‘Longmire’ season 4, episode 6 review: Far from justice

After spending most of the past couple of episodes dealing with healing and moving forward, in some ways “Longmire” 4×06 presents us with something more of an open wound. “The Calling Back” presented us with a case that could very well continue for the rest of the season, as it is innately complicated, emotional, and ultimately far from over based on where we are right now.

The story of the case begins with the sight of a terrified woman in the woods, who runs away after being seen by a couple of hunters. It is later learned that this is Gabriella Langton, a Native American woman who was raped by white men at a party, which took place just within the jurisdiction of the Reservation. This produced a giant legal issue for both tribal police and Walt Longmire, given that neither had proper jurisdiction to take it on. Their only hope? Getting Cady to convince a federal prosecutor to take a look at the case, and then hope that they have the evidence to back it up.

Unfortunately, evidence was not easy to come by. Gaby had already showered and the rape kit procedure was not at first followed properly, and then you add to that her unwillingness to speak to almost anyone other than Walt, and a mother who was not exactly that invested in helping to get justice. For her, this would be impossible to properly obtain.

Most of this story was painful to watch since there was such a sinking feeling that, one way or another, it wasn’t going to work out well. Cady did get the prosecutor on board, but without a proper medical exam, there would not be enough actual evidence to move forward. Gaby was blocked from being able to cooperate, and at the end of the episode, it looked like her mother had accepted a deal to have her rent covered for months rather than continue to prosecute the case … even though it also now included a kidnapping. Tragic.

At the end of the episode, you could say there was a glimmer of hope courtesy of a call for help from Hector, but is this something Henry will be able to follow through on? It feels like in trying to keep the case away from the police while seeking justice via alternative means, you run the risk of getting nothing that you want. This was not easy stuff to watch, but it was harrowing and real to what may happen to women in similar situations.

The subplots for the episode were reasonably simple, whether it be Zachary pushing a little too hard on the job to Vic getting evicted and having to move on with Cady. We are a little perplexed at the moment as to what exactly the show is trying to do with Katee Sackhoff this season; we are now 60% of the way through season 4, and we still have little idea what the purpose is or if she is going to get real time in the limelight.

It is hard to review “The Calling Back” independently knowing there is more to the story, but it was an particular powerful entry in the season 4 canon so far. Grade: B+.

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