S01.E19: Watch Your Step

[jewel21]

Quote

The station 42 crew responds to an out-of-control blaze at a wellness retreat, and the third rock crew tries to protect one of their own from a dangerous overdose.

Airdate: 04/21/2023

[Danielg342]

Have we hit the "point of no return"? Or is there enough within the rut of a series to salvage it for a future run?

With three episodes left, I'll probably stick around for the end of the season before making a firm decision to abandon ship...but, episodes like this make me wonder if I've reached the point where my patience has finally run out.

Consider this- the whole "Sleeper" storyline is a mess. Fine, Freddy and Bode can't exactly tell Captain Manny Perez about their strung out colleague, who likely was given some drugs by Sleeper.

...but, Bode can still totally tell Manny, in private if he has to, about his past with Sleeper and his suspicions, upon which Manny might look sympathetically the next time he sees a strung out inmate and maybe not send that inmate back to regular prison.

(Yes, "reality" would totally say that a drug using inmate would be booted off the camp, no questions asked...but when has this show ever adhered to reality in its story choices?)

That's not the worst part about Sleeper.

No, the main problem with Sleeper is that he totally one-dimensional. He is only there to give Bode and the inmate camp trouble, and he will- sadly and likely- succeed in that regard. The inevitable beats in this storyline will see Sleeper eventually found out, but not before he leaves a path of destruction that will likely see Bode land back in regular prison, where he'll spend S2.E1 and maybe S2.E2 working his way back to Three Rock.

Because we're in Season One and these writers will likely conclude that without Bode at Three Rock, there's no series, even though there totally could be.

It's so mind-numbingly predictable that it's downright infuriating at this stage.

I have always said that this show's biggest problem is the fact that the writers try too hard to shoehorn the characters and the situations they give them to fit the storylines that they want to tell, instead of letting those storylines develop naturally from what the characters give them.

Sleeper seems to be the most egregious example of that.

Let's be honest with ourselves- Fire Country has hit us over the head with just how close Bode is to getting out of prison and getting parole. It would be not just a moment of victory for him but also his family and also his friends and his potential girlfriend.

Which only means, naturally, that Hollywood- in its frequent quest to appear "edgy" and "clever"- will deny us, the audience, of that heartwarming conclusion and instead deliver us a resolution that piles on the pain for Bode, where Max Thieriot will get to display his best efforts at crying and being angry, out of the cliched misconception that "true art is angsty" and can never be happy.

...and Sleeper will be the vehicle that gets us there.

I suppose one could argue that Bode is already headed towards getting sent back to prison anyway, Sleeper or no Sleeper, because of the amount of times he's acted so stupid and recklessly because the plot needed him to do that. You would figure that one of these times Manny would lose his patience- as would the audience- about the amount of passes Bode gets and thus demote him back to regular prison.

Otherwise, why would Bode be so stupid so often?

Yet, it never had to be this way. This could have been a far different series, one that could have intriguing character growth and a wonderful message.

Because the show could have decided- like the second episode alluded to- that this is the story of Bode's redemption, and the redemption of everyone at Three Rock, most notably Freddy.

Three Rock could have been initially set up as a place Edgewater normally thumbed its nose at, with the prisoners treated as second class citizens (as they probably would be in reality). They would have had an uneasy co-existence in this role, with maybe only Manny who believed in his inmates.

Then Bode, the son of the legendary Cal Fire Leones, becomes a part of Three Rock and throws this co-existence into disarray. Where once the town was comfortable "othering" Three Rock, they're no longer comfortable doing so, now that a part of the Edgewater family has come back to the town.

The tension and the storylines that come with it writes itself, especially when there's the backdrop of Bode trying to atone for his transgressions.

Here, Sleeper might not be so bad an addition to the story, because he could be a side of the "old Bode" that puts pressure on Bode to regress, which he struggles to overcome.

