With some of the plots to these episodes, I was wondering when Columbo was gonna show up. 

     Longmire: Season Two was released in 2013, and is a Netflix original created by Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny. The show stars Robert Taylor, Katee Sackhoff, and Lou Diamond Phillips. This season sees Longmire do what he can to get out of questioning by the Denver police department as possible murder suspect while continuing to solve crimes in the confines of his county. 

     Robert Taylor is once again stellar as the lead role, and there are plenty of awesome moments this season that show the writers clearly understand the character of Walt Longmire. For example, at the end of the first episode, “Unquiet Mind,” in which Longmire goes into the mountains tailing escaping convicts during a snow blizzard, Deputy Branch and Henry find him with his head down after beating up one of the convicts. Branch asks Henry, “Is he dead?” too which Longmire looks up and responds, “Not yet.”

     Another great example of this is in episode 6, titled “Tell It Slant.” The way in which Longmire confronts the main suspect shows his intelligence and how much time the writers put into Longmire’s character, while also demonstrating how little time they put into anyone else. You don’t really care about anyone else on the show up until around halfway through the season. 

     For example, Vic’s character is written terribly, and every time she’s on screen you want to skip the scene. Actress Katee Sackhoff portrays her character well, but for the most part, the writing for her is simply not good. In the later episodes, though, she becomes tolerable. 

     Each episode’s different individual cases are fun and exciting. There are a lot of contenders for the best in that department. For me it’s between episodes 8 and 12, titled “The Great Spirit,” and “A Good Death Is Hard to Find,” respectively. However, the writing struggles with balancing the individual cases with the overarching story of the season, mainly the subplots of Vic’s stalker and the election. 

     Gladly, the season finale does a fantastic job balancing out all these storylines, which makes me unsure of why they didn’t write every episode like the finale, because it succeeds where the other episodes fail. Speaking of the finale, this might be one of the best television has to offer. It’s heart pounding, exciting, engaging, and has you at the edge of your seat, wonderfully concluding the season. 

     The writing continues to have politics apply to only the world it builds, not our world. For example, episode 8’s entire plot revolves around illegal immigration, but the show does not take a stance on the subject. It’s simply there for the plot of the episode. Another example would be the election between Branch and Longmire. Many shows would take this as a place to put their political views through the mouths of the characters, but that is not found here. 

     In several episodes there were a few technical missteps, things like match to action errors, or continuity problems. An error that stood out can be found in the previously mentioned episode “Tell It Slant,” where during a conversation between Branch and Jacob Nighthorse, the ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement) was off for Nighthorse. 

     On the whole, Longmire’s second season builds upon what made its first great. This season’s poor writing and story choices are saved by the fun individual cases and memorable crowd pleasing moments. 

[My grade for Longmire Season Two, is an A-]