Justified "The Spoil" Review

It's taken us 8 episodes but the wheels are finally moving towards the Harlan County showdown between the Bennetts, Raylan and the mining company we've all been waiting for.

So what's all the fuss about in Bennett, Ky? All we learned tonight is that the mining company wants to mine the land around Bennett and is willing to contract out Boyd to offer protection to those residents willing to sign on the dotted line. If I've got Dickie and Coover coming to my door with an angry animal  in a bag, Boyd's exactly the kind of protection I want. Boyd's job has the added degree of difficulty of being harassed by Bennett Police Chief Doyle Bennett.

We learned that being assigned to protect mining company executive Carol Johnson is a shitty job when you're sober, much less when your severely hung over and fretting over whether or not you boss knows about your ex-wife's involvement with a bag of missing money.

The town hall meeting was terrific for several reasons. If you've ever read up on or watched documentaries on the coal mining industry, you know what a polarizing entity a mining company can be in a community. The company provides jobs, money and a sense of stability but they also ravage the land, prey upon the poverty of their employees and hold them under their thumb. There's a reason no one has ever written a positive song about coal mining. We got to see all the major players featured and at their best in this meeting. Carol attempts to make Raylan appear to be a mining company sympathizer but he quickly turns her attempt on it's ear. Raylan's a former miner but he's educated enough to know the evils of a mining company. His only interest in being at the meeting is to protect Ms. Johnson. Boyd, on the other hand is a mining company employee and is there to convince the towns people that selling their rights is the smart thing to do. Boyd uses every ounce of his backwoods logic to sell the people on the jobs and opportunity the mining company offers. His speech though is no match for the power and charm of Mags Bennett. Mags whips the crowd into a fury over the history of empty promises and the crushed dreams left in a mining company's wake. She invites them all out to a party at her place to solidify their union against the mining company. She even invites Reggie who's already sold out.

As much as Boyd tries to convince people to sell out to the mining company, you can tell there's a piece of him that isn't sold on what he's doing. When he show's up at Arlo's house to sell him, Arlo reminds Boyd of how disappointed his daddy would be in him for doing the mining company's bidding. I think this was the final spark that finally made Boyd look for a way out from under the company and the Bennetts. I come to love the thought of Ava being Boyd's protector. When Dickie and Coover show up to convince Boyd to leave the company Ava emerges with her shotgun and a poor disposition. If Coover wasn't so dumb, he'd know that Ava is absolutely capable of shooting a man. I think the writers missed an opportunity for Boyd to remind the Bennett brothers that it was Ava who shot and killed his own brother. They didn't miss a chance for Ava to shoot and kill Charlie. The nasty creature the boys have been taking around to change peoples mind on selling. After his confrontation with the Bennett boys, Boyd breaks out the maps to try to figure out why the Bennetts want the land so much and by the end of the episode he thinks he's figured it out and a way for him and Ava to get out of the crossfire.

One mystery was finally revealed. Raylan told Carol about the "history" between the Givens and Bennett clans. Who couldn't have guessed it went back to prohibition and bootlegging. The Bennetts were once busted by the feds and blamed it on a tip given to the law by the Givens. This led to a Hatfield and McCoys type of feud that has lasted 80 years. Raylan found himself in the middle of it during a baseball brawl between himself and Dickie. Raylan took a bat and shattered Dickie's leg resulting in the limp Dickie still has.

So here we are with all the major players on the move and five episodes left in the season. Raylan claims that he's not going to get caught in the middle of their fight but Raylan's never been one to avoid trouble and I'm pretty sure Coover will be the first to catch his wrath. It's been a while since Raylan promised to protect Loretta so that's bound to come back soon. We still have that strange meeting between Gary and Duffy to be expounded on. Art's knowledge of what Winona did is still and issue. And Mags, I'm looking forward to seeing a ton of Mags in the coming weeks.

Random Thoughts:

• Where's the Dixie Mafia?
• Boyd just misunderstood Raylan when he said he wouldn't be around to clean up their mess right?
• I couldn't stand Ava last season but in smaller but powerful doses I really like her this season.
• Congratulations to Justified for earning a much deserved Peabody award for excellence in electronic media. I know it's probably not but it should be the precursor to many awards this year.