Wyoming Law and Order: A&E's 'Longmire'

Longmire, Monday nights on A&E

            Now in its second season, A&E’s drama Longmire has proven to be one of the best procedurals currently on television. Robert Taylor stars as Walt Longmire, a laconic sheriff in a Wyoming small town. He investigates crimes in his town, some of which lead him to wary confrontation with the local Native American reservation’s police department. Many of the local Native Americans don’t trust Walt because he represents government authority. In his dealings with their community, Walt is aided by his best friend and tie to ‘the res', Henry (an excellent Lou Diamond Philips). On the surface, Walt seems to be a tough, old-fashioned sheriff not given to much emotion or introspection. As the first season concluded, it was revealed that Walt’s late wife, a supposed cancer victim, had actually been murdered by a methhead and that Walt may have had something to do with the methhead also being killed.

            There are two main reasons to watch Longmire. The first is the acting. Taylor, largely unknown except for playing one of the agents in The Matrix, gives a breakthrough performance as Walt. Playing a man of few words, Taylor does a first-rate job of conveying the emotions of anger and confusion that hide under the surface of a terse, soft-spoken figure. Lou Diamond Philips is also stellar as Henry. The character of Henry may sound like the clichéd stereotype of the wise, spiritual and nature-resourceful Indian side-kick, but Henry is no Tonto. He has a life outside of assisting Walt (he owns and runs a bar), a sexual identity (he has a girlfriend), and he is not second to Walt, who often gets put in his place by Henry for his lack of emotional self-awareness.

            The second reason to watch the show is that Longmire is joining the company of other smart procedurals including Justified and Hannibal, where the procedural narrative structure works in tandem with a larger serial narrative. In both seasons of the show so far, Walt has had weekly episodic cases to solve, but they are subsumed within the bigger plot about Walt’s wife’s murder and if he killed the man who killed his wife. A&E has had a very consistent program on their hands so far, and could given them more clout in original programming if they keep it up. Longmire is the cop show to watch this summer.