‘Longmire’ season 4, episode 10 (finale) review: Talking that twist ending

We wrapped up the season 4 finale of “Longmire” last night after watching (and reviewing) an episode a day, and we have to admit that we still have no idea what to make of it. It was a fantastic episode (one of the best of the series, no doubt), since it really started to help make sense of many of the story threads for the season.

For example, we now know (in a sense) why Vic has been relatively isolated this season: Characters have in turn been isolating her. Her confrontation with Walt over the dissolution of their friendship was something that needed to be had, as were the questions about him running Eamonn out of town at one point, only to then want to hire him a little later. Vic had already told Walt it was a bad idea because of her new relationship with the Cumberland County deputy, only to find out later he was none too thrilled about her making career decisions for him.

Walt’s romantic feelings at this point are mostly towards Dr. Monahan, but at the same time the closing minutes in the finale make you at least wonder if she is anywhere near as kind and good as you would hope. Who is this deranged patient that burned her car, is she working in cahoots with them on something, and is it someone with an ax to grind with Walt? There are few people who knew that Donna was staying with him in the wake of the car attack, so the idea here has to be that whoever approached Walt’s door, busted it out, and prepared to start shooting is someone who is either close to the doctor or knew about the plan all along.

It’s a great mystery, and we have to admit that by the time we got to Walt and Donna being together at the end of the episode, we’d forgotten about the car. This was one of the best twists endings we’ve seen, though it may still lag slightly behind the sheer epicness of the Trinity Killer and Rita at the end of “Dexter” season 4.

Many characters were set up in fascinating places by the end of the finale: Henry was finally found out as Hector by Mathias. The story of Gabriella Langton ended in a somewhat-convenient way courtesy of her managing to get away (the local legend had her becoming a hawk), and then Henry managed to ensure that Walker Browning couldn’t kill Walt and Gabriella along with his men. Henry was not exactly forthcoming at the end of the season to his friends about all of his actions, but we do like to think that him being there for them at the end was still important. It wasn’t until Mathias found his car and the blood in it that he could confirm some of his own suspicions.

One story that we don’t want to forget about in here is the incident with Zachary, and how he ended up losing his job while in the process of going at someone who was acting in secret to get a lawsuit filed against Walt for the wrongful death of Barlow. We hope that Zachary does find a way to return, and that Walt is acting mostly out of his own fears about letting another Branch start to fester. The Zachary / Ferg friendship is a lot of fun, and we’ve always liked Barry Sloane. More Zachary next season!

Also, is Cady working for Jacob Nighthorse a compelling story to anyone else? It’s a fantastic place to leave that character, given that she realizes that this job could help a lot of people on the reservation; yet, at the same time her father would have a terrible time accepting it and Jacob would surely relish getting under Walt’s skin.

Ultimately, we don’t so much think the point of the finale was necessarily for you to spend hours guessing who attacked Walt in the end. We cannot imagine the show without its title character, and we figure this was more of a jumping-off point if they get a fifth season. This is not a show to go quietly into the night, and we love that about it. We really loved this finale. Grade: A-.