Ponderosa – The episode begins with Billy Poe (Alex Neustaedter/Thomas Murphy Molony) remembering one of the many times that Virgil Poe (Mark Pellegrino) let him down. In this particular memory, Virgil forgot to pick him up from a football game. It is Virgil’s voice and insistence to finish Aaron Daniel Fuchs (Jon Collin Barclay) off that snaps him back to reality. Although Billy hesitates, Virgil convinces him that Aaron doesn’t deserve pity and this is Billy’s time. Billy stabs him with one clean thrust to the femoral artery.

Del Harris (Jeff Daniels) and Detective Angela Burgos take their suspicions over Nell McKenna’s (Olivia Mulder) suicide to Chief Bolt (Leon Addison Brown), but he immediately shoots them down. He claims it’s down and he certainly isn’t going to waste any taxpayer money investigating. Del later suspects they might have missed something on the CCTV footage and tells Angela to order Cynthia Frazier (Britian Seibert) to go through it again. As she does this, Detective Ramon Fisher (Kyle Beltran) requests Del’s presence in his office where he tells him that the hit on Angela is going down tomorrow night.

Kerry (Mallory Portnoy) and Paul (Eric Patrick Harper) meet with Grace Poe (Maura Tierney) and Bethany (Zenzi Williams) to discuss their displeasure with the Landwill deal. They not only claim that the noise is unbearable but one of the trucks ran over their dog. Although Grace assures them that it’s only temporary and promises to speak with Landwill on their behalf, she is later unable to reach Russell Wolfe (Christopher Denham).

Along with Angela, Del shares what little he learned from Ramon with Agents David Garn (Brett Newton) and Joe Dordt (Ben Cain). It becomes clear that Ramon doesn’t fully trust Del and is only feeding him information as they go, so they practically don’t know what they are walking into. Despite this, Garn ensures them that the FBI will have the perimeter covered. Angela only becomes enraged and rushes off when Del suggests they back out and find a safer/better way.

Isaac English (David Alvarez) and Nate (Tom Pecinka) are in the middle of an intense game of Jenga when Billy and Lee English (Julia Mayorga) join them dressed in their Sunday best. After a bit of teasing and gawking, Billy says he’s taking Lee out to celebrate. Much to her surprise, Billy appears completely transformed at dinner and even has his future all planned out. After she hears about his sudden departure for basic training, she admits that he does seem different, but reminds him that overcoming his problems isn’t something that can be accomplished overnight.

Isaac and Nate’s night together on the couch immediately turns awkward when Russell shows up unexpectedly. Things only get stranger when he says he doesn’t like how things ended between him and Isaac and invites himself inside. After meeting Nate, he realizes he’s interrupting and excuses himself, but not before telling Isaac that he will be in town for a few days. Nate later confronts Isaac about his relationship with Russell, which he does not lie about because nothing happened between them. Isaac alludes to wanting to give his and Nate’s relationship a real chance.

Elsewhere, Del debates with Vic Walker’s (Marc Menchaca) ghost about whether or not his plans for the Brotherhood will work out. Del becomes frustrated with the discussion when Vic alludes to them being the same type of person and wanting the same things. Before Del startles awake in a cold sweat, Vic points out that once thought he was smarter than Ramon but look where he ended up.

Sheriff Steve Park (Rob Yang) is called into DA Ron Gossage’s (Mark Junek) office along with Agent Garn where he is questioned about his department’s missing flak jacket. Steve immediately tries to blame it on Del and gets vilified for the effort. Gossage not only tells him that he has absolutely no evidence of those claims but practically calls him an incompetent lawman before he leaves in shame.

Still unable to reach Russell, Grace decides to pay a visit to the Landwill Pittsburgh offices where she is treated like a mental patient. Even after dropping Dale Evans (Keith Flippen) and Russell’s names, she gains no traction. She eventually leaves in shame. Elsewhere, a very short scene shows an extremely upset Dale blaming Rinna Bransford (Amelia Workman) for the water tests that Lee sent out.

While in Pittsburgh, Grace meets Del at a local bar and shares her embarrassing story about visiting the Landwill offices. In turn, he tells her about the Brotherhood operation going down later that night. Steve unexpectedly shows up during the meeting and accuses them of turning the FBI on him. They clearly have no idea what he’s talking about, although he doesn’t believe them and storms off. As Del is saying goodbye to Grace, he receives a call from the FBI who just happens to be right around the corner. They spend a few minutes reminding him that it will not be in his best efforts to back out of their deal.

Much later that evening, Lee visits Rinna’s office to remind her that she is traveling to New York the next day to finalize her divorce. Rinna surprises her with a divorce present of what appears to be a skimpy lingerie set. Things get a bit awkward when she insists Lee make sure they fit before leaving. Rinna spends several hectic seconds searching through Lee’s purse while she is gone. She doesn’t find anything damning and later searches her office as well. After turning up nothing, Rinna places a call to an unidentified recipient requesting assistance.

Grace manages to finally track down Russell to a cabin/apartment resort where he is dressed as a regular workman with a tool belt. He is immediately upset by her intrusion and proceeds to jump all over her for following him. Things get even much stranger when someone who appears to be the manager of the cabin resort addresses Russell as Mr. Cleveland. Grace ends up leaving without any answers.

Billy, Isaac, and Nate spend the evening at the bar where they are regaled by Virgil and Joelle (Caitlin Cavannaugh). It’s not long before Nate is headed home and Billy is on the stage with Virgil.

The FBI set up around the perimeter of the staged raid site while Del and Angela approach from nearby. Angela asks if he is scared and he claims he’s not. He attempts to apologize to her for being overprotective earlier with the FBI and says he knows how capable she is, it is just that he wants to protect her. A hitch is immediately thrown into their plans when they receive an urgent phone call from Chief Bolt with the news of several officers down at 45 Windgap. At the same time, the Brotherhood call comes over the radio. Angela says they should stick with the FBI plan, but Del apparently disagrees and heads to Chief Bolt’s call. When the FBI can’t reach either Angela or Del, they automatically assume they are fleeing.

The episode ends by showing Del in a sniper’s scope why Russell breaks into Lee and Isaac’s house.

 

American Rust Review

Not a horrible episode. It was white knuckle to the end but the ending felt a bit rushed. I am sure this is how something like this might go down in real life but I would have enjoyed a much clearer/cleaner resolution. I do appreciate the double cliffhanger ending, which makes me only even more excited for the next one. With two episodes remaining, literally anything could happen. I’d give the episode a 5.3. out of 10.

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