Joe Pickett Season 2 just got a whole lot more complicated. In Episode 5, aptly titled "Heads Will Roll," one of Joe's own breaks ranks, setting the stage for a bombshell second half of the 10-episode season. Directed by series co-creator Drew Dowdle (Waco), this week's installment shows just how deep the central mystery goes. Michael Dorman's titular game warden is fighting a war on two fronts, with pro-hunting and anti-hunting factions both out to destroy him.
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Where do all the major players stand, and what's the upshot of what we learned in Joe Pickett Episode 5? Read on for a rundown of all the key details you might have missed, plus some theories on where the neo-Western series is, ahem, headed.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Joe Pickett Season 2, Episode 5
Randy Receives a Godfather-Style Threat
David Trimble as Terry Boulden (Paramount+)
The episode opens in the immediate aftermath of last week's Bermuda Mountain disaster. Joe is in an ambulance rushing his trainee Luke (Keean Johnson), who was shot in the neck, to the hospital. Meanwhile, Randy (Chris Gauthier of Three Wise Men and a Baby) ditched the tracking party to take a hot bath, after all. In a hilarious scene, the game warden saunters around his hotel room to Debussy's Clair de Lune only to find Frank Urman's severed head mounted on the wall. He rushes back to the woods and chucks the head down a hill.
Whoever killed Wally Conway tied a bandage around Luke's neck wound, buying the boy some time. Even so, Luke slips into a coma, and Joe is devastated. Radical anti-hunting activist Klamath Moore (Aaron Dean Eisenberg) is his only lead in the poker chip killer case. Klamath was in town for every murder, and he knew about Frank's grisly death almost as soon as the cops found the body. But why would he risk going back up the mountain to kill Conway? And why save Luke? (More on this later.)
Joe pays a visit to the reclusive Terry Boulden (David Trimble), the hunting award recipient Klamath and his followers poured blood on in Episode 3. Since then, he received a voicemail from a man who threatened to "roast" him "like a deer." Terry urges Joe to inspect the comments section on the Stop The Slaughter! online forum, where one user is "practically making confessions" regarding the murders. Worried that Terry could be the next target, Joe asks Deputy McLanahan (Virgin River's Chad Rook) to find the poor guy's file so he can search for clues.
Hunting Season Is Over
(Paramount+)
Governor Budd (Riverdale's Lochlyn Munro) has shut down Wyoming hunting season in the wake of last week's deaths. He orders Joe, Randy and Sheriff Barnum (Patrick Gallagher) to "put someone's a-- behind bars before this thing turns nuclear." Meanwhile, Saddlestring's resident crime family, the Scarletts (they conspired with Vern Dunnegan last season, but somehow only Vern is in jail), resolve to open hunting season back up "by any means necessary" to keep their outfitting business afloat.
While reading through the Stop The Slaughter! forum, Marybeth (the excellent Julianna Guill) discovers that one user, dubbed "Wolverine," has been posting eerie descriptions of each murder hours before the killings occur. Wolverine refers to the serial killer as "the great warrior in the wilderness" who avenges innocent animals by stringing up hunters. That night, Joe awakens to find that angry hunters have mounted severed elk heads on pikes outside the Pickett house.
Meanwhile, Cricket (Aadila Dosani) is understandably not taking life on the run too well. In South Dakota, Nate (Mustafa Speaks) roughs up an old associate to throw his and Cricket's pursuers off their scent. Nate promises that it'll all make sense soon. He's going to "show" her who's after them, and why — in next week's episode.
In more unhappy-couple news, Missy (NYPD Blue alum Sharon Lawrence) brutally breaks up with McLanahan after he purchases a dinky one-story house for the two of them. Then she skips off to a date with her bar-going admirer. He teaches her how to shoot a pistol — but not without some damage to his truck windows.
Randy Is Arrested
(Chris Large/Paramount+)
Frank Urman's severed head was discovered in the woods right where Randy chucked it. Trying to cover his tracks, Randy claims a hiker called in the find. But when Joe inquires about the call, the Fish & Game Department has no record of it.
Back in town, the Scarletts lead an armed pro-hunting protest. When Klamath and his Stop The Slaughter! activists arrive, violence erupts between the two factions. Joe drags a badly beaten Klamath to safety and interrogates him: What does he know about the murders? Who is this Wolverine posting ominous threats in the forum? Klamath calls Wolverine a "true warrior" and says that parading Frank's mangled body on TV was a necessary evil. How else was he supposed to gain publicity and donations for the cause?
Marybeth convinces McLanahan to trace the IP address of Wolverine in exchange for speaking to Missy on his behalf (fat chance, but alright). In a shocking twist, the forum commenter is actually Randy. Together, Joe and Sheriff Barnum arrest him for the murder of Frank Urman, but Randy swears he didn't do it.
Questions and Predictions
(Paramount+)
Who put Frank's head in Randy's room? Remember, Klamath and his activists are staying in the same hotel as Randy. Plus, Klamath told Shenandoah last week that he would be "out late" the night of Conway's murder. The activist could have hit Randy's hotel room and Bermuda Mountain, but it's more likely he has an accomplice — *cough* Chris Urman.
Did Randy, aka Wolverine, really kill Frank? Probably not. It's more likely he got mixed up in the poker chip killings by accident or was bought by Stop The Slaughter! or the Bull Grove Foundation, whatever that is. A severed head is always a threat, so maybe the killer(s) had questions about his loyalty.
Where are Luke's parents? Joe tried to call Luke's "emergency contact" at the hospital, but the number doesn't exist. Maybe Luke's guardians are involved in the killings. The murderer did save his life the night of Conway's death ....
Where is Jeannie Keeley? Last season, the Picketts took in April Keeley after her mom skipped town to avoid the wrath of Wacey Hedeman. Wacey's been dead for a year now, so Jeannie's continued absence means either 1.) she met her end or 2.) she knows that last season's weasel conspiracy goes much deeper than some endangered animals.
New episodes of Joe Pickett Season 2 stream Sundays on Paramount+.
READ MORE: 'Joe Pickett' Cast: Who's Coming Back to Wyoming in Season 2?
