Let's think about those who are no longer with us: Dale Washberg, Blackie, Bert, and now Allen. How are these men related? Blackie and Bertha tried to kill Dale, but Allen killed them for failing. Allen was involved in their failure, although whether he was killed for this, for Blackie's murder, or for some third reason remains a mystery. It is unlikely that Dale knew the other men before his death, but his death marked the beginning of a series of interconnected murders. And if all this violence seems incredible to you in dusty Oklahoma, Sterlin Harjo anticipated your doubts: Tulsa has the highest crime rate in the country, as Lee mentioned a few episodes earlier.
It seems clear that the man was bathed in the eerie red light of the refracted explosions at the end of “This Earth?” Governor Donald Washberg suggested there was something behind it all. So obvious that he probably Not behind all this. But even if the “revolver research candidate” isn't the winning case, Donald is so odious that it's hard to imagine him hating the real trigger more. Even if he is not our killer, this man is our villain. Thus, the driving force of each episode is not Lee's progress in identifying Donald, but the friends he makes and loses along the way. Last week, Betty Jo. Before that there was Francis and Ray's Wild Ride. This week we meet the misanthrope Wendell, Lee's oldest friend who can't stand him.
Lee is sleeping off a hangover, still wearing her duct-taped buckaroo boots, when Frances runs into the bedroom, alarmed by what she saw on the local news: Allen, the guy who walked into Hoot Owl Books and threatened her father, was shot to death in broad daylight. Lee is surprised by this development, impressed that his teenage daughter is watching the news (“It's cool… They lie sometimes”), and slightly disapproving of the fact that Francis skipped class to find him. In fact, it seemed to reawaken his awareness of the fact that he was her parent. Before driving her back to school, Lee tells Francis that it is too dangerous for her to participate in his investigation. This is a line he should have drawn several episodes ago before he dragged her to the pier in search of the missing books. Now Lee's ban seems unfair to her, and his arguments capricious – Francis could play Hook when she saved the letters her father wanted.
Wendell (Peter Dinklage) is in town for the annual memorial for a friend who overdosed, and his arrival serves as an unwanted mirror for Lee. After learning what his old friend is up to, Wendell warns Lee that he will hurt Francis with his selfishness. This is what Lee does. By the way, their friend Jesus' relapse a few years ago is not Lee's fault, but, as Wendell reminds him, Lee was should have checked it out that day.
To some extent, Lee and Wendell are versions of the same guy: fat Gen Xers who made a whole personality out of being a little smart and smoking weed; crooked and angry men who pride themselves on the fact that they own nothing more formal than a graphic t-shirt. Wendell is briefly upset to learn that Lee wants to give up Jesus Day in favor of Keds, but he can't resist the chance to prove he's better than Lee, who is struggling to find out where the land Dale and Donald were fighting over is located. If a place isn't on Google Maps, can we still say it exists?
After reading the case, Wendell boasts that he can find Indian Head Hills in less than two hours. So, this week the hunt for wild animals begins. The first stop is the Skiatook Municipal Courthouse, where Wendell charms a jaded clerk into finding him an atlas dating before 1950. Lee can't believe how far a little flirting can go, but Lee doesn't actually stop long enough to notice what other people need. Even with Betty Jo last week it took him a few tries. Indian Head Hills is a plot of land in the middle of nowhere, but when they drive out there, they find the next clue: a “No Trespassing” sign put up by White Elk LLC.
Wendell thinks it's a stupid name; There are no moose in Oklahoma. Lee says there are elk in Oklahoma. The thing is, these men can argue about anything. They may have once been friends, but now Wendell can't stand anything about Lee, from the way he orders a Dr. Pepper shake to the way he still believes in himself. Wendell is offended that Lee thinks his article somehow contributed to Dale's death, and offended by his cynicism that Lee thinks he can bring down one of the most powerful men in Oklahoma.
In the hills of Indian Head, which Lee did not believe existed, the simmering tension between them erupts into violence that is played out for humor. Each of them lands at least one good punch, but the fight is choreographed less to determine the winner and more to play a joke – Lee's face ends up on the same patch of grass where Wendell peed a few minutes earlier. And before either man can do any serious damage, a truck pulls up behind Lee's pedo van. The guys who come out are armed with machine guns, but they don't notice Wendell and Lee on the hill. At least for now, Wendell believes Lee is up to something nefarious.
