‘It’s Going to Be a Real Journey’: ‘Fire Country’ Star Max Thieriot on Bode’s Well-Being Following Surprise Death (Exclusive)

Spoilers ahead for Season 2, Episode 5 of Fire Country (“This Storm Will Pass”)

Fire Country returned after a brief hiatus, and Max Thieriot spoke exclusively to PopCulture.com about the aftermath of the tragic events. The episode, titled “This Storm Will Pass,” picked up immediately following the cliffhanger in Episode 4, which saw an ambulance crash with Bode and Kara inside.

While Bode was fine, Sabina Gadecki’s Cara was not as she was stabbed and was bleeding out quick. Despite Bode and the other paramedic doing all they could to save her, Cara died. The two did get to talk a bit before she succumbed to her injuries, and Thieriot thinks that’s what needed to be done due to their rocky relationship.

“I think that the only silver lining in there is that she’s given Bode this vote of confidence, and the two of them were able to say their piece and apologize to each other for their past and things that maybe have been said or done and try and move past that before she’s gone,” Thieriot explained. “And so I think more than anything, I think she just instills a little bit of confidence in him as far as she knows who he can be, and that’s what she wants for him. And she gives him some of this responsibility that she hasn’t been able to put on him up until this point, and that’s to look out for the person that is most important in her life, Genevieve. And obviously, she’s not asking him to do it alone, but she knows it’s a huge ask. And I think, obviously, it says a lot about who she knows Bode can be.”

Just because Bode was able to talk to Cara and clear the air before her death, that won’t necessarily make things easier for him. Thieriot says that Bode’s “interest is always everybody else’s first,” and he has a lot more to think about than just himself. “And I think he knows he has to put this before anything, put Genevieve above all else, and do right by Cara and his actual, real way to make up for their past and some of the wrongs that he made when he was in a relationship with her,” Thieriot said. “I think he knows that this is something that he has to do, and he’s going to die on that mountain.”

After Bode found out about Gen potentially being his daughter in the Season 2 premiere, he’s definitely tried to be there for her, but things didn’t quite work out as planned thanks to fire camp. Meanwhile, Jordan Calloway’s Jake has been with Genevieve almost constantly, so fans should be looking forward to seeing how that dynamic continues and grows as the three of them are “trying to work through all of their things.”

Thieriot continued, “She knows Jake, she doesn’t know Bode. She is close with him, but there’s this guy that she believes is maybe her father. And the first time she goes to go see him, he’s getting slammed into the ground and roughed around by his CO. And I think she’s scared, and I think she’s also had to go through so much in such a short period of time as far as finding out who her parents were and how they weren’t the people that she believed and then losing that parent who she thought was actually her sister. And it is just that she’s already been through a rollercoaster, and at this point, she has no one.”

“I think she’s completely overwhelmed,” he said. “She’s feeling lost and scared and like she has no one. And the person now that she’s looking at, thinking this might be the person I have, I don’t even know. And so I think it’s going to be a real journey for all three of these characters, a journey unlike any they’ve ever had for Bode and Jake specifically.”

It seems like everyone will be healing and dealing with Cara’s death, and it’s going to be an emotional time for them. Seeing how Bode does with Gen and how Jake does as well will surely be an interesting storyline to look forward to. Since it sounds like Bode will be taking into account Gen and knowing that he needs to be responsible for not just her but himself as well, hopefully, he won’t be shutting down and isolating himself like he did when he was in prison. But fans will have to tune in to Fire Country on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS to see what happens.