Take Three: Longmire

Longmire: Season 1, Episode 3 “A Damn Shame” (B+)

This show continues to demonstrate above-average tendencies for a police procedural, incorporating strong characters in a magnificent setting. The best example of personality on this show was Walt’s response to a firefighter’s suggestion of “At least wear my hat!” to which he responded, “Thanks, I’ve got one.” Vic and Branch’s negative reactions to hearing about happenings in their department via the newspaper were met with considerable dismissal from Walt, with an easy solution proposed: don’t read the paper. Vic does a great job of giving him a hard time, telling him that she could send a picture to his cell phone, except for the fact that she can’t because he doesn’t have a cell phone. I enjoyed seeing such short, subtle spurts of the Ferg proving himself to be rather incompetent but readily owning up to it, offering up his resignation after screwing up. I liked Walt’s response to him, that he hired him for two reasons: because he was helping out his dad and he’s still waiting to find out the other reason. Cady stopping by to see him in his office to complain about the legality of his actions was interesting too, and I hope to see them interact more, both on a professional and a personal level. Discovering Ray was still alive was a shock though not an entirely unexpected one, and he proved to be quite brave in the face of danger as he took the assassin’s fire long enough to get himself killed and save his family. It definitely helped the mood that it started snowing in the middle of their standoff, and that’s just one of the things that makes this show continue to be worth watching.