S02.E01: Something’s Coming

[DanaK]

Quote

Bode is back in prison where he receives some shocking news. Meanwhile, the station 42 crew responds to a massive earthquake that rocks Edgewater to its core, on the second season premiere of FIRE COUNTRY, Friday, Feb. 16 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+

 

[Danielg342]

Maybe this show isn't a train wreck...and maybe I write this knowing that, just like last season, it'll go off the rails because these writers really don't know what they're doing.

Oh, and this episode made it quite clear that the rest of the cast runs acting circles around Max Thieriot...Bode feels like he weighs this show down, not lifts it up.

...but, despite all the inanity that goes on in this show, I'll give it this much- there is, at least some semblance of humanity. The characters might act all weird and do weird things to satisfy the plot, but they're at least not robots.

Well, except maybe BroodyBot 3000, otherwise known as Bode...but, even he can have his moments.

I'll also give this episode credit that it didn't follow all the predictable beats that I thought it would from last season, in that we didn't spend an entire episode where Bode has to clear his name and that his Edgewater townmates are still firmly behind him.

I'll also give the show credit in that they found some humanity in Sleeper.

I'm still not sure if this is a show that I'll go out of my way to watch...there's still too much nonsense going on that holds it back from being a great show.

...but, it's at least good enough that it passes the time. Since S.W.A.T. (which I also watch) is on before this show and has only one season left (this one), Fire Country will at least get one more ride out of me.

[SHERMDOG]

I'm not sure about this show. I really want to like it. But geez...Bode gets STABBED IN HIS ABDOMEN...looked deep too. But he gets whisked away and all patched up..next scene...had to be a brand new shirt...not one trace thst he had been stabbed....and was as good as new...I will watch a couple more...but I may be done

[buckboard]

Where was Sharon all this time?  Okay, she didn't want to communicate with Bode, but did she see her husband at all?  Or talk to him on the phone or via email?  She seemed surprised to find out Jake had been promoted.  Didn't anyone talk to her about what was going on while she was away?

[Dowel Jones]

Salute to the California prison system, as it exists on this show anyway.  Bode gets shivved, Sleeper gets crushed by rocks (where did all those rocks come from in a concrete building?), Bode extracts a confession promise from him, and the next

afternoon the CDCR says, "Okay, PuppyDogEyes, you can go now."

Lots of promotions over the break.  

I'm not familiar with it, but how long would rehab take after a kidney transplant?  Six months seems way short, especially for fireline work.

 

It's a good thing that inmates are allowed to keep needles in their cells...

1 hour ago, SHERMDOG said:

.Bode gets STABBED IN HIS ABDOMEN...looked deep too. But he gets whisked away and all patched up.

[sweetandsour]

So many ridiculous, truly LOL things in this episode, but the one that made me laugh the hardest was -

"I'm so happy for you."

HAHAHAHA.  The delivery on that line.  HAHAHAHA.

Hopefully Bode kept that prison needle and thread so he can stitch up his broken heart.

I like Bode's cellmate, though.  He has the kind of chill that I wish more characters  on this show had.

[Madding crowd]

Bode got stabbed in the stomach and required no medical attention? Then of course he could count on Sleeper because he made a promise ‘dad to dad’! Then everything gets straightened out in a month just in time for  bode to find out about the happy couple. Once again Sharon and Vince have to prove they are the most in love couple ever! 

Edited February 17 by Madding crowd

[Artsda]

That was a lot of time jumps and job shuffling.  Captain, not Captain, not Chief, Fire to Medic.

Did nobody know Body was going back to fire camp? Everyone knew he lied and fell on his sword for Freddy. Where was Freddy, most of this was his fault and he didn't care to help? I guess new cellmate is new Freddie, he seems smarter so thats a plus.

Gabriella's new fiancee from Dynasty I like. They seem happier and better together than Body and her.

Eve was losing it last season end and she's fine now running  camp?

Kidney transplant is over and Sharon was already back to work?

[tv echo]

I still think it's weird that Bode and his bff Jake basically switched girlfriends (even though Gabriella is now Bode's ex) and that, if Jake's relationship with Cara is serious, he might become a father figure to Bode's daughter.

