Editor’s observe: The under incorporates spoilers for Duster Episode 4.
As Duster reaches the midway level of its first season, the plot is shortly thickening. Within the newest episode, “Criminalus Velocitus Tremendous-Sonicus,” Jim Ellis (Josh Holloway) and FBI Agent Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson) discover themselves with one other piece of a puzzle that appears to solely get larger — J.J. Abrams and his thriller bins, proper? This time, they every come throughout the title “Xavier” throughout their investigations into Phoenix mobster Ezra Saxton (Keith David), hinting that there is a larger conspiracy surrounding the affable crime lord. Though Jim and Nina every have their very own private stakes on this investigation, this shared point out to Xavier could even make working collectively simpler for them, as connections start to kind in unlikely locations.
Xavier Is Working With Ezra Saxton, however How Precisely Are They Linked?
Within the collection’ third episode, “You are No Good,” Jim is given an ultimatum by Nina, who wants precise leads into Saxton’s wrongdoings so as to take him down; with FBI management in Phoenix rising ever extra displeased with her presence there, she must ship, and shortly. So Jim works his method by means of Saxton’s operation and finagles his method into driving him to a gathering with some potential Russian companions in Tucson, which Saxton says may have “world implications.” Jim would not get to hear much, solely a Russian mobster telling Saxton: “When your pal, Xavier, says how a lot cash he pays, we set assembly quick!” So plainly Saxton and Xavier deal collectively over some huge cash, and that Xavier is somebody who makes provides others cannot refuse, so to talk.
In “Criminalus Velocitus Tremendous-Sonicus,” Jim studies all this to Nina, however the title Xavier would not ring any bells. She’s already in bother herself after the agent previously assigned to the Saxton investigation, Leland Breen (Michael Bryan French), apparently died by suicide after telling her to drop the case the night time earlier than. Nonetheless, she and her associate, Awan (Asivak Koostachin), look into the whole lot Breen informed her and discover a potential lead: the burnt-out wreck of a automobile left within the desert inside a Navajo reservation. Within the trunk of mentioned automobile, they discover a VHS tape, on which is a recording of Breen telling the viewer to “Expose Xavier and his community and, till then, belief nobody.”
The best way each Jim and Nina individually come throughout references to Xavier is engaging. We’ve not seen him but, and now his title is popping up ever extra ceaselessly, so who precisely is he? Because the starting of the collection, individuals within the FBI have been telling Nina to keep away from Saxton and this investigation, however nobody has ever talked about Xavier, giving the impression that Saxton himself was the large baddie. Now, Breen’s account within the VHS tape provides this a brand new dimension. His saying to “expose Xavier” modifications the whole lot, implying that he’s the man who could have truly been behind the whole lot from the beginning, from the demise of Nina’s father all the way in which again in Baltimore to that of Jim’s brother, Joey Ellis.
Saxton’s Mysterious Connection to Xavier Adjustments His Character on ‘Duster’
From the very begin of Duster, one thing has felt off about Saxton’s character. He simply looks as if too good of an individual to be this vicious crime lord everybody says he’s. We see how he treats everybody in his make use of, how he treats his household, how organized his enterprise is… and, particularly, how he talks about Joey Ellis’ demise. Saxton by no means dances across the topic and, as an alternative, talks brazenly about it with Jim, talking fondly of Joey and saying that his demise was a tragedy. It doesn’t seem to be he was straight concerned with it and even knew it was a deliberate hit. Possibly that is guilt speaking, however Keith David plays him so well, we simply cannot ensure. He shines within the position, imprinting an affable high quality on Saxton that leads us to rule him out as an actual suspect immediately.
In fact, there are many psychopaths on TV that completely disguise their wickedness, and Saxton might be like that, too, but it surely’s simply too arduous to guess on something. Jim himself has this impression, as properly, and is beginning to doubt his boss — not due to the mobster’s character itself, however due to the hyperlinks and references he has discovered thus far, with the whole lot pointing to Saxton. On this sense, Xavier might be the lacking hyperlink. As a substitute of showing how evil Saxton is, nonetheless, proper now it looks like he might be a pawn in Xavier’s bigger community. Though Saxton is all the time handing out cash for Jim to ship to individuals on his payroll, the assembly with the Russian mobsters implies that Xavier stands out as the one who is definitely answerable for the entire operation, not Saxton.
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If that proves to be the case, it could make much more sense with the entire context of Joey’s demise, presumably as somebody who uncovered the entire scheme and discovered simply how deep this rabbit gap goes. With Breen understanding a lot, too, it would not be shocking if it turned out that Joey was his informant all alongside, and died as a result of Xavier discovered about it — which might additionally clarify why Breen went mad after the entire thing, and why his widow, Evelyn (Adrienne Barbeau), continues to be so frightened of Nina reopening her late husband’s case.
Past Paris Gilford and the Cowboy, Xavier Is ‘Duster’s Greatest Thriller Antagonist
One factor that Duster has in frequent with different J.J. Abrams productions is the way it populates its world with unusual and mysterious characters. These are sometimes tied to the collection’ thriller bins — unresolved plot units that affect the story within the current, just like the deaths of Joey Ellis and Nina’s father — and Xavier has simply joined these ranks, too. He’s the third character we both meet or hear about, however about whom we do not know a lot. In “You are No Good,” Jim learns of a lady named Paris Gilford, whom Saxton is aware of personally and who had a direct hand in getting ready the chemical substances to blow up Joey’s automobile. Earlier, in Episode 2, “Suspicious Minds,” Evelyn Breen calls a mysterious man identified solely because the Cowboy (J.R. Yenquer) to let him know that Nina has reopened the FBI case, and he tells her that he “will take care” of Nina, with the Washington, DC skyline behind him.
Proper now, it looks like these three are related. Paris Gilford is clearly conscious that Joey’s demise was a success, however that does not essentially imply that Saxton is, both. She could have been employed by another person to do it, somebody who knew that Saxton had a private connection to Joey and would oppose killing him; somebody like Xavier, presumably. If Joey was certainly Leland Breen’s informant in this investigation again within the day, it could additionally clarify why Evelyn Breen was so afraid of it, with Xavier in all probability having a chokehold over her and Leland to make sure nothing about this entire case will get out, and that it remains buried within the FBI. Whether or not we’re proper or not, that is one hell of a thriller field.
Duster is out there to stream on Max. New episodes air weekly on Thursdays.
