Stephanie Arcila. Sergei Bachlakov/CBS
Stephanie Arcila is just like Us and was totally surprised by Fire Country’s season 2 premiere proposal — even though it involved her character, Gabriela Perez.
Warning: Spoilers below for Fire Country season 2, episode 1.
“I was in shock, but then, at the same time, not,” Arcila, 33, exclusively told Us Weekly of Gabriela’s engagement. “Because, I mean, if Bode wasn’t in jail, would they be getting married? Their relationship happens so quickly, too!”
Arcila confessed, “I think Gabriela — a good Latina — is a romantic. [She] wants love and is very passionate in expressing it in how she is with her friends, with her family, with her partner.”
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During the Fire Country season 1 finale, which aired in May 2023, Bode (Max Thieriot) falsely confessed to bringing drugs into Three Rock convict camp, so his pal Freddy (W. Tré Davis) would get a deal and be set free. At the time, Bode told Gabriela not to wait for him.
When the show picks up for season 2, viewers learn that Gabriela and Bode broke up after he headed back to prison. During the season premiere on Friday, February 16, Bode is six months into his prison stay and Gabriela has found love with someone else: paramedic firefighter, Diego (Rafael De La Fuente).
Fire Country centers around convict Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot) and the members of the Cal Fire team, including their red-hot romances. During season 1, Bode returns to his hometown and joins Cal Fire in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. While there, he steps into a love triangle between his former BFF and firefighter Jake […]
After celebrating their four-month anniversary in the episode, Diego proposes to Gabriela, and she accepts. “Eve, I’m engaged! I proposed and he did too. It was spontaneous and so us,” Gabriela says in the closing scene.
When Gabriela turns her head, she realizes that Bode is back at Three Rock. “I’m so happy for you,” Bode says before the episode ends. Earlier in the premiere, Bode’s former enemy, Sleeper (Grant Harvey), agrees to confess to being the real drug smuggler, which allows Bode the opportunity to get out of jail and once again work at Three Rock to knock time off his sentence.
“I was definitely in shock, because I don’t like to expect things. I like to be surprised,” Arcila told Us in February of the bombshell engagement. “When I read it, I called some of my other castmates and I’m like, ‘Did you see that? I’m engaged! We’re engaged!’ What is this?’”
The actress explained that as season 2 unfolds, viewers will see how Gabriela processes the proposal and Bode’s return to Edgewater. “We’re going to see and find out how that develops and how she feels even if she doesn’t say how she feels,” Arcila teased.
Arcila told Us that she hasn’t “found out yet” if there will be a love triangle involving Gabriela, Bode and Diego. “I think what we will see is that love that she still has for Bode,” she revealed. “And [Gabriela] trying to fight and figure out what is best for her. You’ll definitely feel it and you’ll definitely see it, but at the end of the day, they both want each other to genuinely be happy and they both want the best for each other.”
Arcila noted that there is “such a deep love” and a “beautiful connection” between Gabriela and Bode, so Gabriela will “always love him” on some level.
“I think there will be a shift in her maturity as well that people will see,” Arcila told Us, adding, “I think [that] her heart is trying to just build back up from those million little pieces that were broken in the last season.”
Fire Country airs on CBS Fridays at 9 p.m. ET.
