FIRE COUNTRY Post-Mortem: Tia Napolitano Breaks Down the Love Triangle Explosion and Season 3 Twists

October 18, 2024 by Marisa Roffman

“What the Bride Said” – In the midst of Gabriela and Diego’s wedding, a helicopter crash ignites chaos and the team immediately jumps into action to stop fires and help victims, on the third season premiere of FIRE COUNTRY, Friday, Oct. 18 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+. Pictured (L-R): Jules Latimer as Eve Edwards, Stephanie Arcila as Gabriela Perez, and Max Thieriot as Bode Leone. Photo: Eric Milner/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for Friday, October 18 season premiere of FIRE COUNTRY.]

FIRE COUNTRY kicked off its season 3 premiere with some answers…and a whole lot of mayhem.

With Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila) and Diego (Rafael de la Fuente) on the verge of getting married—picking up right after the season finale cliffhanger—the bride-to-be very noticeably paused. But she was temporarily granted a break when a helicopter crash derailed the wedding, and the whole wedding party (and many of the guests) rushed out to save the day.

But Gabi couldn’t hold things off forever: She admitted to Bode (Max Thieriot) that she was more invigorated by their stolen kiss than her wedding day to another man…which Diego overheard. Naturally, he didn’t take it well.

However, the disaster wasn’t over…and the show set up the second hour of a two-parter. (“Firing Squad” airs Friday, October 25.) Here, showrunner Tia Napolitano breaks down a few of the biggest premiere moments with Give Me My Remote.

We end on a “to be continued” title card. This is obviously a serialized show, but what led to making the premiere an official two-parter?
It’s truly our crew. We were asking our crew to do so much work, to destroy Smokey’s, to build a forest, to do all these things that I thought, “If we’re gonna invest in all this beautiful work, why don’t we live with it longer? Why don’t we stretch it and see it over two episodes, which we really seldom do, and make the work [worth it].” Pour more time, effort, and money into it, and then enjoy it for two whole episodes.

Things were pretty rough when we left them at the end of the premiere. What can you tease about what’s in store for episode 2?
Just seeing our love triangle explode followed by actual explosions. So if anything was implied or unsaid in our love triangle at the beginning of the [premiere], by the end of it, it’s just teed up to get really juicy. I mean, how long have we watched Bode and Gabriela have feelings for each other while she has been with this other man, who is, on his own, also wonderful? And that all gets to be on screen, everything we’ve been waiting to see.

Speaking of that explosion, Diego now knows everything. What is the triangle’s state of mind as they’re dealing with the emotional ramifications and the disasters at hand?
What I love is that they’re first responders. So when they have a second to talk about their personal feelings, even though this is such a huge moment in their personal lives, they’re also able to put it aside when it comes to saving the lives of others, and keeping people safe and keeping things from burning down. So watching them be mature and responsible and brave and a whole bunch of those things at once is really interesting to watch, and it’s an essential part of our show.

There was a beat where Bode and Diego disagreed about a medical approach and Gabriela had to step in and make a decision. How much will that kind of tension be coming into play next episode?
I don’t know how to [tease] without tipping anything. We will still see all three of them working, but they, in a way, each [have] individual assignments.

Last season, Bode was under the impression Gabriela was happy. Now that he knows she wasn’t, that she was having doubts before this disaster, how does that impact his approach to their relationship?
I think slowly, because regardless of how this pans out, or anybody’s feelings, this was a woman who was standing on an altar, ready to share a life with a man. That’s huge. For a wedding to not happen is, I think, an emotional earthquake for anybody—[especially] if it is the day that wedding was supposed to happen. And I think, romantically, his approach is to give her what she needs: This support and space that she’s going to need at this time of her life.

Someone else who might need support is Gen (Alix West Lefler), who was trapped in Smokey’s with what appears to be her biological father, Rick. What can you tease about the fallout of that experience, especially after she’s survived so much?
Poor Gen. Nothing bad should happen to her for the rest of her life.

Well, we’ll have to get into it. I mean, first of all, the information has to be delivered to her. Rick knows, but that doesn’t mean that Gen knows. Jake has to figure out what to do with that information. It really just complicates everything. In the wake of Cara’s death, Gen and Jake have had each other, found their way back to each other, as a two-unit family, and really seem to be settling into some sense of normalcy. And then here comes Rick. So that girl is building a healthy coat of resilience on her.

Gen and Jake’s (Jordan Calloway) little family has been something I’ve really responded to—watching them bond, and the whole group protecting them, too. What has been the process like in crafting Rick, especially since some of the audience might be inclined to be worried he’s going to wreck that pairing?
I really think the redemption of Rick is this show’s greatest magic trick. It’s a show about redemption. But Rick challenges [the question], is it for everyone or just for Bode, because we love Bode? Rick was unsavory in high school. Does that mean it’s impossible that he’s a good guy these days? He’s so on theme of our show and I think we will feel the way that our characters feel about how that situation unfolds. Our characters are people who tend to come around to the right side of things, but that’s all as that story unravels.

Manny (Kevin Alejandro) was in a tough spot in the premiere, legally…but he was also saving the day, too. How will his actions here impact his overall troubles?
If you want to talk about redemption, Manny is the original redemption story. The man just keeps getting knocked down, [but] he always gets back up—[this] is what we know of Manny. I think we’re hoping that’s true this season.

We will be with him every step of the way, hoping that this turns out for the better, afraid that it turns out for the worst. We’ll see how that affects Manny and Gabriela. How it affects Manny’s opinion of himself. There’s a lot for Manny ahead.

Manny also had strong feelings about Bode and Gabi not giving their relationship another go. How will that impact them?
What I love is from the parental generation on the show—so Sharon, Vince, and Manny—[they are] loving all of the kids. So Manny saying, “I think they should be apart” is saying, “I think it’s bad for both of them,” not “Keep your son away from my daughter.” So he will have influence—they all will—about who are Bode and Gabriella to each other and how do we do best by all of them? And, also, they’re adult people who can make their own choices; it’s not like they’re children. So it’ll get very intertwined story-wise.

FIRE COUNTRY, Season Premiere, Friday, October 18, 9/8c, CBS

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