On Friday, CBS invited you to country of fireA new drama written and starring seal team Vet Max Terriott. Did the latest firefighter series on TV pique your interest?
country of fire Thieriot stars as Bode Donovan, who is currently spending time trying to rob/detain a liquor store owner at gunpoint. When Bode loses his last appeal for parole, his attorney urges him to consider the inmate firefighting program, where in exchange for Cal Fire’s help in a firefight, you get time for your sentence. (It looks like you also get $5 a day just for showing up, plus an extra $2 an hour when fighting fires.)
Max agrees to enter the program, but on his way on the prison bus he discovers that he has been stationed in Edgewater, California – his hometown for years. “for some reason.” Arriving at Three Rock, Bode attempts to contact his attorney, but is told there are no phone privileges for a week, so he instructs his friend ADD Freddy (W Tre Davis) to chat with a delivery man. Then we meet Manny (Kevin Alejandro), Cal Fire’s chief in charge of educating inmates; Mane was previously seen when a prison bus passed by at a local ceremony where his daughter Gabriella (Stephanie Arcela) was given the ‘key to the city’. More about it shortly.
In Edgewater, we see Fire Chief Vince (Billy Burke) trying but failing to secure the city’s money for a new Caterpillar that would quickly help clear foliage from the fire tracks. In the course of his failed presentation, Vince lashes out at Police Chief Sharon (Diane Farr), whom we later realize is actually married to. (No big surprise there, the oldest trick in the TV pilot book!)
On their first night at Three Rock, Buddy and Freddy sneak up to meet the “MVP” deliveryman to secure a burner phone. But before that date can even happen, Bode comes to the rescue of Gabriela, a local celebrity of sorts (the Olympic is the 14th best diver in the world!) who just happened to break down just as the guys were waiting. Gabriella warns Bode in his prison orange shirt and takes a gun out of her handbag, but eventually lets him get up and run again. In the course of helping Gabriella, Budd recorded a photo of her with her boyfriend Jake (Jordan Calloway) – whom Buddy clearly recognizes.
Jake works with Eve (Jules Latimer) on Cal Fire with Vince. The two were good friends with Riley, who we’ve come to assume is the darling daughter of Vince and Sharon. Vince heard Jake and Eve talk about learning to move on from the tragedy of those years past; Later, Sharon regrets that the two, unfortunately, will not be able to do so.
Manny finds the phone Freddy got from MVP, but Bode jumps to claim it’s his, since adding a 90-day prison sentence is at stake. In private, Bodhi explained to Manny that he had no intention of stationing in his hometown. He also talked about how the liquor store owner wrote a letter to the parole board saying he saw an opportunity for Bodhi to “succeed” at the end. With that in mind, Manny Bode calls swinging into action when a random car accident sets off a wildfire in the woods.
While Bode and Freddy et al “cut the lines” (i.e. digging the trenches that form a barrier between the fire and the city), Jake and Eve find themselves surrounded by fire on a high ledge, the former pinned to a fallen tree. Against Mane’s orders, but quoting the fire captain’s bulletin – “Keep Calm, Think Clear and Act Firmly” – Bode grabs a chainsaw and makes paths for the hills. He finds and frees Jake, while hiding his face the entire time, then saves Jake’s life when they are devoured by fire and need the ducks inside Bode’s portable shelter. After the fire is over, the men come out of the shelter and Boddy reveals himself…and then he hits Jake!
As Eve tries to work things out, we learn through the men’s loud accusations that on the night Riley died, Bode went to pick her up from Jake and found her crying. When Riley tries to jump out of Bode’s car to get back and talk to Jake, Bode reaches out to her, thereby losing control of the car – resulting in a fatal accident. Buddy said to Jake, “It’s my fault, but it’s just like that You are She died with a broken heart! Buddy says he came to save Jake and Eve in part because he couldn’t let Jake die a hero.
At the hospital in the aftermath of the fire, Sharon realizes Budd is the man who saved Jake and Eve. He empties his hospital room and then hugs her son tightly. Vince arrives a moment later to ask, with a look of disappointment on his face, “Body, what Hell are you doing here?”
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