“I should arrest both of you for public stupidity.” Vic’s comment is almost the theme of the episode; though, to be fair, Walt is at least smart about the case of the week, if rather less so about anything personal. I mean, seriously, trying to hide that his wife was murdered from their daughter? And then, making it worse, he is not even the one she heard it from, but from a stranger. If he’d been thinking clearly he would have known the detective would be in touch with her. Though I can’t say that it’s out of character for him at all, since Cady is so right that he is just like that.
What makes it work for me, where it often doesn’t in other shows, is that Walt’s “strong, silent hero” thing is held up as the flaw that it is. It’s driving his daughter away, and it’s not helping his friendship with Henry, for that matter. So while Walt fits into the oh-so-common trope of “excellent at work, private life a mess,” it feels more earned, because we see how he’s messing it up. He’s messing up his personal life not because he’s careless, but because he can’t express himself. We see that with Lizzy, too, how he’s trying to be nice, but he’s so obviously clueless about how to deal with her on a personal level, she’s being kind when she says it’s like high school. He won’t even do basic things like explain to Vic about the previous case, leaving it to Ferg to tell her.
The case has left scars on everyone: the victim, the perpetrators, the families, and the Cheyenne who know justice was not served. The episode raises the question directly when the father — who confesses to try to save his son — says that vengeance brings peace. We are meant to wonder if it has brought Walt peace at all, because it certainly does not seem like it, not from the moment the audience has met him back in the premiere. We know, thanks to the wonder of flashbacks, that Walt is lying at the end when he tells the detective he had nothing to do with it, and we know because we’ve seen Walt deal (not deal) with it, that this has not brought him peace. So we’re left with him having solved the arrow murders but everything else slowly collapsing next season, especially with Cady and the possibility of the detective knowing more than what he’s saying.
Meanwhile, Vic is also part of the “great at work, lousy at personal life” trope, as she is excellently competent in her work, including the parts which are only tangetial like breaking up a brawl between her boss and her co-worker. But she’s also overly protective of Walt, seeking Lizzy’s “intentions” toward Walt, and I think forced to face that she doesn’t wear her ring solely because she’s a cop. But whether she’s actually attracted to Walt, or because her marriage is on the rocks and Walt’s a steadying presence, she seems to have put it aside at the end.
Lastly, in the biggest OMG moment of the episode, Branch shows up in Jacob Nighthorse’s office. Well-played, Show. That sinking feeling in my gut is some nice payoff to a season of development. But we’re going to have to wait a year or so to find out what this Injustice League is going to do next.
Thank you, Longmire, for interesting cases that at least attempt discussions of issues of importance to many living in the west, especially the treatment of native peoples (I will leave to others with deeper understanding whether they’ve done this as well as they should have; but I believe that the effort has been sincere and all too rarely undertaken at all). I also appreciate the characters, especially Walt himself, Vic and Cady. I don’t like Branch much, but I do sympathize with him — and I would never have expected to say that about anyone named Branch. Also, I’m glad for a show that displays the land where I grew up (New Mexico, where the series films). Part of my fun in each episode is identifying locations, and each week I’ve had a dose of wistful nostalgia for familiar vistas that I didn’t expect, but have been a treat. I hope next season it continues to film there. And whenever season two starts up again, I’ll be there.
Clacked by Liz Tamura 
on Aug 13, 2012 @ 08:38 EST5EDT
Charles S. Dutton’s detective asked “Did you drive down to Denver last year to hunt down and kill the man who stabbed your wife?” and Walt replied “No.” Technically, both parts of the question would have to be true for Walt to be out-and-out lying. We’ve seen him beat burst into that house and beat up the men inside, but did we actually see him kill any of them?
Generally the star of a law-enforcement procedural won’t be an outright murderer. However, I would love the show even more if he did break the killer’s neck, and they’re never able to charge him for it.
Vic’s husband still has that job opportunity overseas, and she obviously can not leave town and remain on the show, so her marital drama is far from settled.