This Friday, CBS extended an invitation to see Fire Country, a new drama that was co-created and features SEAL Team veteran Max Thieriot. Have you been watching the newest fireman television series?
Bode Donovan, who is now serving time for an attempted robbery and holding a liquor shop owner at gunpoint, is played by Thieriot in Fire Country.
When Bode’s most recent parole plea is rejected, his attorney encourages him to think about the inmate firefighting program, which offers time reductions in exchange for assisting Cal Fire put out fires. (You reportedly also receive $5 every day for simply showing there, plus an additional $2 per hour when putting out flames.)
Max consents to enroll in the program but learns while on the prison bus that he will be stationed in Edgewater, California, the place he abandoned years earlier.
“With a goal,” Bode instructs his ADD friend Freddy (W Tre Davis) to start a discussion with a courier worker when he arrives at Three Rock and attempts to call his lawyer but is told that he won’t have access to a cell phone for a week.
The Cal Fire chief in charge of instructing the prisoners, Manny (Kevin Alejandro), is the next person we encounter.
Manny was first seen when the jail bus passed by a local ceremony where his daughter Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila) was receiving a “key to the city.” Later, more on her.
Billy Burke plays Edgewater’s fire chief Vince, who tries in vain to get the city to provide funding for a new Caterpillar that would help remove brush from fires’ routes more swiftly.
During his unsuccessful presentation, Vince makes a jab at Sharon, the police chief (Diane Farr), who we later learn is his wife. The oldest ruse in the TV pilot book, so it’s no big surprise there!
Bode and Freddy sneak out of Three Rock on their first night there in order to meet with delivery man “MVP” and obtain a burner phone. Prior to their meeting, though, Bode saves Gabriela, a local celebrity of sorts (the Olympian is the 14th-best diver in the world! ), whose car broke down just as the lads were waiting.
Bode’s jail orange t-shirt makes Gabriela uneasy, and she pulls a gun from her purse, but she eventually lets him get her moving again. While assisting Gabriela, Bode snaps a snapshot of her holding hands with her lover Jake (Jordan Calloway), whom Bode immediately recognizes.
Vince’s co-workers Jake and Eve (Jules Latimer) at Cal Fire. Riley, who we now know to be the sadly deceased daughter of Vince and Sharon, and the two had been close friends.
Vince overhears Jake and Eve discussing how to move past that tragic event that occurred years ago. Later, he laments to Sharon that they will never be able to accomplish that.
Bode rushes in to claim ownership of the phone when Manny finds it since a 90-day prison sentence enhancement is at stake. Freddy received the phone from MVP.
Bode explains to Manny that he didn’t intend to be assigned to his hometown in private. He also mentions how the proprietor of the booze business had sent the parole board a letter expressing his belief that Bode has a possibility of ultimately “succeeding.”
In light of this, Manny asks Bode to become involved when a chance automobile accident starts a huge forest fire.
While Bode, Freddy, and the others “cut lines”—that is, dug trenches to erect a barrier between both the fire and the town—Jake and Eve find themselves engulfed in flames on a high ridge, and the former is pinned down by a downed tree.
In defiance of Manny’s orders and echoing the fire captain’s handout, “Keep calm, think clearly, and act decisively,” Bode grabs a chainsaw and heads for the ridge.
Then, as the fire swallows them and they must flee inside Bode’s portable shelter, he saves Jake’s life by finding and liberating him while hiding his face. The men leave the shelter when the fire has subsided, and Bode comes out to greet them. and slams Jake after that!
We discover from the men’s yelled allegations that Riley was sobbing when Bode went to pick her up from Jake’s the night Riley died as Eve tries to break things up.
Bode reached for Riley as she attempted to exit his car in order to return and speak with Jake; but, in doing so, he lost control of the vehicle, which resulted in a tragic collision.
Bode tells Jake, “It’s my fault she died, but it’s on you that she died with a shattered heart.” Bode claims that one of the reasons he came to save Jake and Eve was that he couldn’t allow Jake to die a hero.
After the fire, Sharon discovers that Bode is the man who saved Jake and Eve in the hospital. She makes the hospital room clear before giving her son a bear embrace. Bode, what the heck are you doing here? asks an angry-looking Vince when he finally shows up.
