Did I have any idea that 2025 would be the year we got a pair of truly remarkable men, and I mean emotionally regulated and everything, as a hero and an antihero in a crime thriller set in a gorgeous snow globe? You think of crime thrillers and scenic, atmospheric procedurals, and you can practically sniff the testosterone and the celebration of toxic character traits a mile away. So my Secret Santa this year seems to be Jon Bokenkamp and Richard D’ovidio, with their back-to-basics crime thriller that’s wrapped up its first season this week with “Everything Trying.” And since it would’ve been a betrayal to give away too much about our queen bee and the way she functions, and it would’ve been too obvious to even scratch the surface of what Sidney Scofield is made of, we still barely know her at all by the 10th episode of The Last Frontier. Are we eager to get to know her better, though? You bet! I doubt that her self-reflection would elude us in the new season.
Spoiler Alert
So long, Jacque
It’s not exactly Jacque’s naivety that keeps her so confident even though Sidney and Havlock look awfully chill in her supposed trap. It’s her ego, and boy does she have truckloads of it. That’s why she’s still yapping on about how her precious, vicious Atwater Protocol, the one that exploits and dispatches assets left and right all around the globe, is the reason America is America. Well, in her defence, this only comes up when Sidney and Havlock reveal the terrible surprise they have in store for her. Remember how Havlock has been contacting operatives like Armen Zhdanko, even asking some to fly to Alaska? He’s been planning to have them there when all the skeletons come tumbling out of Jacque’s closet. And here they are. The people–people in the same position as Sidney and Havlock–well, they’ve basically trusted Jacque with their lives by even agreeing to carry out the dangerous missions she assigns them. They’ve taken on whatever they’ve taken on because, foolishly enough, they thought they could trust the CIA to actually look out for the country. True patriots exploited by the usual bloodthirsty capitalist in charge of America’s safekeeping. Isn’t that usually how the story goes anyway? Jacque’s a real class act with her crocodile tears–looks just real enough, so I don’t blame one of the operatives for being distracted by it at the worst moment of his life–the one second that it took for Jacque to stab him through the throat, give her men the opportunity to pull the gun on the agents. So it’s a good thing that Sidney’s run for the control room to upload the Archive to the DNI before Jacque’s team turned the tables on the good guys. The problem is, because Jacque’s a high-ranking official who seldom needs to get her hands dirty, I think most people, including us, have forgotten that she’s a trained CIA agent too, an entirely cold-blooded one at that. So it’s a terrifying sight when she picks up a goddamn ax and heads to Sidney’s room. A clash is inevitable. But Jacque’s turned the power off too. Not only does Sidney need to protect herself from someone who means to kill her with every strike of that ax, she needs to grab the Archive and run. Where would she run off to in the middle of nowhere? So a roaring part of the Nenana dam it is for Jacque and Sidney to face off for one last time. From being close enough to Sidney to be called family to jamming an ice pick into her liver, Jacque’s fallen from great heights. But she’s always been a bottom-feeder, even at the top. So it makes sense that her desperate attempts to keep the world from learning the truth about her gruesome black hat operation takes her further down, all the way into the turbines, I think. No point looking for Jacque Bradford down in the dam now. She’s hopefully torn into as many pieces as the number of people who’re dead because of her orders.
