Enter Sheriff Don Draper.

The episode begins with an introduction to the man we briefly saw last time: Sheriff Roy Tillman, played by Don Draper himself, Jon Hamm. Tillman knows that there is a natural order of things.

See, Jesus was a man and not some bearded lady. Just as water flows downhill, a husband is the head of the household and his woman abides. She keeps her virtue close until marriage, and then opens to him like a flower. In exchange, the man protects and shelters his woman. The man only raises his hand to her when she forgets his place and acts as the man. Even then, the strike is only for instruction, not pleasure.

Oh wait, Tillman’s not talking to us.

Instead, at a restaurant, he’s talking to a couple about their marital issues. The wife claims that the bruises on her face are from a fall, but Tillman knows better. His right-hand man strangles the husband as Tillman speaks to the wife. The husband is soon released from the chokehold long enough for Tillman to toss his hot coffee into his face.

Tillman then gives the wife some money and advises her to cater to her husband’s needs as a man with her mouth in order to sow harmony. He’ll be by their home to see if the lesson stuck.

Why even bother getting a therapist when this guy doles out advice for free?

In enters Roy’s son, Gator, played by Joe Keery. They head to the barn and find Munch, who relays his encounter with the tiger of a housewife.

The incident at the service station outside Beulah is all over the news. Munch was told one housewife, so he brought one guy. But a tiger like Dot? That’s a different story. And it’ll cost Roy three times as much.

Munch wonders why Roy wants this tiger so bad, and Roy reveals that Dot is his wife, who made a pledge to Roy in sickness and health. They know where she lives now, as well as her alias. She hid from Roy for around 10 years and interest accrued until the debt couldn’t be paid with money. Then, one day she finally pops up when her fingerprints hit the system. Now the debt can be collected.

If a man is pure, his actions are only ever good. Does Munch believe that? Munch will get his money, but he wants more for his pain and suffering. Roy promises it, and for that much, Munch is grateful.

Outside, Gator refuses to apologize to Munch for his words. As Munch smokes, he flicks his cigarette at Gator and opens fire on the two men who were about to kill him in an ambush. Roy, hearing the gunshots, rushes outside and finds his son gasping for air and struggling to hear. But no sign of Munch.

Back at House Lyon, Dot tells Deputy Olmstead about her incident: just a bad day is all. Olmstead isn’t convinced, not to mention the blood that Dot claims was just from cutting herself on glass. But the blood type on the floor is different from the one on record for Dot. Hospitals make mistakes, but there’s also the hair, which Dot claims she got secondhand. Wayne pipes up, saying it was his fault.

But Dot is back and that’s all that matters. Deputy Olmstead will review some traffic cameras, but Wayne brings up their attorney: Danish Graves. If the cops have questions, they should bring them to him.

Speaking of, Danish reveals to Lorraine that Dot not only escaped, but she’s back. Dot’s cover story is that she was getting her head on straight, but Lorraine smells bullshit. Dot might have kidnapped herself, but got cold feet. Based on Danish’s background check, there’s not a lot to Dot’s past. But Lorraine doesn’t want police involvement, especially if there’s a chance that this goes federal.

Besides, Wayne has the dealership and a roof over his head, but Lorraine thinks Dot might be pushing Wayne to do more. So the idea is to separately interrogate the two. They need to keep things in-house.

Back to Roy, who soaks in a hot tub at home. Gator, now with a cast on his right arm, informs Roy of Dot’s current life with her family.

Before Roy can process this, two federal agents arrive. These are Agents Meyer and Joaquin played, respectively, by Jessica Pohly and Nick Gomez. They’re new in the Fargo office and wonder why Roy isn’t enforcing any of the ratified laws. Roy informs the agents that he is the law of the land, elected by the county’s residents. He will interpret the Constitution as he sees fit. It’s about freedom, you know.

Roy sends Gator off. As he rises to his feet, still naked before putting on a towel, the agents inform Roy that they’re looking into potentially illegal practices of his office. Roy maintains that he is the law, only removable by the governor or his constituents. Roy knows the difference between right and wrong. Roy points out some of the illegal laws, such as horses being unable to sleep in bathtubs.

He is bound to enforce what is right and prosecute what is wrong. The law has very little to do with it. With that, he bids the two agents farewell.

