Boone and Wes have a heart that tells us how deeply they love others in Sheriff Country Season 1, Episode 6 ‘Exit Interview’, and it makes for a pretty interesting episode. We’ll be the first to admit that we didn’t expect to get such a focus on these two men, but we’re glad to see it happen.
Personally, these two characters have been the ones we’ve struggled to connect with the most so far. Mainly due to their stubbornness and how they knock heads with Mickey the most out of everyone. That’s true even if we know they care about her and others. They’re the closest with Mickey, and we won’t lie, they’re all similar in nature. This makes their character journeys of opening up to people something we want to support.
Matt Lauria’s Boone has been a slippery slope for us, where we like him one week, then find something to side-eye about him the next. If we’re honest, we’ve fought ourselves on liking him. Wes has grown on us because he’s protective of his family. His heart is on his sleeve when it comes to Mickey and Skye, and everyone knows it.
However, Boone has kept to himself without showing any weakness until now. Previously, we’ve said that Mickey has turned over a new page in life, but now we could say Boone and Wes want to do the same. Sheriff Country Season 1, Episode 6 ‘Exit Interview’ made us want to see these men stick around.
MORE: Need to catch up? Read our Sheriff Country Season 1, Episode 5 ‘Expecting Trouble’ Review here!
Boone and Nora
As soon as we were introduced to Boone’s wife, Nora, we knew something was off about their relationship. The comfort was there, but no sparks were flying between them. To begin, they didn’t kiss when Boone introduced her to Mickey in ‘Expecting Trouble’. While we’re not saying that all couples need to be all up on each other, we side-eyed how platonic and awkward they were in front of the team. Then, Boone left Nora alone at his goodbye party. Which left her to admire Mickey’s house while he talked to other people.
Lastly, Nora made it a point to tell Mickey that Boone wasn’t the father of her child when the conversation fell short. If you were asking us, Boone and Nora were both behaving as if they had a moral obligation to be together. As if they were only pretending to be in love when people were looking at them.
So, it was wrecking our brains for a week to think about why Boone would keep her a secret if he truly loved her. If he loved her romantically, he would’ve said something about his wife’s existence in passing at the very least. Although we were right to think of them as platonic, there was more to their story.
At the end of the episode, Nora revealed that Boone married her to share his pension benefits out of guilt for her boyfriend’s death. The three of them were close friends because her boyfriend was his partner back in California. When he overdosed, Boone felt guilty for not being able to save him. Not only did her confession prove our suspicions were justified, but it showed us a new side to Boone. A side that proved how big a heart he has.
Edgewater Is Home
To see Mickey, Boone, and their co-workers get emotional during his goodbye speech was odd at first. Not because we didn’t believe they would’ve missed him, as it was obvious they all cared about him. Everyone who worked in Mickey’s department showed up to his farewell.
Honestly, we think it was because we don’t know Boone enough yet to feel attached to him like Mickey does. But that’s a consequence that comes with the fact that we’re just learning about these characters in ‘Exit Interview’.
Mickey has been through a lot with Boone lately. And their friendship has been tested in more personal ways than ever before. However, it’s clear to us that she hated to even think of watching him leave her department and Edgewater. She was brought to tears almost every time she even thought of him leaving.
This is what made Boone’s speech so heartfelt in return. In his own words, Boone told everyone that he didn’t want to leave either. He believed Edgewater was the best home he had made for himself, and it was the most honest we’ve ever heard him.
So, we cheered when we saw him show up to work on the day he was supposed to leave with Nora. He may have wanted to move back to California with Nora to fix their broken friendship disguised as a marriage. He had good intentions, but it wasn’t right. Because guilt and mourning don’t disappear in a day.
If Boone wants to be happy, he has to do what’s right for him. What’ll make him happy is staying in Edgewater. Admittingly, we do want to root for the soft guy under those hard exteriors.
MORE: Want to start watching Sheriff Country? Read our Season 1, Episode 2 ‘Firewall‘ Review here!
Wes Fox Is Moving Onward
W. Earl Brown has been a constant force in Sheriff Country Season 1, Episode 6. He plays Wes as a survivor of troubling times who feels so much love for his community. While tough and willing to take a beating to protect anyone he loves, that’s not what makes him stand out. He, along with Mickey, has had the most character growth so far. Simply, we’re loving how he’s beginning to crack open and show emotion.
As a big guy who has lived a lot of life that wasn’t good, we expected him to grow on us over time. But that’s not the case. In every episode, we seem to get closer to the real Wes, who is just a man who never got to live, only survive. If you put people whom he cares about in front of him, he’ll break as a result. Because his list is small and those people mean the world to him.
Therefore, the case in this episode really stuck with us. As both the victim and killer were people whom Wes considered family. Consequently, Wes lost two friends in the span of hours, all because of greed and betrayal. He was someone who built an illegal career off selling drugs, yet also someone who cherished his relationships as his everything. Wes didn’t have much, but he had people who cared about him. And to lose two in one day in such an ugly way had taught him a lesson.
He couldn’t go on living life looking over his shoulder. Because friends have the same power to hurt you, just like authority does. As a result, we hope he takes Mickey’s advice and earns his dispensary license. It’s time for Wes to turn over a new page and try to protect himself more because he’s worthy of living a good life.
Sheriff Country airs weekly on Fridays at 8 pm EST on CBS.
