Sheriff Country Season 2, Episode 6 “Close to the Chest” puts Mickey in the backseat to give us more of Hank’s backstory, Boone and Emmy’s relationship, along with Cassidy’s attempt to date. And it’s the right choice, leading to the halfway point of Season 2. Because Mickey isn’t the only lovable character on Sheriff Country.
She has a team of Hank, Cassidy, and Boone who we adore and haven’t really seen outside of being in uniform. We’ve been waiting to see more about why they’re the way that they are on the job. And “Close to the Chest” delivers on making our wish come true by giving us new details about these three characters to appreciate. Ultimately, it’s an hour that matters because we connected more with them.
They’re people who want to be known. They’re people who want to chase their happiness because they deserve it. And they’re people who have survived loss and pain with their goodness intact. What this episode does well is prove why Mickey and her team deserve joy and understanding when they make mistakes.
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This Is Hank’s Hour
We knew going in that “Close to the Chest” was going to mostly focus on Ian Quinlan’s Hank, and we loved every bit of it. If you’re only tuning into Sheriff Country for Morena Baccarin, you’d probably think of the episode as a filler. But we certainly didn’t think so. As we’ve said before, we’ve been waiting to learn more about the ensemble. And this hour gives us new details about Hank that made us want to give him the biggest hug.
This week’s emergency centered around Hank’s uncle being the target of multiple assassinations. If you asked us, he deserved to feel a little scared to walk around Edgewater. He was a charming manipulator who lied to friends and cheated in poker games to rob countless people of money. It was only a matter of time before someone wanted to issue some payback. Absolutely, we wanted him to be okay because we aren’t heartless. But we really only cared about him living because Hank has lost family already. He’s too much of a good person to deserve more pain.
His parents weren’t in his life because they were criminals. And his uncle was the one to step up to raise him and his brother despite also being messy and problematic. It tore at us to watch him get emotional when realizing someone stole his uncle’s EpiPen when he fell unconscious. We saw how much he cared about him. Family is complicated and can make you feel horrible sometimes. Like how Hank felt when multiple people came forward to talk about how terrible his uncle was to them. But love has a hard time dying for people you’ve known all your life.
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Owning Up to Mistakes
Hank never stopped loving his uncle despite their minor disagreements in “Close to the Chest.” And we couldn’t help but think of how alike him and Mickey are as people. They both have father figures who have caused them pain and embarrassment. But the love for them is stubborn and unmoving. We loved Hank and Mickey’s last scene together for this reason. She knew what it was like to struggle with separating work and family when they unfortunately mix together.
Here, Hank got to reconnect with his uncle, put evidence together, and be the one to solve the case. Additionally, he was the hero in arresting the man who wanted his uncle dead. But he also got to bond with Mickey and be her partner in “Close to the Chest.” Which felt special because he’d previously struggled to feel important in her squad. Hank needed to feel like he mattered to Mickey’s team. And once she understood that, she prioritized working the case with him to help build his confidence.
Was it easy to change his mind when Mickey got frustrated and said Boone was a better cop when Hank fought with his uncle and let him leave the precinct unsupervised? No, not really. But we can’t fault her or Hank for making mistakes under stress. They were both afraid for Roberto and didn’t want the masked man to find and harm him. So, we loved seeing Mickey and Hank own up to their mistakes and apologize to each other in the end. It wasn’t fair to compare the two men, and Hank shouldn’t have left his uncle alone. Overall, the Hank we see at the end of the episode is one who knows Mickey cares for him as his boss. And we love that he feels secure and seen moving forward.
Boone and Cassidy Had Their Moments
What “Close to the Chest” does for Boone and Cassidy is give them the time to take dating seriously after making the choice to prioritize their happiness. And we’re proud of the progress they made in this hour. Boone and Cassidy took big steps toward building trust with their love interests. In particular, we’re so proud of Cassidy for going after the district prosecutor, Andre. Their first meeting in the bar was adorable.
However, their second meeting was awkward when he met with Travis about suing her mother for not filling out paperwork to run her hair salon. Eventually, he’d drop the charges because he didn’t want to be the bad guy if her mother understood what she had to do to fix her mistake. And because Cassidy asked him to after apologizing for treating him badly. We loved to see it because his level of compassion and understanding is what Cassidy deserves to have in a partner. In the end, Cassidy’s mother is absolutely right in saying that her hopes and desires shouldn’t be forgotten just because she wants to forget her ex, Brock. And we hope to see their relationship grow into something beautiful despite Brock being freed from jail.
On the other hand, we’ll admit that we’re struggling to feel something for Boone and Emmy because their romance doesn’t feel like it holds a spark. No, we aren’t just saying that because we want to see a slow burn between Boone and Mickey. We want Boone to be happy as an individual person. And we loved seeing him get vulnerable when telling Emmy about how painful it was to lose his mother at a young age. Because he deserves to have people around who want to be a safe space for him.
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Sheriff Country airs Fridays on CBS at 8 pm EST.