Instead, what we've got is a series where apparently Bode being a convict is no big deal and everyone is this big happy family that's ready for Bode's inevitable release back into the wider fold of this effervescent milieu, only for Sleeper to come in and pull the metaphorical rug from underneath everyone.

Because...the story needs him to do that.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Sleeper will surprise me...but my hopes are not up.

"Watch Your Step" indeed, show.

[possibilities]

I knew the firewalk set up would burn the entire region. Stupid stupid stupid!!

I did like seeing Sharon mock herself for thinking her son would want to move back in with his parents and Eve tell Sharon and Vince that they don't know everything and basically should back off. 

I thought newbie was going to OD and then what? 

I admit I did not see it coming that Bode and Freddy were on the same side of a sting operation to expose Sleeper. It seems like an awfully convoluted way to go about it. Just tell Manny Bode knows him, etc. Manny will then be keeping an eye out. 

The criminal backpack still hasn't gone off, so there's that, too. Bode really doesn't seem ready for an unsupervised life. He's acting stupid.

 

 

[Artsda]

At this rate Bode won't make the 30 days. 

Glad Freddy isn't as stupid as I thought earlier in the episode and it was an act, but they should tell Cap. 

Gabriella can go sit in a corner, if it involves you it involves me. Then 20 mins later she's mad she's involved.  

[FnkyChkn34]

I missed an episode, so I guess I missed where Bode and Gabriella decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend?  They have no chemistry, that's an awful storyline...

[circumvent]

WTF is this show?

It has been stablished that the writing is terrible. Most of the acting is bad. Now the editing joins the club of the very bad production. Eve is searching the woman with Vince. Then she is somewhere else talking to Manny. Then she is back on a trail searching for the woman again. They cannot even edit the episode in a coherent timeline.

And again, Gabriela: there is a fire over there but let me ask my ex-boyfriend if I "changed". Because I need to know this RIGHT NOW, as the fire burns, people get hurt and I am supposed to be a firefighter. But ex-boyfriend says I look happy so fuck the fire and all the others. I am happy because of Bode!

Bode and the new villain discussing who gave the drug to the kid. Why not wait until he is done with the high - looked more like an overdose so Bode can kill someone by negligence - and ask the kid how he got the drugs?

Sharon's hair...

At least, so far, two Billy Burke Sarcasm Moments: to Sharon - you are weird (something tells me he wasn't saying that to the character, but to the actress)

and with Eve after she mentioned how hot it was underground - yes, that's hot

Back to the episode.

[mythoughtis]

It’s obvious that Bode will not make parole in 30 days.  Either he will cancel the parole hearing in order to stay at 3 Rock or he will do something that will get it cancelled.

 I don’t recall the viewers asking for Bode to get released, so I don’t know why they had to go there this season in the first place. 

Gabriella is not a believable fire fighter.  She’s not even a believable adult.  

Manny needs to be working on his gambling addiction, paying the credit card debt he racked up in Gabriella’s  name and paying back the Leone’s.  Not romancing the woman that seems as shady as hell. 

Edited April 23, 2023 by mythoughtis

[possibilities]

36 minutes ago, mythoughtis said:

Manny needs to be working on his gambling addiction, paying the credit card debt he racked up in Gabriella’s  name and paying back the Leone’s.  Not romancing the woman that seems as shady as hell. 

I agree, of course. But I tell myself that if he jumps ship to go to the private company, someone else will take over 3 Rock and they won't be as lenient with Bode and there won't be so much relationship processing chit chat during emergencies. 

Of course, then the "mean new captain" will wash out and Manny will start gambling again as soon as he has money, and get busted for some criminal action related to his addiction, and wind up back at 3 Rock as an inmate, and... the circle of bad writing will be unbroken.

[Dowel Jones]

On 4/21/2023 at 9:32 PM, Danielg342 said:

...and Sleeper will be the vehicle that gets us there.

