What I’m Watching: Longmire

Longmire: Season 5, Episode 7 “From This Day Forward” (B+)

Because this show excels at its greater storytelling and character development, it’s easy to forget sometimes that this show is based on a series of mystery novels, and lately, in its new extended Netflix format, this show has been focusing more and more on extended cases that prove to be much broader in scope than they initially seem. Such was certainly true of a poem-driven hunt for treasure which involved not only a separate place pronounced differently that fit better with the rhyme but also a mother who had her adult daughter’s cheating husband killed to prevent him from taking her inheritance. That’s a bit extreme, of course, and I liked that the investigation took a few surprising turns. Walt definitely didn’t seem happy to learn that Ferg had brought a date with him on his out-of-state assignment, but he also didn’t dwell on it, and Ferg deserves a little happiness now and then, especially in light of recent events. Vic seems to be in bad shape, and I never expected to hear this much talk about lox on a show set in Wyoming. Walt is putting off his legal business because he doesn’t realize the direction it has turned, and Cady is more than making up for it by sheltering an abused woman and finding her a more permanent place to live while backing up the restraining order against him. But things got very serious and dangerous fast when he broke down her door with a gun in his hand, and though she might get hurt, I can’t imagine Cady is going to go out like this. That would break Walt, and it’s hardly what he needs right now. Killing J.P. in front of Asha is going to cause enough problems for Cady even if she walks away physically unharmed from the whole thing.