A Dutton man would rather run far from his father in his youth, deal with the pain of being his son while living and working in his shadow, fight the family members and corporate assassins who conspired to murder him, and agreee to keep sacred a historic chunk of family land, as both a timeless preserve for the fallen and thriving repository for new blood spilled, than go to therapy. 

That’s probably what Kayce Dutton’s thinking as he saddles a horse and rides out to the graveyard side of East Camp, where Tate Dutton has been hanging out. A big reason why Kayce even joined Pete Calvin’s marshals team was for exercise time with his own Dutton Demons™. But since he began this journey, since becoming both the land’s steward and a single father after losing Monica, all he’s done is bring Tate into a life where the demons are always in pursuit. It was his son who handed out the guns when East Camp came under attack. And it’s his son who he finds sitting nearby John Dutton’s stone in Season 2 Episode 2 of Marshals on Paramount+. The kid is despondent, ashamed he ever thought an empty cowboy hat charlatan like Tom Weaver was anything like his grandfather. When a Dutton’s finger isn’t on the trigger, it’s pointing to all his regrets. 

But Tate has a message for his father. “I don’t need rescuing anymore,” It’s not something Kayce even asked, but he can see it inside the cowboy’s ten-gallon brood. If all Kayce can think about is how much having to fight takes its toll, Tate assures him that what’s been taught has also stuck like saddle tack. Tate will become a Dutton man because he wants to, it’s the honorable thing around these parts, and it’s how he was raised, from one father to the next. “It’s the Dutton way.”

The latest mission for Team Jock Up dovetails with Kayce dadding the Dutton thing. A rogue police officer is targeting the officials and former colleagues he believes have wronged him, and the guy’s kill list is growing. He even takes a shot at Harry Gifford (Brett Cullen), the US Marshals big boss, right outside headquarters. But once he’s tracked down and cornered, the team gets a surprise: there are two shooters, because the rogue cop indoctrinated his son into his manifesto of grievances and lies. It’s Kayce who has to talk the kid off the extremist ledge his father led him onto. “He was flawed, but you loved him anyway.”

Pete Calvin and Belle Turek-Skinner are flawed, too, and love each other anyway. But it looks like it will stay more of a team thing. Their interoffice romance has chemistry, but it doesn’t have a lot of logistical support. Belle couldn’t attend Cal’s cancer treatment appointment in Salt Lake because her five-year-old son Braxton is having trouble sleeping — Mom’s out getting shot at for work, and it’s bothering him. She says it’s still basically over with Jared (Eddie Aguirre), her husband. But she can’t leave little Braxton to his nightmares. A mother would rather develop a crippling gambling habit and join a new marshals team away from everybody who knows her secrets and begin a dicey romance with that team’s boss than go to therapy? Yeah, something like that. Braxton’s well-being is something Belle can focus on.

She can also kick Pete in the ass and tell him that the keeping secrets from the team ends now. He needs to jock up and come clean with his cancer diagnosis. Pete Calvin gathers the group at headquarters and explains the Pancoast tumor, his course of treatment, and his will to remain active. “It’s not gonna affect work,” Cal says with his usual brusqueness. But there’s a bit of faltering in his eyes. “Until I have surgery. Once the tumor shrinks.” 

With his announcement, of course the team has Pete’s back immediately. But we think it’s gonna take time for him to accept. He bristles when Belle pushes him to stay the course, and takes a pull from his oversized flagon of water. It’s as if this former SEAL and marshals team tough guy believes he can just drown his cancer away.

Kayce Taykes for Marshals Season 2 Episode 2 (“End of Watch”):

• Pete Calvin found a way to tell his team about the cancer. But the same can’t be said for his relationship with Maddie (Morgan Lindholm). Cal’s daughter makes her first appearance of Marshals Season 2 this episode — she’s still working at the Bar & Barrel, still hot and heavy with Miles Kittle, and still waiting for her prideful, formerly estranged father to grow a pair and tell her the truth about his condition.

• And hey, speaking of Miles, he made his mom’s fry bread! At headquarters, Miles also brings the team another traditional food of his people, wojapi, which you can find a recipe for here.  

• “Not sure there’s enough sage in Montana to change the energy here.” Episode 2 of Marshals Season 2 also features a visit with Mo Brings Plenty and Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), who perform a cleansing ceremony with Tate at East Camp. Kayce values their friendship, and support. But Rainwater’s words — that he changed the energy of the place before, when Monica passed; he can do the same for Tate — don’t necessarily give Kayce hope. Can he change the energy again?

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.