The Glades Review: Cowboy Up

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On The Glades this week, it didn't take Jim very long to figure out that cattle ranching in Florida is big business, as "Happy Trails" featured him investigating two neighboring ranch owners for the murder of a ranch hand.

It’s a coin toss which I had more trouble buying into: that Holly (Danielle Panabaker) had time to enter do both run a huge cattle ranch and enter into professional rodeos... or that Willa (Jamie Luner) had a thick southern (almost Georgian) accent growing up in southern Florida.

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But then I remembered that Luner spent two seasons on Savannah and that no TV episode about cowboys is complete without the required rodeo shot and I let it go.

With only one episode left on The Glades Season 4, I really hope the writers can see how cookie cutter the episodes are becoming and can break out of that mold next year. The current formulaic method has been used so much that I bet I could make a Mad-lib that once you filled it out would be the base script for an episode. 

The saddest part about the setting being around cattle ranching in Florida is that the Indian tribe name was made up, and the largest cattle ranch in Florida isn't owned by a family, it’s owned by an organization. 

So, while previous episodes have been based in Florida facts, this one was mostly Florida fiction with only a tiny hit of fact (i.e. the first cowboys were called crackers). 

But what really gets me is that with Miranda in town and Callie’s "old friend" Diane showing up with a husband who was stabbed, there was so much potential for the episode to be about something different than they typical "meet suspect 1, arrest suspect 2, learn about suspect 3, release suspect 2, etc, etc."

Speaking of Diane, does she realize that Callie is engaged to an FDLE detective? If you were Callie and a couple that were friends with Ray showed up with a stab wound wanting you to patch it up, wouldn't you want to let them know that your police officer fiancée could drop by any time?

And why hasn't Jim or WitSec let Callie know that Ray has skipped out of protective custody? I realize she had a bachelorette party for one night, but come on Jim, you gotta tell her already!

Overall, I’m giving the episode 3.5 glasses of Champagne in honor of Callie and Jim finally mentioning their wedding again. What do you think? Am I being too hard on the episode? Should I just let it all go and enjoy Jim’s wit?

Happy Trails Review

Editor Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 3.9 / 5.0 (40 Votes)

Jim G. is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.

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The Glades Season 4 Episode 12 Quotes

Daniel: Now what?
Jim: Follow him. Let's see where I our cowboy bunked last night. Go on, get along little doggie.

Jim: Oh and don't go riding off into the sunset.
Willa: I'm not going anywhere.