Joe Pickett (2021) s01e01 Episode Script

1
- Get back here!
- Got a heart on the mend ♪
And a head full of tunes ♪
Sister sits on the porch ♪
Cloud crosses the moon ♪
Oh ♪
- Well, looks like
we found our troublemakers.
Heel.
Hey, big guy.
I'm gonna have
to run you out of here.
Hope you at least
got a bellyful.
- So you're the new
Vern Dunnegan.
- I am.
Joe Pickett.
- Well, nice to meet you,
Warden.
- Elk really did a number
on your ranch, didn't they?
Yeah, they sure did.
- Well, brought my tools,
so I'll get
this fence fixed up.
- And say,
Vern and I go way back, and
situation like this,
he would have figured out a way
to get the state
to pay for the damage.
- Ah, same rules apply.
I mean, the law doesn't change
just 'cause there's
a new game warden.
- Wait.
That's the law?
- Officially,
the state owns the elk,
so Game Commission's liable
for any damage they do.
- Vern, that old
slippery son of a bitch.
Always acted like he was doing
me some sort of big favor.
- That sounds like Vern.
- Yep.
Well, I brought some tools.
Let me give you a hand.
- Great.
- Target shootin'?
- Nope.
That bullet hit flesh.
Gonna have to come back.
Maxine, come on.
Up.
- Don't go getting yourself
killed, now,
'fore you help me
with my fence.
- Stay.
Please drop the knife.
Little early for elk season,
you know.
- Meat for the pot, Warden.
Just meat for the pot.
Some of us got families
to feed.
- Seems to me you didn't have
to kill the only trophies
in the herd
just to fill your freezer.
Then again,
there's quite the black market
for antlers and velvet.
Say a haul like this'd
fetch you a couple grand.
- Yeah, well, I wouldn't
know anything about all that.
- Either way,
I'm gonna have to write you up.
Ote Keeley, isn't it?
- You're kidding me, right?
- No.
I'm not kidding.
- Wait a second.
I know you.
You're that brand-new
game warden
that arrested
the governor of Wyoming
for fishin' without a license.
That's you, isn't it?
- I didn't know
he was the governor.
- Oh, you didn't know
he was the governor?
Yeah.
I read about that in the paper.
"Rookie Game Warden
Arrests Governor Budd."
Yee-hoo!
Hey, you ain't really gonna
write me a ticket, are you?
See, I'm a professional
hunting outfitter.
- Just
- Can't feed the kids,
outfitter's license
gets pulled.
I ain't kiddin'.
I--I know we can w--
we can work something out,
can't we?
- I'm not kidding either.
Give me your driver's license.
I got a kid.
Another on the way.
How am I supposed
to support them?
- Not like this.
- You know there's more animals
in Wyoming than people?
Ain't no one gonna care
about them critters.
What in the hell
could this possibly matter?
- You know these bulls
you just killed are new papas?
- Now, how the hell
am I supposed to know that?
- 'Cause it's April.
I figure the least I can do
is make sure nobody kills 'em
when they're
having their babies.
Give their young a chance
to stand on their own.
I figure it's the least
any of us can do, Ote.
Don't you think?
- Vern Dunnegan would
never pull this shit.
- I'm not Vern Dunnegan.
- No.
You sure as hell ain't.
- License.
Hey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy.
- Now we're in really,
really deep, ain't we?
- I'd sug--I'd suggest
you give that back to me.
- I give you this gun,
you're gonna lock me up
for a long, long time.
On the other hand,
new game warden found
out in the middle of nowhere,
shot dead by his own gun,
well, that might start
to look like things
weren't going so hot
in the new town.
How 'bout that story?
Things been
a little rough lately.
Financial hardships
and the like.
- The elk.
The blood, they'd notice that.
How 'bout I let you walk
and you don't
write me a ticket?
- No.
- What?
- I'm still gonna
write you the ticket.
- Are you stupid?
You'd rather die
than not write me a ticket?
