Jim Ellis and Ezra Saxton are in the Duster, speeding along US 93 on their way to Las Vegas. It’s just the two of them for now, and in these moments, Josh Holloway and Keith David alter their portrayals to reflect the father-son-like dynamic in their relationship. Saxton entertains Jim with tales of his past Vegas experiences, alongside Joey Ellis, who was a significant figure in Sax’s organization, unlike his brother. These are stories that Jim is unfamiliar with, stories that paint Joey Ellis as a man with more connections than a switchboard and a level of confidence admired by both mob bosses and showgirls. The scene echoes their journey to Tucson in Duster Episode 3, where Sax’s paternal instincts are evident. (“I loved that boy like he was my own.”) However, Saxton becomes silent when Jim, urged by Agent Hayes, asks if the enigmatic Xavier ever participated in these past Las Vegas adventures. Furthermore, they are interrupted when they discover they have an unexpected passenger. Luna has been in the Duster’s trunk all along.

Luna, Jim’s secret daughter with Izzy, the long-haul trucker who is causing significant problems for Snowbird. Luna, who takes charge before Jim can attempt to defuse the awkward situation. “The ladies work just as hard as the guys,” she tells Sax. “But they also have kids to take care of. Give me one reason why they deserve less.” (Luna!) It’s clear that her argument, influenced by her mom’s public activism, makes an impression on Saxton. 

Eventually, they arrive at their destination. Duster excels at recreating the Las Vegas strip as it was in the 1970s—“First time?” Saxton asks an awe-struck Luna—and as they pull up to the Desert Inn, the series introduces its version of Howard Hughes, the legendary hotel-casino’s most well-known occupant, not just the reclusive billionaire’s Aeromobile. Jim, Sax, and Luna adhere to the expected OCD protocols, observe the Spruce Goose plans framed in the penthouse, and then Hughes (Tom Nelis) makes an appearance. He’s dressed in a tuxedo…and Kleenex boxes for shoes. “You look like him, Joey,” Hughes remarks—“we had a boondoggle or two.” It’s another surprise for Jim. His brother socialized with one of the wealthiest and most influential, if not also one of the most eccentric, individuals in the world?

Here in Episode 7, as we anticipate the season finale, Duster also gives us some resolution on what’s in the metal suitcase. It’s a reel-to-reel tape, stolen directly from the paranoid files of President Richard Nixon and sold to the Russians, who then sold it to Howard Hughes and Ezra Saxton. The recording’s got Nixon ranting about a plan to prop up Blacks, Latinos, and other people of color as a domestic menace to his bloc of white voters – sound familiar? – and with its delivery to Hughes, he will now forward it to the still-unseen Xavier. But while Luna watches Bullit on the suite’s console TV, the billionaire pulls Jim aside for another mindwarper of a revelation. It wasn’t Saxton who orchestrated the attack on Joey, but the CIA. “It was them,” Hughes says. “It’s always been them. Son, what happened to Joey was entirely their doing.”

While Jim was putting the pieces together in Las Vegas, Nina and Awan were south of Phoenix in Chandler, triangulating a pinging ham radio signal. (You gotta love Duster continuing to center popular 1970s tech.) What they hope will lead them to another link in Ezra Saxton’s operational chain instead reveals a dusty ranch home with a basement full of radio equipment, military armaments, and fatigues emblazoned with the insignia of the US Marine Corps’ 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. A basement? In Arizona? But before they can sort it out, a shifty guy arrives. He konks Awan on the skull with the butt of a pistol, makes a phone call. “A fed in the house…what?…he’s not Black, he’s Indian or Mexican or something…” 

Nina gets the drop on this guy, and shoots him when he turns to fire at her. But as she’s checking on Awan, he’s still grumbling through gurgling blood on the floor. “You fucked up,” the guy sneers at Nina. “Xavier knows about you.” And he pulls the pin on a live grenade. Ka-blamm!

And that’s not all. 

While Jim was in Vegas with Saxton, and Nina and Awan were almost getting blown to smithereens, Billy was following his suspicions about “Nina St. James,” the Russian translator. In another really well-crafted scene featuring Corbin Bernsen and Gail O’Grady, Wade Ellis and Charlotte scramble to put Sax’s chief enforcer off the lie they helped craft for Agent Hayes. Which kind of works. Until Billy’s snooping further leads him to a suddenly awoken from a coma Sergeant Groomes, who spills about Nina’s federal agent status and her surreptitious rendezvous with Jim Ellis. It’s another moment when you know Duster got the right guy to play Billy, because Evan Jones actually makes his character look physically ill at the news of a rat inside Snowbird. “All Jim does is bang birds and drive fast. Why would he do something like that?”

Billy knows how to find his answer. We were already worried for Agent Hayes’s safety, since she was returning to the motel without knowing Grant, her rogue FBI colleague, was waiting inside the room to exterminate her. But instead she is accosted right outside the door, where Billy renders her unconscious with that favorite device of so many 70s and 80s TV shows, a rag doused with chloroform.

Duster 8-Tracks for Episode 7:

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.