Christian
God Loves Us All
The setup for this very first episode of Sons of Thunder: Mi Casa Es Su Casa (Pure Flix) opens up in a Texas border town where Simon visits looking for a job and some rest.
What he finds is much more.
This episode touches on the topic of "us versus them."
How to watch: You can stream Sons of Thunder from Pure Flix, a Christian-based streaming service.
Who is Simon and What is He Doing?
The episode opens up with Simon parking at someone's house while he tells us a little about himself.
He's found Jesus, but Jesus and his biker club didn't go together. He says it's a "liability."
So he's left the club (still to be revealed how) and now he's on a "journey" to atone for his past.
Back to the house, turns out he's at Mike Brighton's house because he found a "tank bag" (motorcycle bag) with a picture of Jesus on it and he's trying to return it.
Not sure about you, but I had to look up what a "tank bag" was on Google.
I'm not sure what this Mike Brighton was thinking, but seeing Simon, I'm not so sure I'm opening that door.
As it turns out, it wasn't the right Mike, so Simon fires up his hog and rides away.
At this point we see Simon is praying to God for some direction, but he didn't get an immediate answer, so he chose his next destination.
We'll soon see that God will use Simon.
Kidnapping (Almost)
So there's Simon just minding his business at a gas station, reading the Word, when two guys in a truck pull up and begin asking about his bike.
The second I saw these two I knew there was some bad business about to go down.
Simon refuses to sell his bike to criminal #1 and then asks if he knows Jesus. Of course he doesn't.
Meanwhile Jake (who we are just learning about) comes out of the store to find his truck blocked by the two criminals.
You just know something bad is about to happen.
And sure enough, one of the guys attacks Jake and the other pulls a gun out on Simon.
Unfortunate for him as Simon grabs the gun and knocks him down.
This leads to the line you may have seen in the trailer:
"I guess no one around here knows Jesus."
So why in the heck did this happen?
Well, it turns out Jake is the son of JM Sterling who owns a lot of border land.
Back at the Ranch
When Simon and Jake drive to the Sterling ranch they are met by Mr. No Nonsense (Mr. Sterling).
Despite hearing that his son was almost kidnapped, he's more upset that Jake was two hours late. Given the dialog, we can believe that Jake isn't exactly an on-time person.
But Mr. Sterling is thankful as he offers Simon some work ($100 a day + room).
Evidently there's lots of work to do because Simon gets off his bike and goes right to work.
Unknown to the working men, there's a female trespasser in the barn.
She's awoken by a large noise and flees the scene, but she leaves her wallet behind.
Some Personal Time & Purpose
After some work Simon is called into the house to talk with Mr. Sterling.
We learn that Mr. Sterling's wife got tired of the ranching life and left him.
Jake stayed with his dad, but the siblings went with mom.
After some sweet tea, Mr. Sterling reveals a key reason why he's still there.
"We all run North like that and pretty soon the Southern border is going to catch us."
So it's apparent he feels a sense of duty to stick it out and protect the country.
Back at the start of the episode we were told that there are kidnappings, murders, etc daily along the border.
We start to get a sense that Mr. Sterling is jaded from all of these experiences.
"As I recall, the Bible tells us to protect the sheep from the wolves."
After Simon tells him that there are sheep on both sides, he replies:
"Oh, I agree, and we're gonna protect our own."
And now we get to the heart of the issue: "us versus them."
Tracking People
After the ranch, we see an unknown man finding the girl's wallet.
Upon opening it, he pulls out a picture showing the girl with a different presumably Mexican man in a cowboy hat.
He rips the picture in half so that only her body is left in the picture and says:
"My Catalina."
Ok, so her name is Catalina and this guy thinks she is his. This may not end well.
Flashback
As the episode progresses, we get a flashback of Simon talking with a woman who's brought him dinner.
He tells her he's out of the club and that he needs to leave town immediately to keep her safe.
A motorcycle pulls up and there's a knock at the door. It's one of the club members looking for Simon.
The flashback ends with Simon waking up with the Bible and a picture of the woman on his chest.
Later in the episode, the second part of this flashback takes place.
The woman is forced to lie about Simon being gone and she tells Simon she wants to go with him, but he is having none of it.
Simon attempts to give her a stack of cash out of a paper bag (all legally obtained I'm sure).
She declines Simon's "dirty money" and this second flashback ends.
What We're Protecting
It's early in the AM (still dark out) when Mr. Sterling sends Jake and Simon out with firearms to patrol the border.
