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Marshals · Season 1 · Episode 2

Zone of Death (Season 1, Episode 2)

Premise: On Kayce’s first day as a full marshal, a fentanyl bust leads the team to a gang deal in a lawless strip of Wyoming, where an Aryan group is moving a bomb.

Air date
Season/Episode
Season 1, Episode 2
Case
Fentanyl deal and Aryan bomb
Starring
Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes), Pete “Cal” Calvin (Logan Marshall-Green), Belle Skinner (Arielle Kebbel), Andrea Cruz (Ash Santos), Miles Kittle (Tatanka Means), Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill), Harry Gifford (Brett Cullen), Maddie Calvin (Morgan Lindholm)
Yellowstone ties
Rip is mentioned as finding hands for East Camp, Tate visits Grandpa Long, and Gifford and Andrea raise John Dutton’s killing and Jamie’s disappearance.
Music
Kix Brooks’ “Complete 360” plays at the bar, and Ashley Cooke performs “Next to You” on the bar’s stage.
Guest stars
Eddie Aguirre as Jared, Koah Williams as Braxton, Ashley Cooke as Cowboy Bar Musician, Kamy D. Bruder as Injured Aryan
Director
Greg Yaitanes
Writers
Spencer Hudnut

Summary

The Case

“Zone of Death” sends the team after Raul Garza, a fugitive from the 406 Royals gang, whom they grab at a Belgrade trailer park on Kayce’s first day as a marshal, with Kayce held back on the perimeter. A man arrested with Garza has Aryan Brethren of Idaho tattoos and is carrying fentanyl. While Kayce and Cal chase down Kayce’s runaway stallion, Andrea and Belle keep digging, and Andrea gets the Aryan, Lenny Nelson, to reveal a fentanyl handoff between the two gangs that day in the Zone of Death, a stretch of land over the Wyoming line said to have no one to prosecute crimes.

The team rides in on horseback to watch the deal. Belle moves in to plant trackers on the Royals’ trucks, but a gang member lingers near her, and Miles freezes beside a rattlesnake. With Belle left exposed, Kayce brings up Roner, a name from their SEAL days, to push Cal into action, and then the Aryans reveal a bomb. In the gunfight, Miles and Cal use a flash-bang to reach Belle and arrest the gang members, while Kayce rides off after the SUV carrying the bomb. Kayce later finds a badly hurt Aryan who begs for help, and Kayce tells him none is coming. The bomb, meant for a federal courthouse in Idaho, is stopped, but one of five Aryans is never accounted for, and the team lets the question drop.

The Team

Kayce and Tate go fishing on the eve of his first day; Rip has found hands to cover East Camp while he works. At a cowboy bar, Cal trades war stories, Andrea turns down a cowboy’s offer of a drink, and Cal identifies the bartender as Maddie. U.S. Marshal Harry Gifford tells Cal that a Dutton wearing a marshal’s star sits badly with him, pointing to the unsolved killing of John Dutton and the disappearance of Kayce’s brother Jamie; he later reminds Kayce that he and John Dutton had history. Belle’s husband, Jared, and son, Braxton, drop by the office, and on the ride out Andrea asks Kayce whether he really does not know where Jamie is.

Spoiler, the ending: At the team’s celebration, Gifford hears from Andrea that Kayce overruled Cal and suspects Kayce of shielding his brother. Kayce tells Miles he has to be more dangerous than the snake. Cal resents the cheap shot about Roner, and Andrea quarrels with Cal over credit before leaving with the cowboy. Belle stays out drinking with Cal instead of going home, and Maddie refuses Cal’s request to talk. At home, Tate asks for Monica’s favorite necklace for a remembrance ceremony.

Why it stands out

Themes

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