Putting out relationship flames? Fire Country’s Gabriela Perez and Bode Donovan Leone’s relationship hits a rough patch during the upcoming Friday, April 21, episode — and it’s just the beginning.
“Do you remember the night we met?” Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila) asks Bode (Max Thieriot) in Us Weekly’s exclusive first look at Friday’s “Watch Your Step” episode. “I called my dad after, and I turned you in.”
Bode isn’t surprised that Gabriela reported him for being on the main road instead of at Three Rock Con Camp that night.
“You didn’t know me yet and it was the right thing to do,” he says, noting that he was just a convict who appeared to be escaping when they first crossed paths. (Bode is a prisoner fire camp working to knock time off his sentence by assisting with wildfire containment in the California forests.)
Gabriela — who fell for Bode while he was under her father Manny Perez’s (Kevin Alejandro) watch at fire camp — confesses that her feelings for him have started to cloud her judgment.
“Back then when I didn’t know you yet, the difference between right and wrong was crystal clear,” she says, hinting that Bode’s lifestyle is rubbing off on her.
The Cal Fire newbie admits she “just lied to my dad a second ago” about an unknown topic. The omission is seemingly linked to Bode’s dealings at convict camp.
“I want to be with you so badly, but our gray area just keeps growing and I don’t know if that’s a good thing,” Gabriela tells Bode, to which he replies, “I will keep you out of all my fire camp business until I’m out. I promise.”
While the duo didn’t reveal what “lie” Gabriela told, it could be related to the bag of money that Bode was handed during the “Off the Rails” episode, which aired on April 7. During the episode a train hopper, and possible robber, gave him stacks of money that he unknowingly brought back to camp.
At the time, Bode told his pal Freddy Mills (W. Tré Davis) to give the backpack to Manny, but the exchange was not shown before the episode came to an end.
Fire Country premiered in October 2022 and was picked up in January for season 2. The series, which was created by Thieriot, 34, follows a group of inmates who are part of a firefighting program in Northern California. Throughout the show, the men work with Cal Fire’s local firefighters — led by Bode’s father, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Vince Leone (Billy Burke) — to stop wildfires from spreading and as a reward they can parole early.
Watch Us Weekly’s exclusive Fire Country sneak peek above — and watch all-new episodes on CBS Fridays at 9 p.m. ET.
Fire Country can also be streamed live and on demand on Paramount+.
