‘Fire Country’ Season 5 Proves the CBS Series Needs To Get Back to Basics
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Fire Country Season 5, Episode 1.
The Edgewater saga and the adventures of Bode Leone (Max Thieriot) and Battalion 1408 continue in Fire Country Season 5. Season 4 ended on an uncharacteristically happy note for the series. Bode and Chloe Mackenzie (Alona Tal) appeared ready to go all in on their relationship. Jake Crawford (Jordan Calloway) married his girlfriend Violet Mitchell (Nesta Cooper), and the wedding went off without a hitch. Things were also looking better for Station 42 in the wake of Vincent Leone’s tragic death. That set the stage for a proper reset in Season 5, and it might have been the perfect opportunity for the show to get back to basics. Unfortunately, Season 5 only amplifies the show’s flaws rather than downplaying them.
The Season 5 premiere, “Founders’ Day,” begins some time after the Season 4 finale. Bode, Jake, and Manny (Kevin Alejandro) have their work cut out for them. Since the massive flood that ended last season, Station 42’s resources and firefighters are being stretched incredibly thin. Sharon Leone (Diane Farr) is out of the picture for most of the premiere, having left town to enjoy a much-needed vacation with her new boyfriend Alexi (Brett Tucker) from last season. Chief Manny hopes that new funding from the local government will bring some much-needed relief to the crew. However, some in Edgewater are fed up with Manny’s leadership, blaming him for the recent loss of their homes, a tragic result of CALFire’s resource crisis. Nevertheless, Manny puts his best foot forward for the Edgewater Founders’ Day festival, hoping the event will bring much-needed momentum and funding to the crew.
New to the cast is the enigmatic CJ (Olivia Thirlby), an overly cautious drifter who Bode finds camping out near a forest fire. Bode quickly recognizes the telltale signs that she’s in distress and on the run. However, CJ soon proves instrumental when Founders’ Day predictably becomes chaotic when a hazardous sinkhole traps multiple Edgewater residents. CJ might be able to help out with the Edgewater sinkhole, but it doesn’t seem like she can save Fire Country from the narrative sinkhole that the show has fallen into.
Multiple ‘Fire Country’ Characters Are MIA in “Founders’ Day”
Two important characters are visibly absent at the outset of Season 5, one of whom is Bode’s girlfriend Chloe. However, the series at least explains her absence in “Founders’ Day” with some throwaway exposition. Tal was likely busy with Cross Season 3 commitments when Fire Country Season 5 began production, which explains why she isn’t with Bode in the early parts of Season 5. The reasoning for Chloe’s absence is decent enough, but it still feels strange that she isn’t around after the last season ended with Bode and Chloe strongly reaffirming their romance.
However, more egregious is the missing Malcolm Crawford (Dominic Goodman), Jake’s half-brother, who was introduced in a multi-episode arc in Season 4. Season 4 saw Jake and Malcolm forge their brotherly bond after they met for the first time, after Jake first mentioned way back in Season 1 that he has a half-brother he never met. Not only did they establish their sibling dynamic, but Jake went out on a limb to make sure Malcolm got a job at Station 42. Yet in Season 5, Malcolm has vanished without a trace.
The disappearance of major characters happens routinely throughout Fire Country. Major characters are introduced and appear in important arcs; they’re developed, and then they’re unceremoniously tossed away in a giant sinkhole. Genevieve (Alix West Lefler) and Gabrielle Perez (Stephanie Arcila) are good examples of this. The series has a problem discarding significant characters and does not offer them proper exits or follow-ups, now all the time that was spent setting up Malcolm feels wasted.
The Best Cast Addition Emerges in ‘Fire Country’ Season 5
The best new addition in Season 5 is easily Thirlby’s CJ. Thirlby brings believability and likable charm to her role, and the series appears to be setting up a major arc and mystery for her character that will run throughout the season. It seems that the writers are taking a slow-burn approach to CJ’s backstory, which is fine. That said, it’s hard to ignore that her presence eerily resembles some of Bode’s past relationships with characters like Gabriela and Audrey James (Leven Rambin), which eventually developed into romances.
The writers aren’t necessarily setting up a potential romance between Bode and CJ, but since most of CJ’s scenes are with Bode and feature an undeniable chemistry, it’s tough to avoid that mental notion. The writers’ preference for romantic melodramas and love triangles presents another reason why reaffirming Bode’s romance with Chloe in the Season 4 finale is problematic. Not to mention, every relationship Bode has still feels like a placeholder until Gabriela returns, so it’s hard to invest in any of his romances. Nevertheless, Thirlby brings some refreshing energy and a nice dynamic to the series that will hopefully continue to elevate Season 5.
Another new recurring cast member for Season 5 is the newest member of Captain Eve Edward’s (Jules Latimer) Three Rock crew, Angel (Ethan Jones Romero), whose backstory connects to Manny’s nephew. It’s a bizarre reveal that comes out of nowhere and doesn’t pass the credibility test, considering that character’s longstanding relationships. Angel’s arrival in Edgewater kicks off another major story arc that will run through Season 5, adding a layer of crime-thriller intrigue that Fire Country frequently employs, and it could be interesting. Hopefully, Angel’s ongoing storyline has a better payoff than the arson subplot from Season 4.
New episodes of Fire Country debut on Fridays at 9 PM ET on CBS and stream live the same day on Paramount+ in the U.S.
- Release Date
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October 7, 2022
- Showrunner
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Tia Napolitano, Eric Guggenheim
- Directors
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Bill Purple, Dermott Downs, Eagle Egilsson, Gonzalo Amat, Kevin Alejandro, Max Thieriot, Sarah Wayne Callies, Marie Jamora, Kantu Lentz, Antonio Negret, Laura Nisbet Peters, Lisa Demaine, Nicole Rubio, James Strong, Anton Cropper, Erica A. Watson, Joy T. Lane, Jacquie Gould, Chi-Yoon Chung
- Writers
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Tia Napolitano, David Gould, Natalia Fernandez, Barbara Kaye Friend, Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Dwain Worrell, Julia Fontana, Sara Casey, Manuel Herrera, Jen Klein, Anupam Nigam, Tonya Kong
- Olivia Thirlby is a refreshing and nice addition to the cast.
- Season 5 kicks off an intriguing crime-thriller subplot.
- Important characters are MIA or have mysteriously vanished.
- A new character’s connection to a main cast member lacks narrative credibility.
- Season 5’s premiere amplifies the show’s flaws rather than downplay them.
