Change Your Image
ChiefDurham
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Fire Country: Where There's Smoke... (2022)
Retired CAL FIRE Chief Review/Recap - This Show Keeps Growing on Me!
Episode 3 - "Where There's Smoke . . . " These characters are really starting to grow on me; most of them. And Bode is looking more and more like a hero in disguise, a pretty troubled disguise at times.
The first scene shows us the recurring nightmare that haunts Bode; his sister Riley's accident. After shouting out her name and waking his fellow inmates, he goes outside where he and Manny have a chat. Both Max Thieriot and Kevin Alejandro are completely convincing in their portrayals of Bode and Manny, respectively. This seems to me to be when Max really shines, in these contemplative moments.
And Kevin's portrayal of Manny feels so authentic; his portrayal of Manny's almost paternal empathy towards Bode, getting him to believe he is a good person who made mistakes, is completely believable. Kevin is also very convincing as a Fire Crew Captain. The CAL FIRE lingo/jargon is flowing more easily with each episode - he sounds like one of us - as his character, Manny tries to balance a strict chain of command with his own instincts that suggest maybe Bode is right sometimes.
Next we see Vince and Sharon at home getting the day started. Crusty old Vince is making a kale, cranberry and bee pollen shake he read about online to help Sharon's Chronic Kidney Disease. There may be some marshmallow underneath that tough exterior after all. I may be starting to like him again?
Billy Burke and Diane Farr are so good with their characters, delivering more entertaining banter in this episode. It's one of the best parts about the show!
At one point, Vince warns Sharon that she needs to be careful using her rank to try and change Bode's circumstances. And he's right. No chief should play favorites with their families. That's nepotism and not only is it against department policy, more importantly, it has the potential to demoralize your troops and cause the chief that wields it to lose respect. But people still do it, like Sharon is. I'm not a mom but I'm thinking these would likely be complicated choices for Sharon; policy violation or not, momhood might trump chiefhood.
Jake is still delivering dialogue that's making us viewers shake our collective heads. Or maybe I should say not delivering it since he still hasn't told Vince the truth about hurting Riley. We can all see where this is going to go badly, right? Jordan Calloway does so well at making this character flawlessly believable; even if he's often unlikeable.
Just after Vince and Jake get a briefing from the crews on the fire, a young man comes running towards them with his clothing on fire and yelling about a friend who is still up on the mountain.. Vince and Jake jump on him with Jakes nomex jacket and put the fire out. Standing 10 feet away are two firefighters holding two separate nozzles and spraying water aimlessly. They barely turn around when "Burning Man," as Vince called him - funny line - comes running past them. In real life, they would have run over and extinguished his clothing, immediately. It's one of the first things you learn as a firefighter - to immediately put water on a burn; it stops the burning process. That just looked so odd.
Sharon is one tough chief, a well written balance of experienced, smart and strong; this character is an admirable one and Diane Farr does a phenomenal job with this role; she's a natural, like she's lived in those shoes. But her character, Sharon's achilles heel is definitely her son and her usual tough-but-fair persona seems thrown off kilter when it comes to Bode.
The exchange between Sharon and Manny as Visiting Day at Three Rock Camp is cut short and the crew is loading up to head to the fire feels authentic. After Sharon warns Bode not to go looking for trouble: Manny tells her "Chief, I got him," and Sharon replies, "I know you do" is spot on. I've said exactly that to friends whose kids were fighting fire under my supervision. Though you're not thinking about that specifically while on a fire, you can't worry like that when you're in the thick of things; it's a monumental responsibility, keeping other people's kids, they're all somebody's kids, safe in such a dangerous job.
Manny arrives at scene of the fire with Crew 4, briefs them and lines them out - all textbook, good stuff. But when Bode asked Manny for a word, I thought, 'Geez can't this guy just do what he's told.' Of course it turns out he has good intel on the local illegal grower that may help.
