Rutherford Falls Season 1, Episode 6 recap: Negotiations

What if Big Larry isn’t the problem? What if it’s the road? That’s the question posed by Nathan and Bobbie during their “regular session” with Mayor Chisenhall in Rutherford Falls Season 1, Episode 6. Side note: There is no regular session. They just show up every week at the same time. Nathan suggests they actually build a traffic tunnel that runs beneath the statue. Dierdre vetoes that idea, as expected.

Nathan refuses to be deterred. He and Bobbie continue brainstorming ways to get Dierdre to negotiate when Kaitlyn calls Nathan to tell him Terry has named the Rutherford company in their lawsuit. She’s sending legal counsel from a firm called Quinn & Hall and demands Nathan to do whatever they tell him to do and nothing else.

The guy Katilyn sends over is a smooth-talker named Blake Jensen (Brian Maierhofer), “I’m here to change the sheets on the bed that you shat.” Nathan and Bobbie are both surprised that the firm only sent one guy. Blake immediately seems like a jerk. For starters, he underestimates Terry, calling him an idiot and even making an offhand racist remark.

Blake’s plan to short-change Terry by only offering $3 million rather than the significant $300 million Terry wants immediately crumbles the second he meets the casino owner. Terry has no problem putting this nepotism brat in his place. By the end of the session, Blake is crying on the phone to his mom about the “mean” guy who ruined his first big meeting. In the words of Bobbie Yang: “I appreciate masculine vulnerability, but what a little b*tch.”

Later, while cleaning up after the meeting, his assistant Jess (Devery Jacobs) points out that if people find out that Terry turned down $3 million, they’re going to be pissed. Terry, who obviously hadn’t thought about it from that angle, realizes they need to keep a lid on this whole thing.

A desperate Nathan turns to Frank (Bill Glass) for assistance since he feels he needs a lawyer that’s on his side. Frank isn’t exactly the best at his job. He doesn’t even know what it means to recuse yourself from a case –– or “impartiality.”

Nathan drowns his sorrow in a burger at the local tavern, although the waiter fails to bring the pickle that typically goes along it. He’s about to go pickle-less when Terry swoops in to save the day, demanding Alex grab a pickle from the restaurant’s secret stash (Terry used to work there himself).

For a rare moment, Terry and Nathan seem to understand each other. Terry is still waiting for the high-brow team of lawyers to arrive for him, and he can see why Nathan would be upset at his company sending him just that one guy, especially one so bad at his job. Before he leaves, Terry pats Nathan on the shoulder and tells him things will work themselves out.

Rutherford Falls Season 1, Episode 6 recap: Reagan turns to her community to solicit donations.

At the cultural center, Josh stops by to visit Reagan. Their cute coffee meetup (Josh remembered Reagan was lactose intolerant and got her oat milk, aw!) is ruined by Wayne (Bobby Wilson) and Sally (Julia Jones) who immediately try to embarrass Reagan in front of Josh. But Reagan makes a good point, sure it’s “super easy” to drag her, but what are they doing for their people?

During lunch at the casino, Reagan and Nathan catch up on things. Nathan tells Reagan not to do that “Reagan” thing she always does where she gives up on a guy without giving him a chance. She automatically assumes that Josh and her won’t work out since he’ll probably leave after his story. But who knows? She should allow things to blossom between them.

When Reagan returns to the cultural center, she’s shocked to see that Wayne and Sally have stepped up to help the cultural center, sort of. They created a Facebook page to get people to help donate Minishonka “artifacts,” but 90% of what they bring is just junk. They bail the second Reagan mentions real work, sorting the crap from the stuff that might actually be usable in the cultural center.

Reagan contacts Josh instead, and he’s more than happy to help. Not long after Josh arrives, so does Terry’s daughter, Maya, who donates her beadwork. She’s created some awesome emoji art and hopes that maybe someday another Minishonka girl could see her work and get inspired. Reagan is touched and happy to have them in the collection.

Josh points out that she wouldn’t have known the meaning of the beadwork if Maya hadn’t explained it, and the same could be true for some of the other items Wayne and Sally found. Maybe if they ask the people who donated items to explain the reasoning behind their donation, they might find out they have more good stuff in that pile than initially appeared.

After chatting with several people in town, Josh and Reagan realize they have some great stuff, including a blender present at the pipeline protests and a sad candle scented “Beware the Mal-Mer,” a reference to a story meant to scare children from taking too long pooping in the woods. “Is that a problem around here?” “Not anymore.”

The cultural center reopening goes extremely well for Reagan with all the new items and the supplemental stories. Nathan arrives to celebrate the special occasion with a fruit bouquet to celebrate his friend’s exhibit and apologize for not being there when she needed assistance. Luckily, she had Josh, who Nathan thinks is great for her.

But mid-way through the exhibit, everyone gets a text to head into the parking lot where a black helicopter labeled Rutherford Inc. touches down. Both Nathan and Terry see it and seem satisfied. “Here we go.”

Rutherford Falls Season 1 is now streaming on Peacock TV.