‘Fire Country’s Oxalta Plot Seems To Have Ended a Bit Too Easily

Only five episodes after Birch’s death, and Season 3, Episode 18’s “Eyes and Ears Everywhere” seems to “defeat” Oxalta after Meriweather’s (J. August Richards) blackmail scheme is exposed. Having tried to coerce the Three Rock inmates and their families into leaving the corporation alone, the whole controversy involving misplaced chemical waste is now in “the court of public opinion.” Even though I’m glad that our heroes got out of this whole thing relatively unscathed, I also agree with Bode (Max Thieriot) that Oxalta can’t just get away with this. The way the whole thing ended feels a bit too convenient. Of course, this isn’t the first time that Fire Country has kickstarted a major plotline only to drop it after a few episodes (more on that in a minute), but it seems that a company like Oxalta would warrant a larger story, especially if they’re the biggest chemical waste producers in the entire state.

‘Fire Country’ Has a Bad Habit of Dropping Plotlines

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What I don’t want is for Oxalta — even if our heroes can’t fully take the corporation down — to go the way of Freddy Mills (W. Tre Davis) after the first two seasons. It’s easy for network shows like Fire Country to introduce characters or plotlines and then avoid paying them off. After all, in a procedural, the next case (in this case, the next fire) always takes precedence over everything else. Still, it seems highly likely that — if Fire Country were anything like reality — Oxalta wouldn’t just go away or even leave Edgewater entirely. In my mind, they may have gone dormant for a time, but they could easily come back and cause more trouble for Bode, Manny, and their families again. More than that, they should, especially if they’re as big a threat as Fire Country wants us to believe they are.

How Could Oxalta Come Back in ‘Fire Country’ Season 4?

While the possibilities are endless, my only hope is that when Fire Country starts new plotlines, it learns to see them through. We’ve come a long way with these characters, and we want to see them thrive. Even if things don’t always go the way we want them (but seriously, don’t kill Billy Burke, please), sudden changes in the narrative need to still feel natural. Character exits should be earned, and the same is true of major plotlines. From what I can tell, Oxalta may just be getting started in Edgewater. Considering how engaging that whole plot was, I hope I’m not wrong.