The third stop on their friendship-ruining intelligence-gathering tour is Lee's ever-resourceful realtor, Vicki. She may learn that White Elk is selling the Indian Head Hills site to One Well for four times market price, with no other bidders involved. Really suspicious. But when Lee remarks that “this sounds like a great way to launder a bribe for a future governor,” the implication is that he has figured out something Wendell hasn't thought of yet. You can see what may have been getting on Wendell's nerves over the last few decades – the subtle insistence that Lee is sharper than everyone else in the room.
Eventually, the men gather in a sacred place (an abandoned parking lot) for a sacred ceremony for Jesus (sitting around a fire). To get fuel, Lee and Wendell burn books, the irony of which I'm sure pleases both of them. They then trade pictures of Jesus back and forth, telling their absent friend what they are most ashamed of. Today Wendell woke up the earliest in 72 days. “I’m a mess,” he says. Lee put Francis in danger and he will lose the bookstore: “I'm a mess too.” There are no losers at the Olympic Games.
Lee tells Wendell that he has become a man who doesn't like anything anymore. Wendell tells Lee that he doesn't trust him. So why does Wendell still want to make this pilgrimage every year? He calls Jesus' death “a hellhound on my trail.” Lee uses these words to describe what it's like for him to be friends with someone as nihilistic and destructive as Wendell. Wendell's leg is in a cast for reasons he doesn't want to talk about; he carries painkillers to the courthouse while on probation. Jesus is able to pursue Wendell, but Wendell scares Lee.
Finally, we get what everyone has been waiting for: Queen of Tulsa by Emmylou Harris. While Lee travels through Osage County, Betty Jo sits at her dressing table, deciding whether to wear an engagement ring. She's still sitting there, figuring out how to fill the hours of a long day, when she hears the door slamming downstairs. This is disdain for Donald, who saw that scoundrel Lee leaving his mistress's house this morning. Betty Jo claims she's the scorned party here – if Donald still cares about her, why did he send Marty to pay her back? Betty Jo succeeds in insisting that she hasn't told Lee anything about Dale or Pearl, but she's terrified—furious, Donald shoves his fist into her kitchen cabinet. She whines as he leaves, taking his brother's gun with him. Betty Jo then wisely calls her new boyfriend.
Donald still didn't have time to make peace with her. He plans to shake hands at a meeting of the “46,” a group of powerful, resentful people named for the order in which Oklahoma gained statehood. I'm guessing it's a racist organization because (a) Frank gives a speech there and (b) the speech contains the suspicious phrase “it's not about race” to a monoracial crowd. “These Indian tribes are like foreign governments set up right here under our noses, subject to no one or any laws except the ones they make up,” Frank warns a nodding audience. (Yes, Frank, that's more or less the definition of an autonomous tribal nation, at least as far as state laws are concerned.) After the speech, Frank and Donald talk. Frank wants to know why the White Elk deal fell through. “My customer is losing patience,” he tells Donald, suggesting perhaps a greater villain—a gambler with more money than Frank and more power than Donald.
A good rule of thumb is that the more Genie Tripplehorn is in an episode, the better it will be, so it's grim news that Betty Jo is going into hiding. After meeting with Lee, they agree that she is no longer safe in Tulsa. Lee encourages her to sign up for a women's retreat he happened to see on a flyer at Hoot Owl, and agrees to tell his daughter about the plan. In a slightly stunning scene, Lee finds Pearl, played by Oklahoma's Ken Pomeroy, at an open mic night singing “Bound to Rain,” a Ken Pomeroy song.
Lee is just about to explain Betty Jo's absence when those cops who hate him – last seen at Dale's memorial – capture him and take him to hell. And hell is the wildest house party you've ever seen. People turn chainsaws and light fires. They strike and fire machine guns. The worst thing is that everyone in this crowded place – an unholy collection of cops and skinheads – knows Lee Raybon by sight, and they all have something to say to him: fuck you. Lee is here because someone wants to talk to him, the ringmaster of this hellish circus: Donald Washberg. We won't know what the devil has to say until next week, but it's hard to imagine his words being more menacing than the simple act of dragging Lee here across this river of boiling blood.
