Hired by a bride to be to look for her missing fiancé, Colter finds himself up against her family’s perceptions of the man and his past as well as the post-COVID troubles of a small town.

I’m really enjoying how this back half of the season is focusing on different elements of the premise. Last week was Colter, Bobby and Reenie as found family. This week it’s the Springsteenian horrors of modern blue collar American life and what happens when those horrors overwhelm you.

The key to this, as is always the case, is in the supporting cast. None of them feel like they’ve sprung up purely for this episode and none of them are one note. The standouts this week include Darien Sills-Evans as the local Sherriff who goes from antagonistic to being revealed as a man working flat out with no resources and a tidal wave of post-COVID drug smugglers rushing in to fill the gap the town’s lost industries left. Anthony Konechny is great too as Sully, the missing person at the heart of the story who has a journey across the episode that mirrors Colter’s own issues with his past. It’s a big cast all around this week and very nearly all of them get something fun and nuanced to play. Nicole Muñoz is arguably least well served as Daniela, who hires Colter, but even then there’s some depth to the character.

If anything, this episode maybe rows a little too far in this direction, given that the large cast all feel like they could use a little more time. Plus, if you’re being super picky, the action beats that close the story out could be argued to be a little rote. But honestly, even if they are, this still works. The point here is to view the town and the people in it through Colter’s time with them and the fact there’s a pretty happy ending feels cathartic and earned.

Verdict: A tight, almost overcrowded look at a town in distress and the personal crises at its core. Smart, snappy and another strong entry in the season. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart