I Watch TV: Fire Country

 

Fire Country (Seasons 1 and 2)

Five years ago Bode got in a car crash that killed his sister. After an argument he left town (Edgewater, somewhere in northern California), and spiralling downwards got caught doing armed robbery. He volunteers for the California Conservation Camp program as an inmate firefighter. To his dismay he’s sent to Camp Three Rock, near Edgewater.

This is a problem as his family are all firefighters; his mother Sharon a division chief, his father Vince a battalion chief (between them they make up station command). His sister’s ex, Jake is a firefighter, and their friend Eve is also a firefighter. This is all for Cal Fire, the California Department of Forestry And Protection.

Meanwhile Three Rock is run by Manny, a former inmate firefighter who Sharon pulled strings to let him join Cal Fire. His daughter, Gabby, is dating Jake, has just come back to town; she came in 14^th in diving at the Olympics, something of a local hero. (Inevitably she joins Cal Fire, giving us a rookie eye view at events).

What we have here is a classic American TV charismatic people solve moderately difficult problems crossed with soap opera ongoing relationship plots. Bode has to reconcile with his family, always slipping a step back whenever progress is made, and do his time (working at the camp gets time off sentence). Jake, looking for leadership roles, breaks up with Gabby, starts dating Cara, a nurse who’s a former girlfriend of Bode. As a nurse they’re able to get her to turn up on incidents, which is an advantage when at least half of every episode is out on a call. This spirals quite amazingly; when Cara’s parents die it’s revealed that her younger sister Genevieve is actually her daughter, brought up by her parents. And Bode might be the father! Later still Cara dies, Bode’s not the father, Jake steps up, it’s all convoluted.

This is the usual thing; a story line is introduced or bubbles under, (Manny gambling for instance; Freddy, one of the inmates, being innocent) it’s a minor point for a couple of episodes, then it comes to the fore and then it either finishes or fades into the background to make room for the next one. It’s standard TV stuff, which is a bit out of fashion with shorter prestige series being more talked about. Often it’s a bit clunky, with people declaring their point of view on a topic before the fire of the week gives them something to think about. The fire effects are good.

Watch This: Good fire fighting by charismatic people having complex personal problems
Don’t Watch This: Everyone has serious conversations, keeps secrets, has to do feats of daring every week