'Marshals' Season 2 Episode 5 Recap & Ending Explained

The fourth episode of Marshals season 2 ended with Cal and his team locating serial bomber Rudy Carpenter, who was planning another attack in Montana using the ANFO that he had stolen from a construction company’s warehouse. Rudy was hiding in an old farm in Bozeman; however, when the Marshals arrived at the location and asked Rudy to surrender, he started firing at the officers, and after getting shot, he ran into the barn, where he triggered a bomb to blow himself up. Rudy’s ex-wife, Audrey, had told Kayce and Belle that her ex-husband had no desire to go to prison again, and would do anything to avoid arrest. I guess blowing himself up was Rudy’s way of earning his “freedom.” Unfortunately, the threat didn’t disappear with Rudy’s death, as the eight barrels of ANFO were still missing. Cal surmised that Rudy might have already moved the bomb, because if the ANFO bomb had been in that barn, none of them would have been standing alive. And he was right. Rudy had a partner. They did a trial run of the bomb at the old farm, assembled the final deal, and then Rudy’s partner drove away with it before the Marshals showed up. So the question is: who is Rudy’s partner, and what is their target? Well, let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

The McCoy Family

The tech team pulled up a second set of fingerprints on the ANFO barrels’ lids that Rudy had hidden in the van, and these fingerprints belonged to a man named Derek McCoy. He was classmates with Paul Daniels, the guy Cal, Belle, and Andrea had been stalking at the end of season 1 so they could interrogate him about Rudy Carpenter, before the team had to abandon the mission to help Kayce on his ranch. Cal speculated that Paul might have introduced Derek and Rudy to each other to plan this operation together, but what they still weren’t sure of was Derek’s motive. This was why the Marshals decided to pay Derek a visit at his house in Radersburg. However, when the team arrived at the location, Derek wasn’t there (as he was on the road carrying the explosive to the targeted location), and his extended family (four adults and a kid) refused to talk about him. Cal and his team had run into a dead end, and the only people who could help them find Derek were his family, so they needed to make them talk by any means necessary before a mishap happened, which had the potential of robbing thousands of innocent people of their lives.

The bigger reveal here was that Morris Bank & Trust in Helena foreclosed on Derek’s family and took away all their land. According to Derek’s mother, Doreen, it was the bank and the taxman who’d put her late husband in the grave, as he might not have been able to handle the loss of his family property. In short, the entire family, Derek included, were yearning for revenge against the bank and its employees, and this was why Derek might have asked his classmate, Paul Daniels, to introduce him to serial bomber Rudy Carpenter, so he could blow up the people responsible for his family’s misery and his father’s death. And like the Soler brothers in the previous episode, Rudy handed Derek the list of things he needed to build a bomb of that magnitude. I am sure Rudy might have backstabbed Derek as well, to take all the credit, but before he could do so, the Marshals hunted him down, and he had to blow himself up to avoid arrest.

For the bomb, Rudy needed eight barrels of ANFO, which Derek arranged for by blackmailing his sister-in-law, Emma. As it turned out, Emma’d had an affair with Derek, and he was the father of her son, Mason, but Derek’s brother and Emma’s husband, Johnny, wasn’t aware of their relationship (obviously), so Derek used the affair to blackmail Emma into helping him steal the items he needed for the bomb. Johnny worked for a construction company, and Emma, on Derek’s orders, logged into Johnny’s dispatch account and gave Derek the information about the ANFO, which Rudy stole from the company’s warehouse. So Derek never actually discussed his real plan with any of his family, probably because he had assumed that the cops would come sniffing for information, and the less his family knew, the better. Though Derek knew that he wouldn’t be coming back, which was why, before leaving the house, he told Mason that he was his real father.

Meanwhile, Kayce had been interrogating Johnny’s youngest brother, Will, who ran into the barn, where Kayce jumped on him to stop him from escaping. However, at that exact moment, the floor collapsed, and both of them ended up in a pit, where Kayce slowly got information about Derek and his plan. Will used to work in an auto shop, and a week ago, Derek had shown up with his truck asking Will to work on the suspension (as he needed it fit to carry a 2000-pound bomb). Helping Derek out got Will fired because he couldn’t get his actual work done while he was working on his brother’s suspension. Will still wouldn’t give Kayce the details of the truck, which meant Kayce needed to win his trust. He told Will that he reminded him of his middle brother. Kayce didn’t take the name, but Yellowstone fans could guess he was talking about Jamie Dutton. Well, long story short, after a bit of convincing and fixing up Will’s leg, he finally told Kayce that his brother had come in with a white GMC box truck, which meant that was the vehicle the Marshals needed to look out for to catch Derek before he could trigger the bomb.

Derek Is Dead

At first, Cal and his team assumed that Derek was headed to Morris Bank & Trust to blow up the building, but after searching the location, they found no sign of Derek or the bomb on the premises. Later, they learned about a banquet for leading regional lenders at Wexler Hotel, which was being attended by the bank employees who took away the McCoys’ farm. This new information brought the team to the conclusion that these lenders were Derek’s prime target. They quickly drove to the location, only to find Derek stuck in the traffic. Cal ordered his team to take Derek out on the road, making sure he didn’t get time to trigger the bomb. So, Andrea distracted Derek, and Kayce and Miles ran out in front of the truck and pointed their guns at him, asking him to surrender. However, he tried to trigger the bomb, so the Marshals rained bullets and neutralized the threat on the spot.

