Marshals: Luke Grimes Explains Kayce & John Dutton Parallels With Tate in Season 2

Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) is finding it increasingly difficult to hold space for both love and criticism of his late father, John Dutton (Kevin Costner) inMarshals Season 2. The more his son is in danger, the more he resents his family’s legacy and the more he can’t see the good in the great lengths he goes to protect his child. Tate (Brecken Merrill) is almost 18, and he remembers his grandfather fondly inMarshals Season 2 Episode 2, which aired on Sunday, October 11, but Grimes tells TV Insider that the Kayce-John, Kayce-Tate parallels will be a primary struggle of the season as they continue to struggle to understand each other. Warning:Marshals spoilers ahead!

In “End of Watch,” a former cop launched a killing spree against those he blamed for sabotaging his career, and he roped his son into the line of fire as well. When the Marshals team caught the son before he could help his dad kill anyone else, Kayce told the young man, “Just because he dragged you through hell doesn’t mean you have to become the devil.” As with most advice Kayce gives, his words were full of underlying meaning tied to his tough family history defending the Dutton Ranch in Yellowstone.

Kayce startedYellowstone estranged from his father because of disagreements over how Kayce, the youngest Dutton sibling, would live his life. John wanted him on the ranch, going so far as to brand him like his employed cowboys; it was a power play to keep Kayce in line. It took years for them to reconcile, but they eventually did, to the point where Kayce, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), and Tate lived on the family’s land.

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However, time didn’t erase the sins of the father, and Kayce is still dealing with the aftermath of the Dutton family legacy in Montana after his father and brother Jamie (Wes Bentley) died, the ranch was sold, and sister Beth (Kelly Reilly) and brother-in-law Rip (Cole Hauser) moved to Texas. And now, inMarshals, Kayce’s living without his support system after Monica’s tragic death in Season 1.

Kayce and Tate visited John’s grave inMarshals Season 2 Episode 2 (see the scene in the video above), and Tate spoke of his grandpa with love and pride. Kayce is having a harder time doing the same. Kayce is terrified that Tate won’t escape the Dutton legacy and will live a life full of violence like him.

Grimes tells TV Insider that it’s getting harder and harder for Kayce not to be angry at John’s memory inMarshals because of this, but he’s also overcome with guilt that he never fully “avenged” his dad after he was murdered.

“A big part of Kayce’s arc in Season 2 is this father-son relationship dynamic with his own father and dealing with that,” Grimes says, “dealing with the fact that Tate’s about to turn 18, and who he’s gonna become, and what he’s gonna wanna do, which we find out through the season. There’s a lot of butting heads with those two, kind of how you saw with Kayce and John.”

A big theme ofMarshals Season 2 is “wrestling with the father-son dynamic,” Grimes explains, “and what kind of father he wants to be versus the father that he had.”

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“And at a certain point,” he adds, “there’s also bit of the fact that he never totally avenged his father’s death. So, there’s some of that to play with this season. It’s a really big part of the whole storyline.”

Why can’t Kayce see any good in the lengths he’ll go to to save his own son?

“Kayce’s pretty hard on himself,” Grimes says in response to our question. Kayce’s military history comes into play here as well, according to the actor. “That’s just part of who he is. With the massive PTSD that he deals with, and a lot of the regret for the things he had to do overseas and at war, I think he’s a guy who, because he wants to be a good person and feels like he’s been born into a family where that might be impossible, he’s always been hard on himself.”

“I would love to see him find some sort of peace, or find a way for a little bit more self-love,” Grimes admits, “but it’s just part of the drama of our show.”

Marshals airs at 8:30/7:30c next week on Sunday, October 18. It returns to 8/7c the following week.

Marshals, Sundays, 8:30/7:30c, CBS