Marshals Season 1 Episode 4 Review: Kayce’s Spinoff Runs Into an Inevitable Problem

Marshals is the first procedural in Yellowstone’s universe.

And for three episodes, it has evaded every procedural trap that makes many of them feel underwhelming when the formula is the same.

But Marshals Season 1 Episode 4, “The Gathering Storm,” proves that not even this show is safe from some of the traps.

In this hour, we encounter one of the worst ones: rushed resolutions.

The conflict here is less about the case and more about Kayce’s position on the team.

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Marshal Gilford has made it clear that Kayce is a ticking time bomb, and when he explodes, he’ll take down everyone with him.

His return reinforces this thesis as he goes after Kayce hard, so much so that it feels like he is being irrational.

On the one hand, one can see where he’s coming from because the Dutton family history speaks for itself: abuse of office, abuse of power, and several other questionable things that have happened over the past several years.

Gilford speaks to the rational part of me that doesn’t regard Kayce as the perfect protagonist. Sure, I like the guy, but he’s not exactly Ted Lasso.

He has lacked direction his entire life, picking up causes here and there that make him feel fulfilled for a little while before he inevitably realizes he was being manipulated.

Gilford is right to be skeptical, but unfortunately, he’s too little too late. Kayce truly wants to help; he’s approaching this from a genuine place.

That’s why Gilford’s insistence on painting Kayce as the worst of the worst comes off as a witch hunt.

However, that’s consistent with his character since we first met him. The same cannot be said about the team this hour.

Everyone is drawn into the Kayce drama as Gilford makes it their business to find some dirt on Kayce and find a reason to kick him off the team.

The members are forced to reevaluate some of Kayce’s actions and history as they seek to understand what Gilford is seeing.

The problem with this arc is that it is not compelling because everyone flip-flops before eventually footage comes out of nowhere to prove that Kayce is not a bad guy.

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It strains credulity that, at one moment, they think Kayce could be a chronic rule-breaker, and the next, they’re standing up for him when they barely know the man.

Given what he’s shown them, there is little incentive for them to give him that much benefit of the doubt.

The whiplash of their changing convictions makes the episode’s pacing feel dizzying. Even if they were going to arrive at that decision eventually, it needed breathing room.

Their struggle with Kayce’s morality should have played out over the next several episodes, not been resolved within one.

The problem now is that even if they revisit this arc with someone like Gilford or Andrea, it’ll feel redundant.

The final minutes of the hour are the saving grace as it is revealed that the young woman Pete keeps looking at with sadness in his eyes is not the one who got away, but his daughter, Maddie.

Belle’s look represented me because how could I have missed that? The guy has spoken a lot about how his job destroyed his family due to his absence, and I couldn’t connect the young woman’s vitriol towards him.

It’s a very interesting direction to take the story, and I’m just glad that it’s not another romantic subplot.

Speaking of romantic subplots, the constant eyeing off that the women have been giving Kayce finally leads to something as a new love interest is introduced.

We haven’t seen Tate in the last two episodes, so the potential for a love interest hints at some juicy developments. Maybe “juicy” isn’t the word, because it’ll be painful for Kacey to dive into another relationship after losing his wife.

We have seen him struggle with confronting Monica’s death, and with the anniversary coming up, it’s bound to amplify the negative feelings he carries surrounding losing Monica.

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This man needs a therapist because it’s a lot for one person to carry on their own. Even Tony Soprano admitted it was working to some degree, and he was a bigger and tougher guy than Kayce.

Gut Check

“The Gathering Storm” is not necessarily a bad episode; it just contains some bad storytelling choices.

For example, the case involves rescuing a survivor from a crashed helicopter, but for some reason, there is also a shootout with a Most Wanted criminal. It was perfectly okay for the episode not to have a shootout if all they had to do was rescue.

The Most Wanted criminal subplot felt tacked-on and unnatural, and so did Miles’ conversation with the lady at the bar, as well as Gilford’s desire to skin Kayce alive.

Marshals does not have to resolve every arc, which is why I’m glad they didn’t lead the episode with solving Kayce’s bullet problem.

As stoic and reticent as he is, it’s natural that he’d want to gather more information before acting.

Intrusive Thoughts

• It’s really hard to like Andrea when she turns everything into a confrontation. She reads every interaction or situation uncharitably, which makes everything a hundred times harder than it needs to be.

• I’ve noticed that every episode ends with a drink at the bar and some live music. My familiarity with country music is limited to Lady A’s discography, but I have a feeling those singers are famous in country music. Am I way off base?

Over to you, Marshals fanatics. What did you think of the team’s dynamics with Kayce this hour? Was that the reaction people who have interacted for a few weeks should have?

Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.

Say something in the comments, share if you’re moved to, and keep reading. Independent voices need readers like you.

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