‘Longmire’ season 3 debate: Should the murder of Walt’s wife be resolved this season?

Throughout many of our “Longmire” articles as of late, we have frequently pondered over one question: How long do you want to keep the story of Walt’s wife and her murder going? This is something where you could pull a “Monk” and have it go the entire series, or something where you put a pin in it during the finale.

Much like any good detective, we really want to be fair to all sides and this is ultimately what this article is all about.We’re going to look at both sides of this creative mystery before coming up with a conclusion, and then it’ll be your turn to give a response!

The case for conclusion – You finally are letting this story rest once and for all. It is really about time, and it allows for so many more great storytelling possibilities in the future.  You can create a new longer case, and give Walt something without the same sort of emotional weight to it … at least in his personal life.

Also, remember here that the fate of “Longmire” beyond this season is unclear. We understand the general appeal of leaving things open-ended in hopes that the network renews you, but that is a dangerous game. You don’t want to be left on the curb with no resolution and very angry fans yelling at you for not tying anything up properly.

The case for keeping it going – The simplest reason is if you really think baiting the network for a renewal will work, or if the show can establish some new, extremely long narrative about the search for the killer that takes it in a new place, and builds to a crazy emotional climax that you never saw coming. It can be done; just look at what “The Mentalist” did with Red John, which was a case we originally thought would only last around for seasons.

Our final take – Let’s tie it up before the finale. There is a certain excitement about the unknown, and not knowing where the next story may take you. A good example of this is “Dexter,” which really could have taken the cat-and-mouse game between Dexter and Doakes to four or five seasons if they really wanted to. As good as it was, though, they ended it in season 2, and that cleared the way for Miguel Prado and Trinity. These were the golden age of the show before it began that slide into despair. Embrace the creativity!