An established action-drama has exploded on social media.
Fire Force has been going for three seasons, with respectable if not spectacular ratings.
But one scene in the season four opener has changed all that.
In the first episode, one the male fire-fighters (Oliver) shares a same-sex kiss with his co-worker Damien. While only a few seconds long, it was enough to send certain sections of TikTok into meltdown, with thousands of TikTokkers giving their opinions and analysis of the scene, ‘shipping’ Oliver and Damien, and predicting how it will affect the characters in season four and beyond.
Peter Mullins, who wrote the episode, said the TikTok explosion was a happy accident.
“Oliver had just come out of a long-term relationship with a female journalist, so in my mind he was hurting, confused, and willing to experiment. We already have two same-sex couples on the show, so I wasn’t doing it to get attention or to ‘go woke’. I just wanted to shake things up,” he said, “I’m overjoyed that this has not only got people talking about the show but has opened it up to a new fanbase.”
Though one long-term fan is angry about the new attention the show is getting.
“I used to love Fire Force. The chemistry between the characters was good, the humour was organic, and the action scenes were absorbing,” wrote Adam on the show’s official Facebook page. “But the show is RUINED now everyone’s obsessed with THAT scene! It’s getting TOO popular and people are just jumping on the bandwagon! I guarantee you that 90% of the idiots making their stupid videos on TikTok never watched the show before now. And all because the writers wanted to chase some social media likes. What about the REAL fans who have to deal with all the bandwagoners now?”
