Stephanie Arcila is just like Us and was totally surprised by it Fire country's season 2 premiere proposal — even though it involved her character, Gabriela Perez.
Warning: Spoilers below for Fire Country Season 2, Episode 1.
“I was in shock, but at the same time I wasn't,” 33-year-old Arcila said exclusively We weekly of Gabriela's engagement. “Because, I mean, if Bode wasn't in jail, would they get married? Their relationship comes together so quickly too!
Arcila confessed, “I think Gabriela – a good Latina – is a romantic. [She] wants love and is very passionate about expressing it in the way she is with her friends, with her family, with her partner.”
During the Fire country season 1 finale, airing May 2023, Bode (Max Thieriot) falsely confessed to bringing drugs to the Three Rock prison camp, so his friend Freddy (W. Tre Davis) would get a deal and be released. At the time, Bode told Gabriela not to wait for him.
When season 2 kicks off, viewers learn that Gabriela and Bode broke up after he returned to prison. During the season premiere on Friday, February 16, Bode has been in prison for six months and Gabriela has found love with someone else: paramedic firefighter Diego (Rafael De La Fuente).
After celebrating their four-month anniversary in the episode, Diego proposes to Gabriela, and she accepts. 'Eva, I'm engaged! I suggested it and he did too. It was spontaneous and so were we,” says Gabriela in the final scene.
When Gabriela turns her head, she realizes that Bode is back at Three Rock. “I'm so happy for you,” Bode says before the episode ends. Earlier in the premiere was Bode's former enemy, Sleeper (Grant Harvey), agrees to confess that he is the real drug smuggler, giving Bode the chance to get out of prison and re-enter work at Three Rock to avoid punishment.
“I was absolutely in shock because I don't like to expect things. I like to be surprised,” said Arcila Us in February of the bombing. “When I read it, I called some of my other castmates and I was like, 'Did you see that? I'm engaged! We are engaged!' What is this?'”
The actress explained that as season 2 unfolds, viewers will see how Gabriela processes the proposal and Bode's return to Edgewater. “We'll see how that develops and how she feels, even if she doesn't say how she feels,” Arcila teased.
Arcila said Us that she has not yet found out whether a love triangle will develop between Gabriela, Bode and Diego. “I think what we'll see is the love she still has for Bode,” she revealed. “And [Gabriela] trying to fight and figure out what's best for her. You'll definitely feel it and you'll definitely see it, but at the end of the day they both want each other to be truly happy and they both want the best for each other.
Arcila noted that there is “such a deep love” and a “beautiful bond” between Gabriela and Bode, so Gabriela will “always love him” on some level.
“I think there will also be a shift in her maturity that people will see,” Arcila shared Usand added, “I think [that] her heart tries to rebuild itself from those million little pieces that were broken last season.
Fire country airs on CBS Fridays at 9pm ET.