I'm betting Sleeper will hit on Gabriella, and the MOAB will commence in camp.  Bodie will lose his parole and come back for S2.

When did all the firefighters on 42 become paramedics?  That was some serious treatment they were giving Bonnie after she nearly burned up; way beyond normal firefighter EMT level.

Did the dozers get lost on the road up to the incident?  They would have been helpful, and Bodie and Gabriella would have a lot more time to flirt.

Sharon continues to be spunky (what the hell is so sexually arousing about a damn root fire?), and Manny continues to be the worst supervisor ever. Eve needs to quit and get treatment, and Gabriella needs to get fired.

One point for the show for mentioning the Eel River, which drains a large part of coastal Northern California.

 

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Dowel Jones
Geography

[Danielg342]

3 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I don’t recall the viewers asking for Bode to get released, so I don’t know why they had to go there this season in the first place. 

What I mean is that Bode's story feels like the cliched Hollywood "bait and switch" storyline- set the character up for a positive storyline development, build towards it and then, just when you're about to get there, pull the rug out from underneath them.

My guess for the storyline- if I'm giving the writers the benefit of the doubt- is that the original plan called for Bode to get parole at the season's end only for something to change at the last second, hence the obvious (and lazy) bait-and-switch. My further guess is the change that caused this swerve is the series' renewal for S2, out of the writers' (erroneous) belief that Bode needs to be in jail for this series to work.

Which I don't agree with. The hook with this series should be Three Rock and how it navigates its role within Cal Fire and in Edgewater as a whole. Whether or not Bode is incarcerated doesn't- and shouldn't- change that dynamic.

Heck, I'll go one step further and say that Bode getting parole- and then becoming a volunteer at Three Rock, where he can then mentor Freddy and the other convicts- would open up several rich narrative opportunities and new dynamics to explore. The series could then finally stop playing games with "Bodriella" and allow them to have an actual relationship for a change, plus it would be a significant step for Bode to eventually assume Manny's role, which I believe should be the series' real endgame.

It would also allow Bode to really start picking up the pieces in his life, having to face the challenge of adjusting to freedom after being in prison for so long. We could see him begin to slowly mend the rift he has with his family, especially with his father, as well as Bode starting to come around and accept Edgewater as his home.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many other stories that could be mined if Bode takes that actual next step and gains parole.

Unfortunately, the show doesn't seem to realize that. They think what they really have to do is this lazy bait-and-switch storyline that they think is "hard-hitting" and will get them Emmy nominations, when all it will do is incur millions of eye rolls within the audience.

Because what would the storyline of Bode screwing up his chance at parole and getting thrown back to regular prison do?

All it does is give us a series reset, because that will mean Bode starts S2 in jail, where he'll reapply for the fire camp. Maybe this time, to stretch the storyline out, he'll be accepted to a different fire camp, but he'll end up missing Three Rock so much that he applies to go back, which is eventually granted.

So after two or three episodes...maybe four...we'll have Bode back in Three Rock, where S2 becomes a repeat of S1 as Bode will have to- again- work his way back to everyone's good graces so that he can re-apply for parole by the end of the second season.

Bode will feel like Gotham's Penguin, whose only storyline saw him constantly rise and fall, which got tiring very quickly. In Oswald Cobblepott's case, it was a symptom of the writers being completely bereft of ideas for the character.

In Bode's case, it will be about the writers' continued insistence of shoehorning the characters into the stories they want to tell, instead of letting the characters organically drive and create the stories for them.

Here, the writers are so dead-set on Bode being in jail that they can't seem to realize how rich the alternatives could be, nor do they realize the series' integrity wouldn't be irreparably damaged if Bode isn't in jail. It's this decision that is hamstringing the development of this show.

