Christine Lahti to make her first appearance in Fire Country, here’s all we know so far

Academy Award winner Christine Lahti made a surprise appearance on Fire Country in the sixth episode of the ongoing season. Her presence is expected to add much drama to the CBS procedural show involving firefighters and first responders of Edgewater. The arrival of Lahti’s character, Ruby, is expected to highlight many unanswered questions in Sharon’s life.

A quick recap of the past few episodes of Fire Country showed Bode Leone’s predicament after he was booked for possessing pills he claimed not to have taken. Meanwhile, Sharon discovered a truth about her mother. Played by Diane Farr, Sharon struggled with Vince’s death and Bode’s grief-laden moves. 

To top it, she discovered that her mother, Ruby, was blackmailing Vince up till his death. While she decided to look into it further, Ruby, played by Christine Lahti, landed at Sharon’s doorstep. The mother daughter had a more open, albeit awkward, conversation.

Fire Country: Christine Lahti’s arrival on the show

Episode 6 of Fire Country season 4, titled Your Voice in My Head, saw Sharon stumble onto the evidence that Ruby was blackmailing Vince till the very end before he died. Initially, she rummaged through files and documents to get more information. She treated Walter to a nice lunch to bribe him for more data. Walter informed her that Vince had a pact with Ruby to keep her out of Sharon’s life.

Vince believed that Ruby’s presence had a depressing effect on Sharon after Riley’s death. As such, he tried to keep the mother-daughter duo apart. Armed with all the information, Sharon planned to let her mother know that there would be no more payments after Vince’s death. However, Christine Lahti’s Ruby ignored the messages and landed at Sharon’s home.

The next episode, Fire Country season 4 episode 7, titled Best Mom in the World, found the mother-daughter face-to-face. As Sharon kept her shield up, some stories from their shared past came out. Ruby, portrayed by Christine Lahti, was condescending but agreed to apologise to Sharon. She also wrote out a check to pay back part of the amount she had accepted from Vince. Although unsure whether the check would clear, Sharon accepted it.

Ruby connected to her grandson Bode, who called her Oma Ruby, as the latter told Bode stories about Sharon’s childhood. However, she left out the empathetic parts of the story. Meanwhile, Sharon remembered how her mother’s finances were mismanaged after Ruby got together with her stepfather. Moreover, Sharon remembered not trusting her weed-growing stepfather.

Although Sharon was a better mother than Ruby was, the latter felt it was right to criticise her daughter. In the end, Bode advised his mother to accept Ruby’s apology, which Sharon did.

A glance at Christine Lahti’s career

Christine Lahti is an award-winning actor-filmmaker who started her career in 1973 with commercials. The Michigan-born Lahti studied Fine Arts and Drama before training as a professional actor. Her first notable project was And Justice for All, where she co-starred with Al Pacino.

Her huge body of work through her long career includes Running on Empty, Swing Shift, Lieberman in Love, Chicago Hope, Law & Order: SVU, The Blacklist, Evil, No Place Like Home and many more. Some of her notable Broadway work includes The Heidi Chronicles, 8, and God of Carnage. Besides directing movies like My First Mister, Christine Lahti is the published author of True Stories From an Unreliable Witness.

While it is unclear whether her character, Ruby, will continue appearing on Fire Country, watch the upcoming drama to wreak havoc in Edgewater in the upcoming episodes.