Cal Chooses Andrea To Lead the Team

In the previous episode, Harry Gifford left no stone unturned in reminding Cal of his past mistakes, which was his way of convincing Cal that he wasn’t fit to make the right decisions or lead the team. However, by stopping Rudy Carpenter and averting the tragedy, Cal proved to Harry that he still could handle a crisis, even with a tumor in his lung. I think, after this mission, Harry will have no doubts regarding Cal’s leadership, and he will let him reclaim his position after he joins the team post his medical leave and treatment. But the more important question right now is who’s gonna lead the team in Cal’s absence. At first, Cal wanted a guy from Texas to temporarily replace him, but I think the hunt for Rudy Carpenter changed something in him, and he decided to let Andrea take up the charge in his absence. Well, Cal was still unaware of the nightmares haunting Andrea, but because everyone else vouched for her, I think Cal decided to give her a shot. And even if she fails, there’s a whole lot of people around her (almost like a family) to help her out.

Andrea Shares Her Issues With Kayce

From the beginning of season 2, Andrea had been struggling with her nightmares, as the incident with the Cleggs had shaken her to the core, but she had been trying to hide her problem from the team, as she believed she could handle those demons alone. She tried to ease her mind by looking into her Dad’s murder, but it was just a temporary escape from a far more serious issue. She finally decided to share her problem with her colleague, Kayce, because these visions had started affecting her work. In this episode, Andrea once again froze on her way to the basement, as the sight reminded her of the incident when Randall Clegg had locked her up in the cellar. And with Cal putting her in charge of the team in his absence, Andrea wasn’t sure if she was fit to lead so long as she was consumed by her nightmare. She told Kayce that things would get worse when it was quiet, which I guess was the reason why she came seeking help from Kayce, the person she’d called a “chaos magnet” earlier in the episode. Well, Kayce told her the same, that she would find the right moment of chaos in East Camp to drive her demons away. So, as Kayce was making tea for Andrea, she fell asleep on his couch. I think this is the beginning of a romance between them, sharing one problem at a time, until they two can’t stay away from each other anymore.

Belle Deals With Mitch Polson

In the previous episode, Mitch Polson, the guy from the casino (which Belle owed 20 grand to), threatened Belle in front of her young kid and smashed her car’s window to tell her that she was messing with the wrong people. In episode 5, Mitch showed up at Belle’s house in her absence and spooked her kid, forcing Belle to take action against him so he would understand what it would cost him if he came after her family again. She used her workplace laptop to access information about Mitch Polson and his family. Ironically, in the third episode of season 2, she herself had asked Andrea not to use government data for personal motives, and now she was doing the same thing. Well, at the end of this episode, she tracked down Mitch to a bar and told him that she had dug up all the information about his daughter, so if he dared come after her or her family again, she would hit his daughter with a parole violation and make sure that she goes inside for a very long time. She said she would pay back the money when she had it, but until then, her family was off-limits. Well, that’s going to put a stop to Mitch chasing her, but what if the casino sends another man to threaten Belle? I guess we will find out soon.

Shane Asks For Miles’ Support

In episode 5’s ending, Shane Whitebear (the guy Thomas Rainwater had given permission to start a cannabis farm on the rez) met Miles and asked him for his support. Shane was going to run against Rainwater to become the next chairman of the Broken Rock Reservation, and he wanted Miles to introduce him to the people as a candidate who had some bold ideas for the rez’s future. Shane believed that an endorsement from a cop (who brought the stolen girls back to the land and stopped the cartel from selling drugs in the valley) would carry a lot of weight on the rez. Well, basically, he was buttering Miles up so he would put in a good word for him, because Shane needed all the support he could get to defeat someone like Rainwater, who had been the leader of the rez for as long as anyone can remember. I think Miles is going to endorse Shane, mostly because Miles, like a few others in the community, thinks that Rainwater’s idea of playing it safe and staying inside the lines has slowed down the progress among their people. Back in season 1, there had been numerous instances where Miles had tried to convince Rainwater to take strict action against those who tried to invade the rez or hurt their people, but Rainwater had always made decisions that were not only lawful, but kept their people off the government’s radar. He didn’t want to give the authorities any excuse to barge into their valley and rob them of their peace of mind, but the younger generations didn’t agree with Rainwater’s safe approach, and wanted to throw him out of office so they could run the rez with their “bold ideas.” Well, Rainwater had already warned Shane that his approach would attract unwanted attention, but as they say, a man learns better from his mistakes than from the wisdom of his elders. And if Miles is gonna endorse this man, then he will not only betray Rainwater, but also ruin his relationship with the members of his team as well, especially Kayce, who, as far as I can tell, will never agree with a guy like Shane Whitebear. I guess the upcoming episodes will explain the conflict better.

...