Fire Country Season 1 Episode 8: Bad Guy

Manny has been at the casino late into the night, trying to win enough money to clear his credit card bills and pay his mortgage, and luck is not on his side. Sharon returns home from a medical visit to Los Angeles, arranged with Lily's help, and Vince tells her that it was he — not his brother Luke — who told the board about her sickness. Sharon is angry but accepts his apology and decides to stay home for the time being. Three Rock Camp is out on a hike, and Freddy tells Bode he is going to propose to his girlfriend, Cookie; he has also noticed what is developing between Bode and Rebecca.

Eve is back at Cal Fire after her recovery.

Three Rock is clearing an area by a road when a car zooms past, nearly hitting Manny; Freddy pulls him out of the way. Moments later the crew hears a crash, and a hit-and-run is called in. Manny and his team rush to the scene and find a car teetering on the edge of a bridge overlooking a river — falling would mean certain death. They also see a girl running off after pulling herself out of the overturned car: the same car that almost hit Manny. Inside, Bode and Manny find two bleeding siblings: Yara, who is awake, and Sam, who is unconscious.

Noticing a fuel leak, Manny orders his team to put dirt on the fuel and transfer it to buckets before the engine arrives and the car can be pulled off the edge.

Vince, Jake, Eve and Gabriela are stuck in traffic on the way to the bridge, so they continue on foot with the necessary tools and equipment. At the site, Manny reassures Yara that help is coming and that she must stay still, because any movement can topple the car. Gabriela approaches Bode and tells him her father is behaving strangely, an opinion Bode shares; Bode promises her that he has Manny's back and will make sure he is all right.

Manny and Vince then take opposite approaches to the rescue: Manny wants to cut the car open and pull Yara out because she has the better chance of surviving, while Vince insists on securing the car so both Yara and Sam can be saved, which negates Manny's plan.

The siblings' parents come rushing toward the scene, crying for their children, and Vince cannot help thinking of the night Riley died — the burning car, Luke holding him back from running into the fire, and a wounded Bode apologizing through tears. Manny snaps him out of it, and Vince orders the car anchored to a guardrail post with chains until the engine arrives. Manny argues again that Sam is trapped and that getting Yara out first is the sensible choice, but Vince will not compromise Sam's life; all Manny can do is listen or stay away.

Vince tells Yara to keep Sam calm if he wakes and agrees to let her talk to her parents, and although Manny knows it is wrong, he says nothing. Gabriela asks Manny what is going on, and he tells her he has lost the house. Bode and Gabriela then talk about how neither of them trusts their father's judgment, and Bode says he has tried repeatedly to keep his father from mixing work with Riley's death, without much success.

The siblings' father tells Vince that this is his fault; Vince has blamed himself too, for missing Riley's call on the night she died. Gabriela relays to Eve and Jake what she learned about Vince, and although Eve wants to talk to Vince directly, Jake argues that questioning him about Riley will only make things worse — so they decide to talk to Bode instead. Then the harness attached to the car's undercarriage snaps, shaking the car; only the chain holds it. Vince orders the team to find another anchor point and a second chain.

Eve, Gabriela, Bode and Jake see that the team has no working leadership, and Eve tells Jake to talk to Vince; Jake joins Manny and reaffirms Manny's plan, and Vince, who trusts Jake, finally agrees. Manny gives Three Rock and Cal Fire the instructions, the back of the car is cut open, and Yara is brought out safely, put on a stretcher, and taken to an ambulance. As Manny walks away, telling Vince that his stubbornness made the mission more precarious, Bode sees his father heading toward the car — and realizes Vince is going to pull Sam out.

Bode runs to stop him, but Vince tries to push him away; Bode holds on and tells him that it is not Riley inside the car, that she is dead, and that Vince has to accept it as Bode has. Vince shoves him away and runs to the car, and Bode follows, arguing that if Vince goes inside the car it could fall to the river and take him with it — and Sharon cannot lose him. Mentioning Sharon brings Vince back to his senses. He tells Bode that Cal Fire needs to do whatever it takes to save Sam, decides to stay with the family, and walks away. Then Bode hears a male voice from the car: Sam is awake.

At the Leone household, Luke arrives and Sharon greets him at the door; Vince is at work. Luke says he wants to discuss something she may not find pleasant: he knows that she asked Manny to keep Bode at Three Rock Camp despite there being enough evidence for his transfer over punching Jake, and he warns her that others could learn it too, including the board. Sharon tells him about her new treatment plan from her nephrologist in Los Angeles and how she feels she is getting better; Luke had not known how bad her situation was or how long she had been dealing with it.

Sharon says she did not want anyone at work to know, because it would compromise her post as division chief — and there is Bode, whom she is finally able to have back after all these years, so she never hesitated to use her position to get her son back. Luke then says he had thought Manny let Bode stay because he and Sharon had something going on, and he tries to get close to her. Sharon gets up, tells him to leave, and says they will never speak of these things again with anyone — especially Vince.

Bode rushes to the car to talk to Sam, who is panicking. He tries to make Sam understand that moving will make things worse, but all Sam wants is to get out. Seeing no other choice, Bode jumps into the car through the cut and tries to free him. Vince and the others rush toward the car as it shakes heavily and threatens to fall at any moment. Bode frees Sam and heads for the ledge; Vince pulls Sam out safely and puts out his hand for Bode. Time runs out: the car turns further and falls straight into the river, and Bode is gone. Eve had already called for dispatch while Bode was inside the car.

Source note: this account follows the Film Fugitives recap for the episode, the only full Tier 2 recap located during research. No plot detail beyond that source has been added.

The bridge rescue is partly resolved: Yara is cut free and taken to an ambulance, and Sam is pulled out safely by Vince. But the episode ends on a cliffhanger — the car falls into the river before Bode can take his father's hand, and Bode is gone, leaving his survival unresolved within this episode.

Other threads are also left open. Luke's pressure on Sharon about how she kept Bode at Three Rock — and her admission that she used her position to do it — is not resolved, and Luke's advance is met only with Sharon ordering him out. Whether the board learns of Sharon's intervention, and what becomes of Bode after the fall, are left for the following episode.