Season 2 ends withLuke as a pariah for much of the central cast.
But is Uncle Luke Leone getting a bad rap in Fire Country?
Yes, that gives the impression of the case.
That said, calling Luke a villain is somewhat of a stretch.
The closure of Three Rock amid budget cuts allows CAL FIRE to save the entire inmate fire program.
Truthfully, whileLuke acted harshly at the moment, he wasn’t wrong.
Image via CBS
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.
As Luke says to Sharon in the episode, “The states been forcing budget cuts down my throat.
You know better than anyone.
Sometimes you got to make a hard call.”
Sharon replies, “Dont give me ‘hard call,’ I have had your job!”
Deep down, Sharon knows that Luke is right.
The situation does not appear to involve malicious intent.
While that is a career-minded, bureaucratic move, it’s not necessarily devious and underhanded.
People have been swapping hats left and right!"
However, it appears thatLuke 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.
The episode ends on a note suggesting that Luke will help get Bode a job as a legitimate firefighter.
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.
He and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive blazes across the region.
Fire Countryreturns withits third season premiereon October 18.
The first two seasons of the series are streaming now on Paramount+ in the U.S.
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