Havlock is in the wind again
Ever since Jacque set foot in Fairbanks, it’s only gotten harder for Frank to keep tabs on Sidney and Havlock. The only real lead he’s gotten to rely on lately is his own talent at pattern recognition. So it’s helpful for Frank and Hutch when Jane passes on the news of the trouble at Nenana dam. But who’s Frank even there for? Jacque’s already gone. And if he hadn’t helped out Havlock, Sidney would’ve died out there. So it’s best for everyone that Frank’s at the scene. Havlock gets to rescue his wife, and his wife is smart enough to know that her near-death situation is the perfect opening for Havlock to bolt. You think he wants to go? Not a chance in hell. Yeah, he’s sticking around for the woman who almost sacrificed him to expose the truth about a corrupt covert operation and save tons of lives. That’s the bar right there. But Sidney and Havlock both know that now that Frank is here, he will not only go out of his way to do everything to save her, but he’ll make sure that everyone around pitches in. And they really gotta pitch in, alright. If it wasn’t for the doctor at the Nenana community stitching up her wound, Sidney wouldn’t have been alive for 5 minutes. Frank almost had Havlock. But you see, Havlock put his money on the right man at the very start when he trusted Frank to look after his wife and Fairbanks as he carried out his mission. That gun Havlock found in Frank’s cellar, how desperately Frank protects his people, and how deeply his people trust him–all of that paints the picture of a law enforcement officer who would always pick doing the right thing over taking the technically legal road. So I don’t think Havlock pulled a trick on Frank at all when he puzzled him with his questions and ran like a stray cat who doesn’t want you to pet it. Frank knows that he will save a life over capturing a fugitive. So neither Sidney, nor Havlock, ever had anything to worry about as long as Frank was around. That’s why it’s all the more meaningful when it comes down to the local blue-eyed sled dogs to haul Sidney down, while Frank plays musher. It’s a dangerous job alright. But Sidney barely has time. The idea is to meet Scooter down near the road that leads to Fairbanks. Frank gets why Scooter would rather watch Sidney die. He loved the people who’re dead because of the stunt Sidney pulled. You see, Frank would’ve sympathized with this sentiment had he fundamentally disagreed with Sidney’s crazy mission. The fact that he practically threatens one of the locals into giving up his truck so that Frank can drive Sidney to the hospital is the first damning sign that Frank’s on board with whatever is wrong with Sidney. She can trust him, and so she does. It doesn’t take long for Havlock to stage a car crash, complete with a charred driver who matches his general physique, made just perfect by the missing molar that Havlock notoriously used to unlock his chains on the plane. Frank doesn’t buy it for a second. Havlock is out there somewhere. He just doesn’t want anyone to look for him anymore.
What does Frank do with Archive 6?
You know Frank. He doesn’t break the rules unless he has to. But he’s always more loyal to people and his values as a man than his badge and his oath. Why wouldn’t a man like that understand why Sidney had to do what she did? She made the right choice when she handed him the Archive on the way to the hospital. While Frank waits for the doctor to tell him that they can, in fact, save Sidney, I bet he’s thinking about what to do with her prized possession. I mean, there’s a lot to think about. Just because Jacque’s gone, that doesn’t mean that someone else who’s in favor of her project and happens to be protective of the CIA’s image won’t come after the person who hands the truth over to the world. So Frank has to get this done as discreetly and as safely as possible. We don’t know this undeniably important man who meets Frank in his office, someone native to Alaska. But if Ted can ask his assistant to tell the governor that he’ll call her back, I think he’s got enough pull to launch an investigation against Langley. But Ted’s political power isn’t what makes him special to Frank. We know how much these people value familiarity. And Ted apparently knew Hutch’s dad pretty well too. So what I can say for sure is that Ted is somebody that Frank deems highly enough to trust with Archive 6. Ted’s yet to know what’s on the disk. But I think that since Frank says it’s serious, he gets the message. It’s absolutely adorable how Hutch is reassured of Ted’s reliability by his faith in Frank. He’s a sweet enough guy to come out and tell Frank that, to him, Frank’s the best a man could get, so the fact that Frank trusts Ted with the investigation into the archive is enough for Hutch. I love how Frank goes ahead and actually shows that he absolutely is a man almost everyone could aspire to be like. Whenever Frank is around, it’s too wholesome a space for any bro-ness to survive for long. He really does appreciate that Hutch is softening up. That’s always a thing to be proud of.
Will Havlock Help Sidney Escape?
