Fire Country Season 1 Episode 7: Happy to Help

Bode is at the scene of a fire when he notices an inmate checking a house; Charlie had spotted a second fire in the house's garage and gone to look. Bode tries to convince him to come back when the garage blows up, knocking them both off their feet — the fire had reached the heater and set off a small explosion. Both men are checked by paramedics and cleared. When the homeowner arrives, she demands that no convicts be around her belongings, but she cannot dictate which firefighters save her things; the convicts stay, and Bode helps collect her items off the burning grass.

He could have stolen from her and chooses not to, handing everything to Manny at the end of the call. He remembers Manny being impressed by a watch among the items.

Police later come to the fire camp and ask Manny about a watch, while he is also handling a problem with his daughter. Gabriela is trying to find an apartment, but no one will rent to her because of her poor credit score. She is careful with money, so the only explanation is the credit card she allowed her father to use: it is overextended and past due because Manny has not kept up with it. Gabriela contacts him, and he says he has it handled — but he does not. Manny is heavily in debt and cannot pay off the card, and he is now damaging Gabriela's credit.

The same watch Bode found has been reported missing, so the convicts' bunks are searched and secret cell phones and vape pens are confiscated; the women are questioned too. The Lurvati watch is never found, and the police do not even tell the convicts what they are looking for until Bode demands answers or he will involve his lawyer. Once they name the watch, Bode remembers finding it and handing it to Manny, and he wonders whether Manny took it. He could drop Manny in it, but he does not.

He tells Rebecca he has faith that whoever stole the watch will confess; Rebecca thinks he should snitch, and she is convinced Manny is guilty, since he used to steal cars. If Manny did take it, every inmate could be sent back to prison over the watch — and Bode cannot go back inside, because his mother is sick and needs him.

Sharon learns about the missing watch and offers to buy the owner a replacement, but the owner turns her down: the watch is not merely expensive, it is a family heirloom that has been in the family for generations. Sharon — having taken some medicinal candy — helps the homeowner fix up her yard with her friend Dr. Lily Crawford, who is Jake's mother. Eventually the watch is found, and it turns out Manny never took it, despite having every reason to.

Bode, not wanting the others sent back to prison for something they did not do, tells Manny he will confess to the crime if Manny will not admit to it himself — but a text arrives during the conversation saying the watch has been found. The homeowner stops by the camp to apologize to the convicts: she found the watch burned up on the lawn with Sharon and Lily's help, and she shows them the watch — a less impressive version of the one Bode found. It turns out there were two watches on that lawn.

Bode later apologizes to Manny for confronting him, and Manny forgives him and fills out an art class form so Bode can earn educational credits and get out sooner; Bode thanks Manny for always believing in him.

Bode also does something that could put his parole at risk: he spends a questionable night with Rebecca, and the female inmates are not supposed to fraternize with the male inmates. Manny, meanwhile, is so heavily in debt that he turns back to gambling and may find himself worse off than before. Gabriela finds a way around her bad credit score by agreeing to move in with her boyfriend, Jake; he asks after a bad day on the job in which they lost someone, and she says yes.

The missing-watch case is resolved: the watch found burned on the lawn is a second, less valuable watch, proving Manny never took the one Bode found, and the homeowner returns to the camp to apologize. Manny forgives Bode and signs him up for an art class so he can earn credits toward early release.

The episode leaves several threads open. Bode has spent a questionable night with Rebecca, breaking the no-fraternization rule — a risk to his parole that is not resolved within the episode. Manny's debt has driven him back to gambling, and the consequences of that are left for later. Gabriela has agreed to move in with Jake, but her relationship with Bode remains unresolved. Whether Bode's parole is affected by the fraternization, and how Manny's financial trouble plays out, is left open at the end of Episode 7.