[circumvent]

Bode doesn't deserve to be released. On the other hand, the other inmates don't deserve to be around such a brooding man with hero complex

What is the thing with Eve and her unending grief? It is not like she and Rebecca were BFF. As far as the show told us, they barely knew each other. And even if Eve feels guilty of some imagined reason, the way the whole story is being told is forced and pretty ridiculous. The actor is also overacting. Maybe the way she is projecting her voice, delivering her lines, and the facial expressions work on stage but it is not working for the small screen. 

Acting is definitely not the strong part of this show. Nobody stands out. Correction: most of them stand out due to bad acting. More and more I am sure I will not watch a second season of this. Two sarcastic lines from Vince will not make up for all the terrible everything else this show is throwing at viewers.

I snoozed through the second half of the episode. Was the fire ever put out?

[FnkyChkn34]

I suppose I'm in an entirely different camp (no pun intended) on my prediction - Bode will get paroled and immediately be hired/promoted to Manny's job and be in charge of Three Rock.  That's not the cheesy Hollywood way we all see this going?  I understand when people say that Bode will do something to mess up getting paroled, but he always gets away with everything, so why stop now?  He'll bust Sleeper rather than get caught up in it and be commended for his exemplary (eyeroll) behavior.  

[Dowel Jones]

If the writers intend for Bode to go to work for CalFire, they're overlooking one large fact.  Parole is, or can be, very restrictive.  It's not a free pass.  Although CalFire does not go out of state as a general rule, the people are gone for long stretches of time at the other end of the state on some fire assignment.  Even with a rollover parole officer who recognizes Bode's "Bodeness" and grants permission to save the world, there is a complication there.  Now, if he's getting an outright release, that's different.

As far as his future employment goes, getting hired on as Manny's replacement?  No, just no.  That strains the already thin credibility of this show.  You don't jump up to the Captain level just because you've been on the crew.  That takes a minimum of 4-5 years, and usually a lot more.

[mythoughtis]

2 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I suppose I'm in an entirely different camp (no pun intended) on my prediction - Bode will get paroled and immediately be hired/promoted to Manny's job and be in charge of Three Rock.  That's not the cheesy Hollywood way we all see this going?  I understand when people say that Bode will do something to mess up getting paroled, but he always gets away with everything, so why stop now?  He'll bust Sleeper rather than get caught up in it and be commended for his exemplary (eyeroll) behavior.  

I thought about this option, but I find it even more unrealistic.  The post above mine makes a very good point about how long it takes to get to Captain. 

[circumvent]

Is California one of the states where inmates can work as firefighters while they are in the system but cannot join the fire department once they are released? That exists, not that it would stop the writers. We have seen Bode pretty much take his time, go anywhere, do whatever he pleases, so he would probably be "special" and be able to avoid the rules once paroled. 

At the rate my patience is dwindling, I will not care one way or another, since I am not be watching after the season finale.

Edit: looked it up. Since 2021 the inmates can pursue a career in firefighting in CA. Key work: pursue. It is not an automatic hire because they start the work as inmates as civilians, knowing nothing about how to combat fire.

Also worth of notice: the Department of Corrections runs the camps, NOT the Fire Department. Which makes the whole writing of this show even more absurd, and makes the whole Eve is Grieving plot preposterous. They don't really answer to the same authorities, Eve and Rebecca would have crossed paths but would not be friends with the intensity we are told to believe they were - even if we have no evidence of any kind of friendship between those two. 

Edited April 23, 2023 by circumvent

[buckboard]

27 minutes ago, circumvent said:

Is California one of the states where inmates can work as firefighters while they are in the system but cannot join the fire department once they are released? That exists, not that it would stop the writers.

I just saw a news story on TV yesterday about 10-15 former inmates who were sworn in to CalFire.

[possibilities]

Eve is grieving more than everybody else because she's a girl! Girls are emotional and fall apart on the job! Boys are stoic and just stand around looking sullen on the job! 

I used to love Eve. She seems really credible to me and fits an exact type of person I have often encountered in real life. She looks, sounds, moves like people  know. But they got rid of her girlfriend and also her self-esteem and ever since then they've been writing her to be as dysfunctional as everybody else on the show. 

