Death Came in Like Thunder

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BONUS CLIP | 2:15

Branch Operates In Gray Areas
BONUS CLIP | 2:12

Walt and Vic Have Feelings For Each Other
BONUS CLIP | 2:22

The Cast Wonders What Might Have Been
BONUS CLIP | 3:02

Ferg Steps Up for Cady
BONUS CLIP | 2:44

Branch and Cady Want Each Other
BONUS CLIP | 2:01

Deputy Ferg Finds His Confidence
BONUS CLIP | 2:12

The Bond Between Henry and Longmire
BONUS CLIP | 2:21

Longmire Cast Debates the Sheriffs' Debate
BONUS CLIP | 2:02

Katee Sackoff on Getting Her Ass Kicked
BONUS CLIP | 3:01

Vic and Her Secret
BONUS CLIP | 2:10

Searching for the Truth with Cady Longmire
BONUS CLIP | 2:05

The Cast Introduces the New Season

Bad Medicine

Monday, August 26 10/9C

Walt and Branch team up when an apparent suicide is connected to Cady's accident. Meanwhile, Detective Fales (Charles Dutton) returns with warrants, forcing Walt and Henry to face what happened in Denver. Louanne Stephens and A. Martinez guest star.
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Walt and Vic find the dead body of a shepherd and his dog in the hills. The victim's name is Marko Vayas, and he is a member of the local Basque community, a group that immigrated to Wyoming from the mountains between France and Spain during WWII. Suspecting that Marko and his dog were poisoned, Walt begins an investigation.

Walt tracks down Marko's brothers, Costa and Sal, as well as Costa's wife, Amaya. The Vayas identify the subject of a photo found in Marko's cabin as a mail-order bride Marko had wanted to bring to Wyoming from Ecuador before they talked him out of it.

Walt finds a local matchmaker named Jeremiah Rains who is able to identify the woman as Rosa Marquez. Unbeknownst to his family, Marko had married Rosa a month earlier. Jeremiah claims that he doesn't know where Rosa is.

Meanwhile, the Ferg finds himself accidentally supporting his boss' competition when Branch drags him to a fundraiser. A photo of Branch and the Ferg ends up in the newspaper, so the Ferg apologizes to Walt. He makes it clear he doesn't support Branch, but Walt shrugs it off.

Vic finally delivers Walt's present from Lizzie after Walt comes across it in Vic's desk. Walt tries to ask how long Vic has been holding on to it, but he is interrupted and she runs away before he can find out.

Walt and Vic track down Marko's bride, Rosa, in a hotel room, and find Jeremiah there as well. He tells them that he was just protecting his business by covering up for Rosa, and swears she would never kill anyone. Rosa tells Walt that Marko was planning on selling his part of the Vayas family land in order to buy a house for himself and his bride.

Walt confronts Marko's enormous brother, Sal, with this information, but Sal refuses to believe it. Sal shows them a series of underground springs that dot their land, and Walt realizes he may have found the source of the poison that killed Marko. Sure enough, a spring close to the spot where they found Marko contains a sprig of hemlock.

Branch visits his benefactor, Jacob Nighthorse, after discovering that he is on the board of a lumber company that is trying to buy the Vayas' land. Branch is concerned that having a body turn up in the middle of a business deal could look bad. Jacob tells him that they were close to making a deal with Marko, so his death is a major setback. Jacob asks Branch for information about the case, and Branch refuses to tell him, but Jacob makes it clear that he isn't funding Branch's run for Sheriff because he likes him.

The Ferg is showing the team an elderberry plant, which looks similar to hemlock, when a call comes in from the Big Pines Lumber Company. Sal is at the site fighting the lumberjacks. On their trucks are trees clearly marked with arborglyphs. Walt and the team manage to get Sal locked up, where he tells them that he had never been offered a deal for his part of the land. Walt doesn't think Sal is the murderer; poison is a coward's weapon, and Sal is no coward.

Walt goes to Costa's house and finds that it's been trashed. There's no sign of Costa or Amaya, but there is a barking dog tied up outside. Walt unties the dog and follows it in his truck as it heads straight for its master. He finds Costa holding Amaya's head underwater in one of the springs. He tackles Costa, and Vic grabs Amaya. Walt holds up a piece of hemlock he found in the water, and tells Amaya she'll be dead in minutes, but he's not calling an ambulance until she talks.

The gamble pays off. Fearing for her life, Amaya admits that she poisoned Marko. She knew he was going to sell, and without his third of the land, their sheep would die and they wouldn't be able to make a living. She was trying to hold the family together. Vic tells Walt that he's being crazy and they need to get Amaya to the hospital, but it turns out there was no hemlock in the water. Walt just had the elderberry sprig that the Ferg showed them. Amaya is in no danger.

