When Manny punched Luke (Michael Trucco) last season, nobody was more on Manny’s side than I was. Now, though, I have to disagree with Manny. In the Season 3 premiere, Manny tells Vince (Billy Burke) and Sharon (Diane Farr) to keep Bode and Gabriela apart in case he is not around to do so himself. Manny is hardly the first person on the show to try to get between Bode and Gabriela, and he should know by now that it does not work. No matter what happens, Bode and Gabriela will always gravitate back toward each other like two magnets.
There is no romantic dynamic on television that I love to watch more than the slow burn. However, Bode and Gabriela are not a true slowburn pairing. There was an immediate spark when they first met and got together in Season 1. Bode only broke up with her because he was going back to prison and did not think that he deserved her. Manny says that Bode and Gabriela are just like him and Roberta (Paola Núñez), but is he reading them right? Some might agree, but I think he’s wrong. Unlike Manny and Roberta, Bode and Gabriela have never gotten a real shot at trying to make it work as a couple. Now is the perfect time for the two of them to get that chance.
‘Fire Country’ Season 3 Reminds Me Why I Started Liking Bode and Gabriela Together in the First Place
As soon as they run away from the church and toward the helicopter, Bode and Gabriela naturally pair up to work together. As an injured Bode helps Gabriela save the helicopter pilot, we get what might just be the most romantic scene of the entire show. When she sees that Bode has cut his hand, Gabriela takes off her wedding veil and uses it to bandage Bode’s wound. I was not sold on Bode and Gabriela until the mid-season finale of Season 1, when she jumped off a bridge to save him — while she was still dating Jake and was angry at Bode. My favorite thing about these two is that all logic goes out the window for them when the other is hurt.
After their big kiss in the campaign fire bubble last season, it seemed like a no-brainer for Bode and Gabriela to just get back together once and for all. This was even more obvious when Gabriela got Bode his favorite donut in the Season 2 finale, right after he was released from prison. Unfortunately, this was less obvious to Gabriela. In a moment of doubt, she decided to go with the practical choices of marrying Diego and having the wedding indoors. Bode almost had his “Speak Now” moment, but Manny jumped in to tell him to leave it alone, because it was the happiest day of Gabriela’s life (which wasn’t quite what she said, but what is Fire Country without a little miscommunication?).
