Ducks And Falcons – This episode of Joe Pickett begins three weeks ago. Nate Romanowski (Mustafa Speaks) is approached by three men in a boat while out in the woods. They pretend they need help, but they really want to kill Nate. Although he gets hit with an arrow, Nate manages to kill the men. After removing the arrow from his shoulder, he searches the dead men and finds a list of names. The list contains the names of Nate and Joe Pickett. In the present, Joe (Michael Dorman) meets Marybeth Pickett (Julianna Guill) outside the Twelve Sleep Sheriff’s Department where they’re booking Randy Pope. Marybeth admits she doesn’t understand why Randy (Chris Gauthier) would kill all these men.

Joe says Randy has the answers and they have Randy. Deputy McLanahan (Chad Rook) tells Joe to calm down because they’re handling police business. They argue over who should be in charge until it turns into a shoving match. Sheriff Barnum (Patrick Gallagher) interrupts as Joe complains that McLanahan won’t let him go back there. Barnum says it was his order because Joe is a livewire. Deputy McLanahan worries that Joe will choke out Randy like he did last time. Sheriff Barnum asks Joe to go home and see his lovely kids because he can handle it. Once they go outside, Joe tells Marybeth that he didn’t almost kill Randy. He agrees to go get the girls since it’d be good to see them.

Alisha Whtieplume (Cheryl De Luca) approaches Joe at the school and learns he is feeling some frustration. Joe goes inside with Alisha and explains that he is struggling. Alisha suggests it is about accepting himself. She asks why he is so scared of putting his emotions out there. Joe insists he isn’t very good at this emotional stuff. He believes he was better off before he tried to open it all up. Alisha asks if he has ever asked himself why he is talking to a child counselor instead of one for grownups. She suggests there is a child part of him that really needs to be heard. Alisha tells him to close his eyes and imagine that young Joe is there with him. What would little Joe have to say and what would Joe tell him?

Once he closes his eyes, he sees a young Joe asking why he’ll never listen to him. He leaves when the school bell rings. Cricket (Aadila Dosani) and Nate try to find the place where all of her questions will be answered. Nate shows her the home of an old friend. Robbie (Ryan Robbins) sneaks up on them with a gun. Cricket sneaks up behind him with a knife and tells him to drop the gun. Robbie invites them inside for dinner. Nate introduces Cricket to Robbie Jax. At home, Marybeth and the kids prepare for dinner. She tells Joe that she believes he was fighting to get to the truth at the station. Marybeth thinks they have to keep investigating. She read through Wolverine’s posts and they don’t sound like Randy to her.

Marybeth worries more people will die if they don’t keep at it. Asking who the killer is go them nowhere so Marybeth says they should ask why. She wonders why someone would frame Randy and who Frank and Wally ticked off. Joe tells Marybeth that she is so good at solving cases, solving him, and looking like that. Joe suggests going to Cheyenne to see if anyone at Game and Fish has it out for Randy. Marybeth will see if Blaire can walk her through Frank’s last days. They agree to catch this guy. Missy (Sharon Lawrence) overhears Hank Scarlett (Roger LeBlanc) and his friends talking about game wardens being criminals at the bar. She soon gets involved and calls Hank a coward. Missy says her grandkids were in that house.

Hank hopes they saw it and have nightmares as a result. Derek Longbrake (John Ralston) hits Hank and tells him to learn how to talk to a lady. Missy likely quits and storms out of the bar with Derek. At school, April Keeley (Vivienne Guynn) and the others make family trees. She is told it might be a good idea to move on to pictures. Marybeth visits Blaire Urman (Julianne Christie) who has been drinking a lot. Marybeth admits that Randy could possibly walk free. She asks if there is any reason Randy would want to hurt Frank. Blaire says he is a psychopath and there are some bad people in their world. Marybeth reminds her that the nature of Frank’s death was so extreme. She says even good people can make enemies. Blaire says this is an intrusion. Marybeth tries to smooth things over before leaving.

Joe goes to the office to see what he can find about Randy. Wendy tells Joe he shouldn’t be snooping around his boss’s office. She doesn’t think he’ll find anything anyway because Randy is the most boring person she has ever met. Joe asks if he had any enemies. Wendy (Jessica Zhang) says you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting one of Randy’s enemies. Not long ago, Randy and his buddy Warren Tucker had a shouting match right there. He was the serial killer’s second victim. Wendy doesn’t know what they were arguing about. Joe takes the keys. On his way back, he calls Marybeth to say Randy was doing some hunting. He sees young Joe sitting next to him. The boy says he won’t leave because Joe won’t let him. He says there is something in the road. Joe stops before running over a carcass. Robbie tells Cricket about working in special ops with Nate.

