It’s hard to believe there are a mere handful of episodes
left in the series. The action and dialogue in this episode are intense. I agree with Raylan when he tells Boyd near the
end of the hour, “There’s a part of me that’s going to miss this.”
The hour opens with Raylan taking out the trash of his
father’s old home. He appears to be exorcising the demons of his past. He hauls a military footlocker to the front
lawn. It contains photographs and
letters, in true Justified fashion, he sets it on fire using his handy bottle
of Kentucky bourbon. The only item
Raylan keeps is his father’s dog tags and a key.
Carl is telling Boyd about the loss of Pig in the mineshaft.
He reports that Zachariah is still down
there. Boyd speaks to Ava telling her to pack up once she gets home, saying,
“All this, it’s over!” She reminds him
that he still has her phone. This is her
lifeline to Raylan. Boyd asks, “Do you
trust me?” Ava responds yes, but Boyd keeps the phone as he kisses her goodbye.
Raylan arranges for his parent’s bodies to be disinterred
from the family home. The funeral
director sensitively asks him where he wants the bodies reinterred. “What you’re
moving is not your mother’s remains but rather the idea of her remains.” Raylan
asks for his mom to placed in the Harlan Town Cemetery but doesn’t care what is
done with his father’s remains.
“I don’t know, Potter’s Field?”
Tim arrives and admires Raylan’s cleaning techniques.
(burning the lawn) Tim is frustrated that the leads to capture Ty Walker are
not yielding results. Raylan isn’t
concerned about Walker, he’s off to meet Ava’s uncle Zachariah. Tim asks him
when he can tell the chief that he’ll be back on “job number one.” Raylan
replies, “Getting Boyd Crowder is job
number one.” Ava and Earl return home,
and Walker enters through the kitchen door! Walker greets them, “You locked the door, I
guess it’s just the three of us then!” And then the opening credits roll.
Boyd goes down the mine to meet with Zachariah, he’s
muttering and threatening to stop the operation. Boyd is unmoved, “He ain’t the
first man I’ve lost doing a job and it ain’t over yet; now how much?” Zachariah is taken aback, asks for ten
thousand and then Boyd agrees to pay him an additional five thousand to
continue working on the plan to be ready in two days.
Walker instructs Ava how to tie up Earl. (I assume Walker
isn’t up to the physical task.) As Ava tries to act casual, Walker assures her
that he has removed all the weapons in her house. Walker says, “I’m not here to hurt you are
Boyd. You don’t believe me, I get that. But I’ll explain why as we await Boyd’s
return.” He then asks her to suture his festering shoulder wound.
Raylan goes to pay Zachariah a visit. He leads the
conversation with the mine they worked together twenty-five years ago. Raylan
ask, “Remember a digger named Boyd Crowder?”
Zachariah starts retreating, stating that he knew Raylan’s
father and doesn’t want any dealings with any Givens’, as Raylan shows him his
badge. Raylan asks what he has in the
crate behind him. Zachariah quotes the Bible but Raylan is unimpressed, “What’s
your rate? I know you’re a whore!” Zachariah asks him to leave the property. Raylan persists, “I know Boyd’s paying you, if
I open that crate am I going to find out what for?” Zachariah denies it’s about
money. Raylan scoffs, “It’s always about
money; it’s the one thing every shit apple redneck is guaranteed to take with both
hands and left foot is money!”
“ Maybe you in for a surprise! Maybe this isn’t what you think
it is. Maybe it ain’t going to end the way you think it will!” Zachariah
implores. (Anyone else think he might be an ex-muppet?)
“Move” commands Raylan. Zachariah begins to speak again Raylan punches
him hard in the gut. Raylan enters the
barn and uncovers the explosives in the box. As Raylan exits, Zachariah hits
him and several punches are exchanged until
Zachariah is panting in the dirt. Raylan helps him up and says he isn’t
going to take him in but he’s in deep shit either way.
