‘Longmire’ season 4 in review: The Robert Taylor series soars to new heights

“Longmire” is a series that underwent a series of huge changes in 2015. It found a new home in Netflix, told a different sort of story free of content restrictions, and found a number of ways to surprise us.

If you told us a year ago, though, that we would have loved this season even if Branch was killed off in the premiere, we would have laughed at you. Given everything that fans did to save the show, you would’ve imagined that they would have kept Bailey Chase around. Not so much. We love the character, but his death was a huge driving force early on in season 4, and without it, the case to take down Barlow once and for all would not have the same amount of weight to it.

“Weight” is a great way to describe season 4. It was heavier, meatier, more emotionally resonant, and riskier than anything that the show could do on A&E. The episodes were longer, the swear words more prominent, and there was less of a need to make this into a procedural with a few serialized elements every week. There were only a few standalone cases this season, which we feel like is the writers’ way of appealing still to some old-school fans while bringing the story into the future.

The majority of the risks taken throughout the season worked. Ending the Barlow story in episode 3 was another incredible surprise, anchored by a fantastic Robert Taylor performance as it allowed Walt and the series to start to tread some unfamiliar ground. What happens when you lose one of your primary reasons to fight? Walt had to figure this out, and the case of Gabriella Langton led to him finding much of that internal drive again.

What ended up working so well creatively for the Gabriella story was that it did find a way to rope in many of the characters. Henry, acting as Hector, had an obvious way to get involved as a way to avenge the horrific crimes that happened to her. Meanwhile, Cady’s desire for justice caused her to even lie to her father at times in order to protect what Henry was doing. This case was fiercely emotional, and while you can certainly argue that it ended rather abruptly for Gaby based on her becoming the hawk, it was a hard story to wrap up. The nature of the eventual crimes, whether it be rape or murder, were some complicated and interwoven that it felt like there would never be peace no matter what happened.

Both the Barlow and Gabriella stories each found a way to also use the casino, an elaborate set piece that flashes us back to Martha Longmire’s wishes and places Jacob Nighthorse in a position of power. We never really saw the zenith of the conflict between him and Walt this season, but we have to think that it is coming courtesy of his offer to Cady. Even if she is helping those on the reservation, can he really be that happy with the idea of working for someone he considers an enemy? We have a hard time considering it.

We could understand if you had some criticisms regarding the way that other members of the Sheriff’s department were used. It took a good nine or ten episodes for us to see what was really going on with Vic, and Ferg’s story was a little bit of a slow burn. Zachary (Barry Sloane) is a fantastic new addition to the group, and we hope that he does eventually find his way back.

Negatively this season, there were a few times that you did have to suspend belief, including that an injured Henry would find a way to be positioned to help Walt and Gabriella escape Walker Browning and his men. Yet, the occasional question mark is really offset by a variety of fantastic moments, whether it be the aforementioned performance of Taylor, Lou Diamond Phillips continuing to shine, or that insane ending that still has us questioning what really happened with Walt and his new love interest Dr. Monahan. More on that can be found in our review of the finale.

After looking at season 4 retrospect, it’s hard to call it anything but a success story for Netflix. It was fully engrossing, funny at times, and emotionally gut-wrenching at others. It was ultimately the “Longmire” you loved on another level. Season grade: A-.

If you head over here, you can see some questions we want to see answered during a potential “Longmire” season 5! Also, you can sign up here to get some more TV updates on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Netflix.)