Christian
Deer Meets Motorcycle
In the last episode Simon helped out with a family dispute and took off for destination unknown with some home-cooked food—and he learned to pray before eating.
This episode opens up with Simon having a terrible accident. A deer has jumped in front of his motorcycle and he's down on the ground.
I can't even imagine hitting a deer on a motorcycle as hitting one in an SUV is bad enough.
Fortunately for Simon, a woman comes to his rescue.
Still in a bit of shock and with a bike that is seemingly broken, Simon gladly accepts the woman's offer of help—a garage to fix his bike and a place to sleep.
How to watch: You can stream Sons of Thunder from Pure Flix, a Christian-based streaming service.
First Meeting
After the opening scene, we're brought into one of Simon's flashbacks.
This time, he's sitting at the bar with Ringo and another man when a woman, who looks very out of place, walks into the bar.
It's Simon's future girlfriend. We're getting a glimpse into the first time they met.
Apparently she knows Dixie somehow—the woman says she hasn't heard from Dixie in awhile.
She orders up a drink from Dixie and the flashback ends.
Being a Gentleman
While Simon is in the garage attempting to fix his motorcycle, the woman who helped him tells him to come in for lunch when he's done.
She's made good use of the deer that was hit—we see her dropping packages of deer meat into the freezer.
Over some small talk Simon learns that the woman is working the land by herself and she's having trouble finding a good worker.
Simon quickly points out that he wouldn't mind having a job for a few days while he fixes his bike.
As they are about to eat, Simon asks: "Shouldn't we pray first?"
He learns fast.
After the prayer, she goes to show Simon to his room, which is in the same trailer, but Simon objects because she's a single female and he's a male.
Instead, Simon says he's just fine sleeping outside with his bedroll.
Being a gentleman really impresses the woman.
As they go outside and walk we learn that her dad setup the ranch before he passed and that she makes much of her income via hunting—perhaps allowing others to hunt on her land.
Speaking of hunting, later that night while Simon is working in the garage he hears a couple gun shots.
Why are people hunting at night?
As Simon goes out to investigate, he runs into the woman who tells him to go back inside so she doesn't mistake him from a poacher.
Back to the Bar
The previous flashback continues with Ringo asking Dixie about Simon's future girlfriend, who has just stepped away to the restroom.
Turns out, according to Dixie, she's a nurse who "thinks she can save the whole world."
As if we needed more evidence of how evil Ringo is, he orders Dixie to fix up one of his "special drinks."
I can only imagine.
As the flashback ends, Simon is getting some coffee as it's the next morning.
Poachers
After some out-in-the-field work, the woman finds Simon and lets him know that she found the previous night's kill sight.
She wants to know if Simon knows anything about dealing with poachers.
He replies, "I'm not so sure the Lord wants me hunting people again."
Yeah, I'm thinking that's a safe assumption.
She's a bit surprised at the response and wonders what Simon's past is like. She reveals that she doesn't want to harm them, just turn them in.
Later at the house, it looks like Simon has agreed to help because they are looking over a map and plotting where the poaching has happened.
As Simon leaves the house to go searching for the poachers, she gives him a rifle.
He's not sure why he'd need a rifle to deal with the poachers, so she asks him to use it to kill some hogs, which are usually taken care of by the hunters.
While out searching around, Simon finds a rifle shell casing. It looks like he's on the right track.
The Favor
Our next flashback opens up back at the bar with Simon asking Ringo if he remembers that favor he owes for something that happened back at Carson.
Simon asks Ringo to let the woman walk out of the bar and the favor is repaid.
Ringo has another idea though.
If Simon can get her to leave with him, then Ringo will leave her all alone.
We'll have to wait to see how this plays out as the flashback ends here with Simon back at the ranch.
Morning Reading
As Simon is reading the Word, the woman walks up with some coffee, but ignores Simon.
She sees he's reading the Bible and it's clear she has an issue with it.
When Simon tells her that the Lord is merciful, she talks about how his bike is fixed and starts to walk off.
She doesn't want Simon to leave, but it's clear she doesn't want to hear about mercy.
They both set out for another day of working and looking for poachers.
Found Them
And here's the next turn of events.
As Simon is working in the field, he hears gun shots.
This time it seems that the poachers are more brazen and poaching during the day.
After some searching, Simon hears some conversation. It's two armed men, the poachers.
Simon decides to follow the poachers.
As the men retrace their steps they mention how they should have done their deed in the night.
Quick Flashback
We quickly see a continuation of Simon's flashback where the woman comes back to the bar to drink the "special drink."
However, Simon quickly stops her by offering to buy her a better drink.
As her orders two new drinks, the two walk back to a table to talk and the flashback ends.
Following Home
Simon has now followed the two poachers back home.
As he approaches the door of the home, one of the poachers comes out and confronts him—he also tells his wife with a baby to go back inside.
He tells the man that he knows about the poaching of Kelly's deer.
And now, after all this time, we know the woman's name—Kelly.
The man says, "I don't know what you're talking about."
The second man comes outside and we learn that they are brothers and both are unemployed.
After some discussion, we learn that the men know Kelly. In fact, they (Ryan & Brad) used to work for her.
