Spoilers for Anna Pigeon episode 3
Everyone is welcome in Anna Pigeon’s Glacier National Park, including Bethany Lopez played by Wynonna Earp’s Melanie Scrofano. The fragile, prone to putting her foot in her mouth, Christian woman is first introduced in episode 3, “The Preacher.” Fans of the Earp firebrand will find Bethany lacks a similar spark, but she’s fiercely loyal to her husband, Manny (Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz), who’s accused of robbing banks in the area.
With no one else she can trust, Bethany relies on Anna (Tracy Spiridakos) to solve the case and bring the one person she can’t live without back home to her. The investigation opens the door for Bethany to find community outside of church and someone she can count on besides Manny.
Manny Is Framed For Robbery In ‘Anna Pigeon’ Episode 3
The Lopezes came to Glacier to start anew. Manny confesses as much in a group meeting run by Pastor Nelson when he vulnerably admits that he’s been struggling. He loves working as a park ranger, but he’s barely making ends meet and he and Bethany want to start a family.
In the past, Manny would have turned to drugs to take the weight off his shoulders, at least for a little while. Now, he’s trying to lean into his faith. That’s why he’s chosen to be baptized. However, instead of the day being full of peace and renewal, it’s interrupted by rangers using explosives to fell a rotten tree.
As Manny is being spiritually cleansed, one final blast sends a tool box full of money rocketing in the air. Twenties rain down from the heavens like a miracle though it’s actually the start to a case centered on a series of local bank robberies.
A masked man has hit three banks in total. His M.O. is threatening tellers with a picture of their loved ones and using the phrase, “God doesn’t want anyone to die today,” to further manipulate his victims into giving him the cash without alerting the authorities until he’s gone.
When he tries to rob Copperhill bank, it’s on the day Manny asks Anna to lead Pastor Nelson’s group to Heaven’s Gate. He’s supposed to do it himself, but something has come up and he needs to handle it. His lack of elaboration makes Anna suspicious of what he’s actually up to, but she agrees to lead the group.
Later, Manny is arrested by Guthrie, the lead detective on the bank robbery case. She says that she got a tip that the ranger was in the area at the time of the attempted hit at Copperhill. The duffle full of money her officers find in Manny’s rundown car is the smoking gun in her investigation.
Manny swears that he’s innocent. He begs Bethany to believe him as he’s being put in the back of the police car. She tries to assure him that she does and urges him not to say anything, but they’re both distraught and panicked over what’s happening.
Anna can’t believe it either, and she’s even more certain it wasn’t Manny when Zoe (Paulina Alexis) gets back to her about the twenty dollar bill she asked her to look into.
Bethany Clears Manny’s Name
The robberies aren’t Anna’s jurisdiction, but she took a twenty from the scene of the tree blast anyway. Not wanting to have Guthrie laying into her about overstepping her bounds, she had Zoe run the serial number on the bill and her mentee’s findings reveal the money is actually over 20 years old.
Zoe, after falling down a rabbit hole of information, unearths a video from Unsolved Robberies, which details the exploits of a Detroit-based thief dubbed “The Preacher” because he always said, “God doesn’t want anyone to die today,” when speaking to the bank tellers. He was active in 2005 but was never caught.
Remembering a member of Pastor Nelson’s group called him “Motown,” Anna immediately leaps to the faith leader being the robber since he’s from Detroit. She was cynical about religion’s power to change people while leading his group on a hike and even more skeptical of Nelson himself. His seemingly sudden ability to expand his and his wife Darla’s church didn’t help matters.
Anna goes to see Bethany to find out why Manny had a bag full of cash that can be traced back to the previous robberies. She wants to know if he’s been coerced. Bethany, whose interactions with Anna thus far have been painfully awkward and obliviously rude, decides to confide in the ranger. She does so because Manny has nothing but positive and glowing things to say about Anna.