Vince and Jake find Burning Man's friend near the growers camp in a booby trap pit with a wooden stake through his leg. The booby traps, trip wires and heavily armed growers are a real concern in many forested lands in parts of California. Firefighters know these areas and use a great deal of caution. I'm fairly certain that law enforcement would have had a much bigger presence at this point IRL. Mostly for the safety of the firefighters and inmates.
When the Growers show up back at their camp pointing guns at Vince and Jake, Vince gets out a "Mayday" on the radio just before the growers tie their hands and refuse to let them give care to Burning Man's hurt friend. Vince has some great lines in the back and forth that ensues; he continues to remind me of some of my favorite "Old Forestry" folks in CAL FIRE. Billy Burke is perfect for this role.
Next we see Crew 4 cutting handline in grass in a clearing in case the fire spreads. Good place for it and the line looks legit. But when Bode hears the cops responding to the growers camp, he gets out of line and approaches Manny. Most Crew Captains would lose their . . . Cool about now with the constant push back from Bode. His concern may be valid, that adding cops to the situation at the growers camp could make things worse for his dad and Jake but now Manny is once again faced with the dilemma - disregard what Bode is saying and roll him up when they get back to camp; or put his frustration with Bode aside and hear what he has to say. Since, as the writers remind us, Manny came from that world of criminals and inmates, his grey area is much broader than someone who did not. I'm guessing this is why he once again allows Bode to convince him to do something he would never do otherwise. And, once again, it works out for them.
Things escalate when the grower gets on Vince's radio and tells everyone Vince and Jake are now his hostages, Sharon's reaction to this, calling Manny on his cell phone, telling him Crew 4 is released from the incident, to pack up and go back to camp, that would never happen. Or should never happen. It goes back to what Vince was saying that morning; that Sharon's decision making is influenced by her feelings about her son, her achilles heel. And no one, engine or hand crew, ever wants to be released from a going fire! As much as he respects Sharon, Manny would be pissed IRL.
With everyone up on the incident on Mayhem Mountain now, things start to converge. Bode, Manny and the smart ass we love as Vince all convince Mojave, the head of the growers, that if they don't give up and get off the mountain, they're all going to die up there. The fire, which has been working it's way towards them (remember that unburned fuel between them and the fire?) now has them trapped. The following scene with all of them boony crashing through the burning timber in the dope growers old SUV with the tires on fire is a blast to watch! A vehicle is probably the safest way to escape a fire so that part makes sense. But I can't say that's something I've ever seen or heard of before!
The last scene - both Manny and Sharon's exchange as well as Bode and Vince's - are nicely done; Sharon has a special place in her heart for Manny - a little more so even than the whole second family thing. The dialogue is poignant and real. Sharon letting Manny know she wasn't happy with him going against her orders but hearing Manny when he explains that Bode's desire and drive to help others is inspiring.
And we finally see a chink in Vince's armor where his son is concerned as he apologizes for telling Bode to leave. Bode also finally tells his dad about Jakes relationship with Riley and what happened the night she died. Vince did not look too happy that Jake hasn't mentioned that before. The show ends with hope for this family; the Leone's family and their CAL FIRE family too.
Fire Country: The Fresh Prince of Edgewater (2022)
What a rush!
What a rush! I may have to start watching "Fire Country" during the day! After the adrenaline surge, I got from watching Episode 2 last night, I had to leash up my Rottie and head out for a late night walk just so I could get rid of the adrenaline and get some sleep! I'd love to know if people without firefighting experience felt the same way after watching.
So, Episode 2 starts out with Bode (Max Thieriot) having a flashback to a birthday party where we're introduced to Riley, the friend, girlfriend and daughter being mourned in Episode 1. We find out that she was Bode's little sister. And the night she died in what appears to be a very tragic accident, she went from being a happy young woman celebrating her birthday with family and friends, to getting her heart broken by Jake (Jordon Calloway) and then dying. It looks like upcoming episodes will show us more details about the rest of that fateful night, including what really happened in the accident. By the way, they did a great job of making the cast look younger in the flashback. Bode rocked the shorter haircut!