- No.
Would you rather a murder rap
than getting a ticket
for huntin' out of season?
- Yeah.
Maybe.
- Ah!
- Ah!
Ah!
- I have kids!
You want to leave my kids
without a father?
For what?
What?
Couple of bucks.
- Nah.
You can't kill me.
You're a lawman.
- Oh,
I don't know about that, Ote.
They find you out here dead,
all alone,
might start to think
things weren't going so well.
Financial hardships and such.
- No, no.
The blood.
The cops would notice
the blood.
- You really think
the cops are gonna care
about what happened
to someone like you?
- No.
I don't.
I'm still gonna
write you that ticket.
Three.
Two.
One.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- I just put the girls to bed,
but you should say hi.
They'll be happy to see you.
- Yeah.
Sounds good.
- Joe,
what happened to your face?
- Just game warden business.
- Guess what I'm doin'.
We're gonna be
a two-income household again.
- You find anything good?
- Oh, yeah.
I'm trying to decide between
tractor doctor and rodeo clown.
Some might say
it's not the best use
of my law degree, but
- I can see it.
- Hey.
- Hey.
Mm.
-
After all the moving around,
here we are.
You finally have your own post.
The girls started
their new school.
I can go back to work.
We made it, Joe.
This right here?
It's what
we worked so hard for.
- Pretty nice.
- Yeah it's pretty nice.
-
- Mom,
someone's calling for you!
- I'm out front, hon.
Can you see what it's about?
- Had a bit of a thing today.
- It's a doctor.
Says it's about
your blood work.
- Blood work?
- Yeah,
I had a physical last week.
Itfeels kind of late
to call, right?
- Hmm.
- Mind if I take it?
- Please, yeah.
- Okay.
- Good night, Daddy.
- Night-night.
Night-night.
- Night, Daddy.
- Mm.
Sweet dreams.
- We didn't get a song.
- Oh.
- Just one?
- Please?
We haven't seen you all day.
Hush-a-bye ♪
Don't you cry ♪
Go to sleep, little baby ♪
When you wake,
you shall have cake ♪
And all the pretty
little horses ♪
Blacks and bays,
dappled and grays ♪
Coach and six white horses ♪
- Night, Daddy.
- Night-night.
- Marybeth, what is it?
- It's good news.
I'm pregnant.
- Great.
-
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
I feel like a terrible person
for feeling like this.
I just--
- No, I get it.
- One minute, I just
Well, I guess I thought
I might get me back.
You know?
- Mm-hmm.
Hey.
We'll figure it out.
Like always.
Okay, got everything?
- Okay.
Okay.
Wait! I almost forgot
to feed Buckaroo.
Grab the bowl quickly.
No, going outside.
- That cat's not coming back.
- No.
Not after three weeks
in those woods.
You want me to talk to her?
-
No, not yet.
Let's let her make one friend
in Saddlestring first.
Okay!
- Okay.
- Let's do it.
Look at that.
Oh.
Hi there!
I got a question for you.
What's a girl gotta do to make
some new friends in this town?
- I don't know.
Divorce the game warden.
- Your mom's a real
people person.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- I'm not a people person.
I'm more of an animal person,
like you.
- Huh.
- Buckaroo's not coming back,
is he?
- No.
No, I don't think so, hon.
- But it can't hurt to leave
out food for him, just in case?
- Nope, I guess it can't.
- Vern Dunnegan.
Didn't expect to see you here.
Didn't you get the memo,
you're retired?
- Old habits die young,
I guess.
- So you're the Vern Dunnegan
I've heard so much about.
- And you must be
the Mrs. Joe Pickett
that I've heard so much about.
-
Marybeth.
- Nice to meet you.
- Vern is the previous
game warden in this area.
And he cast a pretty big
shadow, I have to admit.
- Seems my shadow gets bigger
with each passing year.
- Oh, God, me too, Vern.
Me too.
All right, ladies.
You want a balloon animal?
