Marshals Episode 5 Makes One Taylor Sheridan Movie On Netflix A Must-Watch

With its fifth episode, "Marshals" has finally found some momentum. The latest installment is the most engaging yet, with Kayce and his team being asked to help track down young girls who have gone missing from the Broken Rock Reservation. It's a problem that has been plaguing real-world reservations for as long as they've existed. It's also one "Yellowstone" creator and "Marshals" executive producer Taylor Sheridan has tackled multiple times before, perhaps most notably with his directorial debut "Wind River" — one of, if not the best Sheridan film. If you enjoyed episode 5 of "Marshals" (and you should have, considering it's easily the best yet) then Sheridan's 2017 drama is a must-watch. Luckily, it's available on Netflix.

For its first four episodes, "Marshals" couldn't seem to figure out what it was about. Was it a grounded character study of a recently bereaved man trying to forge a new path? Was it a crime thriller about a Marshal with a dark past? It was all a bit unclear. Episode five hasn't necessarily fixed that central problem, but it is the first time "Marshals" has felt like its own show rather than one struggling to escape the shadow of "Yellowstone."

Part of that is due to the episode tackling a real-world problem that, as Broken Rock Chief Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) tells Logan Marshall-Green's Pete "Cal" Calvin, has "become an epidemic for [his] people." As such, the stakes are higher than ever in episode 5, and it makes for a much more compelling show than the previous installments. If you can't wait to see how the cliffhanger ending actually plays out, or were just compelled by the episode's all-too real subject matter, "Wind River" should be your next watch.

"Marshals" episode 5 sees Kayce drawn into the search for a missing girl named Hayley Charlo (Isabel Deroy-Olson). As Kayce and fellow Marshal Miles Kittle (Tatanka Means) pursue the case in a semi-official capacity, it becomes clear that the problem is far bigger than just Hayley, with multiple girls having gone missing from reservation land.

In his conversation with Pete Calvin, Thomas Rainwater says, "Of all the indignities we've faced, few are as insulting as the indifference to our lost children." "Marshals" might not always feel like the most realistic show (some of the dialogue is just absolutely incredible in the most literal sense) but this "indignity" couldn't be more real. As the US Department of the Interior notes, "For decades, Native American and Alaska Native communities have struggled with high rates of assault, abduction, and murder of tribal members."

With its focus on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Crisis, "Marshals" episode 5 not only recalls a random "Yellowstone" storyline, it's very reminiscent of "Wind River." Taylor Sheridan's 2017 effort similarly focused on the plight of indigenous women in the modern day. While it claimed to be "inspired by actual events," it wasn't actually based on a specific story. Rather, as Sheridan confirmed to Interview Magazine, it was about the real issue of underreported crime on reservations. "I saw it first hand," he told the outlet. "It's something that affects the life of every member of the reservation and it's not discussed in our popular culture, in the public awareness. It's unknown. It's ignored by the media. It's not that the leaders of these tribes aren't screaming about it, it's just that no one's listening."

"Wind River" stars Jeremy Renner as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agent Cory Lambert, who discovers the body of 18-year-old Natalie Hanson while on patrol in the Wind River Indian Reservation. Hanson is played by Kelsey Asbille, who "Yellowstone" fans will know as Monica Dutton, Kayce Dutton's late wife who was killed off on "Marshals" in the worst way possible. She's not the only familiar face in "Wind River," either. Chief Thomas Rainwater himself, Gil Birmingham, plays Natalie's father, Martin Hanson, who like Hayley's mother in "Marshals" episode 5 reveals that his daughter was involved with a mysterious man prior to her disappearance.

Elizabeth Olsen's FBI Agent Jane Banner then arrives to investigate the homicide, teaming up with Lambert to try to solve the mystery and bring a rare moment of justice to the reservation. The film ends with a title card that reads "While missing person statistics are compiled for every other demographic, none exist for Native American women." It's this same issue that Chief Rainwater highlights in "Marshals" episode 5 when he tells Kayce and Miles Kittle that "local, state, federal authorities are all too happy to declare our missing girls runaways."

While the latest "Marshals" installment is the best yet, it's not as good as "Wind River," which feels much more grounded in reality and therefore seems to take the issue with which it grapples slightly more seriously. As such, Sheridan fans should definitely add his 2017 neo-Western crime thriller to their watchlist. The film is available to stream on Netflix right now.