How Fire Country's Season 4 Premiere Explained Gabriela's Departure

Contains spoilers for "Fire Country" Season 4, Episode 1 — "Goodbye For Now"

Gabriela Perez (Stephanie Arcila) has had a long, tortured history on "Fire Country," with the character nearly being ruined by her Season 3 arc. But her exit in "Goodbye for Now" is rather short and sweet.  After nursing Bode Leone (Max Thieriot) through the death of his father, Vince (Billy Burke), she explains to Bode that she's leaving town to become a recruiter for the fire department. That's one loss too many for Bode. They agree to say "goodbye for now," to paraphrase Bode — then he goes into his locker to retrieve that ominous bag of blue pills.

While Gabriela is out of the show for now — and Stephanie Arcila is departing the series — it looks like she's going to stick around in Bode's heart for awhile. "It really was a love letter to Gabriela and to Bode," showrunner and executive producer Tia Napolitano told Deadline. "We just wanted to enjoy them a little bit before we said the name of the episode, 'Goodbye for Now.' It's not goodbye forever for Gabriela." While some fans definitely have mixed feelings about Gabriela, it seems that Bode knows how he feels about her. Audiences can anticipate seeing more of their romance, even with Audrey (Leven Rambin) comforting Bode in Gabriela's absence.

Though Gabriela and Bode's romance has always run on the power of forbidden desire, Tia Napolitano says that it's important to see them in cozy domestic moments like the ones that show up in "Goodbye For Now."

"He was incarcerated, there's a lot of angst and longing, and it's beautiful," she explained to Deadline. "But we wanted to see them literally hang out in their pajamas together, like we saw, we wanted to give them some domestic bliss where they just get to be. And yes, Vince died, but she's feeding him, and they're falling asleep on the couch." 

For viewers who are revving their engines over the notion of this star-crossed twosome finally getting back together, Napolitano reports that there are no future plans for Stephanie Arcila's return. Calm will have to be the watchword of fans who adore Gabi and Bode's relationship — at least until the next time they meet.