Sheriff Country Episode 1 Recap: What Happened To Skye In The End?

CBS’ latest police procedural, Sheriff Country, sees Morena Baccarin playing the lead, Mickey Fox, interim sheriff of Edgewater, and explores the challenges she faces while juggling between her roles in personal and professional life. The series is a spin-off of CBS’ hit, Fire Country, and there are narrative elements present in the first episode that connect both of them. But like me, if you don’t have any idea about the original series, you need not worry, as Sheriff Country mostly operates as its own thing. The pilot episode is decent enough to have viewers invested in the series by establishing Micky and the issues she faces as a small-town sheriff and protective mother and ends on a tense note, which will surely keep viewers hooked for the upcoming one.

Spoilers Ahead

Sheriff Mickey’s Struggles

A dedicated cop, Mickey Fox found herself thrust into the role of interim sheriff of her hometown, Edgewater, after the former sheriff’s demise. At a young age, Mickey saw her father, Wes, get arrested by the FBI for marijuana harvesting, a memory that still troubles her and motivates her to protect and serve her hometown so that no one experiences the trauma she did back in the day. As a member of law enforcement, Mickey shares a strong bond with the tight-knit small-town community. This becomes apparent in the first scene of the pilot episode, where she negotiates with two brothers, Vern and Paulie, who nearly started a gunfight with each other following their mother’s funeral, and deescalates the situation by talking sense to them. Through the years, Mickey’s actions have inspired her own colleagues. For example, one of the deputies in Edgewater PD, Cassidy Campbell, whom Mickey saved from her abusive boyfriend, was inspired by her to become a cop. However, Mickey lacks ambition, she prioritizes upholding responsibilities over assuming power, and that has led a number of townsfolk, namely Chief Deputy Boone, to doubt whether she is qualified to remain a sheriff. 

Mickey meets with Punch, a member of the local rotary club whose funding can prove influential in her sheriff campaign. However, Punch is not convinced whether Mickey is the right person to hold the position any longer, after a series of pantry food burglaries remained completely unnoticed by her department. As it turns out, Boone is their chosen candidate for sheriff elections, and funnily enough, he did not inform Mickey about the burglaries, thinking they were not important enough in the first place. It is pretty clear that as a female sheriff in a small American town, Mickey has to deal with twice the problems incompetent officers like Boone need to deal with. 

Is Mickey Able to Save Maddie and Simon?

The central case of the episode, which is linked with the pantry food burglary case, turns out to be quite tragic and concerning, as Mickey and Boone find out Simon, an adolescent kid, was stealing food to provide for his stepsister, Maddie, who was continually abused and starved by Simon’s mother, Carol. Simon’s father, John, married Carol after Maddie’s mother passed away, and since then Carol has become hellbent on making the poor girl’s life a living hell. John doesn’t make any attempt to protect Maddie from her stepmother’s abuse and neglect and is equally responsible for her terrible plight. Mickey and Boone’s attempt to search in John’s residence ends in a failure, but they manage to take Simon under protective custody. 

Things turn awry when it is revealed that John has taken illegal means to take Simon back from protective custody, and the entire family is missing from their place. Mickey is horrified to find Maddie hidden inside a secret wall as a form of self-punishment, as Carol often used to trap her inside a closet. Mickey entrusts Cassidy with the duty to encourage Maddie to come out on her own, and she shares the account with the kid of how Mickey helped her back when she was at her lowest. 

Eventually, the family is tracked down in another of their residences as the cops find their location using John’s hearing aid. John and Carol try to use their kids as human shields to drive away and escape, and speaking to John through dispatch, Mickey tries to calm him down before things go completely out of control. However, Boone, overly eager to prove himself, has arrived with a barricade in front, which prompts a panicked John to drive their car off a cliff. Fortunately, the car remains stuck at the edge long enough for the cops to rescue the entire family, and this incident restores public trust in Mickey. Even Punch shows his full support when Mickey confidently shares her vision to serve her hometown as a sheriff, and townsfolk offer to help the two kids in every way possible. Feeling guilt over his utter failure in every aspect of this case, Boone hands Mickey his resignation. 

What Happened to Skye in the End?

Mickey keeps track of her former addict/recovering teenage daughter Skye, who is living with her ex-husband Travis at present. Mickey finds out Skye is with her boyfriend, Brandon, whom she thinks is a bad influence on her daughter, as he was formerly arrested by Mickey for possession of drugs. Mickey once again finds drugs in Brandon’s possession and decides to confront Travis for acting as an irresponsible father. Travis defends Brandon by calling Mickey’s search and seizure unlawful, and Mickey is disappointed to learn Cassidy and Travis are in a relationship. 

Mickey decides to entrust Wes, who has recently gone legit with his marijuana business, to take care of Skye. On the other hand, Skye is upset as she feels her mother doesn’t trust her at all, and Wes, who has failed his daughter once, mentions to her that she needs to prove through actions that she is capable of being trusted. Wes trusts Skye enough to show her the secret stash of money he keeps inside his bee farm, and Skye informs Brandon of it,who steals the money. Wes had fired his gun while the burglary happened, which brings a concerned Mickey rushing to her father and daughter to check up on them. However, much to Skye’s surprise, Wes doesn’t reveal to her that Brandon stole his money, despite knowing who the culprit was. A guilt-ridden Skye goes to Brandon and takes away the drugs he has bought using Wes’ money. Skye meets with his cousin, Bode Leone—whom Fire Country fans will recognize, as he is the lead in the series—and shares her misery with him. Bode had his own fair share of struggle, being an ex-con who redeemed himself as a member of the Cal Fire team, and he can relate to Skye’s self-loathing mindset at present. Bode comforts her and gives her some amount to give it to Wes as compensation. Skye breaks up with Brandon and hands Wes the money Bode had given to her. Things take a shockingly bad turn in the final moments of the episode, when Skye returns to Wes’ place with her hands smeared in blood. According to her statement, she went to Brandon to meet him for the last time, to congratulate him after he shared his wish to go to a rehab like Mickey had previously suggested to him. However, she found Brandon murdered and even touched the knife, the murder weapon, which was lying nearby. For a split second, Mickey seems to have a sliver of doubt as she asks Skye about the truth, and helping her to calm down, Mickey takes Skye to the police station. Mickey advises her daughter to share everything with Boone and Cassidy and be completely honest. 

As Sheriff Country episode 1 ends, it is apparent that Mickey’s sheriff campaign is going to be a hell of an uphill climb, and the truth behind Brandon’s murder will prove the most crucial aspect in that, as she has to fight quite a personal battle. 

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