Meanwhile, Cady is in Denver with Detective Fales. She wants to learn everything she can about her mother's murder. Fales shows her the alley where she was attacked, and a picture of the man who stabbed her. Fales says they found him dead with a broken neck. He apologizes, saying that this would be easier to hear if her father was telling it, but she just laughs. He tells her not to be too hard on Walt, since he had been dealing with these feelings for a long time with only his friend to talk to. He asks Cady what that friend's name was, and she says "Henry." As she leaves, Fales tells her to call anytime, but she tells him she won't be doing that. When another cop asks him who he was talking to, Fales reples, "She was either sent here by the prime suspect in my murder case to find out what I know, or she's my new best friend."

Walt goes to the Red Pony to talk to Henry. His sources have told him that Fales is investigating Henry. Walt wants to talk about what happened in Denver, as they have never actually discussed it. He asks Henry what happened. Henry says, "A good woman was murdered, a bad man is dead. End of story." He tells Walt that Fales can investigate him, but he won't find anything. Walt asks why, but Henry simply states, "For such a spiritual man, you have a surprising lack of faith."

Guest Stars:

A. Martinez as Jacob Nighthorse

Charles Dutton as Detective Fales

Henri Lubatti as Costa Vayas

Monique Curnan as Amaya Vayas

Brad Henke as Sal Vayas

Xander Berkeley as Jeremiah Rains

Christiann Castellanos as Rosa Marquez

Production Notes:

Longmire is full of action sequences and crazy stunts. In this episode, Rosa makes a run for it out a back window, but Vic manages to intercept her by leaping off a stairway. Was that really Katee Sackhoff flying through the air? Actually... no. In this case, it was one of the very talented stunt performers on the show. Does that mean Katee wasn't up for it? Actually... no! DP Cameron Duncan says, "Katee always wants to do her own stunts. She's super athletic, but sometimes we just have to say, 'No, Katee, the stunt lady will jump off the roof of the hotel, not you."

A stunt person takes a big leap. Chh...chh...chh...chh...chh... (That's supposed to be the bionic woman sound.) Chh...chh...chh...chh...chh...

In this episode, the Vayas family leave "arborglyphs" carved into trees to communicate with each other. Arborglyphs are a very real tradition that Basque families have practiced since the 1800's. These carvings were also used to illustrate the intimate connection this family shared with the land that had supported them for generations.

Sal points out an arborglyph. Notice that Sal is indicating a fresh carving. The other messages appear to be much older.

Writer Sarah Nicole Jones explains the arborglyph's place in the story. "If you look at pictures of real arborglyphs you'll see some that were made over 80 years ago. Looking at them, you get this amazing sense of Basque history, family, and culture - stories and legacies that will last as long as the tree does. We definitely wanted to convey authentic/traditional images, but we also wanted to show the audience how important those carvings are to the characters - the sense of pride and love the characters derive from these arborglyphs."

The scene where Branch competes in a log-chopping contest was shot on a day that offered some challenging weather conditions. DP Cameron Duncan says, "The weather for this day called for DUST. That's all it said online was DUST. And it was horribly dusty, but it made for great photography."

Dusty shoot day on Longmire. Punch, punch, grapple, cough, slap, choke, scene!

Unfortunately, the scene where Sal takes on a whole lumberyard full of lumberjacks was shot on the same day. Duncan tells us, "Again, this was on the DUST day. In fact it was the height of the DUST. Everyone was wearing bandanas and goggles. No joke, it sucked. But again, it made for a great fighting environment. [Stunt Director] Chris Howell did a wonderful job choreographing this fight. It was mayhem and we filmed it."

A doggy dummy. Don't feel bad. That fake dog is fulfilling its destiny!

Poor sheep herding doggy. Between Bates Motel and Longmire, dogs are having a rough year on A&E. But don't worry! Writer Sarah Nicole Jones assures us that: "Thankfully, no actual dogs were hurt in the making of this episode. A fake dummy was created for this scene."

Phew! But it wasn't as simple as just getting any old stuffed dog and dropping it in the woods. Jones explains, "We didn't just make a stuffed golden retriever and call it a day. Sheepherding is a huge part of the Basque culture, and the dogs that help in that venture are so unique. A lot of research went into finding out what kind of dogs are actually used by the Basque of the region and we based our model around that. It looks amazing, and it's just a testament to the amount of detail and dedication our team puts into every frame of this show."

Cady Longmire is doing some detective work of her own as she heads to Denver to discover what really happened to her mom. How did the crew create a little slice of Denver in New Mexico? Director of Photography Cameron Duncan says, "We actually found the one alley in Santa Fe that could play for this scene. With the help of Production Design it turned out great."

A Denver alley in Santa Fe, NM. Fales shows Cady the spot where her mother was stabbed.

Denver is more than a setting in Longmire. Sarah Nicole Jones explains, "Denver carries a lot of dark pathos for our show. It's the place where the most important person in Walt's life (his wife) was taken from him. It's also a place where a lot of mystery and unanswered questions about Walt are. When I write scenes about Denver, I always try to heighten that sense of intrigue, to show Denver less as an actual city, and more as a place where a lot of secrets are waiting to be discovered."

Production notes courtesy of Cameron Duncan, Sarah Nicole Jones, and Emily Thomas.