In case you missed the news, Longmire was renewed for a second season, so that’s good news that the show is doing well for A&E.
Tonight’s episode involves the case of a cynical, racist conspiracy, versus a well-intentioned counter-conspiracy, and Longmire trying to navigate the truth in between. There was also a random pedophile dropped in for extra hysteria, a Cheyenne politico cynically masterminding his end of things, and Henry being Henry-ish. Overall I liked the greater complexity and the sense of urgency, especially at the beginning, in the episode. The two lead members of the conspiracy were perhaps written a little obviously as racists, but the pedophile and Nighthorse were interesting distractions/red herrings and good examples of the many different prongs an investigation like that would have to pursue at once.
This is certainly not the first show I’ve seen where government workers are part of systematic efforts to defraud the foster system, though it did seem a bit too easy in this case. It depended too much on nobody fighting back or investigating from the Cheyenne side. It wasn’t that difficult apparently for Cady to discover the same person reported all of the children’s parents unfit; and that would have to be an alarm bell to anybody who heard it. That’s a vendetta or a conspiracy. Plus, anyone in the system would know about the extra payments. While I understand that distrust and the belief that no one will listen is very powerful, and Henry articulated it well, all thirteen parents were unable or unwilling to do anything? Nighthorse with all his apparent money and politcal motivation or connections never thought to try to find the person/people responsible for making up lies about the parents? If it was that simple to dig up the suspicious activity, it makes it seem like nobody even tried, which I don’t buy.
I’m also a bit confused by what the end result of the counter-conspiracy was supposed to be. They didn’t appear to know about the fraud, so it was an attempt to get back the children from a system they assumed was unfair and wrong. Yet, if the fraud hadn’t been uncovered, all of that wrong and unfair would have perpetuated. The children were still kidnapped, and would have to hide until the legalities had been sorted out to prevent them from being removed from homes already deemed unfit. So, short-term, they get to stay at home; but long-term, it doesn’t solve anything. Though on second thought, perhaps that was why Hector threatened Shenk, so he wouldn’t report the children missing. Neil was easier to understand, since he was about to be adopted, they thought they had no choice but to move before that was finalized.
That Shoemaker woman was such a piece of work. I was almost disappointed when she came out of the house to get arrested, because I wanted the Dog Soldier to come after her. But that was a great moment when Walt told her he was only a phone call and a twenty minute drive away. It definitely emphasized she was on her own, with a lot of very angry people she might not want to be alone to confront. Unfortunately, I bet she doesn’t confess or recants it later, so I hope they all gather evidence to back it up and make it stick and lock her away.
Tidbits:
What did you think? Sound off below and then come on back next week, when something terrible will happen in Absaroka County and avenging spirits, or at least Sheriff Longmire, will try to fix it.
Clacked by Liz Tamura 
on Jul 02, 2012 @ 13:25 EST5EDT
My favourite part was the shaman at the end, creating the dog soldiers and manipulating even Walt.
I think the show implied that the children were originally in homes where they were loved and treated well and the social worker and fellow conspirators faked that they needed to be taken away from their homes (e.g. saying that Amy spent all her time at the bar drinking when she was really working there). So for these kids, it wouldn’t be a problem putting them back in their own homes.
*POST AUTHOR*
My issue wasn’t the kids after the episode, since once the conspiracy was unearthed it was pretty clear it was all a pack of lies. But the thing is that kids are taken away by court order, not just the social worker. Until the custody order is changed, it’s kidnapping, which makes it a short term fix and doesn’t really do anything about the underlying problem. The episode seems to imply that no one was trying to do that, but I just didn’t buy that not one of those parents weren’t more proactive about fighting it. It wasn’t this huge unfightable conspiracy but a pretty clumsy one that fell apart pretty quick once someone/anyone started poking at it.
As you said, there were a lot of holes in this episode. You’re right that legally the kids still are under a court order but I can accept more easily that a judge is going to throw those orders out as soon as they go before the court, than that the social services didn’t notice that there was a $100,000 discrepancy.