"No Country for Two Old Men" is the fourth episode of Season Seven. Shawn tries to get Henry to bond with Juliet's stepfather, but things go awry when the two men disappear without a trace.
Plot Summary[]
Shawn and Juliet have just moved in together and are hosting a housewarming party at their new apartment. Among the people in attendance are Juliet's mom Maryanne and her stepfather Lloyd French (Jeffrey Tambor), an accountant. Shawn thinks it would be a great idea for Henry and Lloyd to become friends. Juliet agrees, but doesn't think they should push it; she feels they should let a friendship between the two develop naturally. Shawn, however, doesn't listen and decides to go ahead and set up a lunch date for Henry and Lloyd.
Meanwhile, Gus is still dating Rachael and appears to be getting along well with her son Maximus - so much so that Gus talks about him as if he's his own son, even though they've been dating for a short time. Shawn, however, doesn't buy it; he thinks Gus is just pretending to be okay with having a girlfriend who has a kid. Later, Shawn's observation is confirmed when Gus admits that he's not ready to be a dad to Maximus. Gus doesn't want to stop dating Rachael, he just needs more time to get used to the idea of having an instant family.
Henry is on his way to meet Lloyd for lunch, the man-date that Shawn had set up for them, when he gets a call from Lloyd saying he's going to be late because he has to pick up a package. Henry offers to pick it up for him, as the mailbox place he is referring to is in his neighborhood. At the mailbox place, Henry picks up the package as promised. However, he makes one fatal error; he didn't follow Lloyd's specific instructions for retrieving the package. Henry says Lloyd's name out loud and the next thing Henry knows, he's being chased by Hispanic men with guns. Suddenly, Lloyd shows up in a car, urging Henry to get in.
Lloyd explains that he's had some shady dealings in the past, namely a large gambling debt, and that he wants to turn over a new leaf. He wants to start fresh, erase his criminal past, and build a relationship with Juliet. But, he knows that those things will never happen if he doesn't settle a debt - a debt involving the package Henry picked up for him. At this point Henry is freaking out, but ultimately he agrees to tag along. But, Henry gets way in over his head when he realizes that Lloyd has talked him into flying with him to Mexico to return the package to an old friend. Henry also realizes they aren't headed to an airport to board a commercial airline. In fact, Lloyd has taken Henry to a private airfield where Lloyd himself will be piloting the plane.
Meanwhile, everyone at the SBPD has gotten word of the shootout at the mailbox store, the stolen car, and the stolen plane at the airstrip. From the description of where the plane is headed, Shawn remembers seeing Lloyd researching that exact same location at the housewarming party. Shawn tells the group that Henry and Lloyd are headed to a town on the Baja of Mexico.
When Lloyd and Henry arrive in Mexico, the policia are there waiting to arrest him; Lloyd has been essentially banned from Mexico for his many indiscretions and detective Javier Lamas, who bears a striking resemblance to Lassiter, is there to bring him into the station. At the station, Lamas predicts that Lloyd is in Mexico to retrieve some engraving plates that were stolen from the United States Mint recently. He knows that Lloyd's old friend Pablo Nunez, the leader of a well-protected Mexican crime syndicate, has had his eye on the plates, too. Lamas predicts that Lloyd is in Mexico to deliver the engraving plates package to Pablo. Lloyd promises that isn't the case. Lamas thinks Lloyd is bluffing and opens the suspicious package he's been eyeing. He reveals a simple pair of cufflinks and has no choice but to let them go.
Later, Lloyd and Henry are captured by Pablo's men and are brought back to his compound. Pablo asks Lloyd if he has brought the package. Lloyd presents the cufflinks and Pablo is beyond satisfied. These were Pablo's father's cufflinks and he has been looking for them for years. Pablo invites Lloyd and Henry to stay the night and party on his newly installed dance floor, much to Henry's hesitation. However, Henry has a fantastic time and doesn't even want to leave the next day.
Shawn, Gus, and Juliet arrive in Mexico and head to the police station to get a lead on where Lloyd and Henry could be. From the evidence they have seen so far, they believe that Henry and Lloyd have been kidnapped. Lamas says that if anyone was to kidnap them, it would have been Pablo.
Back at Pablo's compound, Henry is shocked to see that Lloyd has found the US Mint plates hidden there and that Lloyd has subsequently stolen them. They both escape from Pablo's compound with armed henchmen on their tail.
Ultimately, they are unable to escape and are brought out to the desert to dig their own graves. Shawn, Gus, and Juliet follow a lead to where Henry and Lloyd are. They watch the scene play out through binoculars, and Shawn realizes that Pablo has the U.S. Mint engraving plates.
Just then, one of Pablo's henchmen points his loaded gun at Shawn, Gus, and Juliet. They are captured and then forced to look at the two graves the five of them are going to have to share, leading to a debate as to who is sharing a grave with who. Lloyd tries to cover up the real reason why he's in Mexico so that Juliet doesn't find out, but she already knows the truth about Lloyd's shady gambling history. Just when the group thinks their time has run out, Lamas and the policia show up and save them.
Lloyd stays in Mexico because he needs to fly the plane back to the States, but the rest return to Santa Barbara via car. Once they return, they think everything is all tied up until they get a call from Lamas saying that Lloyd has stolen the U.S. Mint plates from them. Juliet is especially upset by this news; she knew Lloyd would never change.
Shawn then flashes back to the surveillance footage from the mailbox place. He remembers seeing a Hispanic man, then realizes that he's the same guy he saw working at the Mexican police station under Detective Lamas. From this, Shawn knows that Lloyd has been set up by Lamas and that Lamas is the one who wanted the plates for himself all along; he just needed a patsy to pin the stolen plates on and Lloyd was the perfect candidate.
The group head back to Mexico to stop Lamas from killing Lloyd, who has once again been forced to dig his own grave. Lloyd tries distracting Lamas' men by discussing where the plates are and theorizing whether Lamas will cut them in on the score. He tries running away during the bickering, but he gets shot and falls into the grave. The group, who had been watching from a distance, rush to Lloyd's aid and discover that he's actually still alive and had been wearing a bulletproof vest this entire time; he would never go to Mexico without one. Members of the U.S. department take down Lamas' men and, eventually, Lamas.
Even though Lloyd put Henry in danger, they bonded as friends anyway. In the last scene, they are fishing together. Henry wears a bulletproof vest, saying he would never hang out with Lloyd ever again without one. Lloyd agrees that is probably wise.
Gallery[]
The gallery for No Country for Two Old Men can be found here.
Trivia[]
- The theme song was sung in Spanish.
- The title is taken from the 2007 neo-Western thriller No Country for Old Men, which won numerous Oscars, including Best Director (for the Coen Brothers) and Best Supporting Actor (for Javier Bardem).
- The episode mostly takes place in San Carlos, a fishing community facing the Pacific Ocean in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur.
- Rachael and Gus are seen playing soccer in Shawn and Juliet's backyard. The actress who plays Rachael, Parminder Nagra, had her breakout role in the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham, a soccer film which also launched the career of Keira Knightley.
- The episode follows some of the story elements of the movie, "The Inlaws". Engraving plates and running serpentine are right out of the movie.
- The song playing when Lloyd picks Henry up in the stolen SUV is "Biggest Part of Me" by Ambrosia.
Digital Releases[]