Yay!
- Okay.
- Have fun.
How's Sandy doin'?
- Uh, we split up.
- Oh.
I'm sorry to hear it.
- Don't be.
I rolled over one morning
to take one last look
at her puffy face.
Turns out, I could only
take her in small doses.
I may only have
two decades left,
and I don't want to spend 'em
arguing about why I don't want
to take salsa lessons.
Well, how's retirement
treating you,
other than not having
to take salsa lessons?
- Surprisingly lucrative.
I've been doing some
consulting for InterWest.
- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah.
They're planning
on building a pipeline
right through Saddlestring.
They needed some help
with the locals, and who better
to help but the unofficial
mayor of Saddlestring?
- I gotta tell you, Joe.
Couple nights ago,
Ote Keeley was drunk,
shootin' off his mouth
over at Stockman's Bar.
He was saying something about
he stole your own gun
away from you?
Is that true?
- Ah,
it just happened too fast.
I wasn't expecting it.
- Everything bad happens fast.
There's a reason
game wardens are killed
more than any other
officer of the law.
Poachers are usually drunk,
always armed.
You leave a man
in the middle of nowhere,
he turns into
a goddamn caveman with a gun.
- You're right.
- You're damn right I'm right.
I just don't want you to end up
a sad story I tell my friends.
- I appreciate it, Vern.
- Take my advice.
You gotta learn
to bend a little.
You can't go around pissing off
degenerates like Ote Keeley.
Guys like him don't have
enough to lose.
It makes them unpredictable.
Ticket the tourists.
You got a better chance
of making it to retirement
that way.
- Are you suggesting I give
Ote his hunting license back?
- Well, it wouldn't be
the dumbest thing you ever did.
- All due respect,
I think
I'm gonna do things
a little different.
- Yeah.
We'll see.
- Oh!
Hey, man.
Why don't you watch
where you're going?
- Just move on, Keeley.
- Oh,
you tellin' me what to do?
See, I think you're out
of your jurisdiction
there, Game Warden.
- I'm here with my family.
- Yeah.
And I'm with mine.
Whole lot too.
Ever since you took away
my livelihood.
- Well, if you got an issue,
you call during business hours.
- Here I thought game wardens
were always on duty.
- Not for you, I'm not.
- Come on.
- Who's that?
- Ah, he's just
some poacher I ticketed.
- Should I be worried?
- No!
Nope, nothing I can't handle.
- Someday,
I'm gonna live there,
and I'll walk
into one of those fields,
and I'll close my eyes.
And I'll remember what it used
to be like for us here,
and this'll just be a memory.
- I wanna go there too.
I want to go where you go.
- Then look at it.
See if you focus enough,
if you can hear it.
Hear the wind.
The sounds of the bison
in the distance.
Listen.
- I think I can hear it.
Can you, Joey?
- Yeah.
I can hear it.
Vern, what's up?
- Have you met
the Bouvier sisters?
- Nope.
I don't think so.
- Trust me,
you'd remember if you had.
Apparently they didn't get the memo
that I'm no longer
the game warden.
I'll text you their address.
- Who is it?
- Oh, I think
he's the new Vern Dunnegan.
- Yeah.
I'm Joe.
- Is he as handsome
as Vern Dunnegan?
-
- Oh, hi.
Vern told me you had some sort
of game warden issue.
- Oh, yes.
It's Hey You.
- Excuse me?
- The emu.
- He's in the bedroom.
- Oh, you have a emu
in your bedroom?
- Hey You.
- Sorry?
What's that?
- That's his name, "Hey You."
- Ah, got it.
Yeah.
- Come on in.
- Oh, please, come in.
- Yeah?
- Yeah, don't be shy.
- Okay.
- Don't worry about your shoes.
- Don't worry about your boots.
- It's all good.
- Okay.
- Yeah, just follow me.
- All right.
- Just around here.
Oh, just so's you know,
Hey You can be
a little territorial.
