With the conclusion of Fire Country Season 2, Luke Leone (Michael Trucco), the current Interim Division Chief of Division 1501, stands out as one of the show’s most hated characters. Season 2 ends with Luke as a pariah for much of the central cast. But is Uncle Luke Leone getting a bad rap in Fire Country? Yes, that appears to be the case. Luke is a career bureaucrat — an executive jerk who doesn’t have the greatest bedside manner, and he’s not great at easing the minds of the rank and file. That said, calling Luke a villain is somewhat of a stretch. It’s time to unpack why Luke Leone is not the villain that viewers and other characters perceive him to be.
Luke Leone Is Unfairly Blamed for the Shutdown of the Three Rock Conservation Camp
One of the major arcs throughout Season 2 is the risk of Three Rock Conservation Camp shutting down. Things come to a head in Season 2, Episode 8, “It’s Not Over,” when the division holds a party to push to save Three Rock, attended by Governor Kelly (Catherine Lough Haggquist). During the event, Governor Kelly revealed that Luke was the one who suggested to her office to close Three Rock Con Camp. Everyone in attendance at the party finds out, and the news infuriates Manny Perez (Kevin Alejandro), a former inmate and the previous captain of Three Rock. This constitutes most of the animosity against Luke in Season 2, but Luke was simply trying to make the best out of a bad situation.
As Luke explains in the episode, the shutdown of Three Rock was the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CAL FIRE) attempt to salvage the inmate fire program. The closure of Three Rock amid budget cuts allows CAL FIRE to save the entire inmate fire program. Before things spiral out of control, Luke blames the shutdown of Three Rock on Manny’s leadership in the first season. Truthfully, while Luke acted harshly at the moment, he wasn’t wrong. The situation was emotionally charged, and Luke made it worse with his rhetoric, but the volatile Manny was not the greatest Fire Captain. Not to mention, whenever Manny would show up at the camp, he repeatedly undermined Captain Eve Edward’s (Jules Latimer) authority, creating awkward situations throughout the season.
For the firefighter inmates who are trying to turn their lives around, the camp shutdown sucks. However, Luke’s decision salvaged the entire program for other inmates. He made a tough decision, but arguably the right one. It was Manny who escalated the situation by starting a fight with Luke at the party. In the aftermath of the fight, even Vince (Robert Burke) and Sharon Leone (Diane Farr) demonstrate a level of understanding of Luke’s actions. As Luke says to Sharon in the episode, “The state’s been forcing budget cuts down my throat. You know better than anyone. Sometimes you got to make a hard call.” Sharon replies, “Don’t give me ‘hard call,’ I have had your job!” However, Luke correctly points out that if it had been any other camp other than the one with Sharon’s son, Bode (Max Thieriot), she would have made the same decision. Deep down, Sharon knows that Luke is right.
Luke Attempts To Give Eve a Promotion
During the Season 2 finale, “I Do,” Luke even admits to Eve he screwed up by shutting down Three Rock and attempts to make amends with the camp’s acting fire captain. He offers her a position overseeing the entire inmate fire program, requiring her to relocate to Sacramento. However, the role would entail Eve making all the decisions for every inmate fire camp in the state of California. Eve doesn’t want to relocate from Edgewater, but the situation wrongly portrays Luke as the bad guy for offering Eve a job promotion that includes a title bump and a pay raise.
The situation does not appear to involve malicious intent. Luke even mentions that the people in charge want Eve for the gig, and his main motivation in promoting Eve is that he “gets credit for elevating deserving talent.” While that is a career-minded, bureaucratic move, it’s not necessarily devious and underhanded. Of course, Eve later rejects the job offer, but it’s not Luke’s fault that she turned down the job.
‘Fire Country’ Season 3 Sets Up a Major Conflict Between Sharon and Luke
The show’s Season 2 finale potentially sets up a major conflict between Sharon and Luke for the third season. Sharon revealed that she wants to get her old job back, a position that Luke currently holds. Fire Country showrunner Tia Napolitano teased in an interview with TV Line that CAL FIRE might begin to notice how the main characters have been switching titles and positions. As Napolitano states about Sharon wanting her old job back, “What I love about Sharon is she’s so confident that she can. [Laughs] She said to him, ‘You’re renting that title,’ so we’re going to have to see the reality of how that goes.” She also teased that CAL FIRE will step in during Season 3, “Our people have switched titles and positions and kind of done whatever they want, and I think CAL FIRE might notice that next season. People have been swapping hats left and right!”
By the end of Season 2, Luke has alienated everyone, including his family, Manny Perez, Gabriela Perez (Stephanie Arcila), and Eve Edwards. However, it appears that Luke gains an unlikely ally at the end of the finale. It’s Luke’s nephew Bode who appeals to Luke, asking for a lifeline to become a firefighter. While Luke explains to Bode that securing a position in CAL FIRE would be difficult due to his criminal past, he never says no to Bode. The episode ends on a note suggesting that Luke will help get Bode a job as a legitimate firefighter. That potentially sets up an interesting conflict where Bode sides with Uncle Luke in Season 3, while Sharon wants her Division Chief role back from her brother-in-law, and Bode might feel indebted to his Uncle Luke. That creates a prospective cause for future discord within the Leone family. It remains to be seen if Luke Leone becomes more of an antagonistic presence in Season 3. Still, for now, many of Luke’s executive decisions are largely misunderstood and do not come from a nefarious place.