The next scene has Bode facing the consequences for going rogue on the Buckeye Fire in Episode 1; taking a chainsaw up the fireline to save his former best friend Jake who was trapped under a burning tree. Bode's Captain, Manny (Kevin Alejandro does an excellent job with this role! He is SO much like so many Fire Crew Captains I knew back in the day) listens to both of Bode's parents, both chiefs who outrank him, as they share their completely opposing opinions about what Manny should do. He respectfully, but firmly, informs them both that it's his decision to make, whether to send Bode back to prison for disobeying a direct order.
After Vince let's go some pretty angry, and kind of ugly, comments to Manny about his son, Bode lets it slip, in front of his mom, Sharon (Diane Farr) that there was at least one of his dad's orders that he did follow well. The looks the three exchange say a lot and Vince knows he's in trouble. But that knowledge doesn't persuade him to tell his wife what he said. It's becoming increasingly clear that there is still a great deal of anger and hurt surrounding Riley's death and the aftermath. And the writers are doing a good job of making us not like Vince so much, at this particular moment. It will be interesting to see how they explain his feelings towards his son in a way that hopefully lets us fall back in love with this character.
The next morning at breakfast at the local bar and grill, (it's pretty cool the name of the local hangout the CAL FIRE folks frequent is Smokey's!) the banter between Sharon and Vince picks up where it left off. It continues throughout the episode and it's pretty entertaining. They're both such talented actors, the dialogue flows easily; unlike Vince, who's still in the doghouse for not flowing his own dialogue and telling his wife what he said to Bode.
Their back and forth is interrupted when they hear radio traffic that a dry lightning storm is headed towards Edgewater. They both react quickly and head for the door while explaining to the folks at Smokeys what's happening. Sharon's line about the incoming storm at the end of the scene is perfect. "Dry storms don't rain water, they rain lightning. So it's like little fires everywhere." What a completely natural piece of dialogue that helps the viewers understand what's happening.
So, side note; I am not about to Monday morning quarterback the writers, directors, actors or producers of this show. I hope that's not how this comes across. I'm not from that world. These are my thoughts and opinions based on 31 years in CAL FIRE and 3 years of rookie writing. But I do know from that combined experience that it's very difficult to write drama about firefighters; especially CAL FIRE with it's complex and diverse types of incidents and operations. You have to find ways to use dialogue to introduce concepts, terminology and jargon that the audience has likely never heard; all while trying to make it sound as natural as possible. And sometimes the dialogue that results can end up sounding a little awkward, though the dialogue seemed much smoother in this episode. But it is NOT an easy thing to do.
Next up we see Manny and the Fire Crew head out on the road as the dry lightning approaches; these are a specific kind of thunderstorm with hundreds of down strikes (lightning) and little to no rain. They can cause multiple fire starts within minutes of each other; often in remote areas.
We see Manny and the crew pulling into the parking area of Edgewater's Rec Center. Manny is explaining that the Rec building needs defensible space, that it needs to have the brush cleared away from its perimeter so the fire won't ignite the brush, which could then ignite the building. His explanation is spot on but the scene is confusing to me. It's a great message to get out to viewers. But it doesn't make sense in this particular situation. There is no actual fire yet. And they don't know if or when they may get a down strike in that area.
Maybe the scene was supposed to depict what fire crews can do to help when structure protection is necessary. Crews are invaluable when teamed up with engines to provide protection to buildings in the path of an advancing fire. What was strange about this scene was, there was no advancing fire. When lightning did hit a nearby tree and it exploded - yes that really happens! Then they had fire.
Next we see the porch roof of the rec building ignited because of embers from the exploding tree; a very realistic occurrence. Just as it ignited, I thought, "just cut the posts and push it away from the building."