- Yeah, just a little.
- Yeah.
- Yes.
- Here you are.
- Here we are, honey.
- It's Mommy.
- There we are. Mommy.
- Hi, Hey You.
- Oh, hi, big boy.
- Hey You.
How about we just, uh--
-
- Mommy. It's Uncle Joe--
- Oh!
- See, just a little.
- Like I told you.
- All right, uh
do you have
a sheet or something
I could use to throw
over Hey You's head?
- Oh, yeah, I have a quilt
that can cover him.
- Uh, which quilt?
- Reba.
- But that's my quilt.
- But it's Hey You's favorite.
- All right, then.
- Oh, well, thank you.
Yeah, look at this, huh?
I made it myself.
- We were redheads once.
- Yeah, we love her.
There you go.
Yes.
- Oh, that's a good way in.
- All right.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, let's go this way.
- Yeah, very good.
You look like a matador.
All right.
Remember, a little territorial.
- Just a little.
- Yeah, just maybe
- Okay, we're fine.
Listen, he loves that,
because it comforts him.
- Yes.
- Okay, have at him.
Hi, sweet.
- Hi, hi.
- It's Mommy, Hey You.
- And Uncle Joe.
- Here he comes.
- Hey You, relax--
oh!
- Oh, my Lord!
- Aah! Aah!
- Not bad.
- Nice job.
- Well, I recommend
keeping the door closed
so Hey You doesn't
get back in the house.
- But he does like
watching "Jeopardy!," so
Oh, please take this
as a little thank-you.
- Yes.
For Vern.
- You know,
you did a much better job
than I would have guessed
after reading about you
in the newspaper.
- Mm-hmm.
- The paper?
- Mm.
- Hmm?
- Oh, Vivian, he doesn't know.
- Oh.
Mm.
- "Run-in
with local outfitter."
"Grabbed his gun."
What?
"Lost control
of his sphincter"?
- Hi.
How are you?
- Good.
- What?
It ain't lit.
- Jeannie, is the address
we have on file still good?
- Well, I don't know.
It's where I am now,
but goddamn landlord's
trying to evict me, so
- Hey,
you mind if I take a look?
I--I'm a--
I was a lawyer.
I don't need
your goddamn charity.
- Okay.
Suit yourself.
Just sit here and read
about celebrities
going through menopause,
I guess.
Well, wouldn't want you
to have to do that.
- Who'd your landlord
give this to?
- My daughter.
- How old is she?
- Why does that matter?
- She under 14?
- She's nine.
- Oh, my daughter's nine too.
- Cute.
- Landlord can't give this
to anyone under 14,
so legally you can stay put
till he figures that out.
Not a long-term solution,
but it's something.
- Marybeth?
- Thanks.
- You can lay down here.
- Great.
- The doctor will be right in.
- Okay.
- I read that thing
about your husband.
My goodness,
sure glad he's okay.
- Exactly where did you read
about my husband?
Thank you.
Joe.
- Hey, country weird.
Why are you reading a book?
It's recess.
Bermuda Triangle?
Sounds boring.
- It is boring.
Especially if you don't know
how to read.
- What are you laughing at,
April?
Wait.
Oh, my God.
That's my jacket.
I donated this old jacket
to Salvation Army,
and now April's wearing it.
See?
Look, there's my name.
Secondhand.
That's her new name now.
Bye, Secondhand!
- I don't think the Bermuda
Triangle sounds boring.
- Oh, you gotta be
shittin' me.
Hey!
April?
Why is this perfectly good
jacket in the garbage?
Hmm?
- I don't like
that jacket anymore.
- Oh, boo-hoo.
You don't like that jacket.
Well, you know what, April?
I don't like ungrateful kids!
And I sure as shit
don't like shithead husbands
who get their names
in the paper
for shooting their mouths
all over town!
Trying to be some big shot.
The game warden
already took your license.
You think this
is gonna help things?
- Could you stop it?
- Huh?
