Vince’s Hidden Truth Pushes Jake and Bode Toward an All-Out War md11

The civil war between Bode (Max Thieriot) and Jake (Jordan Calloway) is continuing on Fire Country, and their new boss is not stoked. Brett Richards (Shawn Hatosy) has made his mission clear: he wants to reform Station 42 into a group of firefighters that know how to save lives — most importantly, their own. He’s not interested in anyone who isn’t ready to play by his rules and get the station in shape. Jake is ready to step up and obey orders, but the chip on Bode’s shoulder is making it impossible for him to see straight.

A particularly irritating case that requires Bode and Jake to save a daredevil trying to plan a fire hazard of a proposal causes Bode to lose it on the job. Jake and Richards manage to save him from himself, but this is the second call where Bode is a loose cannon when Richards is looking for cracks in the team’s structure. It’s not a good look is an understatement. Richards is ready to hand Jake the keys to the Station 42 castle, but it may mean betraying his best friend and ruining the Leone legacy. Meanwhile, Sharon (Diane Farr) is starting to find the light after sorting through Vince’s (Billy Burke) things with Renee (Constance Zimmer), but secrets are bubbling up that could shake everything up.

Bode Is on Thin Ice in ‘Fire Country’ Season 4

I can totally understand Bode’s impatience with people who don’t use common sense. I spend half of these recaps ragging on him for that exact reason, but bro, there is a time and place. First, he’s set off by Jake using Vince’s axe on a scene. I can give him grace because it’s Vince’s birthday and it’s just salt in the wound that his dead is dead. Jake could have had a conversation with Bode before just taking it. That conversation still wouldn’t have gone well, but he’d have the higher moral ground to stand on instead of just claiming it.

Bode keeps forgetting that Jake is his captain, though. That means he has to respect what Jake says on a scene, especially when they are on Richards’ radar. He is constantly snapping back at Jake and doing his own thing, which makes him a liability. On the main call of the week, they are tasked with rescuing a zip-liner attempting to set up a romantic picnic to propose to his girlfriend. Jake and Bode free him from the stuck zip line just in time for his celebration fireworks to go off and almost start a forest fire.

It’s real dumb, and everyone on the scene is frustrated by it, but Bode decides to personally lecture the guy. He’s going fully in on this guy who also almost died. Jake tells him to calm down twice, and even gets backup from Eve (Jules Latimer) before Richards steps in and tells Bode to chill out. It’s hard to count how many strikes this is for Bode, who is still holding on to his sobriety by a thread, but Richards is really over it.

When they make it back to the station, Richards tells Jake that he isn’t planning to disband the station. He thinks it can recover and get back in shape if Jake takes over as Battalion Chief, but he warns that whoever takes the job next is going to have to do something about Bode. By “do something,” he means fire him. He’s too much of a wild card and isn’t listening to reason, which puts everyone’s lives in danger. Jake has been working so hard for this promotion, but is he willing to throw his best friend and the Leone firefighting legacy under the bus to have it?

It’s extra complicated because Richards isn’t wrong. Bode is not in his right mind right now, and it is only a matter of time before he puts someone in a situation they can’t get out of. Jake knows that too, even if he isn’t clued into what is specifically causing Bode to act out besides his grief. He needs a creative solution to prove that Bode can be a good firefighter before he has to do something that will drive a wedge between him and the Leones forever.

Audrey and Manny May Be the Key To Saving Bode

via CBS

Jake may be too estranged from Bode to know what’s really going on with him, but Audrey (Leven Rambin) and Manny (Kevin Alejandro) are on the case. While Jake and Bode are rescuing the zip liner, Audrey and Manny recover his friend who already fell from the contraption and has a compound fracture in his leg. All of the blood on the scene triggers Audrey’s memories of shooting Finn (Blake Lee) and Manny talks her through it. She’s worried about what the attack means, but Manny says it’s a good thing she’s open about it. He’s not worried about her because she works the steps and is able to get herself back under control.

That leads to a conversation about Bode and how Audrey suspects he’s still holding on to the contraband pills he promised he flushed. When he goes off on the guy at the scene, it’s too much for Audrey to ignore. She goes through Bode’s things and finds the pills. She takes it to Manny and begs him to help her help Bode. He’s on the edge of a relapse, and they are the only two who can understand how precarious that is.

They can’t take this to Sharon, Jake, or Richards, though, without risking Bode’s career. So how do they reel him back in? The final scene of Bode pushing himself to absolute exhaustion in the gym is proof that something needs to happen fast, but a covert intervention may not be enough. They need to figure something out soon, though, because Bode is running out of chances, and he won’t be able to rebound if he gets thrown out of Cal Fire.

Hopefully he sees the light soon. Audrey is really going above and beyond to care for Bode in the way that he needs, even if it isn’t what he wants right now. It’s crazy how he has yet another woman ready to risk everything for him. She’ll follow him to hell and back, but what if he simply stopped going there??

A Vince Secret Is Coming to Light

Image via CBS

Maybe Bode can take some solace in not being the only one putting the Leone legacy at stake. After a day of sorting through Vince’s old clothes and sharing stories, Sharon is ready for a Sunday gathering with close friends and family. Is it weird for Vince’s high school ex to be part of this? Yes, but she’s the only one who has Vince stories that Sharon hasn’t heard, so she’s now part of the inner circle. Eve makes Sunday sauce and performs on Vince’s old guitar to make it feel like the times before the patriarch died.

The good vibes are temporary, though. Eve is putting Vince’s guitar away for the night when she discovers a note from “R” (we are led to assume that means Renee) saying he needs to come clean or she’s going to blow his life up. She has Sharon’s phone number! Uh-oh. So Vince was keeping a major secret before he died? It’s something that could also shake up the Leone family, and potentially impact the legacy everyone at 42 is trying so hard to cling to.

The show already tried a “Vince cheated on Sharon” storyline in Season 1. Maybe it was a health thing or was Vince doing something shady under the table to help with his and Sharon’s growing expenses? Walter’s (Jeff Fahey) memory care is not cheap, and we never really figured out that they could afford that and renovating Smokey’s. Something ominous is coming though and we know Eve isn’t going to just let that note go. Let’s just hope it’s not something that’s somehow going to break Sharon’s heart even more.