When Duster began, I was concerned there might be a fundamental power imbalance to its dual-lead setup. The show’s Arizona world seemed so anchored around getaway driver Jim Ellis that I was worried FBI Agent Nina Hayes would always feel like a more tangential character—off in her own world rather than truly central to the series. So I was delighted to find that it’s actually Nina who sits at the center of so much of this first-season finale. She’s the one that Billy and Saxton are focused on interrogating; that Awan, Jessica-Lorraine, and Jim are looking to save; and that Agent Chad Grant is trying to kill. We even open on a flashback that foregrounds her relationship with her father in 1954 Philly.
Nina may have arrived in Phoenix as a bit of a loner, but she’s made an impressive amount of both friends and enemies during her short time in the Grand Canyon State. Where Duster started with the vibe of “starring Lost’s Josh Holloway and introducing Rachel Hilson,” it’s ending as a true two-hander. The show no longer sees Jim and Nina as protagonists of parallel stories but as partners who are willing to risk their lives for one another. As far as season-long arcs go, that’s an unquestionable win.
The rest of this episode is a bit more of a mixed bag—exciting and unexpectedly emotional, but also a tiny bit hindered by where and how Duster wants to leave itself open for a potential second season. Given how episodic this series has been, I expected this finale would wrap up the briefcase/Xavier mystery while leaving most of the character dynamics intact for the future. Instead, it does the opposite. The briefcase and Xavier twist now seem like they could become series-long through-lines, while Saxton’s (seeming, I’ll get into it) death leaves the core cast with a Keith David-sized hole at its center.
If this is Saxton’s swan song, it’s fitting he goes out in an episode about parents and children. In the opening flashback, Nina remembers her father as a loving man who wanted to protect his community and his family from an exploitative criminal. Saxton, however, remembers him as a backstabbing police informant who turned against the longtime friend who helped save his drug store. Perhaps both realities are true.
Regardless, it’s a relief when Nina and Saxton finally have an honest face-to-face conversation—if only because it stops Billy from doing any further waterboarding in the warehouse where he’s kidnapped her (a truly harrowing scene). Saxton doesn’t deny killing Nina’s father, but he does try to get her to see that he’s not just a one-note villain. Nina, meanwhile, tries to convince him that she’s not out for revenge but real justice. A lot of the emotional tension of the episode comes from whether or not they’ll be able to prove those things to each other.
The other big emotional driver of this finale is how much Jim and Nina have truly come to care for one another. They started the season as reluctant partners who could barely have a minute-long parking-lot conversation without driving each other crazy. Yet here he willing turns himself over to Saxton to save Nina’s life. True, he’s got a bigger plan in play (Wade is secretly holding Genesis hostage in her bar and will kill her if Jim doesn’t call by 5 p.m.), but it’s still incredibly sweet to watch Jim and Nina wind up handcuffed together. “Come on, Baltimore, you know I couldn’t just leave you hanging,” Jim tells Nina. “You didn’t have to help me,” she chastises him. “But I’m glad you did.” You really feel the weight of the great chemistry that Holloway and Hilson have built this season.
That weight is important because unlike in the Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid-homage episode, Nina and Jim are once again separated here. Though Wade tells Saxton he’ll do anything for his kid, Saxton wagers that he’s bluffing on the “66 Reno split” and calls Cowboy to have Agent Chad Grant come murder Nina. (He doesn’t want the death of a fed connected to his crew.) Meanwhile, he plans to trade Jim to Greek Sal in exchange for the smoking-gun briefcase Howard Hughes lost last week.
The former setup lets Nina have her own action-heroine moment of the week—a tense, desert-set thriller setpiece that showcases her ingenuity. It’s an exciting sequence, although I do think Agent Chad has been one of the weaker elements of the season. The show telegraphed his villainy so early that I was half waiting for him to be revealed as a secret good guy. The tense final shootout might have been more effective if Agent Chad had been a faux ally to Nina and Awan all season only to turn out to be a baddie here. As is, he got a lot of screen time but never much depth. (What’s his motivation anyway? Just a paycheck from Cowboy?) At least we get the expected but still satisfying moment Awan shows up to take him down—reaffirming the season-long partnership he’s been building with Nina.
