Justified Season 7 episode 8, Dark as a Dungeon

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.

Better Call Saul, episode 6, Five-O

I was excited about this week’s installment which features the long desired back story of one of Breaking Bad’s most interesting characters, Mike Ehrmantraut. The grizzled old cop sure does have a story to tell and it’s both tragic and violent.

The episode opens with a train arriving in Albuquerque, Ehrmantraut enters the station and meets a younger woman. (Whom we saw last week  in the Subaru.) He makes a stop to the women’s restroom where he procures a sanitary pad. He then proceeds to the men’s room to redress a shoulder wound, while grimacing in obvious pain.  Then he leaves to meet the woman.

They are in the woman’s backyard, Erhmantraut pushes a little girl on a swing and she calls him “Pop-pop”.  The woman asks how Mike likes the West and he states he likes the “wide open spaces.”  There is an obvious tension between the two adults. She asks him how he’s been and he reports, “better.”  He tells her that he wants to be there for her and her family.

It’s soon revealed that the woman’s husband has died, he was a cop named Matty.  Her children are too young to really understand their father is dead and keep asking, “Where is Daddy?”  The woman tells Mike about a suspicious phone call her husband received two weeks before his death. She said it was about two thirty am and that her husband was intensely emotional and angry. (Out of character behavior.) She also tells Mike that two weeks before his death he was moody and depressed.  He never disclosed the nature of his problem to her.  She suspects that Mike was the person who called her husband, which Mike denies. This increases the tension between them and shortly afterwards, Mike leaves in a taxicab.

Mike asks the cab driver if he “Knows Albuquerque well?” He replies yes. The next scene is at a veterinarian’s office where Mike’s shoulder is sutured in exchange for cash. (And privacy.) The vet is talkative and offers Mike pain medication and the possibility of work. Mike passes on the offer but the vet gives him a couple of pills free of charge.

The story shifts to the present as Mike stonewalls the investigators and demands that Jimmy be called in to represent him. As Jimmy shows up in his new linen suit and the detectives make fun of him, “You look like Matlock!” Jimmy strikes back, “No, I look like a young Paul Newman playing Matlock!”

Mike explains that he just needs Jimmy to spill coffee on the primary detective’s notebook. Jimmy is incensed by the suggestion that he is morally malleable. Mike growls at Jimmy, “You owe me!”  Jimmy refuses to assist in the “assault” of the investigator but agrees to represent Mike “strictly above board.”

The Philly detectives return and begin to ask questions.  Jimmy quips that he they should assume he knows nothing about Erhmantraut’s past.  The lead detective begin to explain.  Mike was a cop in Philadelphia for thirty years, and his son Matty was a rookie for about two years and nine months when he was killed in an ambush.  Hoffman and Fensky died three months later under similar circumstances. They want to know what Mike knows about these murders, especially since it was reported he saw the two the night they were murdered.  They know Mike was an alcoholic wreak after his son’s death and that he moved West the day the cops were found slain.  Mike refuses to answer the questions as Jimmy exits, he spills the coffee on the lead investigator and Mike pockets his notebook.

Mike and Jimmy talk in the car.  Jimmy asks “How did you know I’d spill the coffee?” Mike just laughs. Jimmy is astounded, “In case you missed it back there, your friends from Philly think you killed two cops!” Mike replies simply, “Yep.” Yep he killed them or yep those investigators think he killed them?

Mike studies the notebook in private. We see the words, intoxicated, retired among other theories. Mike calls his daughter-in-law, and asks if she called the cops.  She says she did call them, and she hoped that finding their killer would help find  Matty’s killer.  She was suspicious Matty was “dirty” since she found cash hidden away.  She’s upset and says she couldn’t come to him because he was unhinged. Mike is furious at her suspicion that Matty was dirty. He yells at her, “My son wasn’t dirty!”

There is a flashback to Philly. Loud music blares from a bar as Mike opens a cop car using a piece of string. Mike enters the bar and starts drinking heavily. Fensky and Hoffman acknowledge him and he raises his glass in return.  He  had told the investigators that “They weren’t my people.”  Mike goes over and grabs the  men in hug and says, “I know, I know it was you!” (0.38 Special’s “Hold on Loosely” blares in the background.)

The bar is closing and the bartender is concerned about Mike, he assures him he’s good and he’ll walk home. He tells the bartender he’s off to New Mexico. As Mike staggers down the street, Hoffman and Fensky approach in their cop car and force him into the back of the car, then they remove his gun. (Supposedly for his own protection.) Mike acts drunk and defenseless. The guys ask what he was talking about back at the bar. He slurs, “You killed him, you killed him for nothing! You killed him because you were scared, scared of what he might do.  And you made it look like a junkie with a gun.  It was you and I’m going to prove it!”  They don’t drive him home, but to an abandoned industrial area.

They force him out of the car, where Mike picks up a revolver (.38 Special?) and hides it. The two discuss how they are going to make it look like Mike committed suicide. “Smart, it’s what I would have done.”

