‘Marshals’ Digs Deeper Into Taylor Sheridan’s Past by Channelling ‘Sons of Anarchy’ in the Latest Episode

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Marshals Season 1, Episode 6.Riding off last week’s cliffhanger, Marshals continues to push Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and his team into the fire as they search for the missing Native girls who have been stolen off Broken Rock. But if last week’s episode, “Lost Girl,” hoped to channel Wind River, this week’s adventure claws further back into Taylor Sheridan‘s filmography to his Sons of Anarchy days. Only, we would have you remember that “Out of the Shadows” is still a product of network television, and thus is nowhere near as gratuitous as the FX classic. If anything, it only teases us with the freedom of cable while reminding us firmly that Marshals airs not on the Paramount Network, but on CBS.

“Out of the Shadows” Continues Where Last Week Left Off

This week’s Marshals begins with a flashback to a year ago. It’s here that we see that first moment when Kayce and Tate (Brecken Merrill) learn that Monica has succumbed to her battle with cancer. Kayce is given her necklace by a nurse and does his best to comfort his son before “Out of the Shadows” pivots back to the present day. Now, Tate rides up to his father and berates him for not saving Hayley Charlo (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) last week — and he won’t be the only one. Sadly, Kayce has no news on her whereabouts, which irks Tate even more. Of course, he’s not the only one irritated with Kayce.

Back at Marshals HQ, Andrea Cruz (Ash Santos) and Pete “Cal” Calvin (Logan Marshall-Green) discuss the latest updates on the case before Miles Kittle (Tatanka Means) wanders in. It turns out that he has been (understandably) putting off contacting Ava’s mother, Sera (Otgadahe Whitman-Fox), about the girl’s death, which they learned of from Hayley. But when Kayce walks in, all Miles can think about is giving him a hard time for letting the girl go. Thankfully, the Dutton heir is saved when Belle Skinner (Arielle Kebbel) enters with an update. It turns out that Kurt Bludsoe, the man trafficking the girls, had visited a mechanic named Eli Craig right before the Marshals took him out — a mechanic who may be in on the whole conspiracy.

But before Miles can get excited, he and Cal head to the Rez to give the overdue notification to Ava’s mother. Cal tells Miles that his first notification nearly broke him, but that it’s a part of the job they simply have to do. Yet, before they’re able to speak with Sera, they are ushered into chairman Thomas Rainwater’s (Gil Birmingham) office, who demands to learn of their progress on the case. When he discovers that Ava has been killed, he’s heartbroken. “Tragedy is one of the few things that Broken Rock has in abundance,” echoes Mo (Mo Brings Plenty). But when Miles tells Rainwater that Kayce let Hayley go after finding her, the chairman’s blood begins to boil. Soon after, Sara arrives, and Miles does his best to relay what they learned about Ava to her, only he breaks down before he can. Cal finishes the notification for him as Rainwater and Mo comfort the grieving mother.

Meanwhile, Belle and Cruz’s research into Craig has proven to be fruitful after all. It turns out that Craig was the last link to Bludsoe before the marshals caught up with him, making his garage the most likely place for the girls to have either been transferred to another vehicle or stashed for the time being. Using a security camera from across the street, they discover that someone in a white van wearing an Iron Sentinels Motor Club jacket drove off soon after — seemingly with the girls inside. “They’re ultra-violent and highly organized,” Belle tells Cal about the biker gang. “If they can profit from it, they’ll do it.” We also learn a harrowing statistic about missing Native American women, as Kayce learns from an analyst that 43 girls have been reported missing from Montana-based reservations over the last two years.

Kayce and the Marshals Head to a Biker Gang Rally

Image via CBS

The best way to find out more about the biker gang is surveillance, so Cruz, Miles, and Kayce head to the Iron Sentinels’ local bar. As they wait, Cruz uncharacteristically opens up a little about her personal life, revealing that until she acknowledged her grief, she wasn’t able to shake the pain of losing her father. As she says this, Kayce fumbles about with Monica’s necklace, seemingly absorbing some of her experiential wisdom. Interrupting their therapy session, Miles notes that the best way to watch the biker gang is to draw them out so that they can actually scour the premises for any useful intel. When Cruz asks how, Kayce reveals his inner Dutton by “going after what they love.” Pouring gasoline on their nicely lined-up bikes, Kayce lights them all on fire. The men find their way outside as Cruz and Miles storm the bar in search of the girls. However, they’re nowhere to be found.

