Eve must choose between her livelihood and her relationship on Fire Country Season 4 Episode 7, “Best Mom in the World.”
While Eve’s predicament forces her to make a life-altering decision, Sharon must deal with her own metaphorical thorn in the side: her estranged mother.
Meanwhile, the perfect opportunity arises for Bode and Jake to return to their roots as bonded friends, working together to rescue a kid from a condemned building. Moreover, it provides Bode with one of his first major choices as a free man.
Happiness Never Sticks Around Long
In the Fire Country universe, having a loving, successful relationship is a long shot. We know this to be true from the myriad of couples who have come and gone on the series, and this time, it’s Eve getting caught in the flames.
Thinking critically and logically, is Eve ready to be a mother? No, nowhere near it. Since last season, we’ve seen her express her intentions not to have children. However, there’s a part of me that feels it’s a disservice to her character’s development to axe her relationship this early in the season.
While they only shared screentime for a total of six episodes, Katie Findlay felt like a refreshing addition to the cast. Plus, her addition allowed Fire Country to focus more on Eve’s personal life than her professional life.
Navigating the tricky schedules of a full-time job and a personal life are realistic struggles many people face.
Allowing them more screentime would only further connect the audience to their relationship and make it that much more devastating for them to part ways. Right now, it stings, but it would have carried more impact with the opportunity to flesh their relationship out further.
Francine didn’t need to start fostering this early in the season. That easily could have been a conflict introduced later on. It would have been nice to introduce this major conflict later, after the two have established a more settled life together.
The return of Three Rock is exciting, but is it enough to keep Eve satisfied and content for the rest of the season? Only time will tell.
A Mother/Daughter Reunion
After three seasons and the occasional offhand mentions here and there, Fire Country finally introduces one of the only women able to instill an immeasurable sense of fear in Sharon: her mother.
Our first interactions with Ruby don’t begin on the best footing. But with all the former knowledge we have of her, that was to be expected.
What takes me by surprise is the show’s utilization of Ruby in this outing. Rather than using her character to cause further chaos, as expected, Fire Country is using her introduction as a catalyst for a potential healing journey for Sharon.
Realistically, it couldn’t come at a better time, as Sharon desperately tries to set her focus on the future.
A Chance to Make a Difference
Four long seasons after Fire Country‘s series premiere, and Bode is finally a free man for the first time. We’ve seen his character on probation before, but this is a new beast, with no strings attached.
It’s an avenue left untapped thus far, as Bode has been in trouble with law enforcement since the show’s 2022 premiere. Up to this point, his journey has consisted of parole hearings, prison stints, and navigating his sentence.
Now, though, Bode is free to do as he pleases in the world, and we see how the first critical decision he makes with that freedom changes something within him.
After spending the majority of the hour saving a teen named Tyler, Bode can’t help but see himself in the young man. Tyler is on a steady slope of bad decisions, snowballing to an unfortunate outcome, but Bode’s actions put a temporary halt to that.
Having dealt with his own fair share of troubles at that age, he takes it upon himself to help Tyler and give him some proper advice on how to do what’s best for him. It’s a moment of genuine joy watching Bode realize how he can use his voice for the better.
Eve has her quest to restore Three Rock, Manny is dealing with the new requirements of being head boss, Sharon is on a journey of healing, and Jake is venturing down the rabbit hole of his half-family.
So, it would only make sense for Bode to set his sights on a new target, and what better goal than helping troubled teens avoid the same fate he experienced?
“Best Mom in the World” continues the season’s steady rollout of grade-A-quality episodes week after week. Rather than focusing primarily on Sharon’s emotionally damaged familial relationship, the story provides enough room for their issues to breathe, allowing for future revisits.
