The episode opens with a montage of scenes that involve both sides in the war between the Gerhardts and Kansas City making hits on the other side. The montage happens for the most part without words but with Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull playing in the background. I thought it was a little over done. I'm not a big fan of using music in that way. I think it is just a little too cute and has been done to death, here, there, and everywhere.
The only casualty on the Gerhardt side from the attack at the end of the last episode seems to be Otto. He and Rye get buried at the same time in adjacent graves. Technically there is no burial for Rye since they never recovered his body. Floyd wants to know where Dodd is. Bear seems happy enough that he is out of the picture for now, even if he doesn't know what happened to him. The police, Lou Solverson and Ben Schmidt, show up right after the Gerhardts are done with the burial ceremony. They want to take Floyd in for questioning. She goes with them willingly.
Bear is left in charge at the Gerhardt compound. He has some help from some goons from Buffalo, led by Ricky G. Someone calls a couple times claiming to know where Dodd can be found but Bear refuses to take the call. Ricky G tries to encourage Bear to take the call but Bear doesn't care much for being told what to do by the likes of Ricky.
Simone runs off after the funeral, just as the police show up. She goes to see Mike Milligan. He is getting tired of her crap. She is angry because they killed her grandfather. She only wanted them to kill Dodd, her father. Before the scene gets very far there is a knock on the door. It is the police. Simone screams. Lou and Ben bust in and take control of the situation. Ben escorts Simone out of the hotel room while Lou stays behind to chat with Mike and ask him politely to go somewhere else and not make war in their neck of the woods. Ben recognizes Simone. She knees him in the groin once they are on the elevator. She leaves, while Ben returns to the hotel room, obviously in some physical pain. Does Lou know who Simone is? I'm not sure.
Hank Larsson and another senior police officer have a chat with Floyd back at the police station. She is very reluctant to give them anything. They want an end to the war. They are more or less willing to help the Gerhardts if it will bring an end to the war. They cannot put it exactly that way but that is the implication. It takes a while but eventually she starts to give them what she knows about the Kansas City mob's local operations.
Bear and Ricky intercept Simone as she is leaving the hotel. She knows how it looks. She tries to lie to them and tell them she was there trying to score some weed. Bear takes her for a drive while Ricky drives her car back. Bear doesn't take her to the Gerhardt compound. Instead he takes her off into the woods. He know she has been consorting with the enemy.
Betsy has some unwanted guests, Karl Weathers and Sonny. Lou wants them to keep an eye on her while he is off on this case. Betsy grudgingly accepts their presence. She tells Karl that she's pretty sure she got the placebo and asks him to keep an eye on Lou and Molly. She goes over to her father's place, alone, to feed Snowball, his cat. She is looking for Snowball when she opens a door and finds herself in a room filled with weird symbols. She doesn't know what to make of it.
Bear and Simone get out of his truck and walk quite a ways into the woods before Bear pulls out a gun. The scene reminded me of a similar scene from Miller's Crossing. Bear is pointing his gun at Simone the last time she is seen. There is no gun shot. She is pleading for her life. He gets back to his truck alone. He smashes the cast on his left hand in frustration. Did he do that because he couldn't get himself to pull the trigger and kill his niece? Did he do that because he is frustrated about the situation he has got himself in by killing his niece, even if she did betray the family? I don't know but I'm leaning toward the former.
Floyd returns from the police station and asks to see Simone. Bear says that she ran off. Before the conversation can go any further Ricky interrupts to tell them that someone is on the phone claiming to have knowledge of Dodd's whereabouts. Presumably this is the same person who called before.
Mike Milligan's boss is getting impatient. Mike wants a couple weeks to clean things up and get the Gerhardt situation squared away. His boss gives him two days, then he is going to send someone known as the Undertaker to take over the situation. Mike apparently didn't make enough an effort because within a day the Undertaker shows up. Mike and the surviving Kitchen brother kill him and his two flunkies. He then gets a phone call from Ed Blumquist. He says he has Dodd Gerhardt in his trunk.
Hanzee is not in this episode, except very briefly. The same is true for Ed, Peggy, and Dodd. Hanzee's name does come up in connection with a shooting in Sioux Falls. Two police officers were shot and the suspect's description sounds like Hanzee. Towards the end of the episode Lou and Hank head to Sioux Falls without Ben who doesn't want to stick his neck out any farther than he already has. Lou lets him know what he thinks of him before he and his father-in-law take off.
This isn't a bad episode but it also is by no means my favorite. It doesn't have any suspense filled scenes like there was in the last couple episodes. It is the quiet before the storm. What I really want to know is what Ed is trying to pull. Is his plan to sell Dodd to the highest bidder? I can't wait to see how this plays out. I would be surprised if Ed and Peggy come out on top in the end but considering that they killed Rye, ground him up, and are now holding Dodd hostage, after zapping him with his own electric cattle prod, maybe I shouldn't be surprised by how far they've made it up to this point or how far they wind up getting.
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