Longmire does not feel like most crime shows.
Robert Taylor plays Walt Longmire, the sheriff of fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming. He is old-school, stubborn, observant, and not especially interested in talking about himself. He carries a gun, drives a beat-up truck, and solves crimes in a place where everybody seems to know everybody else.
That gives the show its basic structure, but the setting is what makes it stand out.
The Wyoming landscape, small-town politics, ranches, reservations, and long distances between people give Longmire a modern-western feel that separates it from the usual police procedural.
Walt is surrounded by a strong group of characters, especially his deputy Vic Moretti, his best friend Henry Standing Bear, and a department full of people with their own ambitions and problems. The cases generally change from episode to episode, but the relationships and larger storylines keep building.
That makes it particularly easy to binge.
You can watch an episode for the mystery, but after a while you are watching because you want to know what happens to Walt and the people around him.
The show also benefits from patience. It is not constantly trying to manufacture a cliffhanger or shock you every ten minutes. It lets the characters, setting, and conflicts develop at their own pace.
That slower rhythm is part of the appeal.