Edited February 17 by tv echo

[Sake614]

So both Eva and Jake are now captains? Did I forget that one or both were lieutenant last year? I thought they were both just firefighters. How do you get promoted to CAPTAIN in six months?

whoever above said Theirot ways down this show was spot on. I kinda liked him on SEAL team, but damn he’s bad as a lead. I do like his cellmate, but not only does he have a contraband phone, he also has a sewing kit? Yeah that’s gonna happen IRL 🙄

please please PLEASE keep Gabriella away from Body. They were so toxic last season and it made her look like a complete moron for pining after a convict, hoping, praying for just ONE night with him. She’s much more alive with the new guy and hopefully she’ll be back burnered for much f the show. But wh am I kidding? She’ll be back at 42 and fighting fires alongside Body in no time. Then he’ll be released for saving an entire town, and be put in charge of Three Rock where he can minister to all the new recruits.

also Jake, I get your intentions but it really wasn’t your place to tell Body he’s a father. Plus, didn’t he just finish saying to Cara that ‘IF Body is Gen’s father, he should be told’? Did Cara get a paternity test showing that Body is in fact the father? 

I still Like Sharon’ and Vince. 

[possibilities]

I wasn't going to weigh in until after the folks who love the show and aren't irritated by it had spoken, because I don't want to chase them away and also I really do appreciate hearing the positive spin. It helps me find my way with shows that I want to watch even though they annoy me. I don't actually enjoy my annoyance.

But all y'all make me feel seen.

Bode sewed up his own stab wound, didn't bleed much at all or get an infection, was able to have a highly mobile and athletic knife fight right after, and also be released to fire camp again, never popped a stitch or apparently had any complications!

I liked his cellmate, but I wonder how he got sent to "the violent wing" if he's so level-headed, kind, etc.

I do like Gabriela's fiance,  and I like the two of them together way more than I ever liked her with Bode, but being engaged after 2 months is a bit fast. Also, he's more of a mentor for her, he seems like he's supervising her medical training, so that's a bit squicky.

Whatever, Sharon and Vince. You switched roles on the parenting front, suddenly stopped communicating with each other entirely, and Sharon had a kidney transplant and went right back on the line doing dangerous work. I guess, between her and Bode, this family has supernatural healing properties, at least on the physical plane. Emotionally, they're all stunted.

I wanted more of Eve last year, but I'm not sure I want to see her being self-doubting and feeling guilty for doing her job. Give me the confident Eve. She was fun and a good time.

Some of the plot twists did surprise me, so they're trying.

Honest question: is that really what earthquakes are like? How big of one would it take to shatter all those windows and collapse the thick concrete walls of the jail? 

Edited February 17 by possibilities
typo

[Dowel Jones]

Somewhere during the hour they said it was  a 6.4 earthquake which, if it was close to the surface, could do some real damage.  They also said the epicenter was right near Edgewater.  Of course it was.

[Sake614]

5 minutes ago, possibilities said:

but being engaged after 2 months is a bit fast.

It was five months but still way fast. She mentioned in the first alone scene that it was their 4month anniversary and then the engagement scene was one month later.

 

6 minutes ago, possibilities said:

Honest question: is that really what earthquakes are like? How big of one would it take to shatter all those windows and collapse the thick concrete walls of the jail? 

Yes that’s really what they’re like. Although I suspect it would take at least a 7 something to knock out every power line and cause a prison ceiling to collapse. Body said the first one was a 6.8, and the second one did far more damage. l was in LA for the Joshua Tree quake in ‘’92. We were nowhere near the epicenter but the whole apartment shook. 

[jabRI]

I never found Bode attractive, but he was hard to look at this episode.  I recognized his cellmate from 'American Auto' which I watched for Ana Gasteyer, probably the only sitcom I watched in forever.  The rest of the episode was a bit of whiplash, trying to keep track of who was doing what now and why.  Sharon's story was ridiculous.  I know someone who donated a kidney to her husband, and both were practically quarantined due to risk of infections.  But sure, Sharon can go on the front line, just like her last season transplant prep was one IV and a wheelchair.  Ridiculous show, I don't think I'll keep watching once everything else is back.  The only characters I like are Manny and Eve, and they don't get enough story time.

[circumvent]

That was, at the same time, hard and funny to watch.

Hard because the acting, writing and everything else are just nonsense and too fantastical for a theme that is so part of real life.

Funny because the production doesn't fail to fail.

Jake, your girlfriend said it wasn't your secret to keep, you spilled it out anyway. Fuck you

Bode finds out he is a dad, and immediately has dad feelings. That's not how it works. People need time to process things. But Bode is special. The kid is too old to be bribed with gifts to eat a banana, gee!

The earthquake: in the tavern, people run, cover the civilians, protect the baby, all that. The glasses on the table? Still standing.

The aftershock: the prison pretty much collapses, but only where there are no cells, so all the inmates are properly still locked up. The power lines all over break, the city - assuming Edgewater - goes black. 

Then in the next scene Gabriela and what's his name are celebrating their anniversary (?), dancing the night away, all lights are on.