It was cool that that's exactly what they did. It was just strange that they did it so slowly. That would have needed to happen very quickly, within minutes of the porch roof igniting, in order to keep the fire from spreading to the main building. The extended conversation between Manny and Bode as well as seeing the inmates standing around leaning on shovels, watching, was just odd.
Freddy (W. Tré Davis) continues in his role as comic relief. He seems like a total natural. As he tries to convince Bode to stay with their crew, he mentions the food at a neighboring camp is awful - "suspicious soup and mystery meat". The latter, "mystery meat" is actually a term inmates use for some of the weird food that is served at camp.
As Vince's engine crew finishes up the first of the lightning fires, they're all sent to the Rec Center where Manny's crew is trying to keep from losing the rec building. One of the best lines from this episode is when Vince balks at being sent to the same location as his son Bode and Sharon reminds him, "Aren't you the guy who was just complaining about his son not following orders? Do you think that could be genetic?" What a fantastic line! Perfection.
I love the scene with Sharon at Station 42, pacing back and forth, switching between her radio in one hand and the phone in the other while she ran operations on this series of lightning fires. What's weird; I've been there; exactly there. It was so surreal watching this.
Later, as Jake is fed numerous conflicting viewpoints about what he should put in his report to Manny about the incident with Bode on the Buckeye Fire, the scene shows clearly that this is a tough decision. Should he tell the truth? That Jake punched him, but also saved his life? Or should he omit the part about getting punched so that Bode can stay at Three Rock and he and his parents can begin to heal. It is not black and white. Not much ever really is.
Sharon and Vince's well written dialogue continues as the show reaches its end. Their scene at Smokey's is so well done. I felt what Sharon portrayed in a real way. The fact that she still loves her husband but is incredibly angry with him is pretty evolved.
When she reveals her illness to Manny in the next scene and pleads with him to keep Bode at Three Rock, she evokes heartbreak from every parent watching the show. Well done by Diane Farr! My new favorite character.
The last scene between Bode and Manny rocks! When Manny reveals he is a former inmate (he stole cars when he was a kid); that Sharon gave him a second chance and that he believes in second chances too, it feels like one of the premises of the entire show is being revealed. People make mistakes and they usually deserve a second chance.
A couple technicalities:
- The Battalion Chief (Vince) should have his own pick up, BC's always do. They do not (ever) ride shotgun in the engine. This is just weird.
- I'm guessing it's difficult to film, but there is SO much more smoke in real fire situations. At least 'some' more would look more realistic.
I'm so excited about the potential of "Fire Country." Not only does it have the opportunity to truly entertain people with the excitement and human drama, it has the chance to educate people. To teach them about fire in California; about defensible space and fire history; about the importance of the Camp Program and the integral part Fire Crews play. Inmate Crews are vital to California's fire suppression capabilities, but also to its resource conservation efforts; helping with fuel reduction on state and federal land as well as flood protection, just to name a couple.
I could be wrong, but I swear sometimes it seems that Max believes so strongly in the good this show could bring, the valuable opportunity it's success could mean, that it's palpable when you watch him portray Bode. He's almost bursting with the weight of it.
Can't wait for Episode 3! Friday night at 9:00 on CBS!
Fire Country (2022)
Retired Fire Chief - "Loved It! Tons of Potential!"
It was damn thrilling, watching CBS's new show, "Fire Country," and completely surreal. Having spent 31 years working for CAL FIRE, it was a trip watching scenes that depicted eerily similar experiences to my own. But it was a good trip! Mostly. There were definitely one or two cringe worthy moments though.
