"Longmire" Jumps the Shark

To say that last week's episode of "Longmire" (A&E) jumped the shark would be an understatement. Beyond over-the-top violence and a cooked-up office romance, "Population 25" featured a cult-like group of survivalists living in the woods who kidnap and torture our Sheriff Department heroes in the name of--wait for it--anti-government ideology. And in case viewers weren't sufficiently convinced that those who believe in limited government are psychos, the writers threw in a murdered census agent in the freezer. 

This reviewer obviously found all this appealing, noting gleefully that, in the final confrontation scene, "Longmire . . . tosses out a Thomas Jefferson quote that he knows will appeal to the nutcase." The Jefferson quote in question is the famous "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," except that Longmire conveniently left out "tyrants." After all, only a "nutcase" would believe in fighting tyranny.