Warning! SPOILERS about Fire Country season 2, episode 8 ahead.
The Three Rock Conservation Camp is saved at last in Fire Country season 2, episode 8, but its rescue highlighted how the inmate fire camp cannot return under Manny’s leadership anytime soon. With Fire Country focusing as much on Edgewater’s Station 42 as on the inmate fire camp, Three Rock risking being shut down was a massive threat for everyone in Fire Country. Learning that Vince’s brother, DC Luke Leone, had recommended to the governor to shut it down proved difficult news to digest for all, but especially for Manny, who had given his heart and soul to Three Rock.
Having experienced himself helping the community through an inmate fire camp, Manny always kept thinking about Three Rock’s inmates, even after the drug scandal at Fire Country season 1’s ending got Bode back in prison and Manny demoted to firefighter, away from Three Rock. Fire Country season 2 saw Manny do his best to convince the community to see the importance of the inmate firefighters, even after an inmate escaping scared citizens into protesting against them being close to Edgewater. However, Fire Country season 2, episode 8 proved it’s too soon for Manny to get involved with Three Rock again.
The firefighters’ fund dinner was the best opportunity to convince the governor to keep Three Rock open until it brewed the perfect storm precisely because of all the important players present. The governor letting the truth slip that it was DC Luke Leone who recommended closing Three Rock shocked all those present for the betrayal, not only because Luke was family, but also because he wasn’t upfront with them. The news enraged Manny, as he led the biggest fight against the decision along with Eve, Three Rock’s captain in Fire Country season 2.
Manny’s reaction to Luke accusing him of wrecking Three Rock leaving it “a mess,” thus prompting its closure to save the other con camps showed how wrong he was, despite Luke’s appalling betrayal. Assaulting Luke was already bad by itself, but it also wouldn’t have brought the governor to see his side. Indeed, it was Bode and Cole saving the guy whose arm was engulfed by the flames as a result of Manny and Luke’s skirmish that convinced the governor to keep Three Rock open in the end, along with Eve’s tireless campaign to prove Three Rock’s relevance, not Manny.
Even before Three Rock’s existence came into danger, Manny proved not to be ready to return being captain of the inmate fire camp. Fire Country season 2’s initial episodes showed Manny trying to approach the inmates every time he could on a call, resulting in Eve losing the little command she had over them. Manny eventually got to the point of coaching Eve into getting accepted as captain by the inmate firefighters and even helped her navigate the citizens’ petitions against them, but he still reveled in feeling as if he had never left the inmate firefighter crew.
Manny not wanting Vince’s recommendation to become captain somewhere else, instead wanting a recommendation to return to Three Rock proved he still felt part of them even after he saw the good Eve did as their captain. However, Manny’s return to Three Rock cannot happen until he starts acting more as a leader and less as part of the crew, taking responsibility for his part in not stopping the drug scandal in time. Only then can Manny be the captain Three Rock needs, with that hopefully happening in Fire Country season 3, were Manny to work on his impulsivity.