Finally, it’s over. No worries, I don't include any spoilers in this review.
Since I’m a Wyoming native I appreciated the setting for Longmire (it was actually filmed in New Mexico) but from the prospective of being former law enforcement, Longmire consistently broke almost every law and procedure in the book to get results.
I know big fans of the show will excuse that by saying it’s a fictional series but still there were to many times the writers wrote some farfetched and ridiculous scenarios. The first 2 seasons of the show were entertaining but the writing progressively got worse from then on. I think they should have found a way to end it much sooner.
After the 2nd season the show became very predictable, monotonous and at times torturous because they portrayed Wyoming law enforcement as inept, rogue and reckless.
Walt rarely if ever needed a search warrant which was far and away my biggest peeve.
There were plenty more, he maybe wore gloves twice at crime scenes during the entire run. He finally wore a Kevlar vest in the final episode (every officer wears one today, even in Wyoming) and never called for any backup when it was available.
He rarely used cover and concealment wisely but instead chose to charge in straight up and all alone in many instances during dangerous situations or for felony arrests. Sheriff’s and Sheriff Deputies in small counties all over the US often end up responding to calls alone but not when it’s known ahead of time that guns are involved or there’s an active shooter, they'll always call for backup.
One of the ironies of the show was he always wore his heavy brown coat everywhere he went, even on 80 degrees days but “never” wore a Kevlar vest. As dangerous as they made Wyoming appear with all the homicides, the gangs and the drug trafficking you’d think Walt might take his self-preservation way more seriously.
The reason he never went anywhere without his oppressive coat was the producers of the show probably believed it made him appear bigger than he actually was and to hide the ponch he carried up front.
And one last thing that made Longmire less believable was his refusal to wear a radio on his person or carry a cell phone like every Sheriff and Police Department have done for years. Yes folks, you may think Wyoming is full of Bubba’s but I guarantee you every one of them wears a radio and has a cell phone today. It made Walt look like a buffoon when he had to borrow a phone every time an important call needed to be made from outside his office or at a crime scene.
That said, with all the criticism I’ve laid out, even with its numerous faults, the last 3 episodes of final season they did a fairly worthy job of wrapping up the series.
As with all series you do become engrossed with the characters of the show if you play them out to conclusion. Walt was an entertaining one, as was Henry, Branch, Vic and Ferg. Nighthorse and Malachi were good in their villain roles as well. Their acting was fine but the writing wasn’t.
I’m aware that many TV series hire different Directors throughout the run of a show but 21 different people directed episodes for Longmire. You combine the lack of consistent direction with some substandard writing and it made it very difficult at times to stick with the show to the end.
Granted, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones has set the bar high for TV series with its exceptional acting, writing and directing but that standard is one I hope more producers of future shows would try harder to emulate.
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