Summary
Sheriff Country resolves several ongoing plots in Episode 4. The only question is whether it might be left too dramatically short in the next few episodes as a result.
I know I keep going on about it, but you’ll have to forgive me, since it’s really difficult not to compare Sheriff Country to Boston Blue, for all kinds of reasons. Episode 4, “Out of Office”, makes the distinctions between the two really clear, since it works in all of the ways that I wish Boston Blue did. Things keep getting worse for the main characters, poisoning their dynamics and forcing them to take potentially drastic measures to defend themselves and their loved ones. It’s proper family drama, and the fact that it’s working so much better should be ample evidence that shows need conflict to survive.
We’re picking up where we left off, obviously. Skye’s too-late admission that she bought the still-missing knife that killed Brandon means that there’s no way for her to wriggle out of an arrest. The timing of the warrant was terrible. Sure, Micky was just about to report the receipt in Skye’s bedroom, but the sheriffs don’t know that, or at least can’t prove it, and District Attorney Ruben Massey isn’t interested in entertaining any claims to the contrary. He’s determined to nail Skye and thinks even Boone is being too much of a soft touch about it. As a result, the D.A.’s office is taking over the case, and Mickey is, for the first time in twenty years, out of the office.
What this essentially means is that the obligatory case of the week becomes Mickey’s off-books efforts to try and prove Skye’s innocence. She goes to see Brandon’s mother, and in his car, finds his burner phone, which reveals he was being harassed repeatedly by the same number on the night he was killed. He was also in contact with Skye’s cousin Ricky, also a recovering addict, who reveals that it seemed like Brandon owed someone serious a lot of money. In just one afternoon, Mickey has already deduced a motive for the murder.
Not long after, she makes her way to the real culprit, a particularly unsavoury dealer named Adrian Smith, whose logo was pressed onto the pills that Mickey confiscated from Brandon way back in the premiere. In this, Mickey’s helped by her beau, Dawson, who turns out to be an undercover cop, which is why he looks like he’s liable to sell a few drugs himself. Mickey has to break into the station evidence locker to photograph the pills, follow them to Smith’s place, and then confront him. When he fights back, Dawson is forced to intervene and shoot him, but the evidence proves that it was he, not Skye, who killed Brandon.
All of this is perfectly fine, but it’s most interesting in how it affects the dynamics between each of the characters. There are meaningful scenes between Mickey and Travis about the failure of their marriage and how parenting Skye has been affected by that. Travis takes his frustrations about Skye’s arrest out on Cassie. When Mickey is sneaking around the evidence locker, Boone spots her, but pretends not to have seen her, so she can keep investigating the case.
The most entertaining, though, is Wes, who takes matters into his own hands by very publicly confessing to the murder of Brandon in order to derail the D.A.’s case. This isn’t just funny, but it reflects Wes’s guilt over having given Skye bad advice in the first place by telling her to withhold information from the authorities. DA Massey has a real issue with Wes and has apparently been trying to put him away for years, and it’s his singlemindedness – which also manifests as a serious mistrust of the entire sheriff’s department – that helps Boone to realise whose side he’s really on.
What’s curious is that Sheriff Country Episode 4 resolves a good amount of ongoing storylines. With the real culprit behind Brandon’s murder identified, Skye is off the hook and is even able to reconcile with his family by gifting his mother his lyric book. Mickey’s relationship with Dawson comes to an end, since he was forced to break his cover to save her, and has thus been reassigned elsewhere. Travis and Cassie kiss and make up.
What we’re left with is a more antagonistic force in the form of Massey and the ongoing matter of what Boone will choose to do with his future. There’s a part of me that wonders whether this will be quite enough, but thus far, the show has earned enough goodwill that I’m confident it’ll come up with something compelling.
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