Wynn Duffy’s muscle lets in Katherine to his suite. (Wynn is
busy changing his guacamole stained shirt.) Wynn complains about his lack of
clean shirts. Mikey tries to engage
Katherine in a conversation about tennis that goes over like a lead balloon.
Mikey leaves in disgrace and Wynn and Katherine begin to discuss the “question
of the season” about who ratted out Grady Hale.
Wynn asks if she remembers a crazy guy named Gordon Keith who’s weapon
of choice was a shotgun. Wynn theorizes that he could be the one who murdered
Simon Poole, the U.S. attorney. Wynn continues that Gordon Keith was
subsequently picked up shoplifting vodka (which he wasn’t known to like) and
then two days later, Grady Hale was murdered in prison and Keith was freed on
bail. Keith worked for Markham, but he’s now dead.
Katherine states that Avery is growing weary of the
situation in Harlan. “His men all dead and the place is crawling with
Marshalls.” Wynn states that he has reached out to Boyd to explain the
seriousness of the situation. Katherine
purrs, “If he doesn’t get it, maybe it doesn’t matter if I marry Avery. I’ll
have access to his bank accounts.” Wynn doesn’t like feeling excluded from the
big payday.
Back in Ava’s kitchen, Ava is suturing Walker and flinches
from the pain, almost shooting Earl. He then laughs and Ava goes back to work. Boyd
comes home and calls out for Ava. Walker emerges from the kitchen stating, “I
just want to talk, if I had wanted to kill you, don’t you think I’d have done
it already?” Boyd snarls, “I stopped guessing about why people do what they do
a long time ago!” He points the gun at Walker. and asks Walker to drop the gun
he has trained on Ava. Walker drops the
gun and Boyd hits him and unleashes his fury at him for threatening Ava. With a gun to his face, Walker blurts out,
“Wait!” Ava says, “He knows the combination to the vault!”
Ugh, commercials!
Walker theorizes that Markham’s soldiers are either dead or
in the wind. Avery is alone and the best chance to steal from him is now. Boyd is still skeptical, “Why do you wanna
help me so bad Mr. Walker?” Walker admits he needs help escaping and the
Crowder’s have intimate knowledge of the landscape. Boyd and Ava raise concerns that this might
be a trap set by Markham. Walker says,
“At some point you have to trust me or shoot me!” Boyd decides, “I will help
you rob that vault!”
Art meets with Katherine at her request. She pours some
bourbon and asks him why he’s still concerned about who ratted out Grady Hale.
Art admits watching too much CSI and that old case is niggling in his head.
Katherine asks what he’ll do is he finds the snitch. Art thinks that the snitch will know who
killed US Attorney Poole. Katherine offers the name she got from Wynn, Gordon
Keith. (conveniently deceased)
Art is still skeptical. Katherine says, “The guy who shot
Grady turned my life to shit and I want something like that to happen to him!”
Art takes the file.
Avery waits alone at the Pizza Portal as Raylan enters.
Raylan observes that he’s in a defensive posture and alone. Avery asks him to
leave, but Raylan scoffs at this as he flashes his badge. Avery is defiant and
states he’s “putting down roots in Harlan.” Raylan observes that “It’s hard to
put down roots in quicksand.” Raylan points out that they have a common enemy
in Boyd. If Avery helps him get Walker,
Raylan will help him acquire the land he needs for his business. Markham
wonders how Raylan proposes to bring in Walker.
“What’s the one thing no shit apple redneck can resist?” (This needs to be a t-shirt!)
Markham goes to a local radio station and offers one hundred
thousand dollars for assistance in finding Walker. Raylan phones Tim so he can hear the pitch.
Raylan gloats, “You’re welcome!” to Tim.
Walker weighs his options for escape with Boyd. Boyd is more concerned with getting into the
vault. Ava and Boyd confer on a plan to
use her connection with Raylan to distract the Marshalls while they hit the
bank. Earl yells there is a car
approaching.
