The third episode of CBS’s Marshals ended with Kayce finding a bullet on his doorstep. Episode four, “The Gathering Storm,” begins with Cal pounding on Kayce’s door, carrying a box full of security cameras. Kayce denies he needs added security, but Cal’s quick to remind him he didn’t hear someone drop off the shell casing.
(The following is a recap of episode four and there are spoilers!)
Cal (Logan Marshall-Green) is certain the Cleggs are behind the bullet and thinks Kayce (Luke Grimes) needs to be on alert. Kayce’s reluctant to point the finger at one family; they made a lot of ranchers angry during the standoff. Given his family’s history, Kayce’s certain whoever it is will keep coming for him.
Andrea (Ash Santos) shows off her roping skills at the bar, flirting with a bulldogger – he jumps off horses and wrestles steers. Andrea admits she’s ready to leave Montana and head back to civilization, if only her bosses would let her.
Bartender Maddie (Morgan Lindholm) is ignoring Cal but is paying attention to a local named Henry who takes a seat near him. Cal wonders if he knows the Cleggs, and Henry calls them “nothing but trouble.” If the Cleggs are making threats, then he better be on his guard. Maddie wonders what has Cal so worried, and Cal confesses he’s trying to figure out how to keep a team member safe. She comments that the team always comes first.
Kayce arrives at work just before their boss, Harry Gifford (Brent Cullen), shows up with a complaint filed by Randall Clegg. Randall believes Kayce violated his son Carson’s civil rights by shooting him after he dropped his weapon. Since Clegg reported it to the DOJ, the team needs to investigate Kayce’s actions to get ahead of the DOJ’s examination of the incident.
Harry asks if it’s possible Kayce didn’t see Carson drop his weapon, but Kayce believes he would have noticed that. However, all he has is his word to back him up.
Kayce would rather not stick around the office, so it works out perfectly that Cal received a call to help the Forest Service out with a search and rescue at Bridger Range. Facing the steep peaks in the area is safer than hanging out at the office.
Cal and Kayce get to the check-in site and learn the wind makes it impossible to spot a downed helicopter from the air. The pilot and his passenger, Tom Weaver, called in an SOS and there are 1,000 square miles to cover on horseback. The officer in charge assigns them an area, and Kayce informs Cal the elevation’s 8,500+ feet where they’re heading.
Andrea doesn’t find aren’t any red flags in Kayce’s incident report, and Harry seems skeptical about trusting a Dutton. He warns Andrea to be very thorough – her reassignment to DC could be hanging in the balance. Andrea thinks he wants her to make up evidence that supports Randall’s claim, and Harry admits the DOJ’s investigation will turn up Dutton skeletons that could drag the whole team down.
Belle (Arielle Kebbel) and Miles (Tatanka Means) aren’t happy about investigating a teammate and know it will destroy the trust they’ve just built up with Kayce. Andrea agrees but explains Harry’s concerns about this hurting the team. She contacted a lawyer friend at the DOJ, who informed her that Clegg had enlisted local attorney Andrew Schroeder to file the complaint. Belle recognizes the name and knows Andrew has a track record of suing law enforcement. They need to prove Carson was holding a gun when Kayce shot him.
Miles notes that ballistics determined two guns fired from Carson’s position. They recovered Wes’s but never found Carson’s. Belle believes the gun was lost when Carson fell down a ravine.
Belle and Andrea speak with Andrew about the Cleggs possibly withholding evidence. Andrew claims he can’t talk about his clients, and Belle and Andrea inform him the Cleggs are under investigation too. They’re shocked when Randall steps into the room and insists he’s going to take Dutton down in court.
Belle and Andrea decide they need to dig deeper into Kayce’s background.
Cal and Kayce discuss the investigation while searching their assigned area, and Kayce’s certain Harry’s siding with the Cleggs because of his history with John Dutton. Kayce’s used to being punished for doing what he thought was right; this is just the latest case of that.
They smell aviation fuel and Kayce admits he doesn’t like Tom Weaver after he bought a huge chunk of the valley and thinks he’s king of the valley.
The river has a sheen on it, and they head upstream.
Cal believes Kayce was justified in killing Carson, and Kayce isn’t happy his teammates are investigating him. But if he’s fired as a marshal, he’ll be okay with that. Smoke from the crash site catches their eye just as a man steps out of the woods, ordering them at gunpoint to give him their supplies. Kayce and Cal calmly dismount, and it’s not until they do that he realizes they’re Feds. Kayce draws his gun and Cal’s able to disarm the man who claims he’s living off the land because he lost his job, his house, and his family. Cal orders him to turn himself in at the ranger station and he agrees.
Belle examines Kayce’s military records and learns that he’s a war hero with a clean record and a silver star. Belle wonders what happened after he got out because SEALs don’t have the best reputation. Miles recalls that when the militia kidnapped Tate, Kayce led his cowboy buddies in an assault to get him back. They realize Clegg may have a point and that Kayce’s got a reputation for stepping outside the law.
Kayce and Cal climb up a cliff to the helicopter and discover the pilot, Helen, barely has a pulse. Tom’s badly injured and Cal calls in an update on the downed helicopter. Air help isn’t available because of the storm, and Kayce’s forced to climb back to the horses to get something to cut Tom out of the helicopter.
