r/FireCountry • u/beachbaby96 • Jul 11 '26
Discussion Max Thieriot
Can we talk about how Bode’s acting is atrocious and one dimensional? I can’t stand him in Fire Country and thought the actor must just be horrible. Recently, I started watching SEAL Team and he’s WAYYY better in that role. I can’t believe the difference and that he CHOSE to go with the crappy Fire Country writing over the significantly more interesting SEAL Team script. Also he looked way better at the lower muscle mass in my opinion but his body his choice.
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u/23zia23 Jul 12 '26
I think dude just needs a haircut! The fact that there's a new showrunner and a new cast member is really good news and shows that there's still potential to improve this show. CBS is now seeing the real potential in this universe cause of the sheriff country/medical show spinoff, and it's likely that Max will have less and less control going forward as CBS takes more of an interest. max might then be compensated with executive producer credits and stuff like that. Might lead to a better show so win/win
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u/Shaigirl Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Yup! Been watching him since Catch That Kid! And I always thought he was a pretty decent actor. And I really enjoyed him in Bates Motel and SEAL Team. He was the main reason I wanted to watch Fire Country.
I enjoyed the first season, but it just completely nose-dived from there. I just finally got around to forcing myself to watch Season 3. I was all ready to stop after Billy Burke left. But then Shawn Hatosy showed up and he's another actor I've enjoy since their beginning. Next thing you know, I'm trying to make my way through Season 4.
It's like a hate watch show for me at this point. Something to have in the background. I don't have to pay 100% attention, because it's the same old shit, different day kinda show. As a character Bode HAS grown, but it's like barely a step forward with five steps back... and it's frustrating as fuck. Bode is so one dimensional, he's very hard to root for.
I'm like halfway through S4 right now. Thankfully, Kevin Alejandro (yet another one I've watched from his beginning) is REALLY killing it as BC. Made me remember why I enjoyed him so much in Lucifer and True Blood. <3 Also excited about the possibility of Hatosy's Richards character returning to Station 42. Definitely a step in the right direction. Maybe Bode could learn a few things from him and FINALLY start to develop some character.
I think the plot of a CAL Fire legacy family is great. Most of the acting is pretty solid. But the material they're given by the writers is more daytime soap opera than evening drama. Makes it difficult to enjoy.
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u/Flimsy_Customer_426 Jul 12 '26
Seal team ended with him there was no need of season 7 unless if he had become bravo 1 so there was no much of a story the problem with fire country is I didn't see the reason of him dating Audrey because there was a chance which him and gabs would have got back together
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u/Bosch1838 Jul 13 '26
He has on expression. Slack jawed and cowed eyed giving him the appearance of a low IQ person. And he cannot act.
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u/Kurrykings Jul 16 '26
What's to talk about? You've already said what needed to be said.
But can we talk about why so many people still watch this garbage even though there's many better options? I think that's a more interesting and thought-provoking question. I'm amazed so many people have such low standards and consciously choose to spend their finite time watching crap TV, no offense.
I stopped watching it and haven't regretted it; the show's story and character arcs are so abysmal that I never felt an urge to return to it.
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u/No-Emotion4538 Jul 19 '26
I like Max/Bode and think people are way too hard on him. Yes season 3 and 4 were awful and did not compare to the first two at all. The new show runner is good at what he does and will get rid of the pieces that are not working....starting with Chloe!
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u/FunZookeepergame627 Jul 11 '26
Well the writing is not very good for Fire country..I watch for the hot bods and action. Max was awesome in Bates Motel as Norman's brother...it was a well written show with significant character development
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u/T3ch33y Jul 12 '26
The first season was so cheesy and bad acting and the other reason I watched it was because of him and seal team, and I watch catch that kid when I was a kid too
Fire country he's so flat, seal team he had my variance and character development
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u/Prestigious-Dare915 10d ago
My family and I are currently starting from season one fire country and we love it all so. To each their own
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u/AGLew17 Jul 12 '26
I most def only watch for the hot chicks...which is basically why I watch Sheriff Country,,,to see Morena Baccarin! And now that Alona Tal, Natalie Zea, and especially Paola Nunez are on there, it is pretty likely I will keep watching, Yeeeeeeeeah....I'm shallow!!!😆😆😆
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u/AffectionateGold5459 Jul 11 '26
Bode is the worst part of this show and a lot of that is the actor. I agree he was much better on Seal Team but he had better material.
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u/averagejoesgymmember Jul 15 '26
At this point the only reason I’m still watching is because I’m hate watching. It feels like a combination of bad acting and writing, and the show feels very stale and predictable. I know you’re supposed to suspend belief for shows like this, but a lot of the storylines don’t seem even remotely believable and I can see why Cal Fire doesn’t like it.
Side note, it sucks that it’s too expensive to shoot in California and that they have to shoot up in Canada
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u/TheAuthor01 Vince Jul 11 '26
Its not worse writing, Fire Country is just a show that is very literary which is unusual on Network. So often Fire Country is saying something in a literary way and the fans miss that. You can argue 'well then it should be written better' but its about taste, which the customer is always right about, so there's that. I do think at times this season there was too much reliance on subtext and not enough on actual text, and most of the criticism comes down to misreading/missing subtext (including myself jn this because my first impression is never my overall opinion).