I'm a huge fan of cop and firefighter shows - my favs are NBC's "Chicago Fire," ABC's "The Rookie," and CBS's "Blue Bloods." And I've watched each one from the get-go. But Fire Country is its own animal and that's a huge plus. The wildland fire element and the diverse types of job opportunities within CAL FIRE give it a lane of its own. I'm looking forward to seeing if the writers are able to expand the show's elements without complicating it. It might be hard to do. CAL FIRE has a Helitack (Helicopter) program, Air Attack (Air Tanker), Law Enforcement/Fire Prevention, Communications/PR and the Camp Program of course. Even the Command Centers (dispatch) have captains - uniformed men and women who came from field positions. This could create some cool opportunities for the creators and writers as the show moves forward.
I'm also a huge fan of Jerry Bruckheimer, one of "Fire Country's" Executive Producers. I was really excited to see he was involved with this project. So many of his TV shows, the "CSI" trio to "Cold Case," and movies, "Flashdance" to "Top Gun Maverick" are favorites of mine; favorites of millions of people. Not much that he puts his prints on goes south.
Want to hear a cool piece of synchronicity: Bruckheimer's original "Top Gun" movie had a serious following with a lot of us in CAL FIRE, maybe in the whole fire service, I'm not sure. For years in the late 80's and 90's we'd walk around quoting lines from the movie to each other. "Just a walk in the park Kazansky," when one of our friends was headed in for an important promotional interview; or "Talk to me Goose" when we were trying to get a pal to talk about something difficult; or one I used more than once, "Your ego is writing checks your body can't cash." That's a line his boss could have used on Bode Donovan, a lead character in "Fire Country" played well by Max Thieriot (SEAL Team) when he took off with a chainsaw, against direct orders, to save his buddies on the fire line. It looked cool and heroic on TV, but it's likely he would have been rolled up (sent back to prison) for that in real life.
The first episode begins with an introduction to Bode, an inmate in a California prison, as he is making his case for parole. When his request is denied, his attorney suggests he volunteer for the California Conservation Camp Program and become a member of a Fire Crew. The Camp Program is a real-life joint program between CAL FIRE and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Their inmate Fire Crews are an integral part of CAL FIRE's suppression capabilities.
A fellow inmate, Freddy (W. Tré Davis does a great job with this character) explains the advantages of this Fire Crew opportunity to Bode as they share the bus ride with other inmates to their new home, Three Rock Camp, in Northern California. Freddy is a crack up. He's the much-needed comic relief in a high drama show and the things he does and says are authentic. The 'bear episode' while the Fire Crew is out training is hilarious and spot on!
As the episode unfolds, we quickly learn that Three Rock Camp is not the location Bode was promised. The Camp is near the town of Edgewater, a fictional northern California town. It also turns out to be Bode's hometown and the last place on earth he wanted to go. The reasons why begin to surface as the story moves forward.
In Edgewater, we're introduced to the local CAL FIRE Battalion Chief (BC), Vince Leone, played by Billy Burke (Remember Bella's dad in the "Twilight" movies?). He is one crusty dude and was immediately my favorite character: saying exactly what needs saying with little regard for the rank of the chiefs he's talking to. Even if that chief who outranks him is his wife, Sharon, played by Diane Farr (the cool FBI agent from "Numb3rs") and my second favorite character. Diane portrays the part well and I'm looking forward to seeing how they develop her character; how close to home it hits.
I actually worked with a couple of "fire gods" like Vince during my career. I sought them out to work for and learn from, eventually becoming like them. And, like Vince, not always to my advantage. But his character personifies the best of the best kind of Battalion Chief. You can see that he takes care of his people first and answers to management second. Two thumbs up to the creators for that character development.
Speaking of which, when you see the team of Executive Producers/Writers and Creators - Joan Rater, Tony Phelan and Tia Napolitano, all of Greys Anatomy success, it's easy to see why this show has so much potential. That is a lot of talent. And there is SO much potential for this show; I can't wait to see how things play out as the season progresses!
