Joe Pickett Season 2, Episode 9, is equal parts extended chase sequence and deep character work. Titled "If This Is Goodbye," the penultimate episode of a so-far superb season sets up a much-anticipated final act and, at long last, confirms our theory about a key character's fate. Directed by Shana Stein (who's previously helmed episodes of Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer), with a script by horror writer Nelson Greaves (Fox's Sleepy Hollow), Joe Pickett Episode 9 is mostly a showcase for the magnetism of Julianna Guill. The actress steals each scene as Marybeth Pickett, and it's about time she took center stage for an episode. Read on for a rundown of all the details you might have missed this week (such as what the Scarletts are really up to), plus some predictions for where next week's season finale will take us.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Joe Pickett Season 2, Episode 9.
Marybeth and Joe Are Fugitives From Justice
Chris Large/Paramount+
We pick up right where Episode 8 left off, with Marybeth (Julianna Guill) threatening to shoot Sheriff Barnum (Big Sky's Patrick Gallagher) if he doesn't hand over Shenandoah (Emily Alabi). Marybeth rather unwisely tells him all about the incriminating voicemail on Shenandoah's phone. He wrestles the gun from her, shooting Shenandoah's phone and destroying the evidence. Shenandoah knocks him to the ground, and he shoots her in the shoulder. Before he can finish her off, Marybeth shoots him in the gut. She calls Joe (Michael Dorman), and he instructs her to head to a nearby cabin and hide out with Shenandoah.
With Barnum in critical condition, Deputy McLanahan (Virgin River's Chad Rook) is now the acting sheriff in charge of the manhunt for Marybeth and Shenandoah. He orders all units to shoot both women on sight. Joe tries to explain that Barnum aimed to kill Shenandoah, but McLanahan won't hear it. Joe punches him to the ground and flees in his cop car, luring a few cruisers away from the manhunt. He ditches the vehicle and heads into the woods to find Marybeth. Cricket (Aadila Dosani) suspects Joe was telling the truth about Barnum, so she calls Nate for help.
The Scarletts Hatch a Plan
Marybeth and Shenandoah make it to the cabin, but the latter is badly bleeding. Joe arrives fuming: He thinks Shenandoah is a danger to them both. "Others are safer because of what I did," Shenandoah tells him, referencing all the young women the mostly dead Bull Grove hunters can no longer harm. Now that Shenandoah's phone is destroyed and they gave the Bull Grove photo to Barnum (he burned it, by the way), they have zero evidence to support their claims.
At the Scarlett estate, Hank (Roger LeBlanc) plans to "finish off the Native girl once and for all," and his brother Arlen (The Last of Us' Brendan Fletcher) sets out to attack the Pickett family. We learn that Hank was charging the other Bull Grove men to go on the criminal hunting trips. That's where the money in the flush Bull Grove Foundation came from. Nate (Mustafa Speaks) sneaks up behind one of the Scarletts' henchmen and asks him where their mob is headed.
Back at the cabin, Marybeth is grappling with having possibly killed a man ("You know I never even cheated on a test?"). Joe is being emotionally unavailable, so she goes for the jugular, quite rightly: "You think you're this pillar of strength, this rock we all lean on. But you're not, hon," she tells him. "You think you're saving us from up on your white horse, but we don't want to be saved by you. We want to be with you, Joe." He storms off to the creek and starts punching his own reflection in the water, as you do.
It's Confirmed! Marissa Left Hand is Cabin Girl
Paramount+
Meanwhile, Marybeth and Shenandoah have an emotionally mature heart-to-heart. Shenandoah admits that Klamath only went up to Bull Grove in Episode 7 to stop her from killing again. But her husband's death isn't the only consequence of her crusade to kill the hunters. "I stopped them from hurting more women, but it cost me my soul," she says. Marybeth, for her part, reveals that she asked the universe to save her own life in exchange for her unborn son's in last season's blowout finale: "I chose myself. What kind of mother does that?" she cries. Just then, Joe bursts in and says, "I would choose you, too." He apologizes for keeping her at arm's length and promises that he'll be there for her from now on.
Marybeth missed a phone call from Nate, so Joe calls back. Nate tells them that Hank's goons are headed to Bermuda Mountain to kill the "Native girl" that Barnum told them had escaped. This would, of course, be Marissa Left Hand — not Shenandoah. (We've been beating the Marissa is Cabin Girl drum since Episode 2, ya'll!) When Joe reported a girl in a cabin on Bermuda Mountain in Episode 2, Barnum clocked that Marissa had miraculously survived his gunshots. Joe finally connects the dots and realizes that Marissa is alive. She's also the only source they have against the Bull Grove group, and now the Scarletts are out to kill her.
McLanahan, Cricket and the rest of the force have set up a perimeter around the cabin. Marybeth surrenders, offering herself up as a distraction while Joe and Shenandoah set off on horseback to intercept the Scarlett men on Bermuda Mountain — and save Marissa.
Questions and Predictions
- Prediction: Vern will come to the rescue. We still don't know if Vern was wise to Barnum's involvement in Bull Grove. Either way, the ex-warden must know he's safer with Hank Scarlett off the board. My guess is Vern will help catch Hank, if only to save himself.
- How do the Grimm Brothers fit into all this? In Episode 2, the ghoulish twins referred to Marissa/Cabin Girl as "Rosie." Do they know her story, and have they been helping her stay hidden? Or perhaps the Grimms are more closely tied to Nate's Mark 5 subplot. Remember the hit list in Episode 6? Two names stood out because we didn't recognize them: Reid and Malcolm Turner. Maybe the Grimms are actually the Turner twosome, running from Nemecek just like Nate. Either way, my guess is they'll have a part to play in the finale.
- Prediction: Derek Longbrake will save Missy and the girls from the Scarletts. Hank's brother Arlen is out to terrorize the Pickett clan. With Joe and Marybeth otherwise occupied, who will be there to save Missy and her granddaughters but her handsome beau, Derek? Heck, we may even find out the guy is secretly loaded. There's a happy ending for Missy.
- Prediction: Luke will recover from his coma, but there's something sketchy about his parents. Remember when Joe tried to call Luke's "emergency contact" in Episode 5, but the number had been disconnected? Yeah, Luke's parents are either up to something or in danger. All bets are on a spooky needle-drop hinting at a Season 4 mystery in next week's finale.
The Season 2 finale of Joe Pickett premieres Sunday, July 30, on Paramount+.
