A tiger is loose in a ranch.

The episode begins in a lone cabin sitting on the middle of a body of ice. Inside, Ole Munch is warming up a blade while his captive, Gator, tries to talk his way out of his present situation. He even offers Ole Munch drugs, as he’s got an evidence room like a CVS. Needs confirmation, I think. Gator even offers his flamethrower or some young women.

When Munch finally speaks, he simply notes that the rabbit is screaming because he’s caught and knows that it only wants to live. He removes the red hot blade from the flames and first presses it against his skin to test the heat. Munch then waxes on again: an old woman watches a young man play a game. She drinks because her own son has spit the nipple from his mouth. She bothers no one, yet Gator killed her.

As the Bible says, what is taken must be given. Munch stands over a screaming Gator and brings the blade closer to the rabbit’s eyes as we cut away.

Over at Tillman ranch, Dot uses the cot to try and grab a nail from a ceiling beam, but she falls back onto the ground. Never one to quit, she starts kicking away at one of the floorboards

At the same time, Bowman informs Roy that there’s been no sign of Gator yet. Roy tried the governor, but he’s unavailable until further notice. Roy realizes that the tide has turned and it’s time to rally the patriots. Also, lock the gate, because they’re about to dig in. As for Nadine? The most he ever felt, he felt for Nadine. But this morning? He doesn’t want to feel that way again. So it’s time to bury her.

But when Bowman enters the cabin, Nadine is nowhere to be seen. Not because she’s gone, but because she’s hiding underneath the floorboards, where she finds a convenient nearby nail. In no time at all, Dot frees herself from her handcuffs.

Lorraine calls Danish, but only gets his voicemail. New security detail Indira Olmstead informs Lorraine that Danish’s cell phone went dark at 11:45 p.m. last night at the Tillman ranch in Stark County. Lorraine doesn’t want the governor involved. She’s done fucking around. Instead, she wants Jerome to call the orange idiot. It’s time she got something for her money.

What is Jerome’s rank under Lorraine, anyway? Whatever. Indira phones Witt and tells him that the FBI is on its way to raid the Tillman ranch. Indira can’t be there because she’s on a different side now, but Witt has to save Dot.

Roy records a video message, saying that this is a code 10-00, officer down. All armed patriots must respond to the incoming military ambush. Roy is certain that when the feds get done with him, they’ll come for his fellow patriots. So grab your guns and bring your big fucking hammer because it’s balls to the wall time. Roy will keep the feds face forward while the others box them in.

I’m not sure advertising this to the internet is wise, but it’s time for the YMCA! Yes, The Village People’s infamous song kicks in as patriots stream into the Tillman ranch. Interesting song choice, but I’ll allow it. Karen, meanwhile, sends her daughters away.

Dot slips out of the cabin and heads into a cellar that empties into the main Tillman home. She enters an upstairs room that happens to have a phone.

She manages to call Wayne’s phone, and both he and Scotty are overjoyed to hear Mommy’s voice. But the happy moment is cut short when the lights go on and Dot sees Karen at the doorway with a gun. She demands that Dot hang up the phone or she’ll be shot. With no other choice, Dot complies.

Wayne calls back, and as the phone rings, Karen asks Dot if she’s happy coming back and ruining everything. The room is a bit of a time machine. Roy didn’t even change the sheets. They sleep in Dot’s filth and it’s inescapable. Even the curtains on the wall are constant reminders of Dot. While Dot just wants to go home, Karen knows that also means she and everyone else gets arrested, and Karen’s daughters become orphans.

Karen could just pop Dot in the kneecap right now, but doesn’t. So Dot asks when Karen got the bruised eye from Roy. Dot promises that the two of them can end this. They both know that Roy is weak. When this is done, Roy will never hit Karen or her girls again. This gives Dot an opening to seize Karen’s gun and knock her out with it.

See? This right here is why you don’t let your hostage talk.

Dot heads to a trapdoor in the closet that leads her down into the main floor. In the kitchen, she turns on the stove’s gas and then grabs a hat before exiting the house.

Roy arrives home and stops one of his idiot patriots from lighting a cigarette because apparently he’s the only one who smelled the gas. He orders the men to open all windows and doors and informs that they’ve been played by Nadine.

He heads to Gator’s room and finds nothing but the very same bag of money that he gave to Munch. Roy begins to wonder just what the fuck kind of trouble Gator got himself into now…

What indeed, as Munch leads a blindfolded Gator across an open landscape.

