Fire Country Season 1 Episode 19: Watch Your Step

An old face from prison joins the fire camp: a man whose nickname is Sleeper. He purposely got Bode drugs in prison, and it took Bode a long time to get clean again, so Bode sees him as trouble and cannot understand how a drug dealer got into the camp. He tries to warn Freddy about him, telling him that Sleeper's favors do not come free. Sleeper offers to get Freddy quality time with his baby girl, which sounds great — but what would he want in return? Bode is uneasy just being around the man, and because Freddy is his friend, Bode says something.

Unfortunately, Freddy does not take the warning: he says their situations are different, that Bode is likely to be paroled in a month while Freddy has no such prospect, and that his one chance at getting out of prison early died with Rebecca. Freddy feels he has to play nice with someone as influential as Sleeper, even though Bode is still worried for him.

Bode sees Sleeper give one of the younger guys, Troy, a book he claims will help, and when they are leaving the camp Bode checks the book and sees that drugs had once been hidden inside it — and that the drugs have been taken out. He later finds Troy vomiting; Troy had been clean for so long that the reintroduction of drugs upset his system, and Bode is certain Sleeper is behind it. Freddy does not want to hear it, telling Bode they cannot tell anyone about the drugs because everyone with a drug arrest might get sent back to prison, and he asks Bode to keep quiet.

Troy asks for the same, since he is on the young side and cannot handle prison again. But there is one person Bode has to tell: he confides in Gabriela that drugs were found at the camp, and she tells him he should tell her dad, believing Manny could do something if a new recruit is toxic.

Bode does not want to get anyone in trouble, which is hard with Freddy cozying up to Sleeper — Freddy makes sure to partner up with Sleeper and stay on his good side, and everyone notices Sleeper has become his new best friend. Sleeper also rubs what he is doing in Bode's face. When Bode privately confronts him about giving Troy drugs, Sleeper reminds him he has only been at the camp a day, that this is supposed to be Bode's camp with Bode's guys, and that Bode is himself an addict — so the drugs at the camp could be blamed on Bode, since it happened on his watch.

That forces Bode to stay silent for now, because he cannot risk any of his guys being sent back to prison.

Bode and the others are later called to the scene of a massive root fire — an inferno burning underground — at a wellness camp meant to teach women to empower themselves, where the walking-on-coals portion ended up causing the fire underground. One woman had gone on a nature walk before the root fire happened and almost died coming back to the camp, so the firefighters have to rescue her. The fire camp is supposed to assist, but Troy takes a turn for the worse: he becomes lethargic and cannot stand upright.

Bode tries everything to help him push through the high, with Gabriela's help, and they are about to give up when Troy suddenly feels better after seeing Sleeper — who probably gave him more drugs to deal with the hangover. Bode does not see it happen and Troy is not talking.

Freddy soon goes up to Sleeper and says everyone deserves a second chance, striking a deal: Freddy gets to see his family more, and Sleeper keeps the price of that quiet for now. Bode tells Freddy he is on his own — they are done — saying he cannot waste energy on a guy who does not want help. Their breakup creates a scene, and Manny sees it and tries to get the story from Gabriela, who claims not to know what it was about; she then gets mad at herself for lying to her dad.

Gabriela wants to be with Bode but does not know whether she can handle all these gray areas, and she tells him she does not like lying to her father, so Bode promises he will never bring her in on fire-camp business again and will handle it himself from then on. Gabriela, meanwhile, has a friend from her Olympics days in town and talks through her problems with her, managing to put the baggage aside.

Eve is learning to do the same. She is struggling with PTSD because of Rebecca's death and her therapy sessions are not really helping; she needs her best friend back, so she makes up with Jake, and together they find out that Rebecca really was talking to the Innocence Project for Freddy. As for Freddy, he did not really break up with Bode: they are secretly getting dirt on Sleeper to send him back to prison, and Sleeper admitted to Freddy that he gave Troy an upper to get him back on his feet.

But their secret investigation depends on several things, and it could all fall apart if Sleeper realizes they are playing him.

The root fire at the wellness retreat is fought with the fire camp's assistance, and Troy recovers after his bad reaction to the drugs. The episode's central tension is left deliberately unresolved: Bode and Freddy are secretly working together to gather evidence on Sleeper to send him back to prison.

Several threads remain open. Sleeper has warned Bode that the drugs could be blamed on him, and Bode has stayed silent to protect the others — so his parole remains at risk. Whether Bode and Freddy's secret investigation holds together is left uncertain, with the episode noting it could fall apart if Sleeper realizes he is being played. Gabriela has asked Bode to keep her out of fire-camp business, a boundary that leaves their relationship in an unresolved place.