Spoilers for Fire Country Season 3, Episode 7 are ahead! If you haven’t seen it yet, you can stream it with a Paramount+ subscription.
When Fire Country’s latest episode on the 2024 TV schedule dropped, a major game-changing choice was made. I’m, of course, talking about Gabriela and Jake hooking up in the final moments of the episode, because it’s clear as day that this will cause some chaos in Station 42. Now, as fans reel with this development, Stephanie Arcila broke down why her character did this and why she’s “really grateful” for this development.
I had the chance to chat with Arcila about Episode 7 specifically, and our conversation began with me noting my shock about Gabriela and Jake reigniting their long-put-out romantic flame. She said she was surprised by it too, and she didn’t know it was coming:
No, I had no idea. I was just as surprised as all of you when I read it. Yeah, it was shocking. But it also shows what state Gabriela is [in], right? It's spiraling and concerning and as well as just a cry for love and help, right?
She makes a good point here, after Bode broke things off with her, a semi-questionable night with Camden, and Gabriela closing herself off, it’s clear that she’s spiraling. As Arcila said, it’s a “cry for love and help,” and hopefully she’ll get that in the coming episodes.
Jake is in a similar boat, as he’s still grieving Cara and dealing with Gen wanting to stay with her biological father. So they are both in need of an outlet for their pent-up struggles and emotions. However, while they both needed that, their hooking up was unexpected.
Noting that both she and Jordan Calloway (who plays Jake) were in “shock” when they read the script and that last scene, they also quickly realized the goal of this story. Arcila told me:
I know a lot of people are pissed, but I know we're really grateful that we're not perfect, and they're humanizing us. And people make mistakes, and people, you know, make decisions based on where they're at, emotionally and mentally. I think the shocking aspect of it is good, and there has to be conflict for healing, right? Without conflict, we don't know what we want. Without conflict, we don't know where we're at, what we don't want and what we want. Conflict is not always a bad thing.
Gabriela has really been through it. She didn’t say “I do” at her wedding, Diego confronted her about Bode, she and Bode had a brief fling, and then he (rightfully) broke things off with her. She’s clearly in need of help and, honestly, a good cry.
As Arcila explained during our interview, Gabriela is a “steaming pot” with a lid on it, and eventually, that has to “pop.” It feels like her reigniting her relationship with Jake could lead to that, which, despite fans’ worry, could be a good thing, as the actress explained:
I think fans love Bode and Gabriela at the end of the day. So fans have a lot of questions and are not ecstatic. But I think, at the end of the day, I'm really grateful that they've shown that Gabriela is not perfect, that Gabriela does go through stuff, and that Gabriela has had a lid on her. What people have thought is perfect has really been just a lid on a steaming pot ready to pop eventually.
She then went on to explain that over these three seasons, Gabriela has had to deal with so much upheaval and change. She’s lost her father and Bode. Also, it's important to remember that she really hasn’t been in Edgewater for that long, meaning she's still figuring out her place in her new home. Overall, her life has changed dramatically in a short period of time, and she’s in need of a new outlet for her emotions that isn’t work.
To that point, the Gabriela performer said that this moment with Jake could emphasize the need for her character to process everything she’s been through in a more complete way:
Whether a life changes for the good or the bad, there's still a process that has to happen mentally. There's still an adjustment of getting to know yourself and these new dynamics and new circumstances. And if you don't go through those processes, your mind eventually, mentally, is gonna explode.
So, yeah, I was shocked by Gabriela and Jake getting together, and it seemed like a very bad decision. However, it also feels like it could be the impotence that forces both of them to really look inward and start the process of healing.
They’ve both faced a lot of tragedy and loss, now they really need to work on themselves. Arcila made that point clear, and now it will be interesting to see if that starts happening when Fire Country returns to CBS this Friday at 9 p.m. ET.
