Jules Latimer on Eve's challenges as Captain of Three Rock in Fire Country season 2

Eve Edwards has been an exceptional firefighter on Fire Country, and Jules Latimer imbues her with strength, wit, and a vulnerability that the character struggles to show to her loved ones. We'll be seeing all of that and more displayed in season 2 of the series but, my fellow Eve fans, we're going to be in for a tough ride. At least for the first half of this sophomore run, Eve will be dealing with feeling isolated and alone.

That's partly to be expected since she did get promoted to Captain, but she's now stationed at Three Rock Fire Camp and away from her family at Station 42. She also took over the position from Manny who was demoted after Bode made a false confession and accepted responsibility for the drugs being sold at the camp. As you'll have noted in the premiere, and will continue on into the next couple of episodes, this has created immense tension between Eve and Manny.

In my interview with Latimer, she spoke to Eve's challenges in her new role as Captain, what's going to come from the back-and-forth with Manny, and her hopes for her character as we progress through the season. Latimer started with her position that Eve was prepared for her promotion.

"I think one of the good things is Eve is ready for this position. I think she really proved herself last season with constantly going on incidents and figuring out creative ways of figuring out how we move through the fires or having to deal with injuries. And she had this big passion for Three Rock and the inmate program.

I think now, even though that was what she wished for and her wish came true, what's been so difficult is navigating people telling her how to do her job, undermining her, and not giving her the respect that she deserves and her sort of dealing with her own insecurity."

We can certainly see that in the way Eve carries herself at Three Rock. She's a commanding force that doesn't back down. But it's noticeably different from how free she was at Station 42. Eve has always been responsible for the lives of other people, it's a part of her work as a firefighter but now she's in command of a group of men who she has to keep safe, out of trouble, and hopefully be able to help them work the program so they can go home to their families.

It's important that we recognize that Eve is a woman in a field that is already dominated by men, and who is now a female captain at an all-male inmate firefighting camp. Before you get any ideas of her working with the women's camp, don't. Latimer said that camp is run by someone else so Eve will be working primarily with Three Rock. She also spoke to the challenges she's faced as an actor with this storyline.

"It's a difficult challenge, not only for Eve but it is for me personally. I'm a pretty quiet person and so to sort of shift gears and tell these grown ass men what to do has been such a struggle for me as an actor, but I feel like it has really translated into the season as like a really beautiful bird's eye view into Black women, specifically Black queer women in leadership positions and how difficult that is and how sometimes people don't give them the floor to do their thing."

Latimer is "really proud" of the Fire Country writers and the work their doing with Eve because it's something we should be talking about and shifting the dynamic around. She referred to her character's arc this season as "something really beautiful."

One person who hasn't given Eve space to grow into her position is Manny. Last season they had tension in "A Fair to Remember" because the now former Captain of Three Rock felt there was an ulterior motive concerning her shadowing him. With Eve now being in the role he once occupied that tension has only worsened.

Kevin Alejandro had nothing but praise for Latimer and their scene work together, he also mentioned that from Manny's perspective it's difficult seeing Eve in his former position. He said: "All [Manny] knows is that he's hurt. These were his people and now he has to step back and watch someone else do it and do it differently from the way he would do it. [He's] constantly putting his foot in his mouth and questioning himself."

We will see them continuing to work through this in episode 3, "See You Next Apocalypse," when an inmate firefighter gets injured on the job. The episode will see Manny "fighting [Eve] for respect or control over the guys," as Latimer put it. But do know, the two will find their way at some point this season. Latimer shared that there's a moment where Eve proves herself to Manny and he recognizes that she does care about the men at Three Rock and her job. When this happens, he becomes someone who helps her when she's stuck and tells her when she's stepped too far or needs to pull back.

It's going to be a necessary tether for Eve since she's very much isolated at Three Rock. If you've been hoping for her to find love, that's not happening in the first five episodes of season 2, and Latimer didn't know if it would happen at all this season because Eve is so focused on work.

"I only really see folks while we're on incidents together. There are a few scenes that I have throughout the season where you do see me in like casual clothes or civilian clothes and I'm interacting with people. For the most part, Three Rock becomes like my project, my passion project. And I get so deeply engrossed in it that I sort of forget about my social life, and I get so consumed by it.

That also becomes an obstacle for [Eve] in the season. Everything sort of becomes secondhand it really wears her down. She gets really exhausted."

We saw this before in season 1 when Eve tried to cope with the trauma she's experienced on the job, particularly Rebecca's death, through drinking. While she's not turning to the bottle this time, she will be dealing with loneliness. Latimer thinks the solution for this problem is Eve getting to a place where she can talk, be vulnerable, and ask for help. That's what the season is building toward for her.

Action wise, the actress said, "The first five episodes I think are going to blow people away because what we're doing with the special effects and the stunts is like pretty phenomenal." Be prepared for explosions and, as episode 2's promo showed, an underwater rescue. But when it comes to Latimer's hopes for Eve, it's less about her high octane work and more about her character growth.

"My hope for Eve is that she starts to trust herself and begins to allow whatever plays out with Three Rock to happen and trust that she's doing a good job so that potentially it can allow her to focus on herself and the things that she wants to do that aren't necessarily completely centered around being a firefighter."

Hopefully, Eve gets that in the back half of season 2. She's one of the best at what she does, she deserves to also find fulfillment outside of her work. Rest assured though, Jules Latimer is going to give us a memorable performance during this arc.