Actually, Freddy seems to be holding up fine. I thought they had assassinated his character in the first half of this episode, but then in the end they showed us it was a misdirect, and he's really just been promoted to "assistant Bode" but consistent with his earlier characterization. 

I do think they will make Bode take Manny's job eventually. But I think he will lose lose his parole bid first. I am not sure if they will send him back to prison because they don't seem to want to show anything about prison anymore. You can almost forget this is a prison work release program, most of the time. I mean, they showed Bode leading the crew on a run through the woods with no supervision. They have gotten rid of the female inmate crew now that Rebecca is gone, and have mixed 3 Rock with the non-3 Rock crew to the extent that Bode and Rebecca are together all day long now and can talk about the relationship they are supposedly not having instead of fighting fires that burn all around them.

The desperate need for a kidney is also apparently no longer an issue, so they don't have that conflict to drive Bode to want to get released asap anymore, either.

I hate that other than Freddy and Bode, none of the other inmates even seem to have names, or lines, and are just shadowy extras. Except new guy victim and new guy villain, who are clearly there only to drive Bode's story.

 

[Danielg342]

My preferred track for S1 would have seen the slow burn of Bode doing what he can to repair the relationships he had in Edgewater, as well as Edgewater having to come to grips with "one of their own" in Three Rock. Parole should have been a topic in S2, once Bode is on better ground with his friends and his family, whom he supposedly abandoned before going to jail.

Which is another storyline this show has just suddenly dropped.

5 hours ago, possibilities said:

I do think they will make Bode take Manny's job eventually. But I think he will lose lose his parole bid first. I am not sure if they will send him back to prison because they don't seem to want to show anything about prison anymore.

I would like to agree with you, but there are two points to consider.

1. Quite possibly the decision to downplay the prison aspect of the series is a designed move so that when Bode is thrust back into actual prison, it becomes that much more of a shock. Which I'm not sure would have been necessary, but...this is Hollywood, and they know no bounds for where they'll go in an effort to be "clever".
2. The chance to up the "angst factor" and create potential Emmy-bait by driving Bode to prison and thus the "depths of despair" will be too great for the writers to ignore. Max Thieriot is one of the series' co-creators and an executive producer, so I doubt he'll pass the opportunity for a chance to win an Emmy, no matter how contrived or ill-guided such a move would be.

5 hours ago, possibilities said:

I hate that other than Freddy and Bode, none of the other inmates even seem to have names, or lines, and are just shadowy extras. Except new guy victim and new guy villain, who are clearly there only to drive Bode's story.

Looking at IMDB, I believe the inmate who overdosed is named Troy, though you are still right about this and I agree completely. Effectively, anyone not named Bode or Freddy are effectively nameless and treated as such. They're either extras or they're referred to in generic terms, like "the old guy" was.

[Dowel Jones]

I'm hoping Freddy, since he has lost his chance at reversal of conviction,  says "Piss off" to the camp and crew, and takes that bag of money, hops on board one of the freight trains that run by the camp, and makes his way to Mexico to buy a fishing boat.

[jabRI]

The Freddy storyline is confusing AF.  Everyone knew Rebecca was working on Freddy's appeal, case, whatever.  So pulling a scribbled on legal pad out of her box is a 'big reveal'?  Folks, lawyers write stuff down all the time, does not mean a judge/jury/da is going to act in the way they want them to.  Made no sense.  Unless it said 'won Freddy's appeal, pick up release form along with my dry cleaning' or something ridiculous.  Did I miss something?  

 

Yeah, Gabby, you in or you out, don't blame anyone else.  You are dating a convict, the world is going to look less black and white.  sheez.

