The eight episode of Joe Pickett season 2, had tried to shed some light on the involvement of Saddlestring’s hunter group in the unspeakable crimes taking place in town. As Shannon was revealed to be one of the victims of sexual assault inflicted by the hunting group, she took revenge on the hunters one by one. But killing wasn’t her first option at all. She went to the authorities seeking justice but, instead, got accused by the police of having made advances on the group of men first. Also, she could never find solace with the help of law enforcement officers because the sheriff, Barnum, was himself part of the group and had been present during Shannon’s assault. That’s why killing was left as her only option to seek justice for herself and for the other women who experienced the same. But on her journey to get justice, will Joe Pickett and Marybeth stick by her side? Let’s find out.
Spoilers Ahead
Is Barnum Alive? Who Shot Him?
The previous episode of Joe Pickett concluded with Barnum’s vehicle getting roadblocked by Marybeth’s truck. Under the pretext of transferring Shannon, Barnum had taken her out of prison and intended to kill her on the run. However, the plan backfired when Marybeth emerged from the truck, pointing her rifle at Barnum. Barnum warned her to clear the road, but Marybeth told him that she knew about him being a member of the hunter group and the one who killed Marissa. Although I believed she shouldn’t have revealed this, she did disclose the voicemail from Marissa’s phone, which was solid evidence against Barnum. Snatching the phone, Barnum destroyed it and aimed his gun at Marybeth, intending to kill her. In the nick of time, Shannon attacked him from behind, getting shot in the process. As Barnum was about to put a bullet in Shannon’s head, Marybeth shot Barnum.
The police arrived immediately, as Barnum had already informed them about Shannon escaping from the jeep. Marybeth and Shannon managed to escape, but Shannon was wounded, making it difficult for her to even walk. Marybeth called Joe, informing him about the whole scenario. Joe asked Marybeth to be cautious because Shannon had a history of brutally killing five men. He also requested that she drop the gun if she had any. Marybeth could comprehend the situation Shannon was in and what drove her to become such a cold-blooded killer. However, she couldn’t ignore the fact that Shannon had gruesomely decapitated Dan, which traumatized and frightened her. Nevertheless, she was even more afraid of herself, as she could never have imagined shooting anyone. Yet her fate forced her into a life-threatening situation where shooting Barnum seemed to be the only option left.
Taking refuge in a worn-out forest cabin, Marybeth collected clean water from a nearby lake to help Shannon clean her wound. She tried to take the gun away from Shannon, expressing her concern that Shannon had killed five men. However, Shannon claimed that she never killed those men because she wanted to, but because she felt it necessary to bring them to justice since the authorities wouldn’t.
Meanwhile, Barnum was taken to the hospital for treatment, but the chances of his survival were slim. Deputy McLanahan and Cricket were set to go after Marybeth and Shannon, but Joe decided to intervene and stole McLanahan’s jeep to find his wife on his own. McLanahan was determined to locate Joe and put him into custody, but Cricket cleverly called Nate, informing him that Joe was in trouble.
Who Was The Native Girl? Is Marizsa Alive?
Joe Pickett finally found Marybeth and Shannon, and despite Marybeth’s concerns, he confronted Shannon and tried to convince her to give up the gun. Marybeth didn’t like this approach at all and asked Joe to be more patient since Shannon was wounded and needed time to recover. Later, she talked to Joe about how he always presented himself as a protective figure for his family but ignored his own fears, trauma, and pain. Joe never dealt with his own issues and never asked for help. Marybeth shed tears and tried to make him understand that his family didn’t need him to save them; they needed him to be with them.
After Shannon became more stable and was recovering from her wound, Marybeth talked to her. They both cried over the difficult situations they had been through and the bold decisions they had made in their lives. Shannon regretted leaving Marissa alone and felt that the killings needed to be done to give rest to Marissa’s soul as well as that of her husband, Klamath, who had been killed by Barnum. Marybeth also mourned the trauma she faced when Vern Dunnegan’s men shot her in the belly, injuring both her and her unborn child. During the time of her injury, she prayed to the universe to take the baby if they had to, but to spare her life. As a result, after losing her baby but surviving, guilt consumed her, as she believed she was an incapable mother. Joe interrupted their conversation, saying that he would always choose Marybeth over anything else, and he didn’t regret her choice to pray for herself and not for her baby. Joe and Marybeth reconciled, but their cabin was spotted by McLanahan and other officers, who prepared to set up an ambush, leaving Shannon and the Picketts with no choice but to come out.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, we saw Scarlet’s brother Hans psyching up his men to hunt down a native girl. This probably referred to Shannon or any other native girl hidden somewhere. Nate managed to gather information by capturing someone from Hans Scarlett’s gang, revealing that Barnum was asking his men to find the native girl at Bermuda Mountain. As he called Joe to inform him about the “Native girl,” Joe was baffled as they were not on Bermuda Mountain, and Barnum shouldn’t have known that Shannon would escape and head there. This suggested that the native girl they were referring to was not Shannon but Marissa.
Joe recalled the hallucinations he had of a lady treating him when he headed to the mountain to search for Dan and got attacked by the cannibal twins. Joe informed Shannon and Marybeth that Marissa was alive, and somehow that knowledge reached Barnum, prompting him to send his forces to kill her. Marybeth planned to distract the authorities while Joe would head to the mountain to save Marissa. Marybeth, pretending to be Shannon, surrendered to the police, but by the time the deputy realized it was Marybeth, Joe and Shannon had already started heading toward Bermuda Mountain to look for Marissa. In the next and final episode of Joe Pickett, we hope the mystery surrounding Marissa’s existence will be unveiled, and she could finally help the Picketts and Shannon bring Barnum to justice.
