Longmire – Tuscan Red

• Title: Longmire – Tuscan Red
• tv.com: link

With the election looming, Longmire (Robert Taylor) must determine whether the explosion and the murder of the brother of the lead protester (Eric Schweig) fighting a company frack mining methane in the area is tied to the mining, the threats the man received for marrying a black woman (Sharon Brathwaite-Sanders) outside the Cheyenne tribe, any one of countless angry workers the victim may have denied a job at the casino including his own father (Eloy Casados) who failed the company’s drug test, or something else entirely.

“Tuscan Red” introduces Kenneth Choi Doc Bloomfeld, the county’s unusual “ruggedly handsome” Japanese-Jewish coroner, whose autopsy uncovers a few startling facts about the murder including the fact that the victim was pained red and force-fed a lethal amount of alcohol until he passed out well before he was placed in his brother’s exploding house. Although Longmire finds plenty of animosity among the family, he discovers no real motive for murder although an agent from the FBI (Scott Klace) is more than happy to arrest the victim’s brother as a terrorist and murderer.

With tensions running high, Branch (Bailey Chase) tries his best to stay out of the fray and not piss off any potential voters while spending some time with Cady (Cassidy Freeman) and surmising enough about events in Denver to guess what happened there. Despite needing every advantage he can get, the deputy decides not to leak the information to Nighthorse (A Martinez) understanding all too well what the full fallout of such a revelation would mean.

The episode ends on an ominous note by Branch confronting Longmire about his suspicions, but also a decent act from the man whose done his best to weasel and buy his way into Longmire’s office. This episode seems to suggest Cady has guessed less of Longmire’s involvement in the death of the man who murdered her mother than what was suggested by her prolonged absence earlier in the season. As to the murder of the week, once again the big bold motives are a smokescreen for petty personal hatreds that led to one man’s death and caused a big enough commotion to possible cost Walt the election.