Simon decides that he's there to help the men get in Kelly's favor again, but when he tells them to ask for forgiveness, Brad just laughs.
Brad goes on to tell Simon that Kelly isn't the forgiving type (as we've got a glimpse of already).
As Simon is confronting Brad, who believes everyone else is the problem not him, Brad pulls out a firearm and aims it at Simon.
He accuses Simon of thinking he knows everything.
When Simon starts to talk to him about Jesus, Brad just laughs it off.
Brad isn't willing to come clean & ask for forgiveness, because he could go to jail as a result.
Eventually Brad points the gun at his own head. It's clear that Brad has some issues.
Can You Forgive?
Simon goes back to Kelly's house and tells her that he found the poachers.
As she presses him for names, he tells her that they are just doing it for meat for their families as they have no money.
He talks about how the Bible says to be an open hand for the poor, but she thinks that means being a push over.
And then Kelly brings up a point. The men aren't poor because they lack ability, it's because of their chosen way.
She points out how the men can walk up the hills in the dead of night, stalk a deer and carry it out.
Because of these things, Kelly believes the poachers are perfectly capable of working a real job.
She wants to teach them a lesson they will never forget.
This is a good scene. Is it better to help these poor people by allowing them to steal and their next generations to do the same or to offer employment and then to help more as needed?
Table Talk
Flashing back to the bar, Simon informs the woman that the bar isn't the kind of place a woman like her walks into and casually has a drink.
He goes on to tell her that everyone at the bar, including Dixie, earned their spot.
She asks Simon what he did to earn his spot and that everyone has some good in them, even if it's deeply buried.
And that God wanted to save the whole world.
Simon asks if she really believes that.
Forgiving Continued
Simon approaches Kelly and asks if she's ever been given a second chance.
Her response is that she's given way too many.
She's not focused on what's she's received, but only what she is giving (or lack thereof).
When Simon tells her that the Christian thing to do would be to give them a chance to repay the debt Kelly has a hardened face, but she gives in—as long as they apologize in person.
She agrees that if they meet that condition, she will put them to work—and keep her eyes on them.
Simon quickly heads off to tell Brad and Ryan.
Once there though, Brad quickly realizes that Simon didn't tell Kelly it was him who did the poaching.
Despite pleas from Ryan, Brad isn't going along with the deal. He believes Kelly will double cross them.
Brad really can't see the good in others. Perhaps it's because he is projecting his own ways onto others.
Hardened Heart Leads to Trouble
Soon we see that Ryan is on his way to Kelly to ask for forgiveness but Brad isn't interested.
In fact, he's on the porch polishing his rifle.
As Brad leaves, he quips "I ain't weak enough to give in to anyone else's mercy."
Brad is delighting in himself at this point.
Ryan hops in a Jeep and heads down to Kelly's house where he finds Simon outside reading the Bible.
Simon asks if he knows Jesus (as he is prone to doing to those he meets).
Ryan says he doesn't know Jesus as well as he should.
Simon points out that none of us know Jesus as good as we should because we can always know more.
As Simon proceeds to read Romans 8:1, Kelly shows up.
Kelly gets out of the truck, sees Ryan and yells, "You didn't tell me it would be him!"
So it seems that her forgiveness is conditional on who it is asking for forgiveness, unlike God's forgiveness.
Ryan tries to apologize, but Kelly, who called them thieves, isn't interested in hearing any of it.
We learn that Brad, not Ryan, is the one with the history of stealing, but unfortunately Kelly is applying guilt by association. Thankfully, God doesn't operate the same way.
Simon intervenes and gets Kelly to agree to talk to Ryan and things look like they might be going the right way finally.
But all is not right.
As Simon is giving them space to talk, he notices something in the distance.
"Get Down!," yelled Simon as a rifle shot hit Kelly's truck.
The group is now under fire from a rifleman in the distance.
We soon see it's Brad. His hardened heart has led him to attempt murder.
As he's focusing on killing Kelly, Ryan and Simon sneak away to make their way up the hill to confront him.
Despite Simon's plea to Ryan to stay put, Ryan decides to confront his brother.
Ryan tells him to stop before things get worse, but Brad claims things can't get any worse.
As the brothers talk, Simon sneaks up behind Brad to help take him down.
It looks like Brad was close to ending his own life before Simon got to him.
Final Flashback
To wrap up the flashbacks, we're taken back to the bar where Simon is talking to his future girlfriend about how he's not sure everyone deserves a second chance.
She responds that this is the point and that not even the best person in the world deserves it. You're either lost or found.
Simon tells her that his only concern right now is getting her home in one piece.
She seems interested in Simon.
In the end, they get up together and walk out of the bar.
Brothers' Paths Split
Finally, the police have made it to Kelly's ranch and Ryan has been arrested.
In her report to the police, Kelly elected to leave out the poached deer.
Perhaps her heart is starting to soften as she ends up giving Ryan a chance with a full-time job.
She told Simon it was all because of him, but he rightfully said it was all because of God.
Brad's hard heart blinded him and now he will be in jail for a long time.
As Simon rides off in the distance I can't help to wonder what sort of mess he's about to get into and who he's going to end up helping.
Until next time ...
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