Dot and Scotty arrive home from Dairy Queen to find Lorraine and Jerome present. Of course, Lorraine has a key since it’s her son’s home. She apologizes for startling Dot, especially after intruders already broke in once. Lorraine instructs Jerome to go with Scotty and see her dolls, but Scotty doesn’t have dolls. She likes ninjas.

Heh. I like Scotty already.

Dot thinks this is a bunch of silliness and she’s embarrassed by what’s happened. She maintains that she had a tantrum that blew out of proportion, but Lorraine thinks that someone came for Dot, she got away, and now she’s lying about it. Dot admits that yeah, maybe she’s got a screw loose, but she and Wayne are married. Wayne loves Dot, but Lorraine thinks that can be changed. You know, by cutting them out of the will.

Lorraine doesn’t trust Dot, and she won’t have her drag down Wayne. She wants Dot to go back to where she was before she and Wayne met.

Dot, after a quick glimpse behind her that no one is around, drops the act. Calling Lorraine a bitch, Dot tells her that she’s gone through six kinds of hell to get where she is. If Lorraine wans to tussle, she better sleep with both eyes open because no one takes what’s hers and lives.

She then sweetly offers Lorraine to come over for dinner. Lorraine takes the hint and leaves, but not before suggesting that Dot get some iron in her diet.

Later, as Dot examines the bruises on her back as Scotty wants something else to eat. Even though they just got Dairy Queen. Dot offers to make a vegetable medley, and then Scotty can help Mom with a craft project.

What sort of craft project? Well, Dot and Scotty get to work on a grand experiment that involves bobby trapping their home- such as stripping wires and bashing light bulbs for their glass- as if the two just had a Home Alone movie marathon.

We jump to a Kia dealership as Wayne gets a surprise visit from Danish, who calls Lorraine. Danish and Lorraine tell Wayne that the police have hard evidence that Dot was abducted. The police in North Dakota have one of the perps on a slab, and an officer on the scene described a woman who matches Dot.

Wayne doesn’t think this is about money, so Lorraine instructs Danish to slap Wayne over the phone. After all, she’s not there to give it to him, leaving Danish to knock Wayne’s fucking block off. Danish obliges with a backhand to Wayne’s face. Lorraine then tells her son that he’s back at the kiddie table on this one, so he needs to shut up and listen.

At the hospital, Deputy Olmstead visits Deputy Farr about the missing female from the service situation incident on the night before. Her precinct found blood on one perp, and the woman burned the other fella’s face pretty bad. Farr compares Dot to Rambo or even MacGyver. An apt comparison.

Before Olmstead can show a photo on her phone, Gator enters and introduces himself as a sheriff’s deputy of Stark County. Olmstead fills Gator in about the kidnapping in Minnesota. Farr also informs Gator that Dot managed to kill one of the kidnappers, but the other escaped. But Dot’s no criminal. She just tased a police offer in the heat of the moment. For Deputy Olmstead, there was nothing nice about Minnesota that day.

When Olmstead goes to find a photo of Dot on her phone, Gator takes the phone and ‘accidentally’ deletes it. Whoops. Not like the police have copies or anything like that.

Though Dot is now home, Olmstead finds it strange that Dot claims the incident didn’t happen and nobody broke into her home. She just went for a wander for 10 hours and then came home to make breakfast. Gator writes her off as a drama queen who’s trying to make her husband sick. No one said Dot has a husband, but Gator surmised as much from the police report.

Farr just knows that the woman got loose like somebody who knows how small the cage can get. Farr wants to meet the woman and thank her, as he doesn’t blame her for him getting shot. That’s just part of the job, while the woman wanted to get free. Protect and serve, right? Well, not to Gator. He’s down to protect, but he ain’t in the service industry. Gator then leaves.

That night, Wayne arrives home to the sound of hammering. He sees the contraptions as Dot finishes up some Shepherd’s pie. Wayne rightly asks why there’s a sledgehammer over the front door, and why in the world their kitchen window is electrified? Why, indeed?

Also, why is Scotty hammering nails into a baseball bat more suited for Steve Harrington?

Dot and Wayne make it known that Lorraine spoke to them both. Dot believes everything is squared away, but Lorraine still thinks that Dot made up the entire situation and is some kind of con woman. Dot angrily maintains that there were no kidnappers, but this still doesn’t add up for Wayne. To Dot, all that matters is that it makes sense to them. Still, Wayne wants to know about the sledgehammer.

