As the captain at Three Rock during Fire Country‘s first season,

Kevin Alejandro‘s Manny Perez had seemingly stepped into his

full potential. He knew who he was, he was honest about his past

mistakes, and he was willing to see the best in others too. He was a physical embodiment of the hope that Bode (Max Thieriot) and others on the program had of getting out and making a real life and career for themselves. But now that Manny’s gotten himself in legal trouble and is being sent back to Three Rock not as a free man but as an inmate, one has to wonder if Fire Country might be making a mistake…Manny lost his position at the conservation camp because of everything that happened with Bode and Sleeper (Grant Harvey) right under his nose. It wasn’t Manny’s fault, but he ultimately got punished, and it sort of wrecked him. Throughout Season 2, now back at Station 42, Manny struggled to find his place. No longer a captain, he was still a firefighter and a free man. But that changed when he punched Luke (Michael Trucco) in front of the Governor and contributed to a small fire that erupted in the aftermath. As captain, Manny always kept his anger in check, but having been demoted and reprimanded for something out of his control, it pushed him back into territory that he worked so hard to avoid.

But the second season didn’t really know what to do with Manny. After Eve (Jules Latimer) took his place at Three Rock, the pair struggled to work together with her in his old role. Many hoped they might become co-captains at the conservation camp, but now that Season 3 is sending Manny back under incarceration (after having just wrapped up the drama between them), it feels like we’ve come full circle in the worst of ways. Yes, it’s great that Manny is going to be back at Three Rock, as it’s traditionally where he’s shined and worked best as a character, but on the other hand, it’s hard not to feel like this is the show backtracking to make Manny’s arc interesting again.