Fire Country’s Open-Ended Bode–Gabriela Storyline Feels Emotionally Manipulative
In “Goodbye for Now,” Gabriela confesses her love for Bode just before leaving town—even though Bode has already moved on with Audrey James (Leven Rambin). After seasons of frustrating will-they/won’t-they tension, the confession feels less like a meaningful moment and more like a clumsy attempt to keep the romance alive for future drama. If the writers are so intent on positioning Bode and Gabriela as “endgame,” why remove her from the main cast in the first place?
Showrunner Tia Napolitano and co-creator Joan Phelan claimed in an April 2025 Deadline interview that Gabriela’s exit was purely a creative choice, not Arcila’s decision. Phelan insisted, “It really just comes down to what’s best creatively,” while Napolitano framed Gabriela’s departure as a way to raise the stakes and reflect the inherent unpredictability of fire service work. But their reasoning feels flimsy—if anything, it conveniently frees Bode up to date other characters without making him look unfaithful.
And the dramatic weight of Gabriela’s exit is questionable at best. She didn’t move across the world; she left on a temporary recruiting mission. Long-distance relationships exist. CAL Fire recruiting rotations aren’t exactly multi-year odysseys. Given everything she has been through—especially the trauma involving Finn (Blake Lee)—a break makes sense, but the storyline feels more like a thin excuse to bench the character than a meaningful development. If Bode and Gabriela truly love each other, a brief season away shouldn’t be the insurmountable obstacle the show pretends it is.