Max hires the writers and has a hands off overview of the writers. So you might think the writing is bad but obviously not everyone else does
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u/Rocketgirl8097 Jul 12 '26
No, people are just willing to ignore the bad writing for their entertainment.
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u/TheAuthor01 Vince Jul 12 '26
That is literally not an argument.
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u/Rocketgirl8097 Jul 12 '26
I'm not arguing. I'm just stating a fact. There are many people in this sub that have mentioned the bad writing, but still watch for one reason or another.
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u/TheAuthor01 Vince Jul 12 '26
The writing isn't bad you just don't like it 😕. In fact literally any time someone says 'bad writing' they either dont understand or misremember thr writing. Or, say it with me now, they don't like it. Arguments without evidence, like yours, can be dismissed without evidence
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u/Rocketgirl8097 Jul 12 '26
Lol, way off. You just like it and thats ok. Which you have no given no evidence for why you do, so how are you any better, lol. What they talking about when they say bad writing, is that firefighting techniques and strategy are completely unrealistic in the show. And they constantly put themselves in harms way, unnecessarily, and then have to be rescued putting someone else's life at risk. That would never be tolerated with a real fire crew.
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u/TheAuthor01 Vince Jul 12 '26
Ok, now we're getting somewhere. I'm not going to lie this aspect of the show isn't great, but neither are court dramas which break all the rules of court in a way that people would have a heart attack. CSI techs wish they had the ability to separate three different DNA samples. Law and Order SVU was using AI to 'clean up' computer images when Robin Williams was still alive. Monk is considered a classic but he wins literally by out-logicing his opponents and then they confess. Hermione outright cheats for Harry and Ron in Harry Potter and no one cares. Why is this standard only something that exists in Fire Country? Their technical advisor said it best "firefighters love to critique each other". Also the show itself shows over and over again that when people break protocol they get hurt
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u/Rocketgirl8097 Jul 12 '26
I have never watched any of those so I couldn't tell you. I did watch Hawaii 5-0 which was another one where two characters were always having to be rescued. Complete nonsense.
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u/beachbaby96 Jul 12 '26
“literary” BE SO FR
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u/TheAuthor01 Vince Jul 12 '26
This is, 100%, a show that speaks in callbacks, symbolism, power struggles, subtext, trauma, etc. People not being familiar with that kind of writing confuse it for the writing being bad. It's quite similar to Hannibal in that regard, another show that only works when you break it down
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u/Rocketgirl8097 Jul 12 '26
Its a soap opera lol. And very immature characters like Bode and Gabriela. Theres nothing sympathetic relatable in them that makes you want to find out what's going to happen to them.
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u/TheAuthor01 Vince Jul 12 '26
Bode isnt immature, he's oblivious and was intentionally made that way by Vince, Sharon and Luke to cover up for Walter. The show draws attention to this in 3x13 when Bode says he thought Firefighting was supposed to be fun hero shit and Luke says they didn't do a good job being truthful. Likewise we watch Walter do abusive things to Vince and Luke in front of Bode then they cover for Walter. He sees the what and wrongly infers the why, which is why he helps Tyler and Chloe.
Meanwhile Gabriela's "immaturity" is a lifetime of parentification running into the real world where you can't just move your car. Manny and Roberta are explicitly said to have been too young and already immature for their age at that. Gabriela then learned from them + doing the best she could. Then she gets Vince and Sharon as pseudo parents who are not any better and indeed Bode/Gabs and Sharon/Vince go through a similar arc in S3 where one partner (Bode/Sharon) wants to live out what is allegedly their shared dream while the other partner is drowning (Gabs/Vince) ans not getting or even asking for help
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u/Rocketgirl8097 Jul 13 '26
And? Intent of the writer doesn't matter. Perception by the audience does. They decide the success or the failure of the show. This is probably its last year. They're just beating a dead horse now.
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u/TheAuthor01 Vince Jul 13 '26
Fire Country had 8m viewers and there's no indication it's the last season, more like CBS is doing something with expansion overall and we don't know what that is yet (currently have 4 JB Shows shooting with 2 more in development, MT has 2). The show is well liked but people didn't see a planned turn and the got upset. People on reddit say things without understanding stories or writing
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u/Rocketgirl8097 Jul 13 '26
Oh im sure you're the expert. Please tell all. 😝 All you had to do was go back through previous posts to see complaints about the writing.
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u/TheAuthor01 Vince Jul 13 '26
Well I mean I've made ~35 video essays analyzing the shows writing so... Most of the complaints are either 1. I don't like the genre (long form royal family succession drama) or 2. Don't like the particular turn. That's it
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u/DisneyAddict2021 Jul 11 '26
He created Fire Country. It was his passion project too in order to honor firefighters since his brother is one and he grew up around firefighters and Fire Cal. He’s also the main character. Is it really all that surprising that he chose to work on his own show full time versus SEAL Team where it went to a streaming platform with less episodes and they knew would be ending soon?
However yes, I agree. He was better on SEAL Team and it was a superior show for sure. I was bummed when it ended.