As Jim did earlier, Nina rushes back into danger to save her other partner in crime. Although what ultimately changes Saxton’s mind is another act of parenthood. As they’re walking to make the exchange, Jim reveals that Luna is his daughter—not so much as a way to beg for his life but simply as a way to explain that he understands what it’s like to be a parent. Wade may love Genesis as a family friend, but he’ll still kill her if he thinks Saxton has murdered both of his sons. And Saxton won’t be able to live with himself if he knows he got his own child killed.
Though it’s a bit of a bummer that we don’t get one final splashy car chase to end the season, Saxton’s moment of moral clarity at least unfolds with the dignity of an old-fashioned Western. Roy Orbison’s “Crying” plays as Saxton turns his gun on Greek Sal. What follows is a truly brutal shootout in which Nina gets to save Saxton’s life and prove she was telling the truth about wanting justice. Saxton, meanwhile, takes a bullet for Royce and proves he’s not just the simple villain Nina thinks he is but a man who really does love his family.
It’s more complex, character-centric storytelling than I was expecting from this fun-first series. Although it’s somewhat hampered by the show’s unwillingness to give us a moment to process everything we just saw happen. The Saxtons have been such a big part of the season that we could’ve used one final button to wrap up that corner of the show’s universe—like Royce and Genesis squaring off over who gets to inherit Snowbird or just the ensemble mourning the loss of a complicated man. But I do think the show is ever so slightly leaving the door ajar to bring back Keith David next season if it wants to. While Nina tells a distraught Royce “he’s gone,” Jim doesn’t actually explicitly tell Genesis that he’s dead. (He just says, “It’s your pop.”) And why would Royce still be at the hospital if Saxton died onsite at the shootout?
Indeed, the final few minutes of this episode are more interested in keeping doors open than wrapping up thematic loose ends—a choice the showrunners potentially made last minute. In what feels more like a retcon than a well-built twist, Nina’s boss reveals that he’s part of a task force that’s been aware of an in-office conspiracy for more than a year but he was forbidden from telling her about it until now. And there’s clearly been some heavy tweaking to the sunset overlook scene where both clumsy green screen and ADR help Nina reveal that (gasp!) Xavier is actually Jim’s brother Joey, who faked his own death with Saxton’s help. Talk about a lot to process!
While the Xavier/Joey twist is an intriguing surprise, I think ending things with a greater sense of finality might’ve actually been a more effective tease for a second season. If the show had resolved all the Nixon/Cowboy/Xavier stuff here, it would’ve told a complete story on both an episodic and season-long level. As is, it runs the risk of becoming another never-ending mystery-box J.J. Abrams show. Ironically, “we actually know how to end things” is a better season two pitch than “what will Mad Raoul do with the smoking-gun tape?”
Still, those are small qualms with a show that’s really proven itself over the course of this first season. Duster started as a fun throwback series that’s only gotten stronger as the season went along. And, to its credit, this twisty finale even finds a good excuse for Jim and Nina to remain partners—everyone who knew she was a fed got killed in the shootout (R.I.P. Billy); Nina’s got her important new role in the task force; and Izzy reveals she has cancer and needs Jim to stick around town for her and Luna.
Despite the occasional misstep, I love these characters and this world enough that I hope the show gets several more seasons to keep delivering the ’70s fun. And as far as partnerships go, Holloway, Hilson, Abrams, and LaToya Morgan have proven to be quite a groovy match.
Stray observations
- • This week in “It’s the 1970s!”: Saxton’s goons discuss the merits of cheese vs. chocolate fondue.
- • Opening-credits watch: A reel-to-reel tape recorder provides a “finish line” for the Duster to drive through.
- • The costume department really went all out for this finale. Agent Chad’s checkered suit and the looks on Greek Sal’s men are particular highlights.
- • They must have Camille Guaty on apple boxes in her close-ups with Holloway because he absolutely towers over her in that wide shot in the kitchen. Either way, the sexual tension between Izzy and Jim really heats up this week. And poor Dr. David is just left to watch.
- • The only thing it took for Awan to become popular in the field office was to…kill an evil co-worker.
- • Holloway gets a really nice acting moment as Jim sends Izzy back to her post-protest celebration party and then tearfully processes everything she’s just told him about her cancer.
- • I love that Nina dedicated her whole life to becoming an FBI agent to avenge her father, completed that mission during her first month on the job, and then was fully ready to retire. Now that’s career efficiency!
- • Thank you so much for following along with this season of Duster coverage! I had such a blast watching and writing about this show, and I loved seeing you all fall for the series in the comments as well. You can find me over on Bluesky until the show (hopefully) returns again.
