‘Marshals’ Episode 3 Recap – Progress Is A Bad Word In Montana

“Progress” is a nebulous term at the best of times, especially given the wavering politics of Taylor Sheridan’s shows, so it’s little surprise that Marshals Episode 3 is a bit of a mess. I don’t mean that as a criticism, either, since “Road to Nowhere”, which is fittingly titled, is intended to be a mess, highlighting how an ages-old conflict won’t be ended just because the heroes of a CBS procedural decided to pick a side.

For what it’s worth, Marshals feels very procedural in this episode, but it also has a knotty undertone that is very in-keeping with Yellowstone, helped along by the presence of Thomas Rainwater and Mo Brings Plenty. Both bring with them the neglected mine subplot that was a picketing issue in the premiere, but was largely forgotten about last week, so that Kayce could focus on securing the Dutton family’s skeletons firmly in the closet. Tate is, as predicted, out of the way, but Kayce’s lingering grief over Monica’s passing, continuing race-related issues, shady, explosive moves to prevent the land from being tampered with, and recalcitrant wildlife are all very on-brand for the Montanaverse (which now includes The Madison, for what that’s worth).

Let’s break it down.

Taking A Detour

So the rare earth minerals mine that has the Broken Rock reservation up in arms is back on the docket this week, and understandably so, since as soon as it opens, the quality of life on the rez is liable to suffer. That’s presupposing it does open, obviously, something that is delayed when a bomb goes off and destroys part of the road that was being used to transport the equipment.

There are other avenues to take, of course, but the only alternative route just so happens to go through Broken Rock land. Rainwater, Mo, and a bunch of locals form a blockade to halt the convoy, threatening to seize the equipment if it isn’t moved, and the stand-off completely kills traffic in the region. Since most of that traffic comprises ranchers trying to get cattle from point A to point B and other livelihood-dependent tasks, the stalemate quickly evolves into a mini-riot that threatens to spill over into outright violence at any moment.

Shots Fired

Naturally, the Marshals are tasked with dispersing the crowd, which is a politically contentious position to be in. The locals will inevitably see the Marshals ousting them from the land as their being on the side of the Natives, even though the Natives aren’t keen on the Marshals (Miles worries aloud that for simply wearing the badge, he’ll be perceived as a traitor to his people, even though he is, in this instance, helping them out).

It doesn’t help that the crowd contains several people who are just there looking for a fight, chief among them the Cleggs, led by a sneering sourpuss unsurprisingly named Randall, who already hates Kayce thanks to a longstanding rivalry with the Duttons (the Cleggs have, apparently, been on the land for just as long). It’s worth noting that “Road to Nowhere” implies a bigger, more interconnected plot threading through each of these episodes, and Randall Clegg seems like a shoo-in for the season’s Big Bad, but we’ll see about that.

Predictably, shooting breaks out during the riot, injuring two bystanders. Kayce and Cal pelt into the woods and discover a hide with some bullet casings, and from there track down and apprehend the supposed shooter, a man named Don Moore.

Stuck in the Middle

Marshals Episode 3 makes it pretty clear that this conflict is going to get worse before it gets better, so Cal leans on Kayce to exploit his relationship with Rainwater to try and force him to stand down. Kayce’s very much stuck in the middle here, and it’s an interesting position for him since he’s now a Dutton but without any of the sway of the family patriarch or indeed the Yellowstone. Sentiment in the state has shifted away from Dutton dominance thanks to the ranch having been returned to the Natives, so this is all really bad news for Kayce’s desire for a quiet life.

Folks like Don Moore are similarly trapped between warring sides. Ballistics reveal that he didn’t shoot either of the victims at the riot; instead, he was working with two of the Clegg brothers to scare folk from the reservation, without realizing that his accomplices had more permanent plans. Those plans include, it turns out, shooting at Kayce, Rainwater, and Mo personally while they’re discussing the situation over coffee, so far from keeping their heads down, the shooters are quite happy to stick them way over the parapet.

Doing so gets one of them killed after Kayce gives chase and rendezvouses with the rest of the Marshals. The other is arrested and confesses to the shootings, but again, it’s repeatedly reiterated that this conflict isn’t going to end even if the case-of-the-week is closed. Kayce even warns Cal to watch his back in the bar, since the locals in this state tend to have long memories.

Progress?

The cruel twist of “Road to Nowhere” is that this was all for naught, really. While Kayce snaffles down a bowl of… something alone at East Camp instead of going out partying with the team, Rainwater turns up to apologize in a very roundabout way for the disagreement they had earlier. Of course, it was Rainwater who sabotaged the road to divert the mining equipment, a move that Kayce thinks his father would have been pretty proud of, but in the end, he was forced to back down and let the equipment through. “The oppressor wins again.”

But there’s still clearly something else afoot here. Kayce floats his theory about the attacks being connected, and indeed, at the very end of the episode, he wakes up in the middle of the night to discover that someone has left an errant rifle round on his doorstep. Who in Montana would be stupid enough to leave a threatening munition on Kayce Dutton’s doorstep? I guess we’ll find out. But that quiet life Kayce wanted clearly isn’t going to be on the cards.

And Another Thing…

A couple more notes from Marshals Episode 3 that wouldn’t fit into the main recap:

• Cal seems to have a pill addiction; we see him secretly popping a couple close to the end of the episode.
• In the bar, the team is approached by a couple of locals who offer to buy the next round as thanks for having caught the shooters. It’s a nice moment, but it doesn’t erase the possibility that they’ll be met with hostility next time.
• The stallion that keeps destroying the fences at East Camp was bought by Kayce for Monica, but she became too ill to ride before Kayce had time to break it. The chances of him taming the stallion as a symbol for learning to live with his grief are currently at 100%.
• At the mini-riot, someone recognised Belle, called her by a different name, and spat in her face. Belle writes the whole thing off as a mix-up, but she clearly has some secrets to hide. Maybe moving back home after an undercover stint to be around people who would definitely recognise her wasn’t the smartest play.