The River We Remember

Scott is working extra hours at the Wagon Wheel because of his stunt with Del, and his mother asks him to bring a meal to Noah Bluestone in jail. He runs into Sam on his way to the jail, and the two talk about soldiers, war, death, and murder. Sam tells him that during wartime, men kill one another in the moment without considering ethics. Scott ponders this and thinks about the various men in town who were in the war. At the jail, he is confused by Noah Bluestone’s assertion that Jimmy had been a “good man” and asks Brody about it. He also asks if Brody has ever killed anyone. Brody explains that during the war he had, but that he would take it all back if he could.

Charlie visits Kyoko at the Bluestone farm. Kyoko, as instructed by her husband, refuses to provide Charlie with any details about their relationship with Jimmy or the night of his death. Disappointed, Charlie asks her to at least appear in court on the day of her husband’s arraignment. Kyoko agrees. Charlie then tells her that she might not be safe at the farm alone because anti-Japanese sentiment is still rampant in the area, but Kyoko assures her that she will be fine.

At Noah’s arraignment, Charlie enters a plea on Noah’s behalf. Bail is set at $50,000, more than Noah—or anyone else in the county—can afford. Charlie speaks with Brody and Connie, who explain that they think that Noah might have been protecting his wife against sexual assault, and Connie admits that if Noah were white and did not have a Japanese wife, most people would think him a hero. Jimmy had been hated by many. Charlie hopes to get more of the story out of Kyoko, but Kyoko refuses to share any details.

Charlie heads to the Quinn farm to speak with Marta, but Marta, who has ALS, is at a doctor’s appointment. Instead, Charlie asks Colleen and Bridget if she can ask some questions about the night of their father’s death. Colleen admits that Jimmy had been a difficult man and that he had spent a lot of time out of the home. She and her sister like Noah, and she notes that he was one of the few people who was not scared of Jimmy. The woman who had done the housework before Kyoko, Sissy, had left the job quickly because of how difficult Jimmy had been. Just then, they smell burning bread, and the girls rush back inside. Charlie intends to leave but hears crying and goes inside to comfort Bridget and Colleen. She spends the rest of the afternoon with the girls, and as she is leaving, she runs into Tyler Creasy, whom she knows and dislikes. He had been unremarkable in his youth but had returned from the war a changed man: angry, prone to alcohol misuse, and violent. He accuses Charlie of representing a murderer and then proceeds to unleash a string of racial slurs about Noah, explaining that he had seen the man stealing gasoline himself.

Charlie finds out that the girl who had worked for the Quinns before Kyoko, Sissy, had left the position after Jimmy tried to sexually assault her. The attempted assault was one in a long string of inappropriate advances, and it had been Marta who interrupted it. She had given the girl a sizeable amount of money and asked her to keep quiet. Charlie is sure that if she can only get Kyoko to tell the real story, she will be able to help Noah Bluestone beat the charges.

Connie has quit working for Brody, citing the need to protect Kyoko from the many angry men in town who, harboring anti-Japanese and anti-Indigenous prejudice, are likely to give her trouble. Brody wishes that he himself had killed Jimmy years ago. He is pretty sure that Noah did it, but he is also sure that the murder was justified and is upset at the entire situation. The death brings back old dreams, and ghosts that haunt him from the war, and his stress mounts. He goes to the Wagon Wheel to talk to Angie. The two talk briefly, and she goes back into the kitchen. Landis asks Brody if the two are dating, and when Brody says no, Landis asks if he would mind if he asked her out. Brody is irritated but tells him no and leaves. He meets Garnet in an abandoned building. She, too, has questions about Angie. Although it is clear that she is jealous, Brody realizes that Garnet is happy with her life and that she will never leave his brother.

Jimmy’s funeral is well attended, but Charlie notices the absence of his daughter Fiona. The product of Jimmy’s first marriage, she had left town in scandal after marrying one of her high school teachers and giving birth to his child only months after graduation. After the service, Brody talks to his brother Tom, first to reminisce about their father, then to discuss Noah. Tom and Noah had been in the same class and had played football together. He remembers Noah as honest “to a fault” and doubts that he committed the murder. He does recall years of conflict between Jimmy and his son Terence and remembers one incident in which Jimmy had bought land that Terence had wanted for his own farm right out from under him. He speculates that Terence has more reason to kill Jimmy than Noah. Brody mulls over that piece of information and, on his way out, asks Terence whether he still raises pigs.

