CBS’ “Fire Country” delivered a harrowing landslide with its freshman finale, the exposure of a Sharon/Luke secret, a much-anticipated parole decision, a secret child and… well, anything but the kitchen sink.
Fire Country showrunner Tia Napolitano told TVLine readers, “At the end of the season, we turn everything upside down. The pilot comes full circle, and I think it’s going to feel very satisfying but also incredibly unexpected.”
The finale, she hinted, centers around “an event not seen before on this series and the culmination of all this character drama that we’ve built,” including “a new escalation in Bode’s journey…” . It’s an incredibly satisfying way to end a roller coaster ride of a season.”
Let’s recap the highlights. You can then rate the finale and the first season as a whole.
DOWN AND “DIRTY”
Image credit: CBS screenshotManny picked up where he left off last week and berated Bode for his “dirty” drug test result. Bode, of course, argued that Sleeper had sworn revenge and thus somehow rigged the outcome, but Manny didn’t hear it. (Manny argued that Sleeper was now “behind bars,” but wasn’t he still at camp when they all peed…?) Manny claimed that the simplest answer was often the right one, and Bode actually tested positive.
A HEATED TERMINAL FLAMES OUT
Image credit: CBS screenshotThen we cut to Eve’s “The Morning After” and an affair with a woman named Mel that was…accidental! All coziness was cut short when Mel learned that Eve works for Cal Fire. Mel abruptly got dressed, said they “couldn’t do this again,” and left the stage to the left without elaborating.
When Eve is later asked to escort Mel to safety after the first mudslide, Mel explains that she is working with the DA’s office – and is in town investigating Three Rock. (More about them later….)
OH BABY!
Photo credit: CBSThen we switched to Jake and Cara at Smokey’s, which was…accidental! When Jake mentions that Bode will clash with him after his probation, Cara has an odd reaction. She claims it’s simply because her home is off-limits as she lives with her little sister, and that Bode is now limiting the aspiring lovebirds’ style by staying with Jake.
But later, Bode’s high school friend reveals that when she was 19, she took off secretly having a baby, which her mother passed off as Cara’s newborn sister. And this secret daughter could – maybe! – be Bodes. soap taste!
WHAT IS SHARON HIDDING FROM VINCE?!
Photo credit: CBSWhen Luke shows up to attend Bode’s parole/welcome home hearing, Vince learns that Sharon has been secretly keeping in touch with his brother – but why? And why the secrecy? Later, when Sharon collapses during the mudslide cleanup and is rushed to the hospital, she and Luke get along, and it’s not at all what any of us were dreading. Luke just suits her as a kidney donor.
BODE GIVES HIS PARENTS THE DOPE
Image Source: Courtesy of CBSDuring the initial mudslide cleanup, Bode makes sure to tell his parents before they hear from anyone else, after alerting a sympathetic Gabriela to his “dirty” drug testing situation. “It’s not what you think it is,” he begins to explain, but Sharon refuses to listen to the former addict’s latest excuses. Vince is similarly disappointed, but he “needs” a little more than Sharon that her son be innocent.
SURPRISE… AND SURPRISE!
Photo credit: CBSAhead of her wedding to Freddy, Cookie surprisingly arrives in town a day ahead of schedule after renting a cabin to stay with the baby and her best friend Eluisa. When the first mudslide hits, their hut and anyone nearby will be destroyed, obliterated, swept away, and/or buried in the mud. While Three Rock and Cal Fire handle the mudslide scene, Freddy sees the wobbly Eluisa and realizes that amidst the chaos, Cookie and the baby are gone.
Freddy and Bode look for and find the mother and child, have the tot taken to safety or the hospital for assessment and then set about freeing Cookie. When a second landslide is triggered, the con artists defy orders, lassoing the three into a tree and hoping for the best. As a result, Freddy and Cookie are quickly found, and after giving Gabriela a brief fright, a “missing” Bode appears in the distance. Similarly, Eve and Jake use the same device to protect themselves from the second mudslide after helping two fathers locate their son (who was reasonably safely tucked away in a refrigerator).
TELL THE TRUTH (OR “TRUTH”)
Photo credit: CBSSo do you remember Mel from before? (And why exactly were people puzzling over what her name was short for…?) She brings in Bode and says she’s been investigating drug activity at Three Rock and all the evidence — including that country superstar/guest star Kane Brown’s mysterious sack of cash given to Bode in the April 7 episode “Train Wreck” – suggests Bode is the drug dealer in the prison camp!
Furthermore, it’s Bode’s role as said lead that held up BFF Freddy’s release, and not some “backlog.” As long as Bode doesn’t investigate the drug trade, Freddy himself will never be released.
Faced with that impossible decision — and similar to what TVLine predicted a few weeks ago — at his parole hearing, Bode scraps his prepared speech and instead “confesses” that he did indeed relapse. And as the season draws to a close, we see him for the last time, being removed from Three Rock and re-entering the prison system….
var pd_tags = new array;pd_tags[“12291385-src”]=”poll-oembed-simple”;
var pd_tags = new array;pd_tags[“12291388-src”]=”poll-oembed-simple”;
X