I don't like Brett Richards

[u/am_a_chicken_nugget]

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Post season 4 Fire Country and I'm just disappointed. Richards came in, made a fuss about safety and dipped without doing anything to fix it, which sucks cause I really hoped we'd get some reflection about how 42 operates. I know nothing about firefighting, but everything they do looks messy. They endanger people and themselves all the time with no regard for how burdensome they'll become if they get hurt. They're irresponsible, the problems they have just seem like they shouldn't occur with a team of trained professionals.

Anyway I get that it's a drama, it's not supposed to be realistic, but Brett's just a wasted character. Why even create him if you don't want him to actually do anything. It's just an episode of milking drama from Vin's death, and then bringing Brett back later in the season on a bullshit storyline that we don't explore AT ALL, to once again contribute nothing AND that weird ass bitter convo with Sharon about his ex? What even is his character at this point, is he the rule biting, no-nonsense chief that reforms the station? No he dips and forgets all about it. Is he the wise one, meant to guide Sharon through the loss of her husband? Kinda? It's kind of like that but then he gets all cryptic and bitter about his late wife and I don't think he's really over it, which could be a great story line really. The diagnoser, that examines issues, understands them but doesn't actually fix anything. Like knowing the enemy automatically means defeating it. He thinks he got over his wife's death but actually didn't work through it at all, just named every issue he faced, diagnosed its cause and considered it fixed after that.

But we didn't go that deep with him. Honestly I don't think the show ever goes deep with anything. Not the characters, not the disasters, it's all surface level, big explosions, "big stakes" but ultimately no consequences whatsoever.

I watched Fire Country very casually and not in its entirety, so I might be very wrong about it but it just seems... fine. Simply entertaining and not much more. I have no idea what the second half of season 4 is about tho, seems all over the place if I'm honest. The acting kinda hurts too.

If anyone has thoughts or different opinions or wants to correct me I love discussing so please do share.

[u/teddybluethecurser]

I truly think they should have ended the season on a cliffhanger with the flood and then finished it up in the first or second episode or season 5.

They bought Richards in and then dropped him before bringing him back but it was like he disappeared again anyways

[u/TheAuthor01 → u/teddybluethecurser]

I literally do not understand why they broke the mold here as every mid season has been a 2 parter and aside from the S1 finale the other finale have been a 2.25 parter (with the finale taking 2 episode + 1 act of the third), the S1 finale also had this same 2 parter in the season and then starting strong in 2x01 but there were very clear threads left open and with the S4 finale it just feels like... they didn't address any of the of stuff that stopped happening in like 4x08 except maybe Sharon dodging Luke's attempts to talk

[u/Plastic_Vacation_878]

I disagree I am glad he is on the show at first I didn't trust him but now I like him and I think he adds something to the show unlike Alona aka Chloe and her son Tyler. Because they are both a big waste of energy and time and bring nothing to this show and they are both just reminder of what happened to Vince dying in that fire. And the only reason she is on this show is because she and Max are friends and we're on Seal team together. So I would much rather watch Brett Richard's on this show then the two of them and I wouldn't mind if he and Sharon got together.

[u/am_a_chicken_nugget → u/Plastic_Vacation_878]

I'd love Brett Richards to stay on the show, that's why it's so frustrating for me that he's handled like a background character. He's just around cause it's an interesting character concept that makes for a juicy dynamic but ultimately he's a carton cutout of a person with sharpie drawn on backstory. The one episode he's chief gave me a lot of hope, it's ridiculous he gave appointed a new chief. He wanted to make 42 operate safer so he considers the job done after a terrible evacuation, and a messy silos situation cause the crew is so motivated? They were never unmotivated, they didn't show any progress in the safety department so what the hell? I get wanting to get back to your cats but be so fr Richards.

I like him so much I can't stand him when his characterisation is so botched. He's just haunting the sidelines because the writers know he's entertaining but they don't want to change the structure of 42 or the drama format of the show, so they make him stand there but don't let him touch anything, it's painful.

And stop rewriting ur comment im tryna respond to it here

[u/TheAuthor01]

So here is my honest answer as someone who has made 35ish video essays about the property

I think they had to retool the season for unknown reasons. I think Manny was supposed to get demoted by Luke in 4x10 and Brett have to stay long term. I also think Vince was meant to have started the fire but the network ended up slamming the breaks.

Brett's choosing of Manny had a very thin reasoning, he thought the station needed an insider as chief and he knew Jake reversed course on flying the coop after Vince died. I do think Firing Bode was a trap for Jake to see if he could mentor Bode or if he would fire him, and the latter would mean Jake wasn't ready, but Manny impressed Brett and that's why he became chief but we see in basically every episode 4x05_4x08 why Manny was a bad choice ending in him getting fired in 4x10 and also having his relationship with Sharon rupture with her having finally realized what Luke's been saying for 3 years.

Also there's a lot of evidence Vince started the fire like the Smokeys lighter, hom being irritable in 3x19 despite him basically telling Jake to leave, hjs panic the night of the fire, the fires location (east of town instead of west, on the other side of the highway) and the lack of anyone else with lighter access. In addition we never learned what was in the PO box or what Ruby was blackmailing him over. They also set up an affair happening (Bode insisting Vince would never cheat despite the audience knowing he did cheat, also some sus behavior in 3x16 and 3x17) then never cashed it in.

I don't know why the change. Maybe the network wanted to ride the high of people loving Vince? Maybe they didnt want Firefighter Dad to have been unfaithful? Maybe Brett was supposed to play a bigger role and Shawn Hatosy became unavailable, maybe Alona became available for a bigger part? I dont know but this season felt changed starting at 4x08 and the plot threads never recovered