I remember Max Thieriot from his earlier movies, "The Pacifier" and "Nancy Drew" and fans of "SEAL Team" will know him right away. His looks lend themselves well to the part of Bode, and his portrayal of an inmate asking for forgiveness was well done. But there was something a bit off putting about the level of intensity that occurred a couple of times in this first episode. His machine gun style of speaking through a couple of heated interactions left me rewinding to understand what he was saying. And the level of anger or intensity didn't quite resonate with the dialogue in the scene. Hopefully this will smooth out as we get to know Bode in the upcoming episodes.
The scenery is beautiful; the locations they found in Vancouver to shoot look a lot like northern California. Nice job. Though Occidental, the small Sonoma County town where Max Thieriot actually grew up, part of his inspiration for the show, is less mountainous and timber covered, there are a lot of similarities. Including the small-town attitude of not wanting to be told what to do! Vince, the Battalion Chief, alludes to this when a fire breaks out near Edgewater and he asks to have the local bar closed. He wants the residents to evacuate, not hang out at the bar. Great scene!
Gabriela Perez, played well by Stephanie Arcia is the daughter of Bode's Fire Captain, Manny Perez; Kevin Alejandro is well cast in this role (think "Ugly Betty" and "Luciefer"). He reminds me of several Fire Crew Captains I worked with at the Camp.
Gabriela is an Olympic athlete trying to decide what direction her life should head next. Towards the end of the episode, she helps the people of Edgewater as a fire approaches their town, afterwards telling her dad how amazing it was to feel a part of something. Uh oh. That's how it all begins. For me too. My seasonal firefighter job for CAL FIRE (1982) became an amazing 31-year career. But I saw more than one co-worker react the same way as Manny when a daughter broke that news of wanting to become a firefighter. We'll see how Manny handles Gaby's decision in upcoming episodes. His line though during this exchange, "fire burns everything around it but water saves it" was one of the cringey bits; awkward dialogue.
Some things I hope to see:
When the alarm goes off, three pieces of equipment roll out the door of Station 42. That's 6 - 10 personnel at the station. But we only see two firefighters at meals, two firefighters putting the engine back in service after a call, etc. Where are the rest of the fire house personnel? Looking forward to some Chicago Fire like group banter in upcoming episodes.
The two firefighters we do meet, Jake Crawford (Jordan Calloway) and Everly "Eve" Edwards (Jules Latimer) did a fantastic job of showing what genuine firehouse friendship and camaraderie look like. The crew is your second family and the writing and acting displayed this well. With one cringey exception: the line Eve has after they talk about their friend Riley dying. This is the same Riley that Jake and Bode end up fighting about on the fire line and Sharon and Vince end up sharing a sad moment about at home. So we're learning that her death is part of why Bode is in prison.
But Eve's line, "we're afraid to get close to someone because what if we do and they die" just felt weird. There are a plenty of reasons Firefighters hold back from more intimate relationships. Goodness knows I had more than my share. But a fear of loving someone because they might die isn't really one of them. Firefighters are addicted to the adrenaline rush of the danger. And when you combine being put in life threatening situations on a regular basis with living together 24 hours a day sometimes weeks at a time, well that's pretty much the perfect recipe for a bunch of twenty somethings to fall for each other! Even if it isn't on some deeper level. A hard part about relationships for some firefighters, the ones that are married to their job, is trying to have something meaningful with a civilian. That's why so many of us have relationships with other firefighters, which is depicted well in "Fire Country."
I'm not going to pick apart the technical errors, much. But one thing that is going to rile a fair share of actual firefighters is what we call grooming standards, facial hair, hair length etc. The guys can not have any facial hair, other than a well-trimmed moustache, because the face mask on breathing apparatus won't seal. And everyone, gals and guys have to have their hair off their collar; either cut short or pulled up. Both Vince and Sharon Leone's hair styles wouldn't be allowed.
All in all, "Fire Country" is an awesome show!! I may be a little biased but I also watch a lot of these kinds of shows. And this one could go a long way! It's got great creators, writers and producers, a very well-cast crew and complex and exciting subject matter. I can't wait for Episode 2!