Simon somewhat objects and states that he's not killing anyone.
Mr. Sterling says of course not, but basically states that if someone is trespassing bring them in dead or alive.
Soon, at sunrise, the men arrive at a lookout point and Jake opens up about a past incident involving an attack on him and his dad.
What's interesting about this conversation is Jake says his dad told him to never shoot "one of them" unless he had to.
This story might have been about an attack, but it further cements the "us versus them" mentality.
Hunted
After the story, the men go on patrol and soon discover a man standing on top of truck with some other men nearby.
Simon and Jake use binoculars and quickly find a woman hiding in the brush. It's Catalina.
They correctly figure out that these unknown men are looking for her.
Without missing a beat, Jake charges off to be a hero and Simon takes up a shooting position. Things are about to heat up.
Jake eventually makes it to Catalina.
I'm wondering why she didn't scream when Jake showed up, but she remained quiet. My only guess is she knew he wasn't with those after her.
As the hunters (3), armed with automatic weapons, near Jake and Catalina's position, Simon fires a shot toward the men, which distracts them.
They start to retreat toward the truck as they return fire in the general direction of Simon.
Simon fires another couple of shots and is almost hit a few times as Jake and Catalina make their way back to Simon.
One together, they quickly get away, but the hunters are now on their trail, which leads back to the ranch.
You just know at this point that a standoff is coming.
Standoff & Faith
No sooner did they arrive at the ranch before the hunters showed up.
Everyone retreats inside the garage shop while calling the Sheriff.
Catalina tries telling Mr. Sterling that they are after her, but he isn't hearing it.
He asks her why she didn't go to the police and then she reveals the kicker: they are the police.
Immediately, Mr. Sterling decides this isn't his fight. He wants to give them Catalina, but Simon and Jake step in.
Jake calls his dad a coward, which is a big thing given what we've seen of their relationship.
At this point the Mexican police, who are basically illegally on Mr. Sterling's property at this point, begin to negotiate.
They claimed that if Catalina is turned over, they will leave peacefully. Catalina promptly tells everyone that the men will kill everyone.
Simon, believing that God is on his side, decides to go outside to talk to the men.
This is a good moment in the episode. It shows Simon's faith in God to be with him.
He asks what he can do to resolve matters.
The leader says "nada" and shoots him in the chest.
Hearing the shot, Catalina comes running out of the shop and is immediately told to come along.
Surprisingly, Mr. Sterling runs out and gets between Catalina and the leader. He's told this isn't his fight, but he decided to make it his fight.
He fires two shots at the men in the rear (with the automatic weapons) and is promptly knocked down by the leader.
As the leader moves toward Catalina, we see Simon wake up (looks like the bullet went through his upper chest).
He attacks the leader, taking his gun and knocking him out.
Finally, Jake runs out of the shop with his weapon (all three bad guys are down at this point).
Asylum
In the closing scene, the Sheriff is finally at the ranch and Catalina is in the backseat. We're told she is seeking Asylum and that "if what she says is true, she'll get it."
Mr. Sterling asks to talk to Catalina. He hugs her and asks about her father.
He has clearly had a change of heart. He tells Catalina that he's going to help her with anything that she needs (as he fights back tears).
And in a touching moment, he tells Jake that he did good today and that he's proud of him.
My guess is Jake has heard this either never before or almost never.
Finally, Simon packs up and gets ready to head out toward his next journey.
He turns down his work pay and request that it's put toward Catalina's attorney expenses.
We also got a third flashback where the woman in his past is telling him that she will wait for him while he goes on his journey.
Thoughts
I enjoyed this episode a lot. I think it hit home (at least in the USA), because of the border tensions we have with Mexico.
While border security is important, it's easy for us to dehumanize people on the other side (not just this issue, but any issue). And by dehumanizing those not in our group, it makes it easier for us to take harsher (sometime wrong) action against them.
While I've lived much of my life in a state near the border, so I understand this issue, I've often wondered how hard it would be to actually live at the border.
I'm left wondering how Mr. Sterling will handle his life going forward.
Will he continue to have an "us versus them" mentality or will he soften up some?
Will he decide that the ranch just isn't worth it anymore and go North? Can his relationship with his children get better?
Will he continue to patrol but now talk to those he finds to determine why it is they've broken the law to be on his land?
As to Jake, I'm wondering if he'll have an extra spring in his step now that he knows his dad is proud of him.
And where's Simon off to next?
Until next time ...
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