Whooo, what about that for an episode title? Make no mistake, a WB Coyote & Roadrunner cartoon is the best way to explain it. That, and it also alludes to a DUSTER chase scene coming ahead. We are at the midpoint in our season, so let’s go, go, go. And we do, with Luna watching the aforementioned cartoon and Ellis in the midst of a serious phone call. Ellis just pisses off too many people because Mad Raoul has hired Enrique the Blade to snuff out Ellis. Ellis comes to terms with that fact in a silly way that you’d never expect. So, I guess we know what is in store for Ellis, but how does he get out of the next hot mess? Plus, we can’t forget Hayes and Awan’s investigation. It’s just another fun time for DUSTER.
Hayes is told by Supervisor Abbot that Breen is dead and superiors are now breathing down Abbot’s neck to either crack something big on Saxton’s racket, call the whole thing off, or else. She has a day to get something solid, or they all may just lose their jobs. So what results is she going to muster in the 11th hour? Well, it starts with the usual Hayes/Ellis chat. He confides his dilemma and she hers. That included getting her aware of the Russian meeting Saxton had. Of course, it means nothing at that point, but it will, no doubt, down the line. Next on the itinerary for Ellis is reporting to Saxton. Remember, he is the one who drops off everybody’s loyalty payments and buyoffs. He gets his orders for the day and agrees to get Royce, Saxton’s son, who got the new heart in the premiere episode, out of Saxton’s hair and drive him to his errands of the day. Why would he offer to do that? Because Enrique the Blade is on his trail, right? He is just setting Royce up for danger, or is he thinking that Enrique won’t strike if Ellis isn’t alone? Yeah, waiting for that moment.
Next on her agenda, Hayes heads to the office and gets cracking. She is getting the usual discriminate crap from colleagues. So is Issy, by the way. There is a scene of her at the Trucker’s Union office with Robert Temple, remember him, about equal treatment for the women drivers. Then later, under the advice ot her boyfriend David, Izzy organizes the lady truckers to bond and organize over at her place. This show is keeping all of the 70’s issues real. Hayes pushes her co-workers and at least puts a feeler out to investigate local Russian interpreters because Ellis had mentioned to her that Saxton said he’d need one in time for his next meeting. Hayes is working smart. She and Awan went over all the babble Breen spewed during their visit, and they remembered that the words ‘follow the numbers’ might have been the most coherent thing he said. I recall calling out that phrase in the last review myself. The answers just might lie in the numbering system of dates Breen used on his files. Applying all the ways to use numbers, they locked on map coordinates, and following them, placed them in the center of the Navajo Nation Reservation. What will they find there if their hunch is correct? The search gives them time to talk about the ethnic issues they have with their families and society. Without GPS, Hayes & Awan find that their coordinates lead them to an old rusted car. Inside is a videotape, an old industrial videotape, as in the prototypes of the era.
Ellis is also getting somewhere. Royce is given the job of checking in on the Scottsdale warehouse. It would be Ellis’s first look at what operations are going down in one of Saxton’s facilities. He is bonding with Royce but also using him. Once inside, he snoops enough to find workers packaging up crates of firearms, and he finagles some manifests too. Plus, he learns that Saxton is even doing business with Howard Hughes, yes, that one. Royce pulls up in a Lincoln Limo gifted by Hughes, and Royce and Ellis take it for a spin. Of course, they do. Ellis tags along in the Duster as Royce races the gifted car, that is until it overheats. They nurse it to a gas station, and who should be driving in but Enrique the Blade. I wondered if he was going to show up this episode, and he does with about a dozen minutes to go.
How does this day end for our friends? Well, Ellis and Enrique end up side by side at a trough urinal. Enrique looks down, and Ellis thinks he is checking out his size, but he is only looking at his blade sliding down his sleeve, and the fight is on in the skeevy restroom. They end up calling a truce, and they momentarily team up. Why? Well, you know how loaded each episode is, right? The Hughes’ car gets stolen by hoodlums at the last minute. Let’s just say the Lincoln Limo is retrieved without a scratch, but not by Ellis. He gave the Hughes car over to Enrique in order to save his life. How is he going to explain that away to Saxton, and what kind of heat is Royce going to get over it? The videotape, however, has plenty of scratches, but Hayes & Awan are able to lift the image of Breen off of it, and some audio that says, “expose Xavier and his network, and until then trust no one.” Do you remember that Xavier was a name mentioned by the Russians an episode back? Ellis reminded us of that fact in his chat with Hayes at the start of their work day, but you don’t always know just what details are going to mean in this show, and that is a case in point.
All in all, it was an episode that delved more into relationships and societal ills than it did into progressing the plot, but that’s okay. Heavily grounding the viewer to the issues of the day and embellishing on character points does not make it a bad episode. So, the coyote is still chasing the roadrunner – it’s all good.
We continue the ride next week.