As the feds make their way to the Tillman ranch, Dot, it turns out, has not fully escaped yet. She makes a call. We cut to Lorraine, who is complaining about why be a billionaire if she can’t have somebody killed. I’m sure all billionaires pondered this at some point. Indira gets Dot’s call, and Lorraine immediately wants to talk. She learns from Dot that Roy killed Danish, who came to the ranch to save her.

Dot’s safe for now, but she’s like a fish on the floor. Lorraine informs Dot that she called in some favors and both state and federal officials are on the way. Dot needs to get somewhere safe, but Dot wants to know why Lorraine is choosing now to help. A fair question. Why? Because busybody Indira made Lorraine. Dot knows better- no one can make Lorraine do anything. Also true.

Before Dot can say what she thinks will be her goodbyes, Lorraine promises that no daughter of hers is going to die on the one yard line. Now it’s time to put on her big girl pants and get in the fight. Sensible Indira warns Dot to not get in the fight and to keep her phone so the police can triangulate her location.

She’ll need a safe place to hide where no one will look, but the cavalry needs to arrive fast because there’s an army looking for her. As some familiar drums and cymbals kick in, Dot flees just as the feds, including Agents Joaquin and Meyer, approach the ranch. Farr also arrives as the agents take their positions around the ranch.

He gets a phone call from Indira, who texted him the cell phone number that Dot is using. With that, he can hopefully track her location. Witt found out from the precinct that Indira quit, but it’s not in the way that he thinks. Either way, Witt promises to get Dot.

Agents Joaquin and Meyer interrupt a few officers in the middle of their banter, which is a no-no. The agents know that there’s no chance Roy surrenders, as he talks about 1776 like it’s Six Flags. Come, now. Six Flags doesn’t have lines anywhere near as long as 1776. Farr joins the agents to let them know that the hostage, Dorothy Lyon, is on site and free for now with a live cell phone.

Farr requests permission to lead a team to rescue Dot, whom he credits with saving his life at the service station. The superior puts Dot merely on a list of things to do, while Joaquin and Meyer consider Dot a strong asset in any possible prosecution. This gets her moved to the top of the list.

Tough luck for anyone and anything else on that list. Farr is to coordinate a rescue plan with tactical. Nothing happens without a green light.

Odin, meanwhile, asks Roy if he’s Hitler at the Reichstag or Hitler in the bunker. He can’t just be Hitler practicing his poses in the mirror, can he? Odin knew Roy as a conqueror, but all he sees is a hobo digging a ditch for a piece of ass he couldn’t control when he had the chance. Roy just tells Odin that nobody shoots until he gives the go-ahead.

Okay, so he’s Hitler on a train to Poland, then.

Roy meets the feds, who inform him that they have a warrant to search his land. Roy doesn’t recognize their authority, but the feds are coming in one way or another. Roy asks Ms. Joaquin if she’s ever been in a firefight, but the commander gives Roy two names: Danish Graves and Dorothy Lyon.

Or, as Farr says, Nadine Bump- Roy’s ex-wife. Roy figures that Witt joined the witch hunt, but Agent Meyer points out that witch hunt isn’t witches hunting men, but men killing women to keep them in line. Roy warns the authorities that there’s a battalion of gunslingers with no sense of humor who are coming to penetrate Meyer from behind, so he tells them to leave.

No dice. The commander again advises Roy to move aside so the feds can search. Then maybe this can end peacefully instead of with Roy in handcuffs on the evening news. But this is the path that Roy is on now. It starts at birth and ends here.

This isn’t an idea. God cuts their names into bone and that’s what they become. He blows his trumpet and the walls fall down. The feds came to find Lot’s wife, but she’s already a pillar of salt and isn’t turning back. So the feds can go or stay and die. With that, Roy heads back within his walls.

So what now? Nadine already came in the house and used a phone to call the cavalry, but help arrived way too quickly, so they had to already be on the way. One of Roy’s men drove Danish Grave’s car back to Minnesota, and there was a cell phone inside that probably pinged a tower while it was at the ranch. As such, they know that the lawyer was here and then disappeared.

So the queen of debt makes a call to weaponize the deep state. It’s all justice for the suits and ties. This is war, but Roy’s resources are spread pretty thin and Nadine could jump the line at any point. But it’s more likely she’s somewhere that the others aren’t likely to search, and she’s just waiting for the dust to settle. Roy will check the dugout, while Bowman checks the grave.

Speaking of, Dot arrives at the windmill and pulls a lever before pushing aside the massive tub and hiding underneath. This is where she finds Danish’s body and eyepatch.

