Kevin Alejandro On Manny/Jake Tension

Chief Manny must answer for his decisions in the “Fire Country” winter premiere, but he has yet to face his biggest adversary: Jake. 

In the return of the CBS drama, Manny is interrogated by the unit’s assistant chief over his aggressive approach to fighting the massive wildfire. (Which, by the way, was burning through a neighboring county, and was already being responded to by their crew when 42 showed up. Manny told them to stand down in the fall finale.)

The episode reveals the chaotic aftermath of Manny’s knee-jerk decision to fight this fire, which resulted in several people being trapped inside the blaze: Bode, Jake, Jake’s brother Malcolm, and Tyler, the overzealous teenager who has grown attached to Bode.  

Manny orders a self-rescue, calling upon the group of guys trapped in the blaze to extricate themselves from the emergency on their own. But when Jake gets pinned under the ladders of his fallen rig, Manny goes against Sharon’s orders and sends Bode and Malcolm — who already made it out safely — back into the flames to rescue him.

The men pull Jake from the wreckage, but as they guide the limping firefighter back to safety, Malcolm makes a misstep on the forest’s steep incline. As he goes tumbling down the side of a hill, his helmet flies off, and he collides head-first with a rock. Though he remains alert immediately following the injury, he ultimately loses consciousness. By the episode’s end, we see a fully unconscious Malcolm lying limp in a hospital bed — and his condition remains unknown.

TVLine spoke to Kevin Alejandro, who plays Manny on “Fire Country,” as well as Leslie Alejandro, Kevin’s real-life wife who directed next week’s episode, to unpack the midseason premiere. Kevin said, despite his character’s questionable calls, he “fully defends” the way Manny dealt with the emergency.

“I can’t judge,” he shared. He acknowledged that Manny is technically responsible for Malcolm’s injuries, but maintained that his character’s actions were justified.

“Those are the pressures that are put upon you in a situation where if you don’t make a decision, you fail,” he added, noting that in the case of a fire chief, failure can mean death.

Ultimately, the unit’s assistant chief applauds Manny for his decisions and finds no fault in his actions. In fact, he credits Manny with saving Jake’s life. Still, the chief is not off the hook. Manny will continue to carry the weight of responsibility for hospitalizing Malcolm, and he has yet to face Jake, who isn’t only Manny’s main foil at work — he’s also Malcolm’s brother.

The fallout from the wildfire will catalyze a confrontation between Manny and Jake, but Leslie revealed that their clash in Episode 11 will go much deeper than the current events.

“You’re going to see them work out their differences beyond just Malcolm,” Leslie shared, adding that things will all come back to the fact that Manny was chosen as chief over Jake, stealing the position that Jake had always wanted.

Per Kevin, next week’s “Fire Country” will pit these two “alphas” against each other once again, only this time, they “lay everything on the line.”

Do you think Manny should be held responsible for Malcolm’s injuries? And what predictions do you have regarding the Jake/Manny face-off next week? Grade the winter premiere in the poll below, then sound off in the comments!