SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Sheriff Country Season 1, Episode 8.

The strength of Sheriff Country is that the CBS show balances crime and community. It has a sense of place that most TV procedurals don’t. But in Season 1, Episode 8, “Death & Taxes,” that starts to backfire. It’s another episode focused on Edgewater’s marijuana community, and at this point, it feels like there’s not much there left to explore. Even with this episode’s quasi-cliffhanger ending.

Sheriff Country wants to do serialized storytelling, but hasn’t quite figured out how long to make its serialized plots. Audiences saw that at the start of the season when Mickey Fox’s daughter Skye was accused of killing her boyfriend, and what seemed like it was going to be a long-term story was wrapped up in a few episodes. “Death & Taxes” picks up the subplot about Wes Fox trying to become a legal marijuana grower and spins it into him becoming a leader of the grower community. The implication is that he’s about to go head-to-head with Mickey, if not on a professional level, then definitely a personal one. But how long can that really last?

In eight episodes, Sheriff Country has already covered a lot of ground on this topic. For Wes alone, he’s debated whether or not to go legal, almost backed out on it until Skye gave him her own ultimatum, and now gets persuaded by an old friend to “fight” for his community. And then in a broader sense, one of Wes’ friends has been murdered over water rights, now two other growers are killed in separate robberies. Obviously the marijuana business is significant in Edgewater, but the show doesn’t want to go to the same “case of the week” well too often. And the whole “growers against the government” sentiment has been repeated more than once. One thing that Episode 6 did well was make Wes a larger part of the plot. Yet in Episode 8 he’s back to being the contrarian voice stirring up trouble, which feels one-dimensional. There’s more to Wes than this one aspect of his character, no matter how significant, and there’s more to Edgewater, too.

Along those lines, the murder mystery in “Death & Taxes” isn’t much of one. TV viewers probably suspected the babysitter Grace from the moment she appeared on screen in the opening sequence, and Grace trying to play innocent and blame her boyfriend doesn’t work with fans any better than it does with Mickey. The most surprising part of the story is when Fire Country‘s Sharon Leone suggets using an ambulance as an armored car so that the remaining growers can make their tax payments safely.

This is Sharon’s second appearance in eight episodes of Sheriff Country, and as fun as it is to see Diane Farr, this time Sharon’s presence is less effective. She’s there primarily for a personal subplot that revolves around Mickey suggesting that Sharon should date again, and Sharon not being ready to. This feels like something that would be a better fit on Fire Country, because it’s really about Sharon more than Mickey. It’s also not a big enough fight between them to create much tension; it’s more like a disagreement. The bigger conflict happens between Mickey and Cassidy Campbell, as Cassidy becomes aware that she’s been getting special treatment from Mickey. But that’s wrapped up neatly by the end of the hour, through a history lesson from Sheriff Fox.

“Death & Taxes” doesn’t have one or two memorable moments that it can hang its proverbial hat on. There’s an idea briefly explored about Nora feeling uncomfortable after assisting Nathan Boone at the first shooting scene, but that seems to have faded away as their last scene shows the new couple happily meeting for dinner. And it is heartwarming to see the growers having raised enough money for one of the robbery victims to pay her taxes and her husband’s medical bills. That sense of community goes to the theme that this show is trying to put forward.

But none of the main characters learns anything significant, beyond Wes deciding to go in a new direction. With Sheriff Country being renewed for Season 2, there’s plenty of runway now to flesh out the characters and their community even further. This episode feels more like a placeholder to get to plot ideas and relationship developments further down the road.

Sheriff Country airs Fridays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.