Three-Inch Teeth

Cates and his group slowly drive up to the Romanowski home, killing the engines when they are within 15 feet of the main door. Johnson gets out of the truck on Cates’s instructions, meant to serve as a decoy. Inside, Liv prepares dinner, alone with Kestrel. Nate is on his way home with groceries. 

Cates knocks at Liv’s front door. She is surprised since they hardly get unannounced visitors, being far from the main road. She deposits Kestrel in her highchair and looks out of the window. She spots Johnson near the porch, waving at her. Assuming that the woman is lost, Liv opens the door. A red light lands on her face, followed by steel jaws. The jaws clamp on Liv’s skull, shaking her. LOR hits her with the bat to leave claw marks on her. Leaving Liv to bleed out, the group flees.

Around the same time, Sheridan drives toward Yarak, Inc., to return the falcons to their mews and feed them. She passes Cates’s departing truck on the way, wondering what it is doing there. Parking her car in the compound, Sheridan heads to the mews but then notices the front door of the main house ajar. She can see Liv crumpled on the threshold, bleeding. Sheridan screams and rushes into the house. She can see Kestrel crying in her highchair. A sobbing Sheridan grabs the toddler.

Back in Cates’s truck, Soledad curses Cates for messing up, while Johnson cries in the backseat. She cannot believe what Cates and LOR did to the young mother. Soledad is angry because the plan was to get Nate first since he is the most dangerous person on their list. Cates assures him that killing Liv first is a blessing in disguise, as her death will destroy Nate anyway. Soledad tells Cates that he knows nothing about Nate. 

As they approach Joe’s house, Soledad gets out of the truck. He is sure that a vengeful Nate will be coming this way and wants to ambush him in the woods. After Soledad leaves, Cates promises Johnson that they will soon finish his business with the Picketts and go to California.

Joe and Marybeth are worried since neither Nate nor Live has answered their phone despite repeated attempts. Just as they decide to head over to the Romanowskis to check up on them, there is a loud, repeated knocking at the door. They expect the worst, but then Sheridan calls out, shouting that she cannot find her key. Joe opens the door, and Sheridan, covered in blood, stumbles in with Kestrel. She quickly tells her parents about finding Liv dead, her face so badly mutilated that Sheridan was unable to find her mouth to administer CPR. A horrified Marybeth retreats to a lounge chair with Kestrel.

Sheridan tells Joe about the car she saw on her way to Yarak, Inc. Joe knows that Cates was behind Liv’s murder and will soon be paying them a visit. He tells Sheridan to secure all the entrances to the house. He turns off all the lights. Marybeth takes Kestrel to a room upstairs, making a game of it with a blanket tent and a flashlight. Joe arms everyone, while Sheridan opens a group chat so that they can alert each other. Joe goes out into the shed to keep watch. He texts Nate that Liv has been killed and that Kestrel is safe; he also tells Nate that he should head over to Joe’s place immediately. Joe then calls Bishop for backup, updating him about Cates’s involvement in the bear attacks. Bishop promises to send a team his way.

When Bishop hangs up on Joe, the person he calls is Soledad. He tells Soledad that Joe knows about the group and that he should flee the spot. Referring to Bishop as “sheriff,” Soledad promises to get back in touch with him, when “[they] activate” (302). Soledad heads away from the house. On the path, he comes across an incoming car driven by an old lady. He flags down the car for a lift, telling the lady that his companions deserted him. The woman—Katy Cotton—allows him to get in, wondering if Soledad knows the game warden’s house. Soledad stabs Cotton dead through the eye, ditches her body, and heads off in her car.

Meanwhile, Joe sees Cates’s pick-up truck approach the house and texts Sheridan and Marybeth. He aims his gun in the truck’s direction through the window of the shed. He sees a red light get pointed at the front door of his house. Just then, a dark shape enters the periphery of Joe’s vision—an actual grizzly bear. The bear crosses over his compound and reenters the woods. Nate appears on the scene, almost in the bear’s footsteps, his face full of sorrow and fury. He heads toward the truck. Dallas and Johnson do not see Nate approach them. Nate shoots at the truck, instantly killing Johnson.

Joe runs out of the shed to stop Nate. LOR scrambles out of the truck and kneels before Nate, begging the man to spare him. Nate shoots LOR dead as well and then shoots at the truck’s open back window where Cates is with the mechanical bear. Nate gets into the truck and drives away with Cates. By the time Joe follows Nate to his compound, Nate has tied Cates to a pole in the yard. Cates is barely alive since Nate has set Zeus II on him repeatedly. Joe tells Nate not to be driven by vengeance and release Cates to the police. Nate tells Joe that he has tortured Cates to get the information that he had partnered with Soledad. Soledad is still out there and will be coming for Nate, Joe, and Geronimo Jones. 

Nate blames himself for Liv’s death since he left his cellphone at the grocery store, missing calls from Joe and Marybeth. He feels that he now needs to go off the grid, back to his own predatory nature. He’ll leave Kestrel with Joe and Marybeth, who he believes will parent her better than he can. As Joe screams “no,” Nate pulls the joystick controlling Zeus II and kills Cates.

Two days later, Joe gets a call from Clay Sr. saying that he has spotted the grizzly on his land. He hit the bear at least once before it got away from him. 

As he drives to Double Diamond, Joe reflects on the grisly events of the last few days. Brodbeck died from his wounds, though Hewitt is still holding on. Ever since Nate left in his jeep after killing Cates, Joe has been in a fevered state of shock and confusion. He still cannot understand why the grizzly appeared in his compound or why it took Bishop an hour to arrive at his home and without any backup. Bishop’s behavior is suspicious. 

The discovery of Katy Cotton’s body was another shock. The fact that she was coming to his home suggests that she wanted to reconcile after all this time. Meanwhile, Soledad, who Joe believed had died in Portland, is still out there. The story linking Soledad and Cotton is bound to reveal itself in time.

Joe, Clay Sr., Gordon, and Cress find the grizzly between two boulders, dead from its injuries. It is clear that it is the bear who attacked Clay Jr. and Brodbeck, as it has an old gunshot wound on its left thigh. Gordon opens the bear’s jaws to check if it is indeed the animal that the Mama Bears dubbed “Tisiphone.” The numbers 413 tattooed on the sow’s lip suggest that the Mama Bears were right all along. Gordon looks up at Cress and Joe. The three nod in agreement and decide to get rid of the tattoo, of which they will never speak again.