Longmire: The Complete Third Season

The third season of the rural mystery series based on novels by Craig Johnson and starring Australian actor Robert Taylor as laconic Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire opens with fallout from the ongoing investigation into the killing of Longmire's wife. Longmire's best friend, Henry (Lou Diamond Phillips), is arrested on suspicion of murder, which sends Longmire searching for evidence to exonerate him. Meanwhile, one deputy, Branch (Bailey Chase), survives a vicious attack by the mysterious “white warrior”—ostensibly the spirit of a dead man from the nearby reservation, back for vengeance—and goes rogue to lead his own investigation. And another deputy, former Philadelphia homicide cop Vic (Katee Sackhoff), struggles to save a crumbling marriage as her past continues to haunt her. The wide-open landscape dominates the series, and the show has a pace and tone to match, but there's also a tough, brutal edge to many episodes, which culminate here in a collision with a violent survivalist who has a paranoid streak. This set was almost the final run of Longmire, the top-rated scripted drama on A&E when it was canceled (it skewed to older viewers and the channel was looking for younger audiences). But passionate fans quickly expressed their outrage, and Netflix has since picked up the series. Compiling all 10 episodes from the 2014 third season, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)