Just as Kayce’s leaving, a bear appears at the back of the helicopter. They left the shotgun with the horses, and pistols won’t work. The bear begins shaking the helicopter which, unfortunately, kills Helen. Kayce screams and fires into the air, and the bear walks away.
Kayce asks why Tom made her fly, and he claims that extreme winds weren’t in the forecast and that he needed to look at a ranch. Helen made him sit in the back to balance the chopper during the wind, but it didn’t work.
“She saved your life, even though you valued your ranch more than hers,” says Kayce.
They debate how to remove Tom from the crashed helicopter, and it seems the only way would lead to breaking his femur. Tom asks that they give him Helen’s wedding ring, since they can’t bring her body down with them. He wants to be able to personally give it to her husband.
They are going to use a seat to stabilize his leg while they move them, and as they talk, Tom realizes they were SEALs. Tom looks at Kayce and says, “A cowboy, a SEAL, and a US Marshal?” Cal adds, “He’s also a member of the first family of Montana ranchers.”
Harry asks for a report on what the team’s learned, and Andrea and Belle describe Kayce’s son’s kidnapping recovery as sketchy and a possible case of frontier justice. However, they did not find any motive for Kayce to want to kill Carson Clegg.
Harry wants to investigate Kayce’s connection to the Broken Rock man that Carson shot and takes Miles with him to the rez.
Cal confesses the altitude is getting to him and looks around for branches to use to stabilize Tom’s leg. Kayce tends to Tom while Cal’s gone, and Tom admits he never met John but thinks John could have taught him about ranching. Kayce disagrees, knowing his dad liked people to learn the hard way. They commiserate over having difficulty pleasing their fathers, and both are having a hard time escaping their fathers’ shadows. Kayce acknowledges that it’s decent of Tom to want to tell Helen’s husband himself that she passed. Tom confesses he’s not a good rancher; he just wanted to leave something for his family.
The wind’s kicking up as Cal uses a horse to help lower Kayce and Tom down the cliff. Suddenly, the man they let go earlier appears and shoots at Cal, spooking the horse and causing Kayce and Tom to plummet. Their descent stops before they reach the bottom, and Cal shoots back at the stranger.
The man used their shotgun against them, and Cal missed him with his pistol. Cal wants to chase him, but Kayce says, “And leave two men behind this time?” Cal stays and gets Kayce and Tom down as thunder roars.
Harry barges into Ernie’s hospital room but he’s out doing PT so Harry questions his wife instead. She and her husband barely know Kayce, but Monica taught at Ernie’s school, and they were fond of her. Apparently, they would have Monica and Tate over for dinner while Kayce was deployed.
Harry tells the team that Kacey killed Carson because Ernie and his wife were very close with Monica. Miles points out they have no way of knowing if Kacey knew Monica and Ernie were close. If Clegg tells the press this, the unit will be dragged through the mud. He’s going to tell the Office of Professional Responsibility, and Belle accuses him of feeding Kayce to the wolves.
After Harry leaves, Belle and Andrea have Miles walk them through the incident. As he’s talking, they realize someone detonated the IED – Kayce didn’t step on a tripwire. It couldn’t have been Wes or Carson.
After getting Tom into an ambulance, Cal wants to head back and dive into the man who shot at them. Kayce jokes he’d rather face a bear than face off with Gifford at the office. Cal insists Kayce will be fine.
Harry tells Cal to cut Kayce loose. The office of professional responsibility will allow Kayce to be fired rather than finish the investigation. Cal refuses and tells Harry to do it himself. But everything changes when Belle explains they had the sheriffs look for ways the Cleggs could have been watching Kayce and Miles. It turns out the Cleggs were using someone else’s trail cams to hunt, and the footage shows Carson was shooting at the marshals when Kayce killed him.
Andrea warns Harry never to play her like that again.
Kayce visits Tom at the hospital and his family applauds Kayce for saving Tom. Kayce gives Tom back his hat and advises him not to purchase the land he was looking at because it’s not fit for cattle. Tom says he’s in Kayce’s debt and will be sending hands to help Kayce work East Camp since the marshals need his full attention. Kayce attempts to turn it down, but Tom’s daughter warns him that it won’t work.
The team, minus Kayce, have beers at the bar and talk about Kayce’s past. He was invited but they don’t think he’ll show up but – surprise! – he does. Cal reveals the man they let go is a wanted serial bomber, which is why he shot at them. He’s been on the run for three years.
Kayce introduces Tom’s daughter, Dolly, and she passes out a round of drinks from her father. Andrea quietly tells Kayce she’s sorry she had to look into him and points out that Dolly is not looking at him like someone who’s there just because he saved her dad.
“Saddle up, cowboy!” teases Andrea.
Cal’s also interested in why Kayce and Dolly arrived together, and he’s happy Kayce actually showed up. Cal thinks the badge might be a path to penance.
Belle thinks Cal’s interested in the bartender, but he’s not. Maddie is his daughter! He accepted this job to be closer to her, but she doesn’t seem to want him there. Belle suggests that he give it time.
Dottie plops down in a seat across from Kayce and flirts, wondering if he can give her a crash course on all things Montana. “Maybe,” replies Kayce.