But wait, that's not the same night because Bode is back after getting a promise from a psychopath, getting it delivered, working all the bureaucracy and being rewarded to go back to the place which is supposedly a reward for good behavior or whatever. Oh, I forget: Bode saved the world. Never mind my rant.

So now we have Freddy 2.0. Another character for the writers to forget about and not develop a coherent story. Hopefully the first Freddy left the show because he saw the train wreck. He was better than most in the show.

Did the sleeper stab himself? He was in serious condition. But Bode was stabbed in the same area and just a kiss in the booboo from the cellmate made it all better I guess

I thought that they were going to give Billy Burke something more interesting to do. I guess they did: they made him brood as well.

Sharon needs to just not be there. Also, shallow point: wardrobe people, why did you dress her like it was 1980? 

This show continues to be bad in all fronts. 

[Dowel Jones]

I want the "fire" hose that Bodie was using in the dream sequence at the beginning.  Step aside, you pedestrians.

[mythoughtis]

On 2/18/2024 at 11:44 AM, jabRI said:

Sharon's story was ridiculous.  I know someone who donated a kidney to her husband, and both were practically quarantined due to risk of infections.  But sure, Sharon can go on the front line

I know someone who had a kidney transplant two years ago. She has lots of restrictions.  Including what she can eat.  For example, black tea is not permitted.  She has to be extremely careful about illnesses and infections even now.  Turned down a job transcribing medical stuff because it wasn’t remote and she could not risk being exposed to things. 

Yet Sharon is off on a fire line breathing in who knows what and being in close quarters with a bunch of people who have who knows what.  Would she even have been able to take  her required immune suppressant medication currently? 

[Dowel Jones]

A double dose of plot armor tends to wash away any ailments from previous seasons.

[Raja]

On 2/18/2024 at 12:09 PM, circumvent said:

Did the sleeper stab himself? He was in serious condition. But Bode was stabbed in the same area and just a kiss in the booboo from the cellmate made it all better I guess

I had dropped out but came back for première week, two promotions from the same crew.  Prison guards beating on a dual. Followed by the aftershock. Okay.

I think Sleeper got hit by debris. And given the back story who has the pull to get Bodie back home inside of a month instead of another camp?

[FnkyChkn34]

21 hours ago, Raja said:

I think Sleeper got hit by debris. And given the back story who has the pull to get Bodie back home inside of a month instead of another camp?

Sleeper confessed?  But who heard it?  Did he survive to sign something in writing, or testify at a hearing for Bode?  (Maybe he did, I was only half watching.)

Is this show supposed to be good?  I feel like it's getting worse...

Everyone moves on in relationships really fast; it's like a soap opera.

Was Sharon on medical leave to recover, just not at home but somewhere far away?  Maybe I should have paid more attention, but I still feel like it wouldn't have made sense, so why bother.

[Raja]

5 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Sleeper confessed?  But who heard it?  Did he survive to sign something in writing, or testify at a hearing for Bode?  (Maybe he did, I was only half watching.)

Is this show supposed to be good?  I feel like it's getting worse...

Everyone moves on in relationships really fast; it's like a soap opera.

Was Sharon on medical leave to recover, just not at home but somewhere far away?  Maybe I should have paid more attention, but I still feel like it wouldn't have made sense, so why bother.

They just time skipped over the rescue,  a trained firefighter had him and Sleepy gave his word as the shot caller to clear Bodie 

[christie]

On 2/17/2024 at 9:12 PM, possibilities said:

Honest question: is that really what earthquakes are like? How big of one would it take to shatter all those windows and collapse the thick concrete walls of the jail? 

I thought the earthquake scenes looked really fake. I've had glassware fall off shelves and the plaster on the wall crack but never seen lights blow out like that. The biggest earthquake I've experienced was 6.1 but that wasn't the one that caused the biggest damage; it depends on how deep they are.

 

I agree with everything that has already been written - especially about how bad the actor who plays Body is.

[Stevie Nicks]

So Bode gets shanked and sews himself up with needle and thread. Which just happens to be red white and blue. Sure. Where the hell was Sharon for the whole time? She got a new kidney and then immediately she went to fight a fire somewhere else for months? Sure show. I want to like this show, I really do. 

[Raja]

On 2/23/2024 at 5:17 AM, christie said:

I thought the earthquake scenes looked really fake. I've had glassware fall off shelves and the plaster on the wall crack but never seen lights blow out like that. The biggest earthquake I've experienced was 6.1 but that wasn't the one that caused the biggest damage; it depends on how deep they are.

I lived through two earthquakes that brought down sections of freeway near me but lights exploding is something I've only seen in fiction.