Marshals Episode 6 Recalls One Of Monica Dutton's Best Yellowstone Storylines

This article contains spoilers for "Marshals" season 1, episode 6, "Out of the Shadows."

"Marshals" loves acknowledging "Yellowstone" storylines, and now it's done it again with a reference to one of the better Monica Dutton plot threads. The show wasted no time killing off Monica in the worst way possible before the events of its first episode even played out. It wasn't exactly the most honorable treatment of the character, but in episode 6, we get a reminder of how heroic Monica was prior to her death when Gil Birmingham's Chief Thomas Rainwater reminds Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) about a time his late wife "risked it all." This is a reference to a season 3 "Yellowstone" episode in which Monica helped catch a killer.

Kayce's wife perished between the end of "Yellowstone" and the start of "Marshals," which meant that after five seasons of enduring significant trauma on the franchise's mothership series, Monica was given an unceremonious off-screen death. But while "Yellowstone" often put Asbille's character through the wringer, she was arguably the hero of the show. Anyone who's drawn into the Dutton drama and lives to tell the tale has to be pretty tough, after all.

Sometimes, Monica would actually become the hero of specific "Yellowstone" storylines, though that would often involve her going through some horrific experience to do so. In season 3, for example, she acted as bait to catch a serial killer, and it was one of the better Monica storylines. In "Marshals" episode 6, "Out of the Shadows," we get a callback to that very moment, as mentioned earlier. But while it's neat for fans of the "Yellowstone" franchise, it also kind of just serves to remind us of how much the character has been through.

"Marshals" episode 6 shares a key detail about Monica Dutton's death, finally giving us a timeline for when she passed away and lending context to a show that has thus far been strangely vague on the details of her passing. In fact, "Out of the Shadows," is probably the first episode of "Marshals" to really confront Monica's death, ending with a remembrance ceremony for the character attended by Chief Rainwater, Monica's grandfather Felix Long (Rudy Ramos), and members of the Broken Rock Reservation.

It's during this ceremony that Rainwater reminds Kayce of his wife's heroics. After Kayce and his U.S. Marshal team track down and rescue several missing girls from the reservation, Rainwater expresses his gratitude. He then recalls how he once told Monica that "she made a difference because she risked everything." This is a reference to "Yellowstone" season 3, episode 8, "I Killed a Man Today," in which Monica helped trap a serial killer.

In the episode, Monica appears to become stranded after her car breaks down on an isolated stretch of road. She's soon picked up by a man driving a truck, and he offers her a ride to the closest town. But things soon turn sinister after the driver turns off into a secluded area and tells Monica to get out of the truck, ignoring her requests to turn around and get back on the road. Thus, before she knows it, Monica finds herself being chased, and just as the man tackles and begins strangling her, a sniper takes out her attacker from afar. It's then revealed that Monica was merely acting as bait to help capture a known serial killer who'd been operating in the area for some time.

After Monica is successful in helping the Reservation Police take down the killer, more remains are found in the desert. After this, Rainwater approaches Monica and tells her, "People talk about making a difference, but they don't because they don't try. They don't risk. You risked everything. Today, you made a difference."

It's these words that Rainwater echoes in "Marshals" episode 6, tying Kayce's heroics in the case of the trafficked girls to Monica's in "I Killed a Man Today." Kelsey Asbille's character was often trying to stay out of the drama on "Yellowstone," but in this storyline, she placed herself right in the midst of it and acted heroically. As such, this was one time the show let her be more than just a victim of the endless tumult surrounding the Duttons. 

Still, even in this instance, Monica had to endure some traumatic experiences just to become a hero, which speaks to an unfortunate trend on both "Yellowstone" and "Marshals": Monica was never really allowed much agency. Even when she did play the hero, she was beaten and left covered in a serial killer's brain matter. In that way, she was a sort of punching bag for "Yellowstone," and "Marshals" didn't really help when its writers killed her off prior to the pilot episode. 

We've since learned that a big part of why Monica was killed was related to Paramount trying to differentiate "Marshals" from "Yellowstone" in what's likely an attempt to avoid legal issues involving streaming rights. In the end, however, it still feels like the character was given the short shrift. Meanwhile, we're all wondering when we're going to see more of that powerful Dutton family rival introduced in "Marshals" episode 3.

"Marshals" is streaming on Paramount+.