It’s a big day in Rutherford Falls. In “Election,” Reagan (Jana Schmieding) and Bobby (Jesse Leigh) get answers that could change their lives. Nathan (Ed Helms) helps Deirdre (Dana L. Wilson) finalize her birth plans.
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Some time has passed. Terry (Michael Greyeyes) opens up his cannabis shop. Feather Day (Kaniehtiio Horn) protests the shop with just a few people. The campaign heats up. Feather attacks Bobby and they’re age. Bobby focuses on the issues and not Feather. Reagan and Nelson (Dallas Goldtooth) are happy. Nathan is super excited about the baby. He even goes to the ultrasound appointments with Deirdre. And immediately shows Reagan a picture of his baby.
Deirdre calls Nathan with an emergency. She can’t get his friend Peggy to be her doula. Nathan isn’t sure who that is. He’s shocked to find out that Peggy is Miss Fish (Beth Stelling). He asks Reagan to go with him to talk to Miss Fish because he’s not safe with her. Reagan has to go to speak to the tribal council about her land assignment, but she offers him her mace.
Terry coaches Bobby to prepare for the mayoral debate. He has a bell that he hits everything Bobby says ‘um,’ ‘like,’ or ‘hmmm.’ Bobby says they need this coaching because Feather will try to take them down every chance she gets. The most important advice Terry gives is to strike back at Feather when she’s on a roll. Which is basically just using mom gossip about Feather.
Terry says in battle, you don’t complain about the quality of your knife. You just start stabbing. Nathan agrees. Bobby thinks they should just continue to act unbothered by Feather’s shenannies. They continue their thought but use an ‘um.’ Terry hits the bell, causing Bobby to say they will go with Terry’s plan but they want to set some ground rules on when to use the bell.
Reagan finished filling out the application. Nelson looks it over and says it’s spotless. He also tells her that he has to go home. There’s an elder, one of the last speakers who’s really sick. The tribe wants to do some interviews with her, but she will only talk to Nelson. Reagan understands and tells him to go.
Nathan meets with Miss Fish, now Peggy. He says it would mean a lot if she would agree to be Deirdre’s doula. Peggy wants to make sure it would really mean something to Nathan. She thought there would be a conflict of interest since she and Nathan have so much history. And she’s practically besties with Deirdre, but Peggy agrees to do it. It’s strictly business from now on which means Nathan has to stop hitting on her.
Reagan meets with the Minishonka council and she’s really nervous. The Land Committee Chair, Mervin (Kevin Sifuentes) reviewed Reagan’s application. The only question he has is about her marriage. Rayanne (Geraldine Kearns) is there to back up Nelson, saying they are getting married. Mervin approves the application. Reagan is a land owner.
At the mayoral debate, Feather attacks Bobby, claiming that they’re Terry Thomas’ puppet. She calls Terry a weed smoking, gambling obsessed reptile. Bobby answers by telling the voters that Feather’s daughter, Emma Day (Isabella Madrigal) is the one who vandalized the Big Larry statue on Halloween, with Jimmy Thomas (Cha-tah Ellem), Terry’s son. If Bobby were Terry’s puppet, would he reveal that information?
Terry is angry, but respects the move that Bobby made. Bobby says they did exactly what Terry taught them to do. They knew what the consequences would be. They had to be ruthless when dealing with Feather. It was either Jimmy gets busted or Feather becomes mayor. The election is the next day. So they will see if Bobby’s plan worked.
The next day, Wayne (Bobby Wilson) and Sally (Julia Jones) visit Reagan with a gift of Mountain Dew. Sally wants to know how Reagan got her land application approved. She says she filled out a lot of forms and told the council that she’s marrying Nelson. But Rayanne helped her too. Wayne offers to sleep with Rayanne to help Sally.
Nathan and Deirdre meet with Peggy to go over the intake forms. Peggy notices that Deirdre is having an issue with her wrist. Apparently carpal tunnel is way worse during pregnancy, but Peggy knows some massage techniques that give Deirdre immediate relief.
Peggy asks how Nathan is doing. He wants to stay focused on Deirdre, but Peggy says he’s a part of this and needs to open up. He admits to being nervous because he doesn’t think he will be a good father. Deirdre assures Nathan that he will be a wonderful father. Peggy adds that if he’s going to be any use to Deirdre and the baby, he has to own his fears.
Reagan and Sally take Rayanne to lunch to ask for her help. Reagan talks about all the great things Sally has done for the nation, but none of that will help. Rayanne tells them to blame the US government. They’re the ones who downsized the land and made the tribe fight for scraps. Sally is just like many other single, childless members. There has to be a better solution.
Terry hosts an election watch party for Bobby at the casino. Deirdre and Nathan talk about how different Peggy is and their excitement for the baby. Bobby steals Nathan. Frank (Bill Glass) approaches Deirdre and asks if she wants to be with Nathan. He says she likes him, Nathan brings her stuff, they’re having a baby and they are adorkable. Deirdre says it’s complicated.
Reagan pitches an idea to Terry for an Indigenous communal living community for single Minishonka tribal members. Terry sees this as a way to fix his reputation in the community. But! Reagan has to change the council’s mind about policies they developed and come up with a fair system of placement. She also needs to think about a contingency plan for when rejected members come after her. There’s also budgets to consider, managing construction crews … all while maintaining the cultural center and overseeing the larger building. Terry tells her to type up the proposal, think of a good name and they will present it to the council together.
The votes are counted and Bobby Yang is named the next mayor of Rutherford Falls. Bobby gets in front of their supporters and thanks everyone who helped him. Feather shows up at the party to offer her congratulations. She didn’t really lose. She inked a sponsorship and a book deal so she will profit heavily off of this. And the best part is that she doesn’t have to waste her time being mayor.
Part of Terry wishes they were toasting mayor Nathan Rutherford. Nathan is perfectly fine with not being mayor. Besides, Bobby is a hit. Bobby is a bit more variable than Terry hoped, but they keep him sharp. But sometimes they cross you and you have to squash them like a bug. We’ll have to wait and see.
Nelson checks in with Reagan. She tells him that she got the land and that she figured out a way to build cooperative housing on her land. It’s not what Nelson expected but it’s gotta be better than living in one of their parents’ spare bedrooms. Nelson tells Reagan that he loves her. She says she loves him too.
Then Josh (Dustin Milligan) shows up. NPR sent him to Rutherford Falls to cover Bobby’s election for season two of the podcast. They are the America’s first 18 year old non-binary mayor. This means Josh is staying for a while. He and Reagan will be in the same place, at the same time.
Nathan starts drinking. Peggy joins the party and he thanks her for helping Deirdre. He says it’s been really cool seeing another side of her. She’s really confident and poised and wise.
The next morning, Nathan wakes up next to Peggy. She gets up and is very happy about waking up next to him. Deirdre calls and wants to talk to Nathan about their relationship. Peggy returns to the room. She’s on the phone with her dad and he’s super happy about their hook up. Nathan doesn’t know what to do.
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News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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