LONGMIRE

So I finished up Longmire this morning because I wanted to get it wrapped up before starting the fifth season of Yellowstone, and I have thoughts! Big huge spoilers for the ending below, so if you haven’t watched it yet, stay clear.

Mostly this show was GREAT, although specifically once it escaped the network TV format of the first couple and seasons and got to sprawl out more on Netflix. Although the initial episodes, with the “Law & Order: Wyoming” format, were interesting, it really wasn’t until the Netflix run with the murder of Branch and serialized storytelling that it became one my favorite shows of the last few years.

I loved how the writers took a bunch of the goofy plotlines from the initial episodes, like Cowboy Bill and a few others, and managed to tie them all together and create this weird lore around the show that gave us lots of “Aha!” moments by the end.

One thing that did take me out of the finale a bit was casting Wallace Langham as the traitor to Nighthorse. Not because he wasn’t good in the role, but because he had been introduced as this background security guy and I was immediately like “Um, why are they casting Wallace Langham as a nameless goon?” so it was obvious that he would immediately turn out to be a bigger part of the show and likely a traitor. Since he’s always an asshole. My wife didn’t actually know him from anything so it didn’t mean anything to her and she was pretty shocked when the heel turn came.

Also, what exactly WAS the deal with Jacob Nighthorse? Obviously Walt finally dropped his obsession by the end and saved him, but we never really got clarity on whether the heroin deal was legit or not, and if Nighthorse really was the piece of shit that Walt that he was 99% of the time. The impression I got was that he was going back to jail for using casino funds to bail himself out, and he basically said “Yeah I did some not-legal things”, but it was really still a grey area at the end if he was as bad as Walt through he was for the entire show. That was really the only unsatisfying loose end left untied.

Well that and what was in Barlow’s fireplace before he got killed by Walt.

Anyway, I’m really glad that it existed and Netflix let it have a proper conclusion to wrap everything up, and now I can go back to Yellowstone and maybe try something like Justified, which I’ve heard is another show I might enjoy based on my enjoyment of Longmire and others.