“Raylan Givens!” greets Boyd. (Justified drinking game, one
shot for each “Raylan Givens” preferably with bourbon or moonshine.)
“Surely something good is going on inside!” deduces Raylan.
“You do have the tendency to elope in moment of high drama,
but this ain’t one of those moments!” Boyd exclaims.
“Do you even know when you’re lying anymore or is it just
like blinking?” scoffs Raylan.
An epic pissing match ensues. Raylan confesses he’s been
lying about a number of things keeping him in Harlan but there is only one
thing, Boyd.
Boyd deadpans, “You wanna lean in for a kiss?”
“This is one of them classic stories where the hero gets his
man and then he rides off into the sunset!” Raylan offers.
“Or maybe it’s like another one of them classics where a guy
chases a whale to the end of the earth only to drown for his troubles!” Boyd
observes.
“I got to admit, there is some small part of me that is
going to miss this when it’s over!” Raylan states. (So will many of us!)
Ava appears on the porch and invites Raylan in. Once inside,
Raylan asks Boyd if he’s heard about the reward being offered for Walker. Boyd
looks at Ava and nods, “He’s in the back.” Walker runs out the backdoor and
Raylan shoots him. Walker succumbs to his injuries after complaining about
being shot in the back. “Wanna get shot in the front, then you should have run
towards me!” Raylan quips. Walker tries to say it wasn’t just for the money but
dies before he can complete his thought.
The authorities surround the Crowder property. Boyd has
secured a lawyer and refuses to answer questions about how Ty Walker happened
to be in their kitchen. Raylan asks Boyd if he’d like his reward and he agrees
to go and meet Markham. Markham leads the men downstairs and opens the vault to
withdraw the reward money. It’s funny to see the expressions on both of the
men’s faces as they get a look at the pile of ill-gotten cash.
Boyd muses, “I was born at night, but not last night. You
wanted me to see that stack! What happened to ‘No more lies!’ ” Raylan sighs, “I guess that was lie.” Boyd
says lying comes easy for both of them. “Are you sure you want me to take that
bait? If this fox goes for that rabbit, its all over Raylan.” Boyd exits. Raylan sits and there is a rumbling heard from
Zachariah’s work below.
When Boyd returns to Ava, he’s got a new plan. Using boxes,
he estimates that the vault contains ten million dollars. Ava is wary, thinking that they have enough to
start a new life. Boyd chides her and
asks what kind of deal Raylan had offered her. She admits it was fifty thousand
dollars. Boyd pushes half his reward
money towards her, “Fifty thousand or ten million, you pick.”
Ava and Raylan meet. She
tells him she wants more money. Raylan
presses her about why she was unharmed today and what happened in Bulletville.
Ava says that Raylan could have easily been a lawman or a criminal. Raylan
persists, and Ava tells him that Boyd is planning to get to the vault through
the mine. Raylan calls Rachel moments later and tells her about the plan to use
the mine to get to the vault; then he reveals the bad news, “Ava’s burned.”
Rachel asks if he’s sure and Raylan confirms it.
Raylan walks in the woods in the dark. He uses his father’s
key to open an abandoned shed. As he walks through it, the ghost of Arlo comes
out of the shadows to mock him. Raylan confesses he had been frightened his
whole life of this place, wondering what horrible secrets it contained; but,
it’s nothing but an empty shed. As his fear leaves, so does the ghost of Arlo.
Raylan seems to have made a strange peace with his father.
“I thought about what you said; how it’s not the remains,
but the idea of the remains. There’s none of her left. There is a little bit of
him, but soon that will be gone too.”
Raylan tells the funeral director.
The backhoe starts to remove Raylan’s headstone from the
front yard. The director asks where he’d like his headstone relocated. Raylan sighs, “Your guess is as good as
mine.” It seems an ominous foreshadowing.
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