How's this gonna help things?
- I'm serious.
I'm warning you!
Now, don't you worry.
I got a plan
to get my license back.
You got a plan, huh?
- Yeah.
Bye, Lumpy.
See you, Grumpy.
- Dad's home!
- Dad!
- Come on, girl.
-
- What's wrong?
- What makes you think
something's wrong?
- I don't know.
- What kind of mood's
your mom in today?
-
Not great.
- All right.
Do me a favor, will you?
Just keep your sister outside
for a few, okay?
Mom and Dad need
to have a little talk.
- Tell her she looks nice.
She likes that.
- She didn't know
where it went.
- Okay, come here.
Drop it.
- Okay, Mom, calm down.
Yeah, it's--
it's gonna be okay.
Yep, I'm gonna talk
to Joe right now.
Okay.
Okay.
Bye.
- You look nice.
- And you.
I don't have time
for it right now.
Apparently Mom's husband
was just arrested.
- Arrested?
- White-collar stuff.
Wire fraud or something.
She needs us to go get her.
- When?
- Right now.
- All the way to Jackson Hole?
- I dare you.
- Hey, girls?
- Yeah?
- Come on,
eat quick,
and then put your PJs on.
We're going
to get Grandma Missy.
- Just Missy.
She doesn't like
the word "Grandma."
- I know.
I know.
Elroy needs a break.
Altitude's gettin' to him.
- We should keep moving.
We can take a break
over the ridge.
- Nah, besides, I gotta piss.
- Again?
What's this, the fourth time
we stopped so you can piss?
- Here.
Doc calls it
"splastic" bladder.
Happens when I don't
hydrate enough.
- They're sayin'
hydrating's real important
for overall health.
- Wow.
That's a real interesting
factoid, Calvin.
Now, Ote, would you get back
on your damn horse?
- What the hell?
What the hell's that?
Dumb bird.
Oh, shit.
- They asleep?
- Yeah.
They're asleep.
- I assume you heard.
- Well,
apparently everyone has.
- I assume you're mad at me
for not telling you?
I know I probably should have.
I just--
I didn't want to worry you.
- Oh, come on.
I know how dangerous
your job is.
I just thought we were
doing this thing together.
- You're--
you're right.
- Is Keeley the same guy
you had a problem with
at the farmers' market?
- Yeah.
- Is this gonna escalate?
- No.
No, don't worry.
I can handle it.
- Joe, I'm not some damsel
who needs your protection.
If there's
a dangerous situation going on,
you need to tell me.
- I would.
It's not.
It was stupid.
I let my guard down for
a minute and I shouldn't have.
It wasstupid.
- You know,
I read something once
that always makes me think
of you.
That people who grow up
around violence sometimes
have a hard time recognizing
danger when it comes.
- I made a dumb mistake, okay?
Let's not make it
any more than that.
- Okay.
- I'll do better.
I won't die dumb.
I promise.
- I don't want you
to die smart either.
- Better than dumb.
And just so you know,
I did not shit my pants.
That part was exaggerated.
- Well, I sure am glad
we cleared that up.
Hey.
- Hmm?
- Do me a favor.
- Hmm?
- Be nice to my mother.
- Of course.
- Seriously.
- It's open.
- She said it's open.
- Mom?
Mom?
-
They took him away.
- Oh.
- My lover!
The federal government
came into my house,
and they took my lover away.
- Oh, great.
- See you've been
drinking again, Mom.
- I--I am not.
I haven't had a drop
in over a year!
But who could blame me
on a night like tonight
if a did have a glass, hmm?
Or two!
Who could blame me?
I mean, I do think that I am
entitled to one glass of wine
on the night that
the government stole my lover.
- You gotta tell her
to stop saying "lover."
It's creepy.
- Stop it.
- I decorated
this entire place.
Shep has no taste, and I
picked out every damn piece.
And now they're saying that
I have to leave it all behind!
Frozen assets.
I mean, this chair.
