‘Longmire’ season 5, episode 2 review: Diving deep
Two episodes in, and it appears as though “Longmire” season 5 has resolved its biggest mystery coming out of season 4: What happened to Donna and Walt following the attack at his home.
Was it a large conspiracy, or was Donna somehow roped in and was trying to get him killed? After seeing the resolution, we’re starting to really think we went overboard with many of our crazy conspiracy theories. The answer was actually rather simple and fairly reasonable: One of Donna’s patients in Tamar was responsible for taking her after suffering a mental break and thinking that Walt was trying to hurt her after seeing him before they went back to her place. She thought in her mind that she protecting her, much in the way that many of the doctors’ patients do thanks to the way in which she is able to care for many of them. She allows them to feel cared for and at peace, and there are some clear benefits to that. However, at the same time that level of attachment coupled with poor mental-health care for veterans otherwise led to both this situation and what happened with her car at the hands of a separate patient.
Ultimately, we do think “Longmire” is trying to say something about veterans’ affairs much in the same way that they often do life on reservation, and while while the ending to the Donna mystery may not have been particularly satisfying from a mystery point of view (Tamar was somewhat predictable as a suspect), it worked on an emotional level as we understood precisely what she went through to get to this point.
Our one complaint here comes down to logic, that Walt and Donna would allow Tamar, in handcuffs, to stare down at the lake one last time before taking her in when it was so clear that she was going to jump in. If we as a viewer can piece together something (and we’re not in law enforcement), the characters should be able to interpret it.
For this episode Vic’s feelings for Walt were put more on hold, though we did have a few other interesting notes here and there. For one, Eamonn Walker may be looking for a new job elsewhere after being fired from Cumberland County and refusing Walt’s job offer. Also, Walker Browning’s location has been discovered, and we have to think that there’s a reason he’s been deposited out there — at least for now.
Oh, and Henry got out of recent arrangement with Mathias, reminding him that as Hector, there will be too many people who misses him if he is gone.
As a whole “Longmire” season 5 continues to deliver the goods. While the end of the Donna storyline falls somewhat short of perfection, we will say that there was a decent emotional payoff and we still have other issues to contend with. Cady still has a story to tell, and there is a wrongful death lawsuit looming. Grade: B.
Head over here to get our full review of the “Longmire” season 5 premiere; meanwhile, sign up over here to score some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Netflix.)