Fire Country Season 1 Episode 6: Like Old Times

Sharon's kidney disease has worsened and she is seriously ill, and she and Vince have held the news back until now. Sharon goes to tell Bode herself; because Vince is working back-to-back shifts, he settles for being on the phone with them when she breaks it. Bode immediately asks what he can do and whether he can donate a kidney, but Sharon tells him she has to go through dialysis before she needs a donor — and the one thing he can do for her is be on his best behavior.

Bode has a parole hearing in about five and a half months, and the board will not release him unless they see him at his best.

Staying out of trouble is hard for Bode, especially around Jake. Bode goes to Manny to ask whether Manny will put in a good word to get him an earlier parole hearing, so he can be there for his mother sooner; but Manny says he is not doing Bode any more favors. Bode has gotten into trouble repeatedly and should have been sent back to prison, and Manny already went to bat for him — in part because he already knew about Sharon's condition. Manny also says his own job is at risk and that Bode's uncle Luke is sniffing around trying to take Sharon's job, so he will not make things easier for Luke.

Bode insists his uncle would never turn against a fellow firefighter, and Manny tells him just how out of the picture he has been.

Bode's friction with Jake continues. Jake is Bode's former best friend, but he is also the man who secretly dated and cheated on Bode's sister before she died, and things have only gotten worse since Jake learned Bode is friends with Gabriela. Jake has tried to tell both of them to stay away from each other, and neither listens. Bode calls Jake to say that he and Gabriela are just friends, and the two argue, trading words they both regret — Jake telling Bode there is nothing he can offer Gabriela because he is in prison.

Then Bode learns his mother is sick, and he resolves to stay on his best behavior and do everything he is supposed to do.

Then the call comes in: a woman has gone over a cliff while trying to take a selfie with her friend. One woman has an injured wrist, and the other is at the bottom of the cliff with a bone protruding from her leg. Jake is the chief firefighter on the scene; he has the convicts clear the woods and sends Eve down the cliff. The helicopter creates a wind-tunnel effect, and Eve becomes trapped three-quarters of the way down. Her rope has to be cut, and she dislocates her shoulder in the fall, ending up trapped with the injured woman, Kirsten.

Two people have to go down to assist them, and Jake takes charge of that — going down himself with Bode, because they did that kind of rock climbing together all the time when they were younger and Jake knows Bode can do it. Manny warns Bode to listen to everything Jake says. The two descend, put the injured woman into a transport stretcher, and tie Eve to them; on the climb back up their anchor begins to give way, but Manny and Gabriela think fast and secure the rope to the fire truck, letting everyone finish the climb.

There is a moment in which Bode, Jake and Eve reminisce about the good old days and laugh before being reminded how much has changed.

Afterward, Bode lets slip to the other two that his mother is sick. The news quickly spreads through the fire department, and Vince tells Sharon's bosses that she needs to go on medical leave — meaning well, but possibly costing Sharon her career. Sharon does not know it was Vince and believes Luke leaked the news; Luke lets her believe it so his brother will not get in trouble. Gabriela later talks to Bode about his mother, and Bode tells her they cannot keep seeing each other — even as friends — because he does not want to do anything Jake is not comfortable with.

Not long after, Bode makes peace with Jake and Eve.

The cliff rescue is resolved: Jake and Bode descend together, Manny and Gabriela secure the anchor to the fire truck, and everyone — including the injured women and Eve — makes it back over the cliff.

The episode leaves its central threads unresolved. Sharon's illness is now known to Bode, but whether she will qualify for a transplant is not settled, and the leak of her medical information has put her career in question, with Sharon still unaware that Vince, not Luke, was responsible. Bode has told Gabriela they cannot keep seeing each other, leaving that relationship paused rather than ended, and his path to an early parole hearing has been closed off by Manny. Whether Bode's good behavior holds, and how the fallout over Sharon's medical leave plays out, is left open at the end of Episode 6.