[circumvent]

29 minutes ago, jabRI said:

The Freddy storyline is confusing AF.  Everyone knew Rebecca was working on Freddy's appeal, case, whatever.  So pulling a scribbled on legal pad out of her box is a 'big reveal'?  Folks, lawyers write stuff down all the time, does not mean a judge/jury/da is going to act in the way they want them to.  Made no sense.  Unless it said 'won Freddy's appeal, pick up release form along with my dry cleaning' or something ridiculous.  Did I miss something?  

 

Yeah, Gabby, you in or you out, don't blame anyone else.  You are dating a convict, the world is going to look less black and white.  sheez.

Yes, the Freddy story is just one more weird thing in this show. Even if Rebecca had everything lined up for the appeal, she still had to be working with an attorney that is not in prison. There are documents to file with the courts, and even though a lot of things can be done online, I doubt that inmates have unlimited time on the internet. and they don't have idle time as the show suggests. But in this show, expect the worst, get the even "worser"

 

[FnkyChkn34]

I think many shows, not just this one but this one included, suffer from poor writing and/or poor editing lately.  Anymore, many shows have convoluted storylines that don't always make sense.  I don't like when a show drags on and on forever, either, but sometimes another scene or at least a little more explanation would definitely help.  It's like the writers think, "oh, the viewers will just know what we mean here..." or the editors think, "that scene isn't important, the viewers will piece it together later..."  And it's not always the case.

[Dowel Jones]

On top of all that, in real life inmates are rarely sent to the conservation camps with anything more than two years left before parole.  What was Freddy doing while waiting in prison?  There's plenty of jailhouse lawyers in the system, and even some access to programs outside to review a wrongful conviction.

[b4pjoe]

On 4/21/2023 at 11:32 PM, Danielg342 said:

With three episodes left, I'll probably stick around for the end of the season before making a firm decision to abandon ship...but, episodes like this make me wonder if I've reached the point where my patience has finally run out.

Abandon ship foe me at the end of this season unless they pull a miracle out of their ass which I have no faith that they will. I’ve never seen a show start out so promising and fall so quickly.

[LaylaGirl]

On 4/22/2023 at 8:14 PM, mythoughtis said:

Gabriella is not a believable fire fighter.  She’s not even a believable adult.

Every time she is on screen wearing all of her fire gear she looks like a girl playing dress up. Everything is too big for her and I just don't see her having the physical strength to be fire fighter.

[possibilities]

Locally, we had a firefighter who was a small framed female,  but she was an athlete and extremely strong. Gabriella is an olympic level athlete. I have no trouble believing she's strong and fit. Fit female bodies don't always look the same as fit male bodies but can still be very powerful. She just needs to stop being whiny and standing around talking about her relationship during emergencies-- but Bode has the same problem, and he's a thick framed dude.

Also, it can be very helpful to have a small sized firefighter because sometimes you need someone who can crawl into tight spaces or maneuver where large framed bodies have trouble.

I agree the actress doesn't LOOK brawny, but a diver or swimmer would not look the same as a weight lifter or athlete in some other sports. Like runners, they are often thin-- but very fit.

The poorly fit gear is a problem of the department, not the character. They should make an issue of it, as a plot point, actually, because it's discriminatory and unsafe. But they don't care about details at all on this show, so it will probably never be mentioned. 

[circumvent]

11 hours ago, LaylaGirl said:

Everything is too big for her and I just don't see her having the physical strength to be fire fighter.

I don't see her having the mental strength to be any reliable professional, tbh

[mythoughtis]

On 5/1/2023 at 11:32 AM, possibilities said:

 

Locally, we had a firefighter who was a small framed female,  but she was an athlete and extremely strong. Gabriella is an olympic level athlete. I have no trouble believing she's strong and fit. Fit female bodies don't always look the same as fit male bodies but can still be very powerful. She just needs to stop being whiny and standing around talking about her relationship during emergencies-- but Bode has the same problem, and he's a thick framed dude.

 

It’s not her size that makes her unqualified to me,  it’s her immaturity and her flightiness. That’s why I commented that she’s not even qualified to be  an adult