Longmire 2.01 "Unquiet Mind" Preview: Season Two Rides Back Into Town

    If you’ve been anxiously awaiting season two of Longmire in hopes of a resolution to the cliffhanger ending of season one, you are going to be disappointed. If you’ve been anxiously awaiting season two for more of the character dynamic of a small town Wyoming sheriff’s department in a quasi-old west setting, you will not be disappointed. Season two begins with Walt (Robert Taylor) and Vic (Katee Sackoff) on a road trip to deliver a prisoner to a rendez vous with the FBI at a roadside diner. Events quickly go south even as the weather takes a more northerly direction, and it turns into a manhunt – in a blizzard.

    The episode “Unquiet Mind” does a good job of re-introducing the regular cast. In fact, if you haven’t watched season one, you can watch this episode without feeling you’ve really missed anything. The episode features a great performance by Taylor. In fact, the episode very much revolves around his tracking of the ultimately escaped prisoner. While the plot may be somewhat predictable, the effect it has upon Walt is not, and the tension really does get ratcheted up as the episode plays out.
    The previews circulating for the season don’t indicate to me that the mystery of exactly what happened in Denver and how that is going to impact on Walt are going to be resolved any time soon. I suspect that they will drag it out over the course of the entire season. However, one thing this episode does seem to hint at is a re-vitalized Walt, who may be slightly less brooding this season.
    Tension is still pretty high in the office as Branch (Bailey Chase) is still running against Walt for sheriff. A slick campaign ad on the television at the diner demonstrates how Branch is putting his greater financial backing to good use. Ferg (Adam Bartley) is still his good-natured self. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this episode is that Vic is now Vicky, and seems to have been downgraded to the token female who needs to be protected or is most effective when looking after the home fires. I hope that this is just an anomaly for this one episode, and we’ll see the Vic we came to like back in the next episode.

    Henry (Lou Diamond Phillips) is still looking out for and after Walt. He is the one who has to use his Native American skills, and break out the horses, to rescue Walt. One of the things that I really didn’t like about this episode was its heavily mystic overtones. Granted Walt might have simply been hallucinating, but he’s “visited” or has visions of a number of people with whom he needs to work things out. The episode starts with them seeing a white buffalo calf. We’re told they are very rare – one in ten million births and at the end of the episode that they are a sign of hope and abundance. This fits nicely with Walt undergoing a re-birth of sorts in the episode. I liked the symbol of the white buffalo calf, and I enjoy the influence of Native American culture on the show, but I can live without the visions!
    Don’t forget to tune in tonight for the season premiere of Longmire on A&E at 10/9C.