He monitors government databases and listens to chatters so he can stay ahead of them. The worst things he ever did was in the name of the law. Cricket goes outside to use the restroom. Nate says he tried to reach the other brothers, but he never heard anything back. Robbie tells him what happened to some of them. Cricket listens to them talking about the list. Robbie thinks they’re cleaning house and taking out the old-timers. Nate says the list doesn’t include just old-timers. Since Joe’s name is on the list, Nate thinks he is the connection. Cricket learns that her name is on the list. Nate believes everything is his fault. Robbie says it isn’t his fault although it is his burden. He won’t stop until he takes out Nate and everyone on the list.

Robbie suspects there is already someone planted close to Nate wherever he calls home. When Joe makes it home, Marybeth says Blaire stonewalled her so she spent the day digging through their files. She found an invoice for Dan Garrett’s funeral expenses and it was paid by Frank’s foundation. They had to be close. Joe admits they’ve been looking at the murder victims like they were lone wolfs, but they might’ve been a pack. Joe tells Marybeth the difference between packs and herds. In the wild, wolves only come together to hunt. Later that night, they spend some romantic time in the bedroom. They stop because they have to get up early. Cricket confronts Nate about the hit list with her name on it. Nate just didn’t want her to panic.

Cricket thinks it is pathetic that she thought he had a good reason to disrespect her like that. She gets upset and tells him he is alone because he is selfish. Cricket says she is going back to Saddlestring tomorrow. Joe tells Marybeth that he wants her to know he is right there. In the morning, Marybeth yells for April to come because the bus will be there soon. April pretends to be sick because she doesn’t want to go to school. Marybeth forces her to go anyway. Sheridan (Skywalker Hughes) knows she doesn’t want to go to school because of the family tree project. Sheridan recommends putting them on her tree. April says she didn’t put her on hers. She doesn’t blame her since she wouldn’t want her either.

Missy meets Derek at a restaurant. She tells him this has been fun, but it isn’t going to last forever. Now that she has lost her job, she cannot run around having fun. She reminds him that he is poor. Derek tries to talk her into going dancing with him this weekend. Joe visits the taxidermist who doesn’t want to talk about his clients. He says he had nothing to do with the murders. He tells Joe he can arrest him for something or leave. Joe walks into the back and says Oliver (Diego Diablo Del Mar) has a lot of illegal mounts. Randy didn’t have a permit so he is working poached game. Joe tries to convince Oliver to give him answers about Randy Pope. Oliver explains that Randy is a regular who comes by around the same time every year.

He shows Joe the picture Randy left. It has the victims in it as well as Hank Scarlett. Julie Scarlett (Evie Marsten) shows off her family tree before April is asked if she wants to go next. Sheridan takes her place. Sheridan has April on her family tree. Robbie gives Nate and Cricket spam before saying goodbye to them. Nate tells Cricket there is another reason he brought her out there. She is shocked to see that they are Marissa Left Hand’s phone records. Nate says Robbie is a genius with this stuff. Cricket says this is his apology tour and he has a long way to go. Joe shows Marybeth the picture of the wolf pack. Four are dead and one is in jail. Joe believes Hank’s involvement ensures they’re up to no good. He doesn’t think they should tell Barnum unless they find out what they did.

Marybeth tells him not to confront Hank. Joe remembers a story about a group of hunters that got into something bad. When she asks who told him the story, Joe says that is the problem. Joe goes to the prison to speak to Vern Dunnegan (David Alan Grier) who asks what took him so long.

 

Joe Pickett Review

This episode of Joe Pickett was good in a few spots, but somewhat dull and tedious in others. The season feels somewhat disjointed with so many storylines being carried out simultaneously. Possible integral characters are introduced only to be dropped off with no explanation. The episode spent more time on letting Joe spill his guts to the guidance counselor and having flashbacks than advancing the story.

The season is quickly closing in on the finale and there is still a lot to cover so it is hard to see how they’ll be able to wrap everything up without rushing certain stories. Nate’s storyline really doesn’t interest me personally because it seems so farfetched and even generic. That was a big point in this episode so it may work better for viewers who like that portion of the show.

Truthfully, this episode and the season in general have been watchable, but the season isn’t as good as the last one. Being based on a popular book series, this should’ve and could’ve been much better. It’s just going through the motions and trying to cover as much material as possible before it is eventually canceled.

This season hasn’t even showcased the beauty of Canada’s wilderness. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Joe Pickett can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.