Dot recalls the school board fight. Society is breaking down, she says, and they need to protect themselves in case of ruffians come to the door. Dot isn’t saying to build a bunker or stockpile guns, though she’s receptive when Wayne proposes that they get a gun. Maybe even a shotgun! Wayne wishes things were simpler, even though he calls Dot his dream come true. As Wayne is to Dot.

The family sits down for dinner in their newly booby-trapped home.

Meanwhile, Gator and his companion arrive at a service station- the same service station where Dot and Farr had their run-in with Munch and Donny.

As Gator heads in for some snacks, the other deputy gases up their ride. Out of nowhere, Munch arrives and stabs him in the neck, killing him.

Gator comes out with some jerky and a soda, just in time to see his companion dead with a note attached to him that reads “You Owe Me.” Gator is left stunned and alone as the episode comes to a close.

After that hectic premiere, “Trials and Tribulations” pulls back the curtain to give us the slightest glimpse into Dot’s past. Again, my hope is that she remains shrouded in as much mystery as possible, but I am curious to see what her next trial or tribulation may be now that Roy has set his sights on her.

Let’s start there. Now, I’ve never seen Mad Men at the time of writing this. My familiarity with Jon Hamm only extends to a few films like Baby Driver or, incidentally, another Noah Hawley work when he was the narrator in the second season of Legion. But he’s great here as that local, homegrown sheriff who sees himself as the law. Hell, he may even consider himself above it, and Hamm has a great, commanding screen presence.

Like Lorraine, Roy strikes me as someone who wants to be in control. He has a very specific set of traditional morals and values, as seen through how he addresses the troubled married couple at the beginning. But he also seems averse to outsiders telling him how to govern. Bit of a problem when the agents are investigating potential illegal practices.

The question remains what this has to do with Dot. Roy refers to her as his wife, so it’s a hint at the life she may have lived before she met Wayne. This could be one of the hells that Dot says she’s been through to get where she is. If these illegal practices of Roy’s stretch back that far, Dot would have all the motivation needed to flee, but I’m looking too deep into a character I hope remains as mysterious as possible.

Roy’s troubles only get worse with Ole Munch being out there and wanting his money. Since Roy knows Dot, part of me wonders if she developed these survival instincts while being with him, or afterward as a result. He doesn’t seem too bothered by what Dot did, so either he’s used to what she can do, or he’s doubtful of what Munch saw.

Joe Keery is great as Roy’s hothead son. Munch aside, it looks like Gator could be a thorn in everyone’s side, and his demeanor makes me think he’s going to get himself killed. From first impression, he’s an unlikable little shit, but Keery does such a great job at making you dislike Gator. There’s probably no chance he gets a Steve Harrington-esque redemption arc, though.

Dot’s story hasn’t completely unraveled yet, but again, you can’t put anything past a Minnesota officer. We get a hint of Dot’s other side during her talk with Lorraine, and I loved it. Because Dot is so unassuming and calm, I get the impression that she’s sitting on a lot of rage. She told Wayne last time that she’s got a breaking point, and Lorraine pressed the berserker button here. Bad idea.

This is a characteristic that I hope we get in small bursts. I get the impression that Dot channels her rage through things like booby-trapping her home while still having time to make Shepherd’s pie. Though she’s keeping a careful eye when making her traps, as if she’s nervous about somebody watching her. Lorraine, already distrusting of Dot, seems to take the hint well enough that this isn’t a woman you want to fuck with.

Dot hides her more combative side very well. It’s not on occasional display like Nurse Mayflower in Season 4. This, I feel, makes her much more dangerous because you have no idea when she might flip the switch and wreck your shit.

She tells Wayne that society is breaking down and that they need to prepare in case some ruffian comes to their door. If she only knew what would lay ahead for her in a year. But while Scotty is on board because kids are young and impressionable, Wayne wants to keep his life as normal as possible. That’ll be hard to do as he learns more of what his wife is capable of doing, but he seems open to helping keep the family safe.

Now that the Lyon home is effectively a fortress, they’ll need all the protection they need with the police continuing to dig, not to mention Roy Tillman now having Dot in his sights.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go electrify my windows.