What I’m Watching: Longmire

Longmire: Season 4, Episode 2 “War Eagle” (B+)

As our characters move on from Branch’s death, they’re returning to a sense of normalcy with a sense of closeness and tragedy still pervading everything. What’s interesting is that it hasn’t created a culture of warmth and caring, but instead one of passive aggressive snapping and distance. The relationship between Vic and Walt has always been one of the best parts of this show, and now they’re truly at odds with Vic traumatized by the sight of a baseball bat and the memories it brings up and Walt trying to be overly protective with the wrong approach. Walt deputizing Henry with Branch’s badge was a meaningful moment, and an important way to keep Henry involved in a bigger way in the main plotline. Dealing with the new ownership of his bar and helping to right wrongs written about in letters to Hector keeps him busy enough, but now he can also be Walt’s official right hand and make sure he stays out of trouble. He’s certainly pushing the envelope trying to pin Branch’s murder on Nighthorse, who unsurprisingly has a secret past, and the fact that all signs point to Branch having been killed rather than killed himself is only encouraging him to keep digging. War Eagle was a strong focus of the episode, recalling an unremembered history of the area and the country that didn’t present a true mystery but instead a melancholy one about culture, expectations, and righting wrongs that left one well-meaning man very misunderstood and fully deceased.