As a big fan of Fire Country, and a Gabriela Perez stan, getting to interview Stephanie Arcila about Gabi's journey in the second season was a highlight of 2024. Her character is the sole member of the main ensemble who didn't have a background in firefighting when the series opened, so we got to see Gabi come into her own as a first responder and learn on the job.
She'll be continuing to learn in the sophomore season but there's a confidence to her work now that speaks to the time and study she's put into being the best firefighter that she can be. Arcila has done the same. In an Instagram post ahead of episode 2's premiere, the actress shared that she'd gotten her diver's certification for the role and that she'd done 99% of her stunts in the episode that saw Gabi doing an underwater rescue. It was a heart-pounding sequence that put the character and the actress' skills on wondrous display.
In season 2's premiere Gabriela appeared to be the happiest out of everyone which seemed to be a product of her flourishing romance with Diego (Rafael de la Fuente) and her leaning hard into the paramedic side of firefighting as she works toward her certification. Ahead of the season opener, I asked Arcila how much of Gabriela's current mindset has to do with her choosing to be happy.
"I think Gabriela kind of immerses herself into work when she's going through stuff, and I think she does have genuine happy moments. I just think she has a lot of emotions that maybe she hasn't processed yet, you know, that maybe she's pushed down a little but she is happy.
She's happy that she's working. She's happy that she's learning new things and also gets to use her diving skills sometimes as well that I know she absolutely loves. And just learning to be in a different dynamic. I think has been healthy and helpful for her in becoming a medic as well."
And we've seen this. Gabi has been absolutely focused on work, but she hasn't been picking up hoses, throwing ladders, or putting out fires. Instead she's been cutting through flesh, treating wounds, and assessing the injured at incidents. It's a level up from what she was doing in season 1 because what she'd been learning, in terms of medical care, is now being used in her day-to-day work.
For Arcila that's meant folding even more medical jargon into her vocabulary, so she trains a lot. She also credits Fire Country's nurse tech Lynn and their fire techs, Simon and Jeff, who assist in these aspects of the job because they provide hours of training so that she knows what she's doing in situations where say she has to treat a tension hematoma. They train the cast so much because the show strives to be as accurate as possible.
"I love all that stuff. I don't know if I would love it in real life, but I love learning about it and doing [the medical work]. I watch so many murder documentaries, too, so all of these little things and operations that [paramedics] have to do in the moment has been really cool. It's fascinating how they set it up for us and how they explain it...it's been really exciting for me because I love learning as well just like Gabriela."
The paramedic aspect of Gabriela's development does add something new and interesting to her character but, as Arcila noted, she's not fully processing the emotions that conflict with her happiness. Bringing up Bode doesn't go well for anyone who tries to broach the subject. She's prickly around her ex and being called to scenes where she knows he's going to be has produced bristling lines like "I'm not picky about where I rack up my medic hours."
The headspace Gabi is in thanks to Station 42 working closely with Three Rock, and Station 58 having an ambulance, on top of her hope that she and Diego could grow to become the next Sharon and Vince did leave me wondering if Gabriela might transfer to his station. And, yes, this conversation will come up. Arcila put it this way:
"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."
A desire for family and closeness is a big part of Gabriela's characterization. It's also informed her relationship with Diego. As an audience, we're still in the early days of learning about their partnership, but we do know that they're both dedicated to service, they embrace the moment, a connection to family is important to them, and they share Colombian heritage.
A romance with Diego also comes with a big, loving family which isn't something Gabriela grew up with even though she yearned for it. She was raised by a single father who loves and adores her, but she was under the impression that her mother abandoned her after the divorce because Manny let her believe that. When she looks at Diego, she's not only seeing a romantic partner, she's also seeing a future, a life.
"[In Diego, Gabriela] sees the family she's never had. Her dad sees it as well, and he's so joyful for her because she knows that's what he's always want to give her, too, as a father.
I think that's one of the things that makes her fall even more in love with [Diego]. Just yearning for that family, for that community that she's always seen in others except within her own family. I think they have that special connection culturally as well where she gets to speak a lot more Spanish."
But still in knowing this Arcila said, "Love is love, and when there's chemistry and connection, there's chemistry and connection," which means her complicated feelings about Bode didn't just poof out of existence because Gabriela is committed to Diego. The actress shared that her character's heart is "battling" and that "she thinks she knows what's best for her and that's what she's trying to do. She's just trying to survive and do what she thinks is best for herself."
Regardless of how viewers might feel about Gabi moving on after two months, it remains true that Bode pushed her away. He wouldn't see her, and he wouldn't answer her letters. It took seven months for her to find out that Bode did get those letters and chose not to respond. She admitted that she wondered if maybe it was the jail that was "losing" them only to receive confirmation that Bode deliberately left her on read.
That's a lot to go through paired with what happened in season 1 even outside of Bode such as her anxiety while on the job, which hasn't cropped up yet but likely will again because Gabi's not sorting through her feelings. It's only a matter of time and Arcila spoke to this.
"Sometimes [Gabriela] kind of hides in her work and she focuses. I don't know if everyone fully passes through [anxiety] until you actually sit with your emotions and deal with it. Because all of a sudden there's moments that are triggering and then all of a sudden you think "Oh, you're over it. You're good. Let's go, let's do this, let's do that." Then all of a sudden you're like "Wait, what is this? Where is this coming from." Sometimes it's just us pushing our emotions down."
Arcila acknowledged Gabriela's go-getter mentality but also shared that her character still has a lot to process in regards to what she went through in the first season. Part of her journey in season 2 stems from having to dust herself off after the season 1 finale and mature in a different way. Arcila said that she's excited for the Fire Country fans to see Gabi's development from everything she's learning as a firefighter to her desire to be happy, foster community, and save people. But she also knows that Gabriela needs to save herself as well.