Walt Longmire has had a lot to deal with.  His wife was murdered and trying to do his job as the sheriff of Absaroka County is harder to do because of it.  Making it through the day alone is tough enough, much less dealing with everyone’s problems.  As such, Walt takes care of all manner of crimes, suffers betrayals, tries dating and must even try to fend off a threat to his office from Branch when it is time for re-election.  It definitely has not been an easy couple of seasons on A&E’s modern-day western for Sheriff Longmire, but he has been doing the best he can.  When the show first started it was mainly about our hero and lead protagonist, but over time it has really become an ensemble as each character is able to have their time in the sun.  This season more than the past two really shines a light upon the supporting cast and gives them some really great material to work with.

There are two main things that make this show as good as it is, number one being the writing.  There is a consistent team of writers on the show and each episode feels the same as the last with each character ringing true from one show to the next.  Hunt Baldwin & John Coveny, Sarah Nicole Jones and Tony Tost have been on the show since its inception and it is a credit to the producers and A&E for keeping them on to give the show the consistency it needs.  The show would definitely not be as good without them to guide the ship.  This year it was good of them to give Walt a little break, but if everything was sunshine and roses, then it would make for a pretty bland viewing experience.  And it was not like Walt got off scott-free, but if he was to have an easier time of it then the rest of the cast had to pay for it and most of them suffer some sort of personal crises.

Katee Sackhoff who plays Vic and Walt’s right hand woman on the force, starts to feel pressure at home from her husband who is not only jealous, but wants her to quit her job.  And she has a stalker.  When Vic refuses to quit, her marriage is the least of the casualties this season.  Henry, who is portrayed by Lou Diamond Phillips, and quite expertly, is framed for the murder of the man who supposedly killed Walt’s wife long ago.  And Deputy Branch played by Bailey Chase suffers the worst out of all of them.  He is driven to the brink of insanity by the man who nearly killed him and who is supposed to be dead himself.  The only person who seems to have escaped unscathed this particular season was Ferg which makes a person wonder what will happen to him during the next one.

The second quality this show possesses that really makes it stand out are the actors headed up by Robert Taylor as our eponymous hero Walt Longmire.  They are quite simply fantastic and they really help to make the show what it is.  It would be hard to imagine anyone else in the roles so firmly have they taken root.  Taylor’s performance is almost like Bogart’s, quiet, subtle and forceful all at the same time.  Standing out with Taylor amongst the pack is Lou Diamond Phillips who plays Walt’s best friend and sometimes conscience.  Phillips has always been a great actor but has never really found a home onscreen to call his own and here, Phillips does just that.  As Standing Bear, it is almost like he was always meant to play the character.  Other memorable performers on the show are Adam Bartley as Ferg, Peter Weller, Graham Greene as Malachi Strand, Cassidy Freeman as Walt’s only daughter and Gerald McRaney as Branch’s father.

Seeing Walt getting built back up after having been on the receiving end of a long line of misery is nice to see.  It is a good thing too, for it would just get repetitive if that continual beat-down never ended.  Things are not perfect for the man, but they are looking up.  Seeing the other cast members having to deal with a little pain really shakes things up and it just so happens to be nearly everyone around him who slowly gets broken down over the course of the season.  The show was dramatic, exciting, funny, suspenseful and interesting.  All of the qualities that make a good show were present and it is good to have such a solid show on the air.  The ending to this year’s season is quite frankly, a shocker, but it guarantees that viewers will be back for next year’s premiere when the show returns.  In this golden-age of television, where every genre and type of show is available to watch and where quality has never been higher, it is nice to see that a little program like Longmire can make it.