'Fire Country' Showrunner Breaks Down Those Fiery Winter Finale Cliffhangers

Fire Country’s Season 3 winter finale, “Promise Me,” is the most Eve Edwards (Jules Latimer)-centric episode of Fire Country in the show’s history. The episode fills in the Three Rock captain and close friend of Bode Leone’s (Max Thieriot) backstory and introduces fans to her family, with whom she has a strained relationship.

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It also ends on a cliffhanger, as Bode and his fellow new firefighter Audrey James (Leven Rambin) get trapped in a firestorm and jump into a swimming pool to try to survive. Unfortunately, Audrey can’t swim. Meanwhile, Gabriela Perez (Stephanie Arcila) walks off the job after a fight with Jake Crawford (Jordan Calloway), getting stranded in a burning forest. How will they all get out of this? It’ll be six weeks until we find out.

Parade talked to Fire Country showrunner Tia Napolitano to break down the winter finale and find out what to expect when the show returns.

Back to the ranch

After building up to a reunion between Eve and her estranged family over the course of the season so far, Episode 8 finally delivers, as Eve takes the Three Rock crew with her to talk to her father, Elroy (Phil Morris), about doing some preemptive fire mitigation work on the family’s ranch. But Elroy is a stubborn man who doesn’t want anyone telling him what to do with his land, especially not his daughter who he feels turned his back on her family by leaving to go work for the fire department.

Eve tries to reconnect by helping him deliver a foal being birthed by Lucky, her favorite horse. He reluctantly allows Station 42 to do some controlled burning on his property to keep the “zombie fires” that are breaking out in the woods around the ranch from catching. Unfortunately, the wind shifts, and a stray ember from the controlled burn lights Elroy’s barn on fire, which makes Eve very sorry. We’ll have to wait to see what happens with that until the show returns.

Napolitano says that filling in Eve’s backstory was a long time coming. “It felt like we knew a lot about everybody else's backstory. And we've teed up that she's been estranged from her family, that there were issues there. We've alluded to it so much. And so it felt like a big finale episode was right for it, to really get into it.”

Related: Everything to Know About Fire Country Season 3

Bode and Audrey sink or swim

The fire incident in this episode is Bode and Audrey’s first time out as full-fledged Station 42 firefighters, and it does not go well. Bode makes a promise he shouldn’t to protect an Edgewater resident’s house from the flames. While desperately trying to keep his word, he ignores a call to return to base camp because the wildfire is spreading, which leads to the house catching on fire anyway while he and Audrey get trapped in a dangerous situation. The fire is all around them, so they jump into the house’s pool to avoid getting burned up. But Audrey can’t swim, so Bode is trying to hold on to her to keep them both alive.

If you’re frustrated about having to wait for the resolution of the cliffhanger — hopefully in a good way! — know that it was done on purpose. Fire Country loves to go into long breaks on cliffhangers.

“Since Season 1, this has been our thing, man,” Napolitano says, recalling that the Season 1 winter finale ended with a “literal cliffhanger,” as Bode got trapped in a car that was hanging off the side of a bridge before falling into the water. “We just want everyone to keep coming back, and we want to really deliver. And we also pride ourselves on having really emotional premieres that deliver on the cliffhanger, because the cliffhanger is no good if you come back to nothing. You have to really satisfy that cliffhanger. So we’ve really prided ourselves on our two-parters since Season 1.”

Related: Fire Country Star Max Thieriot Talks Bode's Major Milestone and Sending Off Jared Padalecki

What’s going on with Gabs?

Gabriela has been on a downward spiral this season. After calling off her wedding and deciding she’s not able to be in a relationship with Bode at this time–and maybe not ever–she’s been depressed and angry, acting out in increasingly self-destructive ways. Her behavior comes to a head in this episode, as she walks off the job after a fight with Jake when he reprimands her for spitefully breaking a car window to get to a fire hydrant. Unfortunately for her, she walks right into a worsening forest fire.

Napolitano reveals the writers are exploring a different side of Edgewater’s high-achieving golden girl this season. “On our show, a lot of the characters show you who they are when the chips are down for them," she says. "And she's been, other than this season, just shiny and an Olympian and a firefighter. Girl wins medals! That’s what she does. And I like to challenge characters and see what they do when things are not going as well for them, and see what that brings out. And it's really brought new depths for Stephanie as an actress and new flavors for Gabriela in a way that just makes me love her more.”

She says the writers are not going to give Gabriela more than she can take. “Talking about crafting a spiral for Gabriela, even from the beginning, we were very careful about, what’s our tolerance level, how long can it go on?” she says. “Of course, we in the audience are going to crave her rise after the spiral inevitably goes where it's going to go. I think that'll be really satisfying. But we're not looking to exploit the horrible place that she's in. It's just the realities of being a human, and then she'll continue on her little life roller coaster.”

Napolitano says that Gabriela will start to get back on track in the second half of the season. “We're gonna see her pull out of the nose dive,” Napolitano says. “We’re gonna get some of our old Gabriela back.”

Fire Country returns Friday, Jan. 31 on CBS and Paramount+.

Next, Diane Farr Reveals She Lost Her Voice Due to Anxiety While Directing Fire Country.