Can you believe CBS put Fire Country on hiatus with a cliffhanger like this?! Season 2, episode 4, "Too Many Unknowns," already had a close call when Bode rushed back into the building in search of other victims who might still be trying to get out of the chemical plant safely. He picked the wrong moment because he got hit with a blast of fire that threatened to roast him like a chicken. Cole had to go get him, and he was brought to the med tent to be looked over.
Had this been season 1, Bode's love declaration to Gabriela, which was prompted by his near death experience, would have been well-received. However, she'd been working the incident with her
fiancé Diego, with whom she'd spent the episode arguing with, and he was standing right there. Talk about awkward for everyone involved. Bode tried to apologize, while Gabriela remained professional, but what was done was done.
Bode was put in the ambulance to be taken to the hospital. Cara, who'd also been working the incident, joined him while Diego got into the driver's seat and the correctional officer that roughed Bode up earlier in the episode rode shotgun. When we cut back to them on the road, you could tell something bad was going to happen. It was windy, we were driving past trees, the ride was bumpy, and something felt really off.
Cara and Bode were having a serious heart-to-heart about Genevieve who'd witnessed Bode being roughed up at Three Rock. It made Cara regret her decision to tell Gen about him. While she had found out that Bode hadn't done anything wrong, he'd actually been helping a lost little girl named Isla, it didn't change what her daughter saw or how it made them both feel.
Diego, who was still angry over Bode telling Gabriela he loves her (and probably low key aware that she's not entirely over him), said under his breath that maybe Bode should stay out of everyone's relationships. Cue a tree falling! Diego swerved but wound up driving into it anyway and the episode ends with a lingering shot of the ambulance on its side surrounded by the tree's limbs.
I'm calling it now. At least one person isn't surviving that crash. There's no way. The question though is who dies? Let's go person by person, starting with ruling out the obvious.
Bode doesn't die in Fire Country season 2, episode 4
If you panic Googled because you forgot the golden rule of TV, the lead character is always wrapped up in so much plot armor they might as well be Teflon, let me soothe your racing heart. Bode maybe on a gurney but at least he's strapped in. Not to mention, he's our lead so, no, Max Thieriot isn't leaving Fire Country. Bode, however, might be a little worse for wear since he was already dealing with injuries from the chemical plant fire.
With Bode strapped into gurney it could be difficult getting out depending on how or where he landed once the ambulance came to a full stop on its side. To be honest, I'm more concerned about Cara but that's not because I think she's dead.
Cara likely didn't die in the accident
Perhaps you're like me and immediately rewound to see whether Cara had been wearing her seatbelt as the ambulance was making its way down the road before the accident. I checked and, from what I could see, she wasn't which definitely means she's going to be seriously injured. I, however, don't believe she died. Why? Well, while Fire Country loves a dramatic moment, I don't believe the writers would take Genevieve's mom from her after she's already experienced so much loss.
Last season she lost the woman she knew to be her mother who was actually her grandmother. The only blood family she has left, as far as we're certain, is Cara. Jake, who she affectionately calls Uncle Jake, has stepped up in a big way. Their bond is undeniable but it would be a disservice to Cara's character for her to reclaim her right to motherhood only for her to lose it months later especially when she was doing her best to do right by her daughter and working hard to repair their strained relationship.
Not to mention this would qualify as "fridging" because the two main characters this would impact the most are Jake and Bode, meaning a woman died on the series to move forward the emotional development of two men which...that's not good. Also, Cara was about to get proposed to! I refuse to believe that she's not going to get her happily ever after especially not after what Jordan Calloway said about their relationship:
"Every man, when we come home to our woman, we want to just be held. When you're a shield, when you're meant to be the first and last line of defense, like the only thing supporting us is that one behind us right? That one that's got our back holding us up strong. I've been blessed to be able to see that with my parents, so applying that in the fact of Cara is his solace. Cara is his safety net. That's who he falls back to."
But the real clincher, the sign of life that I'm clinging to is Sabina Gadecki's Instagram Stories where she shared that they'd looped episode 205 and said, "It's so good. It's so good. I'm so excited." So don't go breaking my heart, Fire Country writers.
Diego might have died but there's a chance he didn't
Look, I don't want Gabriela to go through a significant loss like this either. Not to mention we didn't get to know Diego that well and, personally, I was hoping to spend a bit more time with his family because they seemed like a lot of fun. But there's a strong case for him possibly not surviving the accident. First of all, the brunt of damage done to the ambulance happened to the front of the vehicle. A piece of the tree broke through the window! It's unclear whether the branches that we can see in front of the driver side window actually broke through as well but if they did that's not a good sign.
Diane Farr teased the following about episode 205:
"Then [Episode] 205 feels the most like a family story, and it’s not just the Leone family, it’s the town of how these people interact. [Episode] 205 feels like a dream. Everything they’ve been laying out for the season starts to really come to a head beginning in 204 and then sort of sprouting in 205.""
A family driven episode in the wake of tragedy makes a lot of sense. But so does it happening because Bode, Cara, and Diego are all seriously injured in what's certainly giving a near death experience. This is the kind of accident that puts things into perspective. Also, in my interview with Stephanie Arcila, we talked about Gabriela having to choose between transferring to Diego's station 58 or staying at 42.
The start of that decision being made happened in "Too Many Unknowns," but this is what the actress shared ahead of season 2's premiere:
"I think there is a moment where she comes to terms and realizes this is why I moved to Edgewater to be with family, to have that family that I've never had, you know, and that's when she makes a decision to choose where she's actually going to stay."
If Diego dies, it'll feel like the choice isn't one she got to make herself but rather that life made it for her, so that's why I'm not fully convinced he passed. Add that to the news that broke of Gabriela's mother, Roberta, being cast and that she's not coming until May 3, and that helps support the case that Diego might not have died. I feel like they would be bringing Paola Núñez in earlier if Gabriela lost her fiancé so tragically.
The correctional officer is dead (most likely)
No, it's not confirmed that the correctional officer who rouged up Bode, and who was in the passenger seat of the ambulance, died but again let me bring your attention to THE TREE that's come through that window! It was definitely more on this man's side than it was Diego's. We also don't know him at all outside of what happened this episode so I'd be surprised if he's not gone.
Fire Country wont be back until Friday, April 5 but I'm on spoiler watch so if anything comes in that I can share, I will! Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more of my coverage.
Note: In a previous version of this article, I assumed the passenger in the ambulance was a paramedic firefighter which goes to show how we don't know this correctional officer at all! But Bode is an inmate so there would be a member of law enforcement along for the ride to the hospital.