At the same time, Roy explores the dugout, passing a carcass along the way. He heads back out into the thick fog and sees two people approaching. It is, indeed, Ole Munch and Gator. But Gator cannot approach. He sold his right to be a man, and Munch knows that Roy must feel immense disappointment.

Ole Munch says ‘forfeit’ and that it tells a lot about a man, the words he uses to describe a double-cross. They’ve heard it all, as if to steal is a man’s lineage and what a man is. Gator apologizes to Roy, saying that Much told him to let go, but he couldn’t.

Munch continues his monologue: when a man gives with one hand and takes with the other, he breaks his promise and must be taught that the hand he steals with must be relieved from him and returned. It’s still a hand, but now it’s without function. With that, Munch shoves Roy into Gator’s arm and vanishes into the thick fog.

Roy, none too worried about Gator’s well-being, says that if there was ever a point to him, it’s gone now. He leaves Gator by his lonesome in the fog.

Witt has his tactical team assembled and manages to get a bead on Dot’s location. Before the agents can proceed, Witt tells them that Dot isn’t some meek woman and could possibly be armed, so if they see her, do not shoot her. This story will not end with them crushing the victim with a helping hand.

Bowman and two other men find Dot’s location and prepare to finish her when they’re suddenly and quickly vanquished. A voice from above informs Dot that the tiger can come out now. After all, fighting a tiger in a cage is not a fair fight.

As the fog clears, Munch pulls Dot above ground and gives her a rifle, which she gladly accepts. Now, he says, the tiger is free. With that, Munch departs and Dot makes her way back towards the ranch as the episode comes to a close.

What an incredible episode this was. With so much buildup towards a firefight at the Tillman ranch, “The Useless Hand” showcased some great tension without the feds or patriot folks firing a single shot at each other. It advanced several characters forward, increased the stakes between Tillman and the rest of the world, and puts us in an exciting position with the season finale approaching next.

Before getting into the weeds of the episode, I want to talk about the excellent use of tone and atmosphere- specifically the use of fog throughout. It grows thicker throughout the episode and adds this sense of uncertainty and suspense that reminded me of two episodes: Season 1’s “Buridan’s Ass” with the snowstorm near the end of that episode.

But between the tension and the fact that we’ve got our protagonist and outside character sort of working towards similar goals, I thought about Season 3’s “Who Rules the Land of Denial?” and the entire sequence of Nikki and Mr. Wrench escaping through the woods. Both of those standout episodes were made even greater by how the environment played into making things feel more tense.

This could’ve taken place during a sunny day and it still would’ve been a great episode, and maybe the weather is just a consequence of filming decisions at the time, but the fog added an extra layer of an often unpredictable episode.

Going off the episode’s title, there’s a thread throughout of characters either feeling close to useless in the face of impossible odds, or in the case of Gator, are deemed no longer useful in Roy’s eyes.

We don’t see the how and when of Munch subduing Gator, and I’m fine with that. Less is more and it’s horrifying enough to see that Munch has indeed paid Gator back with an eye for an eye. Munch is the wild card of the season by far. He has no allegiance and while he’s not a fan of Roy, he’s not out to get him, either. More so when he returns the money that Roy gave him.

But from day one, Gator has been a thorn in Munch’s ass, always antagonizing and then killing Mama Munch. I don’t believe he intended to do that initially. After all, he just wanted Munch dead- not on his father’s orders- and Mama Munch was the bystander who wound up dead. She might have been the one person that Munch had some semblance of caring for, and she died for no reason beyond Gator being an ass.

So it’s time to pay an eye for an eye. Munch has always been one step ahead of Gator, and now he’s left him bound and blind for a father who has no further use for him. Munch just wants Gator to suffer. After all, he could’ve killed him at any point. But leaving him blind makes him useless to Roy. But like Dot, the feds see value in Gator being used against Roy.

Whether that happens I don’t know. Roy’s all but abandoned Gator, and the feds probably don’t consider Gator a priority. If anything, he’s also a target just by being in Roy’s inner circle. Well, less so after all of his screw-ups. But should Gator realize that his father has left him, he may no longer see any value in helping him. Perhaps Dot’s words from the episode prior could work.

Or Gator could just be left blind and fending for himself. Who knows?

Side-note about Gator, but I’ve seen a lot of comparisons of Gator to Oedipus. Looking into it, as I’m not super familiar with the tragedy, I can see the similarities: the son is accused of not being his father’s son, and his eyes are taken from him. According to what I’ve read, Oedipus fulfills a prophecy of killing his father. I don’t see how Gator does that while blind, but if he’s an asset to the feds, he could bring his downfall.

