A&E Longmire, season 3, episode one "White Warrior"

A Western, A&E's Longmire is an unpretentious series, featuring Walt Longmire, County Sheriff of the fictional county of Absaroka, in Wyoming. Though Longmire is unpretentious, it isn't simple-minded, and it is gorgeous, shot as it is in New Mexico, with those huge skies and landscapes.  Fox Home has commented on Longmire here, and here, and here. The two previous seasons are available streaming from Netflix.

The new season's first episode, "White Warrior," picked up where the cliffhangers of last year's final episode, "Bad Medicine," left us.  This one had to be particularly difficult to write, because, picking up from last year like that, it not only had, to a degree, resolve those strands, move the story arch-line along, and it had to include all the ensemble regulars for the returning audience, as well as introduce them to those who are tuning in for the first time.

Robert Taylor's Longmire, as the central protagonist, naturally gets just about all the viewing time, but we do find out that Longmire's daughter will be back, though Cady's appearace was so brief as to be hardly there at all.

The scenes of easterner, Deputy "Vic" Moretti, were confined to her attempt to caregive to Walt, which perhaps bodes more of the show was doing to Katee Sackhoff's role last year -- making her more of a girly victim, instead of the strong, smart and o so competent law officer she was in season one, despite this region's being so different from the urban policing she'd done previously. Again the show went with unnecessary sexing Vic up -- having her uniform shirt unbuttone at least one button too many.

Lou Phillip Diamond was as brillant to watch as Henry Standing Bear, already has shown another dimension to his fascinating character.

Branch getting emergency care on the Rez

Poor Branch, played by the actor who was Forest on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, spent most his screen time in a hospital bed.

Longmire in front, walking with the "Ferg"

But Deputy "Ferg" Ferguson got some juicy scenes, that show us he's continuing to grow into his job and the actor into his role.

No more, for fear of spoilers.  Nor can the audience yet have any idea where this season is going to go.  But there was a bit of dialog that sticks in mind, spoken by a Rez policeman to Walt, about some of Cheyenne performing old religious rituals that went something like this: "Think of them as our version of the extreme Christian right."

So, no disappointment for this returning viewer.  It's nice to have this series rolling for summer viewing.