This one, single chair.
Well, it cost more
than your entire house.
How does that make you feel?
- Like maybe
I should take up wire fraud.
- Joe?
- I'll wait in the car.
- Yep.
-
You could have married anyone.
How you would end up
with a park ranger
- Mom, stop it!
- Is beyond me.
- Stop it!
He's not a--
Joe is a good man
and a good husband
and a good father.
And it looks to me like
maybe I should be the one
giving you advice
on picking men.
You're right.
- Okay, sorry, Mom.
Mom, I'm sorry.
Okay.
Hey, I'm sorry.
Please stop.
It's gonna be okay.
Okay, let's just get
your stuff, and we're gonna go.
It's gonna be okay.
Missy's all set up.
- Just so you know
You were right,
I should have trusted you more.
- Yeah.
You should have.
- Yeah.
And I want to think
that I didn't tell you
'cause I didn't want
to worry you,
but if I'm honest
with myself
Just didn't want you
to think less of me.
- What do you mean?
- Ever since Ote took my gun,
I keep hearing my dad's voice
in my head,
and he's telling me,
"Never give an inch.
Never look weak."
I do my best to be a good man,
a moral man.
But in that moment,
when I looked at everything
Ote almost took from me
I, uh
I almost killed
the son of a bitch.
- Joe.
It's okay to be angry.
You're allowed.
It won't make you dangerous.
- I know what anger looks like
when it's given free rein,
and I don't want that
for my wife, my kids.
What?
- Sometimes life has a way
of forcing us
to deal
with unfinished business.
- Well,
that business is finished.
I grew up.
It's done.
- Okay.
- Joey? Joey, open the door!
Joey, please open the door!
Please.
Come on, open the door, Joey!
He's coming.
Open the door, Joey!
Open the door!
- Hey, son.
We're in real deep now,
ain't we?
- Joey, open the door!
- Ain't we?
Get back here!
You gotta come home sometime!
- Joe?
What are you doing?
It's 2:00 in the morning.
- Um
Missy, I forgot you were there.
- Then the monster came down
from the mountains
in the middle of the night.
- Sheridan had a bad dream.
- I heard it rattling around
looking for our house.
- Sheridan, knock it off.
You'll scare your sister.
- I'm already scared.
What did it look like?
- It was like the shape of Dad
but more
dark.
- How'd you sleep?
- Not good.
After you woke me up, the dog
kept scratching at the door.
I did not sleep much.
Joe, I may not have been
at my best last night.
- That's okay.
Apology accepted.
- That was not an apology.
- I might not have been
at my best either.
Also not an apology.
- Oh, great,
now I have a seven-year-old,
a nine-year-old,
and a pair of ten-year-olds.
Morning.
- Morning.
- Then the man walked
toward the wood pile,
where he fell down with a boom.
- Hold up, Sheridan.
Just then, you said "man,"
not "monster."
You said "man."
- I guess it could have been
a man.
- Where'd Maxine
want to go last night
when she kept you up?
- Out back.
- I'll go take a look.
- Take your gun.
- Eat your breakfast.
Hello?
Someone here?
- Dad?
- Get back in the house!
- Joe?
Joe, what is it?
- It's Ote Keeley.
He's dead.
- Why is he here?
-
I don't know.
Remember how I told you
things weren't gonna escalate?
I was wrong.
- Hush-a-bye,
don't you cry ♪
Go to sleep,
little baby ♪
When you wake,
you shall have cake ♪
And all the pretty
little horses ♪
Blacks and bays,
dappled and grays ♪
Coach and six white horses ♪
- I guess I just learned not
to run away from that fear.
- Fear can be good.
It's there for a reason.
Keeps us safe.
Don't be scared of it.
- Hush-a-bye,
don't you cry ♪
Go to sleep,
little baby ♪
When you wake,
you shall have cake ♪
And all the pretty
little horses ♪
Blacks and bays,
dappled and grays ♪
Coach and six white horses ♪