Duster season 1 episode 2 ending explained: Who is Jim trying to bury in the desert?

Jim Ellis spends all of Duster season 1 episode 2 tying up loose ends after the Sergeant Groomes, who saw him with Agent Nina Hayes, proves to be a huge problem in his undercover mission.

He asks for help from a mysterious Elvis-fanatic enforcer named Sunglasses to deal with Groomes, but things go sideways.

Two people die in Duster season 1 episode 2, but neither of them is the person Jim wants gone. In the end, Jim is burying Sunglasses's dead body in the desert with the help of his father, but the real enemy that has threatened him in the first place is still alive and kicking.

With Groomes not dead yet, the dirty cop is bound to cause an even bigger problem for Jim. Plus, there's another enemy coming Nina's way, a political character all the way from Washington.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for Duster season 1 episode 2. Reader's discretion is advised.

Duster season 1 episode 2 ending: Jim kills Sunglasses and buries him in the desert

Jim bargains with Sunglasses (Image via Max)

HBO Max's Duster season 1 episode 2 kicked off with a teaser of Jim Ellis in the desert at night attempting to bury a body and a series of mishaps. He can barely carry the body out of his Duster, his shovel breaks, and a mysterious car pulls up. The identity of the dead person and the driver of the other car isn't revealed until the end of the episode.

It turns out that the dead body Jim is trying to get rid of in the desert is Sunglasses, a gangster who wears sunglasses, pretending that he's blind when he isn't. He's not Jim's enemy in Duster season 1 episode 2.

In fact, they are supposed to be working on the same team, but a series of mishaps and someone else dying end in Jim's current predicament.

After the teaser early in Duster season 1 episode 2, the show didn't take long to reveal that the cliffhanger from Duster season 1 episode 1 is going to cause a problem for Jim. Sergeant Groomes threatens him to expose what he's doing with Agent Hayes to Saxton if he doesn't pay him $10,000, money that Jim doesn't have.

When the FBI can't help him come up with the bribe money, he makes a deal with Sunglasses. He wants Sunglasses to deal with Groomes—threaten him—and in exchange, Jim will steal Elvis' blue suede shoes for Sunglasses, who just happens to be an Elvis memorabilia collector.

Sunglasses does his end of the bargain with his right-hand man, who he considers his brother, Charlie.

Sunglasses in Duster season 1 episode 2 (Image via Max)

However, their meet-up with Groomes turns sideways, and the dirty local cop kills Charlie. Sunglasses is distraught, so when Jim hands him Elvis' shoes, fulfilling his end of the bargain, the enforcer demands something more. He wants the shoes plus $3,000. Jim can't afford it, so Sunglasses threatens him by pointing a gun at Jim.

At that point, there's no way out for the getaway driver, so he tosses the shoes at Sunglasses as a distraction before trying to throw a bowling ball at the other man's head. While Jim's plan doesn't involve killing Sunglasses, he has no other choice. The man is bulkier than him and has a gun. They fight throughout the bowling leg until Sunglasses' head gets stuck and crushed by the bowling pinsetter machine.

The end of Duster season 1 episode 2 reveals that it's Sunglasses' dead body that Jim is trying to bury in the teaser. The mysterious car is his father, Wade. It turns out that Wade has seen Jim from the bowling alley and decides to follow him in case he needs help, and he just happens to have a shovel in his car. They also joke about Sunglasses being the best man to do the job they are currently doing.

Is Sergeant Groomes dead in Duster season 1 episode 2?

Episodes of Duster season 1 so far have made it a habit to end in a cliffhanger, teasing something ominous that could bring chaos to the show's getaway driver and FBI agent duo in the next episode. At the end of episode 1, Sergeant Groomes sees Jim sign the affidavit to become an FBI informant.

In Duster season 1 episode 2, he's seen still alive and kicking even after getting shot multiple times. During his altercation with Sunglasses and Charlie, thinking that he has no way out, Groomes takes out his gun with the plan of shooting at the two guys. But Sunglasses and Charlie are faster and manage to shoot him multiple times.

Groomes appears to have been shot dead, but it's all acting. He catches Charlie unaware and shoots him dead just as Sunglasses fires several bullets into him. By that point, there's no way Groomes is still alive, but the end of Duster season 1 episode 2 proves he's a harder man to kill.

Even after bleeding for what appears to be hours, he's still alive, and he manages to call for backup.

EMTs arrive to pick up his wounded body, and while he has a collapsed lung, he's far from dead. It doesn't appear that Groomes will be out of Jim's hair soon. The whole fiasco with Sunglasses might even make him more of a problem for the Duster main characters.

Jim will have to find another way to silence Groomes unless the cop dies of complications en route to the hospital.

Duster season 1 episode 2 teases another hitch in Nina's investigation of Joey's death

The mysterious man from DC in Duster season 1 episode 2 (Image via Max)

Another major cliffhanger in Duster season 1 episode 2 is the introduction of a big player in Agent Nina Hayes' investigation into Joey's death. The last detective in the Saxon case is one called Leland Breen, but with the missing case files, Nina and Awan find other ways to try to get hold of those files.

They sneak their way into an impound area to get to the car that exploded, causing Joey's death, thanks to Awan's lock-picking skills. Nina also approaches Leland's wife, Evelyn, wanting her to ask her husband about the missing files. Evelyn wants nothing to do with the investigation and sends Nina off with a racist remark.

The end of Duster season 1 episode 2, however, teases that Evelyn is a bigger player in the case than Nina realizes. She calls what appears to be a politician in DC, someone she calls Cowboy, about Nina, an FBI agent, snooping around. It turns out that Cowboy has instructed Evelyn to call him and let him know if someone starts asking questions.

Catch Duster season 1 episode 2, along with the previous episodes, streaming on Max.

About the author

Kinette covers beauty and home decor as a lifestyle writer at Sportskeeda. With over 7.5 years experience in writing for diverse platforms, including The Coolist, Snap Knot, Leisure Seeker, and KS Content Studio, Kinette is quite the shapeshifter in the content world and prides herself as a generalist. However, she feels that her greatest strength is her repository of personal expertise and experience, which she combines with extensive research and credible sources, to deliver compelling reportage on beauty, lifestyle, and wellness.

Kinette graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering before venturing into the world of home improvement and decor writing, although her love for skincare soon pushed her into the beauty space. Despite covering a wide range of topics in her writing career, Kinette now leans towards categories she has personal or educational experience in, to offer only the most reliable and insightful reading experience to her audience.

Kinette’s favorite artist is Taylor Swift, whose lyricism and ability to create a vivid picture with deft wordplay she admiresa lot. When not writing and reporting on beauty and lifestyle trends, Kinette loves playing with her dogs, drinking coffee in the morning and experimenting with cocktails in the evening, reading romance novels, and learning about new cultures and languages.

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Edited by Kinette Sumadia