It is always disappointing when something you’ve been looking forward to for a long time seems to be happening finally, only for everything to fall apart.
That’s how Fire Country is making me feel with the writers’ decision to write out Gabriela Perez in the upcoming season.
Just to recap, it was announced that Billy Burke and Stephanie Arcila will be demoted from their series regular duties in Fire Country Season 4.
The Season 3 finale did not set up such exits, although we have a feeling about how Vince Leone will be written out.
These two departures could not have come at a worse time.
We explored how Billy Burke’s departure would be detrimental to the show, but most of the points made are not directly related to the character’s journey.
However, for Gabriela, it would be antithetical to the work done throughout the years that brought her to the point she arrived in Season 3.
Gabriela Will Be Leaving in Fire Country Season 4
When the show’s team announced that the characters won’t return for their regular roles in Fire Country Season 4, my first question was: why now? The second was: now, why would they do that?
We have gotten explanations that the show’s creative team feels it is the appropriate direction for the story.
“It was really a decision that came out of the dynamic between Bode and Gabriela; we felt like those two characters needed a reset. We love Stephanie, and we are committed to saying that the Bode-Gabriela story does not end here, it goes on,” series co-creator Tony Phelan told Deadline.
“We’re hoping that we can bring that character back, because we think that they have such great chemistry, and the audience is really invested in the two of them,” he continued.
“But we felt, with everything that’s happening in the finale and moving on into the next season, that it was time for that character to discover what’s next for her,” Phelan concluded.
And while that might seem like a satisfactory explanation, I don’t buy it.
For the longest time, Fire Country has not known what to do with Gabriela Perez, and they have decided to take her out by writing her out.
Fire Country Never Knew What to Do with Gabriela
Since Fire Country Season 1, it didn’t seem like her role was well thought out.
She was always tied to the drama in the lives of the men surrounding her, and when there wasn’t much of that any longer, the writers gave up.
Gabriela was one of the victims pulled into Bode’s orbit as he continued to reap the benefits of his erratic behavior.
She was added to the narrative as creative fodder for mining drama between Bode and Jake, while creating one of the most contrived love triangles in the history of television.
And for a while, it seemed to work.
But at some point, they realized the show could not live on soapy drama and gave her some attributes.
Learning that she had to make a pivot in her career, and like the show’s main character, was also looking for redemption, made her easier to root for.
On the other side was her complicated relationship with her parents, given Manny’s past incarceration and her mother’s decision to leave.
When I say Gabriela has always been on her own and she raised herself, it’s not hyperbole.
She is the strongest character in the show.
Yet that strength never fully showed because she was constantly dealing with someone else’s decisions that affected her and robbed her of choice.
After finally moving on from Bode, Season 3 was a proper Gabriela season as she decided what she wanted for herself.
Now, I’m not saying she was perfect, because she stumbled along the way and made some questionable decisions, but she was making progress.
Fire Country Season 3 was the first time we saw her come into her own and had a certain glow that was never-before-seen.
It was the promise of something new, and I was excited for what Season 4 had in store for her.
When I learned that she would be written out, I was initially shocked but not entirely surprised.
Fire Country never knew what to do with her, sans the male drama.
The Shows Creative Team Gave Up
In Season 4, she would have had to stand on her own, and Fire Country has never let her do that.
It was a challenge that, instead of rising to, the show’s creative team decided to write out.
Call me crazy, but they could have benefited from having a character who lights up the room whenever they smile.
It could have been monumental to see a genuine friendship between Audrey and Gabriela, as that arc was heading in the right direction after they avoided the obvious route.
Regardless of how Gabriela’s departure is conducted, it will not be satisfying because it should never have happened in the first place.
And even with the promises that she might come back, it seems like they haven’t thought of her beyond the awful Bode and Gabriela dynamic.
I’m unsure what my choice would be between keeping Gabriela and reheating her Bode nachos, or writing her out if it allows her to grow, even if we never experience it.
Not every show (or character) gets the same amount of love, but we still cover them.
If you made it this far, you probably care too. We know you have feelings about Gabriela, so drop a note, hit share, and keep rooting for the little guys — us and the characters on the show.
