Fire Country Wont Stop Failing One Crucial Character

Contains spoilers for "Fire Country" Season 3, Episode 8 — "Promise Me" 

A whole lot of conflict hits Bode Leone (Max Thieriot) and his new squad of firefighting compatriots in "Promise Me," but none of them gets closer to rock bottom than the perpetually spiraling Gabriela Perez (Stephanie Arcila). Over the years, fans have watched her spin out under the weight of a financial burden brought about by her aborted wedding, her failed friends-with-benefits situation with Bode, and a bad-idea one-night stand with Jake (Jordan Calloway). Her physical recklessness — previously characterized by an episode of cliff-diving — finally spreads to her on-duty behavior in Season 3, Episode 8, putting her in major danger.

Gabriela — much like Bode and his friend Audrey James (Leven Rambin) — disobeys orders to siphon from a truck's tank to give gas to a homeless woman and her daughter. Despite her protests that she knows what the child is going through, Jake nonetheless reads her the riot act, pointing out that he's been through plenty of trauma lately as well, but manages to remain functional. He further notes that her cancelled wedding is nothing compared to dealing with his daughter moving to live in another town. Gabriela responds by stripping off her gear, stomping away from Jake, and then promptly wandering right into a wildfire, leaving her trapped and creating yet another problem for her colleagues.

Fans are beyond peeved and exhausted with Gabriela at this point. It's as if "Fire Country" is determined to keep fumbling its biggest Season 3 storyline by doing everything that fans don't want them to with Grabriela, whether that's a love triangle with Bode, Audrey and/or Jake, or her slow descent into alcoholism. It's obvious that the show is failing the character, having her make one foolish, bad choice after another, leaving the audience to hope for her firefighting dreams to end or, more dramatically, for the show to kill Gabriela off.

Fans posting to the "Fire Country" subreddit have officially had enough of Gabriela at this point. "Hope Gabby burns up," a Reddit user remarked, adding a crossed fingers emoji. "What firefighter just walks off in the middle of the job because her feelings got hurt? Do firefighters do that IRL? Hate to say it but she sounds like a spoiled child," remarked another Reddit user. Many other fans are rooting for Gabriela to be removed from the squad posthaste due to her total lack of professionalism.

While this is probably going to end up being a good excuse for Bode to regret leaving Gabriela alone one more time, resulting in a reunion and continuing their history of being "Fire Country's" most insufferable couple, she needs to learn how to rescue herself before the audience completely gives up on her as a character.

Even worse, the possibility lingers in the air that Manny (Kevin Alejandro) will rescue his daughter and either die on duty or end up with an even harsher sentence. "Fire Country" continues to give fans reasons to hate Gabriela; if something happens to Manny due to her actions, the show will have failed her once again.