I think we all knew how the ending to Sheriff Country Season 1 Episode 6 would go.
What we didn’t know was just how heartwrenching this episode would be for Wes Fox.
The man has seen a lot over the years, but nothing quite like what he experienced during “Exit Interview,” which added another layer to an already lovable man.
At the same time, there was plenty of development for Boone, with his story making sense and adding a layer to his character that I definitely didn’t see coming.
Wes Is Heartbroken
We knew Sheriff Country Season 1 Episode 6 would be personal for Wes just from the promo, but I wasn’t expecting something as personal and heartbreaking as we got.
When a body was found by the Eel River, Wes immediately rushed over, as this was a friend of his.
Not only was Wes there to comfort the widow of this man, but he made sure that the investigation happened and that nobody was railroaded into a false confession.
He definitely didn’t want anyone arrested for something they didn’t do, and Wes wasn’t exactly going to trust Boone after what he did to Skye.
I was so glad to see Mickey give Wes something to do, since she knew that he would end up taking part in the investigation anyway.
In the end, Wes was the right person to handle some of the investigation, as not only did he help rule out the Bulgarian gang that had moved into Edgewater, but he also got information the cops never would have.
However, at the same time, he got a few home truths thrown at him, as not everyone was happy about him moving back in with his daughter, because she’s a cop.
These friends are all illegal weed growers, and it’s not surprising that they’re against the cops, but not all of them are against Wes going to live with his daughter.
They get that choice, especially when his granddaughter is also there, and I think so many of them would have done the same if they could.
The anger toward him came from a different place, and Sheriff Country reminds us that hurt people hurt people.
In the end, the murder was something we didn’t see coming, and it had nothing to do with the threats against Will’s widow, Bernice.
This was far more personal and heartbreaking, and W. Earl Brown portrayed the hurt, the shock, and the grief perfectly.
Finding out that one friend murdered another is already heartbreaking in itself, but this wasn’t a basic case of jealousy or anger.
Sure, those emotions were there, but there was also guilt, sorrow, and a general sense of loss.
As the truth came out, Wes could just watch as another friend died — this time, taking his own life due to the guilt and shame.
But that’s not where Sheriff Country ended it.
After Wes got back home, he felt a similar sense of loss, because this wasn’t just about grieving a friend; it was about losing purpose.
The friend who murdered Will was losing everything in life, and without being able to sell his home, he was bankrupt and had nowhere to go.
For Wes, there’s a loss of place, as it’s clear some of his friends look down on him for leaving the backcountry.
Mickey knows that Wes doesn’t want to completely give up who he was in the past, but he needs to do things legally, and she supports him with a pamphlet on how to grow weed legally.
As we get older, we’re supposed to have our lives set, right?
There’s this idea that as adults, we have our career paths sorted out, and that we know where we’ll be in our retirement, but that’s not always the case, and Wes is that voice for so many who don’t quite know what they want to do or where they’re going.
Wes is leaning on family in the way that it would be nice for all of us to do, and I’m so glad that he has Mickey, because if he didn’t, I’d be afraid that he’d take the same route as his friend in taking his own life.
Boone’s Past
At the end of Sheriff Country Season 1 Episode 5, we got a twist that didn’t make sense, and nobody really saw coming.
It turns out Boone is married, but nobody knew.
Well, except for Gina, because Gina seems to know everything, and it’s clear that she is the gossip in the station.
Now, I would love to know a little more about Gina, but this episode wasn’t the time for that, as the focus was on getting information about Boone.
Yes, he came out with the expected line about keeping work and personal life separate, because that was Mickey’s thing for so long, but there is more to this story of the wife in another city.
No, Boone and his wife weren’t going through a trial separation, and they weren’t even planning on “getting back together” when Boone moved back to Oakland.
This was more of a marriage of duty rather than one of love, as Nora explained that she was with Boone’s former partner, and that man was the father of her child.
Gina and Mickey had worked out that something had happened with Boone’s former partner due to surnames, but Nora and Boone hadn’t had an affair.
It turned out that Nora and Boone’s friend weren’t married, and when he died, it meant that Nora and her son couldn’t get the survivor’s pension, which caused financial problems.
Boone had always felt guilty that he couldn’t help his friend, who had taken his own life due to alcoholism and depression, and so, he married Nora to make sure there was some sort of protection for her and some financial help.
We get this honorable look at a man who has spent two years in Edgewater and barely gotten to know anybody.
Up to this point, he’s made some questionable choices, and he’s come across as a little cliched, but there is a depth to him, and I’m now glad that he is sticking around in Sheriff Country Season 1, as it means we get to learn more and see how far he will go for the people he cares about.
Cassidy Makes a Choice
It was only on Sheriff Country Season 1 Episode 4 that Wes told Mickey that Cassidy and Travis wouldn’t make it past a couple of months, and he was right.
After Skye’s murder trial, Cassidy decided that she needed space, but Travis wasn’t really willing to give that space.
Look, I get both sides of this.
While Cassidy certainly needed time to process her feelings and figure out what she wanted, she also needed to keep some communication open with Travis.
By cutting him out completely, she had effectively made her choice, and when she finally told him that their relationship had to come to an end, it wasn’t the shock that it probably could have been.
I don’t feel anything for this couple, though.
We haven’t had the chance to get to know them.
Travis has been in a handful of episodes, and mostly for Skye, while Cassidy only got the time to share some of her backstory on Episode 5, and we’ve barely seen them together as a couple to really want them to succeed.
This entire storyline should probably have been closer to the middle of the season to have an impact, but I do wonder if it was just a way to give Cassidy a voice and show that she will use it in a relationship.
I also wonder if it was just a way to show us the kind of man Travis is in a relationship with, as Mickey points out that he loves too fast, which can be a problem.
In the end, the arc was one that just didn’t seem to matter, but that was a good thing for Sheriff Country Season 1 Episode 6, as the focus was on Wes and Boone.
This episode does end in a way that makes it clear we have a bigger story to come after the Thanksgiving break — or maybe after the winter break — as while Will’s murder was solved, the threats against Bernice and Will before his murder and the break-in during the episode were left open, and this offers more hope we’ll see yet more development for Wes.
Sheriff Country airs on Fridays at 8/7c on CBS.
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