Speaking of pride, that’s exactly what Frank feels about Sidney and her intense pursuit for justice. You can’t tell me that he doesn’t feel a fatherly sense of protection and affection for Sidney, especially because she’s so heartbroken over the loss of her dad. But it’s neither sentimentality nor misguided grief that convinces Frank that, at the end of the day, even though she hurt people, Sidney did the right things for the right reasons. She didn’t know she was about to sabotage a plane full of people. And I’m certain that she’s hated herself over the mess she’s created every day after that incident. But while her guilt doesn’t absolve her of her sin, it also doesn’t change the fact that Sidney’s mission has always been justifiable as hell. Frank gets that. He gets that so much that he knows that her dad would’ve gotten it too. Because Sidney’s already been eaten alive by guilt, it instantly affected her when Jacque told her that they were not too dissimilar. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Sidney let herself get brainwashed into doing a lot of wrong things, sure. But she was ripe for manipulation after her father’s death, also devised by Jacque. So Frank understands how easy it is for Sidney to slip into the quicksand of self-loathing once she starts to believe Jacque’s lie. Sidney is not a monster. She’s messed up, needs a lot of therapy, and should certainly keep away from any covert operations for the foreseeable future. But she’s not a monster. This is where The Last Frontier is totally upfront about how it feels about laws and “the book.” Sidney thinks she’s a terrible person who her dad would’ve hated because she broke the rules and hurt a lot of people. But can she say that her father didn’t hurt people for the job as well? Or does the law blur the lines just enough for officers and agents to do awful things without any personal guilt whatsoever? Frank gets it. He gets that “the book” is what they use to justify the pain the cause, but just like that’s necessary in a messed up world like this one, so is Sidney’s mission. Hell, Frank knows better than anyone what it’s like to be an unlawful lawman. It was made especially difficult for Frank to deal with when the convoluted consequences of his actions killed his daughter. But Ruby’s death was a senseless tragedy that, if you really look at it without all the technicalities, wasn’t Frank’s fault at all. But he’s dealt with it. In fact, he’s dealt with it so well that unlike most people would in his position, he’s really come to find himself free from all that toxic, useless guilt that only served to hurt him.
Sidney won’t really have an option but to face the shitstorm that the CIA are about to bring down on her. It’ll start with a closed door court case, and if America is America, it will end with Sidney being tagged a domestic terrorist and a traitor. So I don’t really see why Frank’s so eager to “do the right thing,” confess about the stolen gun, and turn himself in. It won’t serve to do anything other than make his haters feel like they’ve achieved something. And Sarah and Luke couldn’t be further from Frank’s haters. As Frank mops up the bloody remnants of the chaos that’s just stopped crumbling Fairbanks with its bare hands, and Sarah and Luke join him at the cabin, I think things are about to look up for all of them. Sarah and Luke obviously get that none of what happened can be pinned on Frank in any possible way other than if the laws are allowed to have their say. Those darn laws that make it nearly impossible for any institution or person who lives by them to do what’s morally right, often. So Frank’s lucky that his family happens to be more emotionally evolved than the robots who persecute based on “the book.” To hell with it. And to hell with the gun that Frank can now chuck into the water without any remorse or a heavy heart. Alaska has, and always will hold his secret. I’m pretty sure that at the end of the final episode of The Last Frontier, when we see Frank and Sarah embarrass Luke in front of his girlfriend in all the adorable ways, some time has passed between the wrap up of the plane crash fiasco and now. The cabin is all ready, and Frank and his family seem to have gotten past everything that held them back. In a way, Havlock and Sidney play their parts in fixing it all too, no. But even then, Frank can’t be happy to receive a call from the supposedly dead Havlock. Of course he’s out there, and this time, he’s planning yet another big boom that will take up Fairbanks by a storm. And why won’t he, when that’s the only thing that can save Sidney from certain death? Havlock can’t let the prisoner transport van take Sidney away from him. Like he says, he loves his wife. And judging by the smirk on Sidney’s face as she braces for the impact of the attack Havlock and his team are gonna bring down on the officers, she knows just how much.