I’m curious about is where Munch goes from here. He’s given Roy his money back and has no dog in this fight. He sees Dot as a fellow prisoner trapped in a cycle, just as he is, so it’s all fair in war to even the playing field by freeing her and giving her back her rifle. He isn’t Dot’s enemy, but he’s also not her ally.

Munch might not be fond of Roy, but he has no reason to see him killed. He and Dot don’t have a common cause in that regard. At the same time, Munch could be a X-factor because he has no allegiances. It’s entirely possible that his last act will be freeing Dot, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him play a role in whittling down Roy’s numbers. Again, he has no reason to, but it could even Dot’s odds.

Even if not, Dot is capable enough to even the odds herself. She again proves how resourceful she is, but it helps that she’s in familiar territory. A prisoner of Roy’s before, she knows where the trapdoors and secret passages are. As Karen pointed out, her presence is inescapable. But Dot is smart enough to try and stay one step ahead of Roy through things like turning on the gas.

She tried getting into Gator’s head and tries a similar tactic with Karen, and it only works because Karen was dumb enough to let Dot get physically closer to her. The keyword is ‘proactive.’ Dot is in danger, but she isn’t waiting to be rescued. She fights and, when free, takes the opportunity to talk to her husband and daughter again. The relief on Dot’s face was brief, but palpable.

For being in this prison, to hear Wayne and Scott again had to be a huge relief. Wayne almost sounds like he’s back to his old self, but we don’t stick around long enough to find out. Nor do we need to since it was enough for the family to be reunited, even if over the phone.

Beyond that, Dot makes sure to call one of the few people she can trust in Indira. It’s telling that she doesn’t call Lorraine, who herself doesn’t and would never go as far as saying that she cares for Dot. As Dot said, no one can make Lorraine do anything. Not even Indira in her new position. But begrudging respect for Dot is probably the most positive affirmation she’s ever gotten from Lorraine all season.

From every situation she’s found herself in this season, Dot has maintained that it’s been nothing serious. The service station? She wasn’t there, she says. It doesn’t require an explanation. But for Lorraine of all people to help? That requires an explanation, but Dot isn’t one to beg for an answer. She’d like to know why Lorraine chose now to help, but won’t spend all day trying to pry an answer out of her.

We don’t get a ton of Indira and Lorraine this week and that’s fine because they’re pulling the strings to get all of the available authorities to Roy’s ranch. Indira’s experience as a now-former police officer gives her experience and intel that Lorraine either doesn’t have or wouldn’t admit that she herself could get.

If there’s anything I wish we got more of, it’s maybe Lorraine reacting to the news that Danish was killed. But there’s so much going on in the episode that we at least get the point that she’s saddened by his death. It’s funny. I’ve been saying how effective this season has been at saying more with less, and here I am wanting to see how hard Danish’s death hits Lorraine.

Even as I write these words, I have to chuckle. For a season where I’ve wanted so much to remain in mystery, Noah Hawley got me asking for more…in the penultimate episode of the season!

Even though Indira is on the sidelines this week, she does her part in communicating with Witt. The two have sort of traded the spotlight, with Witt coming back into focus as we approach the finale. Despite knowing what Dot is capable of, both Witt and Indira want her safe. They see Dot as a person and hostage instead of an asset or item on a list. She’s trapped, but not without help.

I don’t have much to say on the actual standoff itself. I will admit to liking some of the banter between the agents. But no shots were fired and I was much more invested in the ongoing battle between Dot and Roy. The standoff between Roy’s militia and the feds is the centerpiece of the episode, but not what we’ve been building towards this season. Though the use of “YMCA” did make me laugh.

Roy is boxed in. He faces opposition on all sides and even his father-in-law doesn’t have faith in him. Like Dot, Roy is no fool. He smells the gas before any of his men lit their lighter and caused an explosion. He also realizes that while Dot called for help, that help arrived too quickly, so of course she’s getting help from Lorraine. I think part of Roy enjoys this game of cat and mouse between him and Dot.

Again, she’s the one who got away. Karen is practically a placeholder, but Dot provides a real challenge that Roy can’t get from anyone else. He recognizes her abilities, compared to how he stares down federal authorities with contempt. This is the path that Roy has been set on, he says. It ends here.

Whether that’s with him dead or in handcuffs remains to be seen. But despite all of this playing out on Roy’s territory, he’s probably never felt more trapped. It may be his land, but no one has to play by his rules. He could end up being Hitler in the bunker after all.

With the season finale upon is, we’re about to see just what happens when you let a tiger roam free.