Summary
Sheriff Country delivers a near-perfect finale, constantly wrong-footing the audience with one major twist after another.
Throughout its entire Season 1 run, Sheriff Country has set a pretty high bar for a network procedural, and I’m pleased to report that its ending pulls out all the stops to see things out with a bang. There are twists, turns, and more twists, some of which completely upend the emotional fabric of the show. Here we were thinking that Alec was the most pressing of Mickey’s problems. Episode 20, “Mexico”, has other ideas.
Most of that stuff comes at the end, though. It is Alec who dominates the bulk of the finale, with Mickey realising early on that he’s Miranda’s secret hatchet man and then making an effort to prove it without putting herself in any undue danger. But as it turns out, there’s a little bit more going on beneath the surface here, which drags Wes back into the main plot. There’s even a nice payoff for Skye and Travis.
Anyway, let’s break it all down.
Mickey Figures Out Alec Is Mr. X
As good a job as Alec has done being Miranda’s personal clean-up crew, he has consistently tipped his hand in one important way – he can’t leave Mickey alone.
This means that after killing Rick, Alec went back home and crawled into bed with her. And it also means he’s there in the morning when Miranda turns up, asking if there’s been any news about Rick. Thus, Mickey sees them interact and recognises immediately that they know each other. The pieces immediately begin slotting into place.
Luckily, Boone refuses to buy Alec’s cover story after Rick’s body is discovered, so he and Cassie continue investigating despite Mickey, trying to maintain her cover, telling them not to. They manage to turn up a witness to Rick’s shooting, and in his stress, Alec keeps stacking things up – eggshells when making Mickey’s breakfast; Post-It notes on his desk – in the exact same way that he stacked up the rocks at McGuire’s murder scene. When Mickey and Boone finally share notes, they both confirm that Alec is Mr. X.
The Sting
To bring Alec down, Mickey and Boone concoct a hilariously elaborate sting operation with the complicity of Deputy Director Santos. They plant evidence implying that Mickey took a bribe. Santos claims that Alec is being taken off the case on account of his undisclosed relationship with Mickey and that Mickey herself will be joining her father in federal prison.
Alec senses an opportunity here, so he rushes to Mickey’s place and tells her that Santos is on to her. She plays along, showing him the money she was “bribed” with, and after confirming she isn’t wearing a wire, even though she is, he takes her to a private airfield where he plans to have them both whisked away to Mexico. This was earlier presented as a romantic escape. Now, it’s a more literal one.
Boone and Director Santos are nearby, listening in. When Mickey tips her hand a little bit to try and coax Alec into a confession, he realises she’s onto him, and they both draw their weapons. Boone and Santos got involved as a scuffle breaks out, eventually leading to Alec being taken down. However, Boone catches a bullet in the crossfire.
Another Love Triangle
Boone survives, obviously, and the close call clearly causes Mickey to reconsider her taste in men. Boone has been there since the beginning, and she has already confessed to having feelings for him that she deliberately tamped down. You’d think now would be the time to be open, but she seems to have left it a little too long. Emmy, from the morgue, seems to be a more viable romantic interest for Boone at the present moment.
I don’t think for a minute this will last, but it does seem like the will-they-won’t-they tension is going to form a big component of Season 2, just like it did here. There’s also a bit of a romance developing between Hank – whose real name turns out to be Enrique Iglesias! – and Cassie, which will likely become another ongoing thread.
The Fraley Family Business
Needless to say, the ending of Sheriff Country finds Miranda arrested, and while she’s confident that the charges won’t stick, something tells me they probably will. If nothing else, it leaves her family business adrift, which gives Skye and Travis something to do. They both agree to take the reins for the good of the honest employees.
Skye also has a word with Wes that feeds into the final twist. Her relationship with her grandfather is still invariably going to be complicated, but this family has so much drama at this point that she’ll probably be able to take it in stride. Hopefully, Season 2 doesn’t forget she exists for large stretches as this one did.
The Final Big Twist
The most dramatic parts of this finale arguably come at the very end. After saving the day, Mickey sees Director Santos to learn that she has been officially cleared regarding the theft of the DEA’s money. But Santos wants to continue their working relationship. Wes has agreed to be a confidential informant undercover with the new cartel that is making inroads in Edgewater. Mickey hates the idea, since she was adamant about having nothing more to do with her father, let alone working with him.
Santos immediately turns hostile and threatens to leak Mickey’s relationship with Alec to the press if she doesn’t play ball. That would destroy her career, essentially. Mickey has little choice but to agree, so Wes is walked into the office.
In the biggest twist, though, he immediately recognises Santos. As it turns out, she’s Mickey’s mother, Maria, whom Wes believed to be dead. Way to put the cat amongst the pigeons!
