Summary
Marshals finds some emotional power in “Out of the Shadows”, tying up its two-part trafficking storyline and allowing Kayce some crucial development.
I entered Episode 6 of Marshals mostly wondering how it was going to function as the first climax of a two-part arc. If you recall, last week’s outing left things on a pretty major cliffhanger, with Kayce and the other Marshals not meaningfully closer to finding the trafficked Broken Rock girls. As it happens, this isn’t even the half of “Out of the Shadows”, which is probably the most moving instalment thus far, and makes the most progress yet with Kayce’s character and his relationship with Tate, who has been wildly underserved by most of the run.
As much as I don’t love the fact that Marshals killed off Monica, and I’ll like it even less if Kayce ends up pursuing a relationship with someone else, which he’s liable to do now that he’s officially letting go, everything about the memorial ceremony and how it relates to the missing girl plot works pretty well. But we’ll get to this in due course, since part of the reason it works is because of the legwork done elsewhere.
Everyone Feels Guilty
Guilt is a pretty big, obvious theme this week. Kayce is taking things especially hard. His decision to let Hailey go for the sake of the other girls doesn’t sit well with him, and both Tate and Miles are fuming about it, albeit for different reasons. Tate has convinced himself that Monica’s spirit led him to Hailey, and that Kayce finding her is his own way of honouring her memory, especially since he has been adamant about his intention to swerve the memorial.
Miles, meanwhile, is just angry that Kayce sent Hailey back into the lion’s den, so to speak, but he comes across as really petulant for me. What else was Kayce supposed to do? To be fair, Miles has to bear the brunt to a certain extent, since it’s him who has to tell Ava’s family that she has been killed, but again, that’s not really Kayce’s fault.
Cal helps with that, though he also feels bad about the lack of a relationship he has with his daughter. Belle helps with that, but she’s also reckoning with the fact that she has kept her undercover work – and what is implied to be a gambling addiction – a secret from her husband, so everyone is feeling pretty bad this week.
Undercover
Speaking of Belle’s undercover career, when it turns out that the trafficked girls have been handed over to a biker gang called the Iron Sentinels, Belle has to return an old cover identity that she used to infiltrate the gang in the past. This wouldn’t feel like as much of a coincidence as it does if it weren’t for the fact that the Marshals are once again the only agency interested in working the case. I get we’re making a point about how the state is largely indifferent to the troubles facing the indigenous community, but it doesn’t always ring true.
Belle’s cover consists almost exclusively of wearing a wig and dressing very provocatively, but luckily, she knows someone in the gang who can take her straight to the leader, a guy named Brimstone. She uses some confiscated meth as a pretence to pitch a business deal, since the Sentinels are making a trade that presumably also includes the missing girls. The ruse doesn’t last long, though, since Belle’s cover is blown because one of the bikers recognises her from the casino.
Kayce manages to save Belle – donning a disguise to do so, which is kind of strange given all hell breaks loose immediately afterward, but no matter – and the rest of the team activates to shoot their way through the rally to the trailer full of illicit goods the gang was planning on trading. There are barrels full of drugs and, thankfully, the missing girls, all of whom are rescued unharmed.
Kayce Starts to Move On
Like Tate, Kayce starts to see the rescue of the girls as a symbolic way of honouring Monica’s memory. This compels him to attend the Broken Rock memorial with Tate, where he’s promptly joined by the rest of the team.
I wanted to moan about this feeling a bit too easy, but I actually found it quite emotionally compelling. We finally get to meet Monica’s sweet-seeming father, and Miles is warmly welcomed by the tribe, including Ava’s mother, absolving him of his guilt and the lingering worry that he is seen as something of a race-traitor for joining up with the Marshals.
Kayce also gives Tate Monica’s necklace, which he has been holding onto since her death as a kind of symbolic gesture of his inability to let go. He has crossed an important line here in beginning to accept his wife’s death. Dolly Weaver will be thrilled.