Cruz clones a cell phone she finds on the table, which suggests that the girls may be at an Iron Sentinels rally in the Milk River Valley area, which will bring in chapters throughout the country. According to the texts, a club “nomad” called “Brimstone,” real name Keith Stelton (Adam Dunnells), is set to bring the “entertainment.” While it seems like a no-brainer, with Cruz and Belle on board to reactivate one of the latter’s old cover identities to make contact with an old, well, contact, Cal would prefer a state of federal assistance. Of course, they don’t get any, and so, instead, they convince him to use some of their captured meth from a previous case as a lure to bring in her old contact Squirrel. Instead of gearing up for the mission, Kayce arrives home at East Camp to find Rainwater and Mo waiting for him. Rainwater pushes Kayce about letting Hayley go, but he’s already beating himself enough. After their brief (and toothless) tussle, Kayce rides out to Monica’s grave site to find Tate sleeping beside it. “I came out here hoping mom would cheer me up, she usually does,” he says, and though Kayce tries to fill in, Hayley’s predicament has soured his mood. Tate believes that they’ve both disappointed Monica.

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When Kayce returns to HQ, Cal gives Belle the green light when she confirms that her contact, Squirrel (Derrick Aguis), will be at the rally — and it isn’t long before the marshals make it there. Stashed in a mobile HQ in a small trailer, the team prepares for the operation. Belle transforms herself with an intense makeover as “Brandy,” and uses her new appearance (and personality) to waltz back into Squirrel’s good-graces. When she offers him the meth as a deal, he decides to introduce her to Brimstone, who is interested in moving the product with another shipment set to go out that afternoon to Calgary. But, as the team quickly put together, the moment that his shipment crosses the Canadian border, the girls are as good as gone.

Unfortunately for Belle, Brimstone leaves her alone with another biker (Tim Sitarz) — and things get dicey pretty fast. He recalls having seen her several weeks back at a poker table, with blonde hair and calling herself “Turek.” Kayce knows that her cover is blown, and he goes out to intercept the biker, who now believes Belle to be an infiltrator. Things get especially heated when Squirrel arrives, and Kayce shows up at the eleventh hour — killing the man who tried to harm his teammate.

This Week’s ‘Marshals’ Ends With Kayce Finally Accepting His Grief

Image via CBS

When Squirrel reveals that Brimstone is moving product in a truck out back, Belle and Kayce close in on the Iron Sentinel nomad. At the same time, Cal, Miles, and Cruz boldly gear up and head into the middle of the action. Somehow, they manage to make their way through all these uber-violent bikers without so much as a slash or a cut, and, frankly, the whole thing is a bit hard to believe. But as a firefight erupts, Kayce and the team take out Brimstone before they get into the back of his van and begin opening the containers in the back. While they’re disheartened at first to find only drugs, the rest of the containers are full of the abducted girls, including Hayley. It’s a happy ending after all.

In the aftermath, Miles passes on Rainwater’s thanks to the team as Belle does her best to shed her biker persona. Earlier in the episode, Cal asked her how her husband would feel about her going undercover again, something she told him was nowhere near his business. But after Belle offers to be his wingman in trying to reconnect with his daughter, Madison (Morgan Lindholm), at the bar, it appears that she may have some sort of interest in him beyond friendship. At first, we thought that Marshals was setting Kayce and Belle up to be the show’s power couple, but now we’re not so sure.

But that’s not where things conclude this week. After a heart-to-heart between father and son where Kayce informs Tate of their success, “Out of the Shadows” concludes with the Duttons returning to the Rez for Monica’s remembrance ceremony. Upon reuniting with Monica’s grandfather, Felix Long (Rudy Ramos), Kayce and Tate stand to honor their lost loved one — and the rest of Kayce’s new team stands beside him in support. During the ceremony itself, Kayce finally offers his son Monica’s necklace after all this time. “Been clinging to it since mom left, maybe it’s time I start letting go,” he says.

Marshals airs Sundays on CBS and is available for streaming the next day on Paramount+.