Del’s cousin Holly is visiting with her mother and her friend Nicole. Del, Scott, and the two girls go tubing on the Alabaster River, and Holly admits to Scott that the reason for the visit is so that her mother can encourage Del’s mother to leave Tyler Creasy. Since she married him, her drinking has gotten worse, and Holly’s mother is sure that her sister will be better off single. She wants her to come to Minneapolis. Scott considers this: He agrees that Del and his mother would be happier without Creasy, but he does not want to lose his friend. While they are tubing, Holly’s bracelet snags on a branch and she is pulled underwater. Scott rescues her, first by pulling her free and then by giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Garnet goes to visit Angie at The Wagon Wheel. She asks her about Landis’s intentions towards her and then about Brody. Because of the tone in her voice and the look in her eyes, Angie realizes that Garnet is also in love with Brody. She returns home. Felix visits and offers a medal he had received as a soldier for Scott. Angie is moved to tears by the kindness in her community.

Sam Wicklow visits Charlie at her house and shows her an editorial he intends to print. It details the prejudice against Noah Bluestone and argues that the community needs to respect the idea of “innocent until proven guilty.” Charlie, although she agrees with the sentiment, is shocked. Sam admits that his own wife is angry that he would write and print such a piece. Sam explains that he wants Charlie to know that she is not alone in her support for Noah and that he respects her for it. She asks if he is still writing a book about the events of the Sioux Uprising, and he says yes. He is interested in setting the story straight and in staying true to history without prejudice.

Scott is still the talk of the town for saving Holly. He and Noah Bluestone have struck up a friendship of sorts, and the two usually talk while Noah eats the meals Scott brings. Noah commends him on his act of heroism, and without explaining his request, asks Scott to bring him a small cottonwood stick. Charlie, too, visits Noah, and although he does not react when she wonders if Jimmy’s predatory behavior towards the previous housekeeper had been a serial problem, he does agree to give an interview to Sam Wicklow.

Connie, no longer working for Brody at the sheriff’s office, spends his time making sure that Kyoko is safe on the Bluestone farm. He learns her backstory: She had been born in Nagasaki, had lost almost all of her family in the war, and had met Noah while working as a translator. She and Connie get along well, and he tells her that his wife died from lung cancer. He believes it was the result of his own second-hand smoke since she was never a smoker. He feels a profound sense of guilt over her death. One afternoon, Charlie comes out to speak with them. She notes the oddity of Fiona not attending her own father’s funeral and plans to go speak with her. She is sure that Jimmy had assaulted Kyoko and that either Kyoko or Noah had killed Jimmy as a result and hopes to be able to prove to a jury that his death was self-defense rather than murder.

On a bustling day at the Wagon Wheel, Garnet shows up to ask for a box of books that Angie promised to donate to the Catholic church. Angie sends Scott, who accidentally includes his mother’s journals in the box. After the lunch rush, he and Del go to shoot a .22 pistol that Del has surreptitiously taken from Creasy, and Del asks if he wants to see a “real live” naked lady. He tells Scott that they will have to camp out to see her, and Scott promises to ask his mother for permission to stay out all night.

Charlie goes to see Fiona at her home in Des Moines. She explains the situation to Fiona and asks for more information about Jimmy. Fiona icily declines and asks her to leave. Charlie then goes to see Marta. She asks about Marta’s early days with Jimmy and finds out that her sister Gudrun had been Jimmy’s first wife. Marta had fled Germany to escape the rise of Hitler and to take care of Gudrun, who was ill. She freely admits that she had been Jimmy’s mistress. Gudrun knew about the arrangement, and after she died, Marta married Jimmy, not because she wanted to, but because it was better than returning to Germany.

Tyler Creasy has been fired. It is clear, now that Noah is no longer on the farm, that it was actually Tyler who had been stealing gasoline. Brody arrests Tyler, who angrily protests being locked up in the cell next to Noah. At the Wagon Wheel, Angie realizes what happened to her journals and is horrified that Garnet has them. The journals detail her entire life, from her hardscrabble beginnings in Louisiana bayou country to the years she had spent as a sex worker, during which she met her husband and returned to his hometown of Jewel, Minnesota. Angie’s history is a secret, and she cannot imagine what will happen to her secrets in the hands of Garnet Dern.

Angie rises early the next morning and heads over to the Catholic church. She explains to the priest that she accidentally donated a book that she needs, and he agrees to let her look through the donations. She finds her box, but the journals are not there.