‘Marshals’ Episode 12 Recap – The Crew Are Facing Some Major Changes

In lieu of a proper overarching plot, especially with the nearest thing to a Big Bad having already been dispatched, and most of the lingering personal conflicts having already been ironed out, it’s important for Marshals to come up with some other ideas to build tension for its upcoming finale. What it settles for in Episode 12, “The Devil at Home”, is walking each character to a major crossroads, and leaving it a little ambiguous how the chips may fall.

This is effective enough in my book. The personal predicaments all make sense, and I couldn’t easily predict a single one beyond hedging my bets on whatever makes more sense for an already-confirmed second season. We finally know what’s up with Cal, even though we could probably have guessed, and Kayce is weighing the idea of finally living his life according to what he wants to do, instead of what he simply feels duty-bound to do. The next episode should be pretty interesting. But here’s what went down in this one.

Cartel Crisis

The case of the week uncovers a cartel’s attempted infiltration of the Broken Rock reservation, which ties in a couple of character-driven subplots for good measure. Notably, Miles’s friend, Sabrina, whom I believe we’ve met in the bar a couple of times, has died from a fentanyl overdose, and the potential knock-on effects are fairly substantial.

Quickly, the team investigates a wanted carjacker named Raynor, who leads them to a trailer with enough drugs to poison half of the reservation hidden outside. The stash is linked to the Jalisco cartel, and is confirmed to be the batch that led to Sabrina’s death, giving Miles a major wobble when Gifford stands the team down lest they continue to upset the DEA.

Furthermore, the scandal could quite easily allow Congress to stymie Rainwater’s efforts to get the mineral mine moved, a political fight that he has also roped Miles into as a kind of symbolic embodiment of the warrior spirit, so it’s a bit of a double whammy for him.

Miles Goes Rogue

These warring frustrations are why Miles decides to stand up Maddie and instead head out on a solo sting to track down Hector Diaz, who may have established the cartel’s presence on Broken Rock after marrying a Native woman. Maddie arriving at the Marshals office and insisting that Cal finds Miles tips the whole team off to the fact that he’s trying to take the law into his own hands.

I didn’t love that this is basically a reiteration of Miles’s arc from earlier in the season, when he was complaining about inaction during the human trafficking bust, and it’s also a bit rich for any of the other Marshals, especially Kayce and Cal, to lecture him about frontier justice. But I suppose Kayce is speaking from experience, and Marshals is probably contractually obligated to provide at least one firefight per episode.

Kayce manages to talk Miles down, warning him that if he murders Diaz, his face is all he’ll ever see when he thinks about Sabrina, but his actions can’t be ignored, so Cal is forced to suspend him and take his badge. For him, that’s also putting a nail in his reconciliation efforts with Maddie.

Andrea Might Be Going Back to DC

Marshals Episode 12 finds Andrea being used as a political showpiece by Gifford in much the same way that Rainwater is using Miles. She’s unhappy about it, but she does a good job of playing up the story regardless to make sure that the team continues to get its important funding. It just makes her feel a bit dirty afterwards.

As payment for services rendered, Gifford informs Andrea that a spot has finally opened up back in the DC office. It’s no secret that she has been longing to get back there throughout the entire season, and she even mentioned it earlier on in “The Devil at Home”, especially following Garrett’s untimely demise. I don’t think she’ll take the job, personally, but it’s something she’s going to have to consider for the finale.

Belle Is in Over Her Head, and Cal Has Cancer

After a couple of weeks of barely being mentioned, Belle’s gambling issues also return to the forefront here. She’s $20,000 in the hole to a casino, and the joint has now started sending out enforcers to push for a payment. If she doesn’t cough up, they’ll go to her husband and her colleagues, exposing her issues.

This is all building towards the idea of Belle crossing some sort of line soon, since there’s a huge amount of money sitting in Raynor’s car, and the risk of having her habit exposed could quite easily threaten her career.

Notably, Belle is at present the only person who knows Cal’s real issue, which is that the pain in his neck and shoulder stems from a cancerous tumour sitting at the top of his lung. She might be able to help him get better, but before that, she needs to help him feel supported. If her personal woes come out now, they won’t just impact her.

Kayce Might Be Selling East Camp

In yet another questionable Kayce-related decision, he’s debating selling East Camp to Mr. Weaver, and the show is kind of bending over backwards to imply it’s a good idea. Tate even says outright at one point that his idea of home isn’t attached to land, just the presence of his father, basically giving him carte blanche to do whatever he wants.

It’s pretty inescapable that East Camp has also become the place Monica died, which continues to affect Kayce and Tate. Kayce has always reflexively refused a sale since it’s not what his father would have wanted. But is it what he wants?

That remains to be seen, but the end of the episode implies that he’s at least thinking about it. Perhaps the second season will be about Kayce trying to navigate city life.