Population 25

This is the first poorly written episode we've watched in the series. Something has changed and we aren't apprised. Too many ridiculous coincidences.

Unless you like torture don't watch it. I like the show I hate watching torture. This brings together a few threads but not much, and far too little to justify the torture.

Somewhere deep in the bowels of the IMDb you will find a series review of Longmire by this writer, and, the record will clearly show, it is an excellent review. (IE, the show is rated excellent, the quality of the review of course is in the eye of the beholder.) Significantly the review was written early on during a viewing of Season 1. What innocent times those were! Very much in the tradition of the typically dry but character-driven English mysteries, which change from week to week, the show was astonishing for what it was not. It was not showy, it was not over the top, the writing was not manipulative, and you did not necessarily need to watch each episode in succession to appreciate the next one.

Well those days are gone.

As soon as the producers realized they had a hit on their hands they did what ever every production company since the dawn of TV has done- they changed up the formula to juice the audience, much like you would juice an addict. Of course in the process the essence of the show disappeared, but no matter. In the pursuit of the higher dollar for residuals and digital rights, all's fair.

This episode is terrible and I wonder if the other reviewers who liked it even bothered to watch the first season? Cross a daytime soap opera with LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and you will find that you have left Longmire's quaint little county and are now in Profitville, USA.

Ugh.

There is a bit of happenstance here, primarily the whole thing with the bear and the accident precisely where these nuts are, is hard to swallow. But after I forgave them for that, I became totally involved here. What was most intriguing to me is the way Vic, knowing she had nothing to lose, gets in the face of Chance, the survivalist. The other thing is the tension that the writers have created here. And, I can't wait for the next episode.