Summary
Marshals is ostensibly a Yellowstone spin-off, but “Piya Wiconi” immediately highlights that it’s a very different kind of show from what has come before.
John Dutton died, and then Yellowstone itself died shortly after him, but that doesn’t mean that Taylor Sheridan was ever going to leave the neo-Western world his mega-hit lived inside of. We’ve already had spin-off prequels, of course, including the wonderful 1883 and the less-good 1923, but you probably shouldn’t use those as your expectation barometer for Marshals, the much-talked-about Kayce Dutton-focused side story set after the main series finale. The prequels had the same kind of contemplative, quasi-philosophical vibe, all mountain man monologuing and epic-feeling cross-country trekking, but, at least according to Episode 1, Marshals is much more of an effort to set an action-heavy network procedural in the same universe.
In that, at least, it’s pretty successful. The premiere’s title, “Piya Wiconi”, translates to “new beginning”, and that’s precisely what Kayce is looking for. Joining Montana’s U.S. Marshals Service is posited as a kind of therapy, a way to treat the trauma of his time in the Navy, the various family calamities that he went through in Yellowstone, and the latest big loss in his life, which is quickly revealed to be the death of Monica.
Monica Is Dead!
Yes, Kelsey Asbille hasn’t returned to Marshals, and the premiere quickly establishes why – her character has been killed off. This is initially communicated in a hilariously dramatic nightmare sequence where Kayce dreams of being under fire with his former SEAL team leader, Pete Calvin, who we’ll talk about in a minute, and stops to answer a phone so he can scream “Monica, where are you?!” down the line. When he wakes up, Monica’s side of the bed is empty. It’s not exactly subtle.
It isn’t totally clear what happened to Monica. But Kayce and Tate are trying to amble on in the meantime, keeping themselves busy by ranching on the East Camp – the section of the Dutton ranch Kayce retained in his deal with Thomas Rainwater – but barely speaking to one another or addressing the obvious elephant in the room. Tate doesn’t love the idea of being a humble rancher for the rest of his life, and Kayce isn’t enjoying it much, even though it’s taking up most of his time.
Calvin’s arrival on the ranch – for quite contrived reasons – represents a lifeline, then. He’s leading a U.S. Marshals task force to bring in a couple of fugitives who have been targeting women from the Broken Rock tribe and are hiding out in the wilderness near the Yellowstone. Kayce pretends not to be interested for a minute or two, but not any longer than that.
Meet the Team
Kayce joins the squad, which includes city girl Andrea, former ATF undercover agent Belle, and fellow ex-SEAL Miles, who is also a member of the Broken Rock tribe, so he has a personal stake. A returning Thomas Rainwater – still followed everywhere by Mo Brings Plenty – remains the Chairman of Broken Rock, and his attendance at a rally alongside the Secretary of State presents a new target of opportunity for the bad actors, so Kayce sticks around to be an extra pair of eyes and ears for the Marshals.
The protest is against a planned mine that could pollute the local water supply, and Tate is in attendance with a framed photo of Monica, implying that she died of cancer caused by a similar development.
As suspected, the rally turns out to be a ripe opportunity for carnage. A bomb goes off, and Rainwater is injured, and a prime suspect emerges in the form of a Native man named Kane, who was caught on facial recognition software planting the device. This seems enough for Harry Gifford, the head of the Montana Marshals office, who was immediately trying to pin the whole thing on a member of Broken Rock in the context of an attempt on the life of the Secretary of State.
The Usual Suspects
It doesn’t take Kayce long in Marshals Episode 1 to get to the bottom of this particular ruse. The supposed perpetrator, Kane, is healing up in the hospital after being caught in the blast, so when Kayce goes to check on Rainwater, he gets some face time with him, too. This is after taking down a would-be assassin disguised as a nurse in the men’s bathroom, since we seem to have an obligatory action quota we need to be meeting.
Kane was being strong-armed by an extremist group trying to take out Rainwater. His wife and child have been kidnapped to be used as leverage against him. Luckily, his daughter has a tracker in her shoe, which allows the Marshals to pinpoint her location, but when they get there – after another nice action sequence, this one bristling with a prime Call of Duty-style tactical efficiency – they realise they’ve been set up. The tracker was used to lure them in, and the extremists knew they were coming thanks to a tip-off from the real Big Bad, Fish & Wildlife Captain Kilborn.
Kayce and Calvin pursue a couple of the remaining bad guys, including Kilborn, who have taken Kane’s daughter hostage. Kayce takes Kilborn down while he’s still holding the girl as a human shield, but his ominous dying words warn Kayce that he has “stopped nothing”, which doesn’t bode well.
A New Beginning
As was obvious from the start, the premiere’s ending is about Kayce finally accepting his new place among the Marshals, which should help to address some of his lingering issues. Not that the team is especially even keel, since Calvin pops pills, and Belle is lying about her identity, but the sense of camaraderie might be good for him, especially since it’ll also allow him to take down the shadowy villain who paid Kilborn to set up the attempt on Rainwater’s life.
This also leads Kayce to bond a bit more with Tate. He reassures him that East Camp is his home, not his destiny, and if he decides being a rancher for the rest of his days isn’t what he wants, Kayce won’t hold that against him. He also goes to see Monica’s memorial – it’s at her favourite place on the ranch, but she’s actually buried on the reservation – and tells her headstone that he’s finding a new beginning for himself and Tate.
As a symbolic gesture, he pulls out his rifle and shoots the wolf that has been making its presence felt to him ever since the main series as a kind of spirit guide. I know we’re trying to prove a point here, but what did the wolf do wrong?
