When Manny punched Luke (Michael Trucco) last season,

nobody was more on Manny’s side than I was. Now, though,

I have to disagree with Manny. In the Season 3 premiere,

Manny tells Vince (Billy Burke) and Sharon (Diane Farr) to keep Bode and Gabriela apart in case he is not around to do so himself. Manny is hardly the first person on the show to try to get between Bode and Gabriela, and he should know by now that it does not work. No matter what happens, Bode and Gabriela will always gravitate back toward each other like two magnets.

There is no romantic dynamic on television that I love to watch more than the slow burn. However, Bode and Gabriela are not a true slowburn pairing. There was an immediate spark when they first met and got together in Season 1. Bode only broke up with her because he was going back to prison and did not think that he deserved her. Manny says that Bode and Gabriela are just like him and Roberta (Paola Núñez), but is he reading them right? Some might agree, but I think he’s wrong. Unlike Manny and Roberta, Bode and Gabriela have never gotten a real shot at trying to make it work as a couple. Now is the perfect time for the two of them to get that chance.

Fire Country airs Friday nights on CBS, and is available to stream the same day on Paramount+.