What I’m Watching: Longmire

Longmire: Season 3, Episode 2 “Of Children and Travelers” (B+)

This episode delved fully into a specific case with a good deal of relevance for most of the cast while addressing the more overarching plot points that are causing the most stress this season. Seeing Branch out of the hospital and back at work was concerning mainly because of how Cady reacted, and he doesn’t seem likely to take it easy anytime soon, risking a major relapse and a permanent impairment of some sort. Walt is trying him with respect, which is nice, and he’s got his hands full with Henry, who is having a positively miserable time in jail despite an effort to keep up on his reading and to keep his head down. Graham Greene’s Malachi presented a very worrisome situation, with Henry ready to suffer the consequences of being so close with a white lawman, and Walt powerless to stop it since Malachi knows precisely how to manipulate the system to his advantage. The seeming sexual tension between Walt and Vic was odd and seemed to come from out of nowhere, but they are spending a lot of time together and haven’t usually been in such close proximity far from everyone else. Polina’s story was a deeply unsettling one, and the act Walt put on to appeal to those who would do her harm wasn’t particularly charming. It was reassuring that he managed to convince her sister that she shouldn’t suffer the same fate and that he was able to save her from her abusive and murderous adoptive father.