Though Bethany blames her for him getting arrested because Anna didn’t stop it, she knows Anna is the only one who can help them. She swears her to secrecy and then shows her the metal detector they’ve been hiding. Manny didn’t steal the money in his bag, he found it. Devastated, Bethany tells Anna that she’d die without her husband, he’s the only family she has. Anna consoles her.
At the prison, Anna learns from Manny that he’d received a note telling him exactly where he should look to find the money. He figured God wanted him to have it. Manny knew using a metal detector to treasure hunt in the park is illegal, but he’s been searching for a way to give back to Bethany.
She helped him get sober, turn his life around, and supported his effort to become a park ranger. He wants to be able to give her a baby, but they’ve been unsuccessful in conceiving. Manny thought they could use the cash to try for a family through IVF.
Anna swears that she won’t tell anyone what he did. However, to help him, she needs to know if he told anyone else about what he found. He says he told his church group because it’s supposed to be confidential. For her, that’s enough to fully confront Pastor Nelson after trying to get through to Guthrie about Manny’s innocence doesn’t work.
“The Preacher” Is A Copy Cat Robber on ‘Anna Pigeon’
Anna takes Pastor Nelson to task at his church, accusing him of letting Manny take the fall for his crime. But, in an unexpected twist for the ranger, the faith leader is involved in the robberies though as a victim not a perpetrator.
20 years ago, Nelson was the Detroit bank robber she saw in the video Zoe showed her. Someone in town knew his secret and called him. They threatened to tell everyone and ruin his reputation if he didn’t share how he conducted his robberies and managed to get away with them without harming anyone.
He gave the caller the information and the tool box full of old twenty dollar bills was his, but he wasn’t the one who gave Manny the note to a new stash. Nelson didn’t frame him. In fact, someone is hoping to kill the pastor in order to tie up loose ends.
When he and Anna are about to walk down the sidesteps to the church, she abruptly stops him because she notices a trip wire. Explosives have been planted underneath the stairs.
Their presence gives Anna an epiphany that she confirms once she’s spoken to the demolition man assigned to carry out the tree blast in the park. Ken, the church member that Manny’s grown close to and who served as a witness at his baptism, is the new Preacher. He stole those explosives.
He’d access to the church because he was working on its expansion. Ken was also aware of Manny’s money problems and his desperation to provide for his family. It made the ranger a perfect target and fall man.
Nelson backs her theory when she shows him the picture the robber used to threaten Ken’s wife, Lorraine, who works as a teller at Copperhill bank. Ken isn’t in it, just her and their son. That’s because he’s the one who took it.
Lorraine had also tipped off the Preacher, telling him that he couldn’t follow through on his request because the protocols had changed. He beat a quick retreat at the time and no one thought it odd that she’d done that but it’s that change at the bank that turns Lorraine into an accomplice.
Anna knows the couple need money to get out of town and Copperhill bank is the perfect place to hit. She and Pastor Nelson race to the building as she tries to get Guthrie to put jurisdictional possessiveness aside and listen to her.
It doesn’t initially work, so Nelson speeds into the bank, leaving Anna outside to continue to try to convince the detective that Ken is the robber.
Nelson’s surprised to learn Ken blackmailed him because two decades ago he was one of his robbery victims. It bothered him that the pastor didn’t remember him when Ken knew exactly who he was the minute he saw him. He took up the mantle of the Preacher because seeing Nelson made him realize that what he needed was money.
Ken had even talked Lorraine into helping him, but she crumbles under the guilt of the crime when Nelson tries to get them to surrender. Her husband takes the bag she’d filled with money and tries to make a quick escape but when he’s out of the building, Anna tackles him to the ground just as Guthrie and the local cops roll up.
With the real robber in custody, Manny’s released in time for the Ranger and Friends talent show where Bethany gives a sincere thank you to Anna for doing everything she could for them. She embraces her, leading to their first positive interaction and possibly a tentative friendship.
Anna Pigeon airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on USA Network. Follow Sabrina Reed on Forbes for weekly coverage of the series and news about the business of TV. For deeper thoughts on the TV she’s watching, chat with Sabrina on X and Substack.