Longmire season 6 episode 2 review: Will Walt make a decision?

From the onset, Longmire season 6 episode 2 was interested in asking big questions. By the end of the episode, we saw that once again with Walt Longmire and Vic.

Is it possible that they are going to get engaged? File that under “too early to tell for sure,” but for now it appears as though Travis is trying to force Walt’s hand. At the conclusion of the episode he turned to Robert Taylor’s character and push him into a decision: Either propose to Vic or he was going to do. He could see that Vic still had some feelings for Walt — Travis has gotten a bad rep at times, but he’s self-aware enough to realize that something is going on there — even if neither one of them is willing to admit it.

Walt’s now staring at a potential future if he wants it or continue with the status quo, and we can’t imagine that it’s all that hard for him to make a decision when you think about everything on his mind. For one, he’s still got the wrongful death lawsuit hanging over him (the story thread that will never go away) and also has to figure out if he trusts Jacob Nighthorse. Basically, this is one of the last things that he’d ever want to do, but with circumstances being what they are at the moment he realizes that he may not have much of a choice. He recognizes that Jacob is the one with the knowledge (potentially) of what happened to Henry — he’s got the books from Malachi Strand and seems ready to turn everything over to him. He claims that Malachi is the true villain who needs to be stopped, and to some extent we know he’s right. Yet, with Jacob you always have to wonder if he’s playing the long game. We also don’t seem him play all of his cards the majority of the time.

Early in the episode, the most damning piece of evidence of Jacob as the one responsible for what happened to Henry was rather simple — the posts from his property being used to tie Henry up. That was enough for Cady, (when told by her father about them) to convince her to go over and start hitting Jacob forcibly with them. Does she still have a job after that? Seems like a pretty reasonable question.

The truth of the matter is that when it comes to the central mysteries of the season, we aren’t leaving Longmire season 6 episode 2 with many more answers than we had in the finale. While we know Henry’s alive Malachi is still out there; meanwhile, Walt’s lawsuit still hangs over him. Vic is still pregnant, and in the process of figuring out what she wants Travis is running around and making decisions that aren’t really his to make. Remember when we talked about self-awareness earlier with him? He’s smart enough to know about Vic’s feelings and that’s about it.

Treasure hunt

The idea of there being buried treasure in Absaroka wasn’t our favorite storyline last season, mostly because it felt a little too much like a ’90s kids movie for this show. We still have some of that sentiment with it here that it doesn’t quite fit the rest of the aesthetic, but the murder case at the center of it in this episode was vintage Longmire and then some. Of course it was the guy who reported his brother missing who was actually responsible for killing him. We didn’t pick up on it for most of the episode, so good on the writers for finding a way to mask it for as long as they could.

CarterMatt Verdict

A very solid continuation of season 6. While we weren’t the biggest fan of the season 5 finale (at least compared to the end of season 4, which was the best in the entire series) this helped to continue some of what was established in the premiere — though remember that Longmire really tends to shine once you get around to episode 3 or 4 and the momentum starts paying off.

What did you think about Longmire season 6 episode 2? Was there a part of the story that you appreciated the most? Share right now in the comments below!

Meanwhile, head over to the link here in the event you want to read our exclusive interviews with Katee Sackhoff and Adam Bartley leading up to the premiere.

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