Mike fires, and hits and mortally wounds the first cop, while the second cop attempts to fire Mike’s gun. (He had unloaded it.) Mike approaches the wounded cop and shots him several times more in the back.

Mike is retelling the story to Stacey. He explains that he was dirty, not his son.  Matty went to Mike when he learned that the whole prescient was dirty.  Matty wanted to do the right thing and give the information to Internal Affairs. Mike pleaded with him not to go to Internal Affairs.  Mike knows that cops fear imprisonment and will kill a snitch.  Mike encourages Matty to take the dirty money and live. But Hoffman and Fensky couldn’t trust him, so they killed him.

“My boy was stubborn, my boy was strong and got himself killed.” He admits to her that it was him who called in the middle of the night soon before Matty’s death.  “I admitted that I was dirty and I broke him, I broke my boy.” The sadness and despair are palpable in Mike’s words and he is a tough guy who is completely broken down.

Stacey asks, “Hoffman and Fensky, they killed Matty, who killed them?”

Mike sighs, “You know what happened, the question is, can you live with it?”

Amazing episode. In Breaking Bad, we know the trouble Mike goes to stash away money for his granddaughter, now we can really appreciate the reason why that mattered so much to him.  I believe he was dedicating the rest of his life and money to the memory of his son.

China Dolls by Lisa See

China Dolls by Lisa See

Lisa See, author of “Peony in Love”,” Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” and “Shanghai Girls” has a reputation for writing beautiful epic tales about women’s lives and friendships set in interesting historical backgrounds. Her the latest novel combines the themes of friendship, betrayal and self-discovery.

It begins with the sumptuous backdrop of the 1939 San Francisco International Exposition.  Grace is a young Chinese girl from the Mid-West who’s never seen another Chinese person outside of her small family. Fed up with her father’s abuse she’s runaway with just her dancing talent and a dream.

Almost immediately, Grace meets Helen, a conservative young woman raised by a traditional extended family in San Francisco’s Chinatown. They form a fast friendship and meet another happy- go-lucky girl named Ruby when they try out for an all-Asian dancing revue at a club called the Forbidden City. The woman work and play together and become sisters. Its a dazzingly behind the scenes look at the glittery nightclub world these woman inhabit as "big thigh girls." (A term that other Chinese-Americans use to describe the scandoulous nature of their jobs as dancers.)

The story begins with Grace’s voice then switches from Helen and Ruby, throughout the many years of their friendship.  The reader is offered a unique perspective as each friend gives their account of the same events to reveal their secrets, fears and hopes.  The ubiquitous Chinese fortune cookie saying rings true for these women, “May you live in interesting times”. The optimism of the SF Exposition gives way to the threat of war to the reality of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The woman navigate these changes with imperfect grace and the times bring out the best and worse in each of them.  Each woman is trying to survive the secrets of their past and the trials of the present.  Eventually, there are several acts of betrayal, which will drive the woman apart.  In the end, all secrets will be exposed and the friends will have to decide if they can forgive each other.  It’s an emotional and complicated journey for each of them.

The book explores familiar themes of that time in history, racism and the Japanese interment camps, the changes to the traditional roles of women, homosexuality and promiscuity and marriage. The difference in See’s novel is that one empathizes with each of the woman’s struggle, despite their opposing values. This adds a beautiful texture to the blend of their stories.  Highly recommend and if you liked this subject, read James Ford’s “On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet”, set during the same era in Seattle.

Oleander Girl review

Oleander Girl

Oleander Girl is the latest novel by Chita Banerjee Divakaruni, who also wrote the beautiful Mistress of the Spices and Sister of My Heart.  This book is a unique coming of age story that explores themes of culture, identity and religion.

The story is set in modern day Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).  Korabi has been raised in a crumbling mansion by her traditional Hindu grandparents.  She believes her parents died when she was an infant.  Korabi means oleander, the beautiful but deadly flower.  The girl is now in her late teens and eagerly awaiting her marriage to Rajat.  Rajat is a handsome former “player” who seeks out the shy and traditional Korobi to tame himself and appease his parents.

And they live happily ever after!

Of course not!  There is a another tragedy, which occurs at Korobi’s engagement party that leaves her forever changed.  Soon after, her grandmother exposes a secret that will cause Korobi to question everything she knew about her past.

Rajat's parents are upset and frustrated that Korobi feels she needs to understand her past in order to proceed with the wedding.  Rajat's parents have their own secret problems that they hoped their son’s marriage would solve.

Now all their plans hang in the balance, as Korabi decides to hire a private detective to search for answers.  This journey leads her to far away New York then California.  While Korabi is away, Rajat must deal with his past girlfriend and her continued pursuit of him.  He must decide whether he can accept the changing narrative that Korobi is uncovering in America.  In the end, he must change too.

A beautiful story about finding out that life is never black and white.  Korobi makes astonishing growth as an individual.  Korabi “flowers” and it also opens the eyes of those who love and care for her.  Highly recommend!