Episode 6 of Longmire begins the first of the final half of a fourth season storyline that will run till the season finale, episode 10. With Help Wanted ending with the hiring of Zachary (Barry Sloane) and the non-hiring of Monte Stephen Louis Grush this latest episode starts with two hunters discovering a partly clad woman in the woods.
Walt has to evict Vic, who initially thinks he is paying her a social visit, and the nearly nude woman in the woods turns out to be Gabriella Langton (Julia Jones). The young woman has been raped on the “Res” by two oil-rig roughnecks. May Stillwater (Irene Bedard) comes to Walt’s office and asks if Cady will help Gabriella. The young woman is so traumatized that she will not leave May’s car.
Vic now has no place to stay as the new casino opening has filled every hotel in town. Zachary is trying to fit in and Ferg is jealous of the new deputy. The main storyline, however, is Gab’s rape by two white oil rig workers on reservation land. As Mathias (Zahn McClarnon) points out, this particular crime falls between the two men’s jurisdictions, Walt’s and his.
Longmire suggests cross deputizing one another and Officer Mathias says if he allows Walt any authority on the Res he will lose his job. The two men find a poker chip from the new casino and Malachi Strand (Graham Greene) reluctantly helps the two lawmen, but only after blackmailing Mathias into letting one of the casino employees out of the Res jail.
This is an especially frustrating episode. Poignant and tragic, Gab needs help but the system cannot oblige and her mother will not cooperate. Henry, Walt and Cady all try, but because the attack took place on reservation property and was committed by white strangers, the federal authorities must be “petitioned” to step in and help.
Walt, Ferg and Zach head down to the oil fields and pick up the two men identified by Gab. Meanwhile Cady works on Federal Prosecutor Bradley to step in and help out and she agrees. Apparently this is an ongoing issue and not just at the local Cheyenne reservation . Bradley tells Cady that oil rig roughnecks were doing the same thing in North Dakota.
Walker Browning, the boss of the two men arrested by Walt on suspicion of rape, comes to see the sheriff and says that if the men are guilty to “throw the book at them.” Later Gab is kidnapped by someone from the oil company who tells Longmire that the young woman will be released when the two suspects are.
Vic moves in with Cady, staying in her spare room, Zach continues to learn about his new job and Walt questions Mandy about the men the girls met at the casino. He finds out the the man who was with Mandy (Tamara Duarte) took her to a storage unit. Ferg and Zachary stake out the roughnecks and the new deputy assaults one of the oil workers after provoking him by taking a video of all the men on site.
Walt finds that the footage Zach shot provides a clue to where the storage facility might be and he finds Gabriella, trussed up with duct tape and fastened to a chair, in one of the lockups. Thus begins one of the more frustrating segments of the episode. Gab’s mother Linda (Stefany Mathias) brings the investigation into her daughter’s rape by two white men to a screeching halt.
Episode six’s title, The Calling Back, is in reference to the Sweat that Gab attends after her rape. The medicine woman, who reveals that Gabriel’s name is Morning Star, begins the ceremony to call back Morning Star, the part of Gab that was taken by the attack.
After the sweat ceremony May leaves and speaks with Henry. Stillwater tells him that she is writing to Hector. This installment continues the thread of Hector’s mantle being taken over by Henry.
The story of Gab/Morning Star will continue while other storylines move into the spotlight. As usual, the actors in this show keep knocking it out of the park in terms of performance. Robert Taylor gets to show a sensitivity that is deep and impressive. Cady (Cassidy Freeman) tells her father that Gab will talk to him because he treated the victim like his own daughter.
This piece of dialogue is telling. To the younger members of Walt’s team, Longmire is the father figure. At times punitive and at other moments kindly and forgiving. Kate Sackhoff‘s character still seems to be somewhat fixated by Walt, not seeing him as a father figure at all.
Kudos to Barry Sloane as the “new kid on the team” and major mad props to Julia Jones (who actually made this viewer “well up” more than a few times) and to her screen mom, Stefany Mathias. These two ladies, as well as Tamara Duarte, knocked it out of the park. Julia’s suffering as Gab was painful to see, Stefany was obnoxious and aggressive enough to annoy even the most sincere pacifist and Duarte was all attitude.
Without going into any detail, as the entire season has been watched now, this storyline will rule emotions throughout the rest of the fourth season and the roles of the players, Walt, Henry, Cady and Vic will shift and change as the plot plays out. Streaming on Netflix with all 10 episodes on offer, Longmire may have changed venues and format but there is no loss of quality.
I think it may have had to do with Vic’s assertion that there was more to her relationship with Walt than there really was. Or at the very least that there was room for issues, such as Walt’s jealousy oner Vic and the temporary deputy…Good Question though as I thought it odd as well. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Why do you think Cady was so weird about Vic moving in with her? At first she actually said “I’d feel weird.” Then she changed her mind but wasn’t very hospitable when Vic showed up.