No More Makeups: Why ‘Fire Country’ Should Finally Let Bode and Gabriela Go md11

‘Fire Country’ Leaving Things Open for Bode and Gabriela Comes Off as Emotionally Manipulative

Image via CBS

In “Goodbye for Now,” Gabriela departs from Edgewater after confessing her love for Bode. Bode was still in a relationship with Audrey James (Leven Rambin) at the start of the season, so nothing could have happened at that point. The confession came after multiple seasons of frustrating will-they/won’t-they antics between Gabriela and Bode. The scene also came off as a cheap way for Fire Country to eventually revisit the Bode and Gabriela relationship at some point in the future, making the scene feel even more emotionally manipulative. If the writers are so big on Bode and Gabriela together and setting them up as the end game, why did she need to leave, and why write out Arcila from the main cast?

According to comments by series showrunner Tia Napolitano and co-creator Joan Phelan in an April 2025 interview with Deadline, Arcila’s exit from the show was a creative choice and not because the actress wanted to leave. Phelan stated about the decision, “It really just comes down to what’s best creatively.” Meanwhile, Napolitano said on Gabriela leaving, “There’s danger in this sort of job, so we wanted to honor that and really up the stakes. You want the opportunity for that door to open, for someone to walk out of it, or for someone to walk into it. We’re really leaning into that aspect of the show as well as honoring the authenticity.” Truthfully, the reasoning sounds like a flimsy excuse and a lazy way to allow Bode to re-enter the dating field without concern about him being unfaithful to Gabriela.

Frankly, all the drama about Gabriela leaving appears forced because it’s not like she left the country. She’s on a recruiting mission, so there’s no reason she and Bode couldn’t attempt a long-distance relationship. Moreover, how long do CAL Fire recruiting missions typically last? Sure, Gabriela could probably use the vacation and a breather after the whole ordeal with Finn (Blake Lee), but the recruiting gig also comes off as thin plotting to write the character out of the show. If Bode and Gabriela love each other and want to be together, her out-of-town recruiting mission doesn’t seem like a major roadblock.

Bode and Gabriela Simply Don’t Mix Well Together

Image via CBS

Image via CBS

Image via CBS

Image via Sergei Bachlakov/CBS

Seasons 2 and 3 demonstrated pretty well why Bode and Gabriela do not work well together as a couple. It was difficult to root for the romance while Gabriela was engaged to Diego Moreno (Rafael de la Fuente), a genuinely nice guy. Granted, Bode did reject Gabriela and push her away when he went back to prison, but Gabriela could not stay away from Bode after he returned to the Three Rock Conservation Camp in Season 2. Later, during the Season 3 premiere, “What the Bride Said,” Gabriela mistakenly injected another firefighter with allergenic medicine. Bode lied and attempted to cover up her mistake, a punishable offense that nearly cost them their careers. Gabriela feared that she and Bode were bad for each other and that dating each other could wreck their lives.

Honestly, Gabriela wasn’t wrong, and Bode respected her decision at the time. However, the two still had an on-again, off-again romance in Season 3, with Gabriela starting to spiral and dealing with depression, leading to a drunken fling with her ex-boyfriend and fire captain, Jake Crawford (Jordan Calloway). Basically, all the melodramatic theatrics between Bode and Gabriela over the last two seasons became nauseating. As a romantic couple, they share a clear romantic attraction, but it comes off more as lust than anything. The love triangle between Bode, Gabriela, and Diego emphasized Gabriela’s conflict between the “logical” choice with Diego over the “passionate” choice with Bode. However, the love triangle also reinforced that there’s nothing genuinely likable or charming about Bode and Gabriela as a couple. Do they have romantic chemistry? Absolutely yes, they do, but together, they generally sow chaos.

Bode and Gabriela Should Never Continue

The way Fire Country treats the Bode and Gabriela pairing is strange. It’s almost like Fire Country has its own toxic relationship with the pairing, which resembles the couple in the series. What’s also frustrating is that Arcila did tease Gabriela’s possible return to the series during an April 2025 interview with Deadline. Regarding a return to the show, she said, “I never say never. Life takes us through so many avenues, and Gabriela is such a gift to me in my career, personally and professionally.” If the writers intend for Bode and Gabriela to pick up where they left off, they have handled it poorly because Gabriela’s exit from the show generates mixed signals.

On one hand, the idea of Bode and Gabriela having a steady, long-term relationship could hurt the series from a drama standpoint. On the other hand, it appears the writers simply cannot let go of the relationship for whatever reason. What hurts the most about Gabriela’s exit is the grain of hope that perhaps Gabriela will return, and she and Bode will finally receive their happily ever after. As a result, Bode will never be able to find true love or happiness with someone else throughout the show’s run because his heart still belongs to Gabriela. Even if Gabriela does come back to rekindle the relationship, there’s no guarantee the show won’t lean into the need for shock value and kill one of them in a disaster episode, similar to the story lines with Cara (Sabina Gadecki) in Season 2 and Vince in Season 3. I would prefer for Fire Country to simply move on from Bode and Gabriela, because at this point, the relationship is beating the proverbial dead horse.