she’s good with kids during the last incident if it was just going to lead to this one episode later? What is the point of character development if everyone who isn’t a series regular is going to get booted away at any given second?
We lost Vince and Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila) at the beginning of the season. Audrey was bounced shortly after. Now Francine is getting kicked to the curb, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Violet (Nesta Cooper) is the next to disappear. Auxiliary characters are necessary to give the firefighters of Station 42 dimension outside of fire incidents, but Fire Country doesn’t seem interested in actually honing the important development these characters provide, and it’s such a gut punch to see another great player hit the road.
Bode Is Going To Be a Mentor, but Is That a Good Idea?
The case of the week sends Bode and Jake to clear out a condemned house in the woods that miraculously survived the Zabel Ridge fire. They find a truant teen, Tyler (Conor Sherry) hiding out in the dilapidated building, clinging to the floorboards of a desecrated floor. Bode and Jake help fish him out, but he’s not interested in being questioned or potentially turned over to authorities for squatting in the house. He runs away and inadvertently starts a fire in an already falling down building.
It’s a stressful save, but everyone eventually makes it out of the building alive. It did not need to be that stressful, but Tyler is determined to make Bode and Jake’s job as hard as possible as he worries about whether they are going to rat him out for running away. Bode sees a lot of his younger self in the kid, which is frightening because this kid is a nightmare.
Tyler’s stepdad agrees on the nightmare front when Bode meets him at the hospital as Tyler is being examined for smoke inhalation and other potential fire side effects. Landon (Suits LA alum Josh McDermitt) is at his wit’s end with Tyler, who has been acting out constantly since they lost their house in the Zabel Ridge fire. His attitude is out of control, and Bode informing Landon that Tyler was trying to run away is the icing on the cake. Landon says he doesn’t know what to do with the kid anymore, but Bode has an idea.
He’s going to take Tyler under his wing. They’re going to hang out and do some Big Brother-type activities. Tyler is apparently on the baseball team, so maybe Bode will help him up his game on the field. Maybe he’ll get him into junior firefighting. The kid does need an intervention, and Bode does need a positive place to focus his energy. There are a lot worse things Bode could be doing in his free time, as we’ve already seen, so I am not mad at this new development. I am just concerned that if Bode can’t handle having a girlfriend at the moment, is he able to actually mentor a troubled kid?
Bode doesn’t make the best decisions most of the time, but I have to be optimistic that maybe Tyler’s stubborn streak will help Bode mature himself. This could work out for the best, but I am nervous to hope. I would have liked this a lot more if Tyler was the kid Francine was fostering, and Bode and Eve teamed up to help him rather than what we have going on here.
Fire Country continues Fridays at 9 PM ET on CBS. Episodes are available the next day on Paramount+.
