[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Fire Country Season 2 Episode 9 “No Future, No Consequences.”]
Dare we say the Leones have something to be very happy about at the end of the penultimate episode of Fire Country Season 2? It comes, of course, after Vince (Billy Burke) is nearly consumed by the flames of a campaign fire.
Due to that incident, the truth about his hand tremor and heart arrhythmia does come out, but fortunately, he’s going to be fine and has admitted he needs help. Then comes some good news, followed by good news, then bad news, and then more good news in quick succession: Manny (Kevin Alejandro) won’t lose his job for punching Luke (Michael Trucco) and starting a fire upon learning the other man recommended Three Rock be shut down, the fire camp will remain open, a warrant is out for Manny’s arrest and he’s MIA, and because of his work saving his father, Bode (Max Thieriot) is getting time off his sentence and is coming home!
Below, Diane Farr discusses the major news for the Leones and teases what’s ahead in the May 17 finale.
The Leones get some great news: Bode’s coming home. Unfortunately, this family doesn’t get much good news (Bode’s parole hearing, what’s going on with Vince). How are they processing this news? Is there a sense of, “Wait, we can be happy?”?
Diane Farr: I think like most things for the Leones and maybe even most things in good television, it’s always two steps ahead, one step back. So are the Leones aware that there’s a one step back? Sometimes I feel like Vince is and then Sharon isn’t, and when Sharon is, Vince isn’t, you know what I mean? Couples tend to polarize each other. I think in that moment he’s more happy than I am. I think I’m still living with the shock of it.
Sergei Bachlakov/CBS
Is she at all worried about Bode being outside the structure of Three Rock at this point with what’s been going on?
Yes. I think in real life, there’s an actual number of hours that people are supposed to be the most sensitive to. If I remember correctly, I think it’s the first 72 hours. I think coming out of prison sentence is a lot like coming out of a rehab, that people are in their most vulnerable state and outside influences, former habits can definitely wreak havoc on them.
What does she think that Bode coming home will look like, and what can you preview about what it actually looks like in the finale?
She has an idea of how she wants it to go and it goes absolutely nothing like that. Like most moms, you want your son to be thoughtful, homebound, signing up for therapy straight away, and being very careful of what influences are there. You don’t want him to be triggered by anything. The finale is full of triggers.
What does that look like? Are we looking at a family dinner? Is Sharon trying to plan something?
We know there’s this wedding coming, so I think the planning is mostly centered around that, but any ecosystem, if there’s an eye in the center of the storm, there’s all the circles around it that go a little crazy. I know in my own wedding, I was warned one person will surprise you. The person that you didn’t imagine would be difficult ends up being difficult. So I think that’s probably true of most people, and I think there’s a piece of that in the finale.
Sharon found out about Vince keeping his health issues from her and due to circumstances it feels like she wasn’t necessarily as angry with him as she would’ve been because she was just happy he was alive. But given what happened earlier this season, how does she feel about him keeping that secret from her?
I think in a little bit of a strange way, there’s this distance between Sharon and Vince that almost feels like courting. There are some things she allows him to keep to himself and there are some things she allows herself to keep secret from him that keeps them excited and interested by each other. I think in a strange way, she considers it part of his masculinity. So I think she’s okay with it. Does that make sense?
Eric Milner/CBS
It does.
He’s not exactly stoic, but they work together all day long and they’re home together all day long. If they didn’t have some boundaries, there would be nothing left to be attracted to. It would just be all codependence all the time. So him having a little bit of a secret and her finding out later is kind of par for how they work.
Does that mean they’re fine going forward and they’ll end the season in a much better way than they did in Season 1? That was painful.
I think at the end of Season 2, we are most concerned with our son. Our marriage is not in question the way it was all season because I think we’re not going to be okay if our son’s not okay.
What is coming up with Vince’s health in the finale?
Lots of things come up with Vince’s health in the finale, but that’s all I can tell you.
How would feel if she knew about Bode and Gabriela’s (Stephanie Arcila) kiss, especially given he’s now coming home and her wedding is quickly approaching?
I’m not sure that Sharon would be very excited about this. I’m not sure that that’s the path I’m cheering for in this moment for Bode. It doesn’t seem like the easiest relationship in his life, so I’m not sure that that’s something she’d be rooting for in this moment.
Vince told Sharon he wants her to run 42, but as we’ve seen this season, she really enjoys being in the middle of the action. So how is she feeling about doing that?
We’re going to get an answer for that in the finale, and it comes with a little bit of icing. I think the exact line of dialogue I have is, “If it goes this way, that will just be icing.”
Does this mean she’s considering what she wants to do? She’s been enjoying being in the action.
Yes, yes, yes. That decision’s not totally up to her. She has to be appointed, but she’d have to run for it and fight for it, but she’s going to have to decide. I think at the end of the day, she is a woman who had lost all of her kids. I think—I don’t know, this is verging into Season 3. I think being somebody’s mother is going to play a big part in what she wants to do going forward because now she has a child to care for.
She almost had a granddaughter, but that’s complicated since there’s also Gen’s biological father whose identity we don’t know…
Yeah, there’s a fantastic turn in the finale that’s going to give us some more information about Gen. It’s really good. I didn’t even see it coming.
What else can you preview about the finale other than being worried about Bode, where it leaves Sharon for Season 3?
Our producing director, Bill Purple is the director. The producing director is the person who’s there all the time who sort of maintains the look and the feel of the show, so he has insight on where the characters are going before anyone else, and he has all the insight on what the actor’s strengths are. So the joy in the finale is that he can sort of mine all of that. I think the point was not to make it all about an incident, it was about to reach an emotional arc for all of these people who’ve been rediscovering themselves for 10 episodes. So the finale is sort of an emotional pinnacle, and I think Bill handles it great because he knows us the best.
Fire Country, Fridays, 9/8c, CBS