Justified "Brother's Keeper" Review

Every car salesman should pray to God Mag Bennett never walks into their dealership to buy a car. Mags put on a clinic in negotiation this week and made Carol look like a little school girl in the process.

We've been waiting a long time the season to get Boyd, the Bennetts and Raylan all in the same place at the same time and Mags party is just that place. Once again Walton Goggins is outstanding playing Boyd with the quiet confidence of a man who is holding the winning hand. That winning hand happened to be the rights to Arlo's land. We need Boyd to find his confidence and ego once again. Justified and Harlan County are just more interesting when Boyd Crowder is a major player. Is there any chance that the deal struck between Boyd and Mags lasts? Especially with her final words to him "stay out of the weed business that's Bennett territory."

I love Mags and Margo Martindale deserves as much adulation for her performance as Walton Goggins does for playing Boyd. The negotiation scene between Mags, Boyd and Carol showed us a new side of Mags. When it came time to dealing with business, the flamboyant hill billy went away and a cold business woman took her place. You could nearly see Carol shrink when she realized she wasn't dealing with typical mountain folk anymore. Mags was able to put the screws to her all the while knowing the end result. Once Mags had Boyd and Arlo's land on her side, Carol and Black Pike Mining never stood a chance.

The other Bennett I've been itching to see more of is Dickie. We still didn't get a full helping but he did offer a bit of levity during the party. No one else could have pulled off pop and locking during Mags mountain singing.

I think we've all known for a while that when things started to progress with the Bennetts, Coover was going to be the first one to go down. During the opening scene when he overhears his mother talking about his shortcomings, you had to know things were going to spin out of control for Coover. The only question was who was going to get him? He's had several confrontations with Raylan this season, Mags smashed his hand with a hammer for doing something stupid before and now Loretta saw him wearing her daddy's watch. As it turned out it was a combination of Loretta and Raylan. But ultimately it will be Raylan that faces the retribution for Coover's death.

I'm still uncertain about Mags interest in Loretta. Was is purely that she only had boys and saw Loretta as her chance to raise a daughter? The way she turned her emotions off when Raylan wouldn't let her speak to Loretta made it seem as though her motives were something else. I'm guessing this is the last we'll see of Loretta.

With the business between Carol and the Bennetts wrapping up, I was actually glad to see Raylan rebuff Carol's advances. Raylan isn't that guy. He's no saint when it comes to women but his relationship with Winona is still in flux and I don't think he wants to do anything to put it in danger. Carol's failure to seduce Raylan pretty much completed her flop of a trip.

So with Coover dead, a deal struck between with the mining company and Boyd back in business, where are we headed? You know the Bennetts will be coming after Raylan now. My guess is Raylan will actually be facing a two front war as Boyd ramps up his outlaw ways again. I wouldn't be surprised though to see Boyd assisting Raylan as he faces off with the Bennetts. Boyd and Raylan have that relationship like two brothers on opposite sides of law. Even though they may see the world from opposite points of view, they're still joined by a common respect and connection with one another. A few weeks ago I thought maybe the Bennett arc was going to linger in to next season but now I thing we'll see a war progress quickly with a final resolution by season's end.

Now sing us a song Mags.

Random thoughts:

• I missed Chief Deputy Mullen this week. Just like Boyd and Mags, I need my weekly fix of Mullen.
• Every week that passes without seeing Gary or Duffy makes their scene a few weeks ago more bizarre.

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.

Justified "Save My Love" Review

I'm finally getting around to writing this review and I'm exhausted. It's been a long day in which some dick broke into my truck and stole my wife's laptop so let's make this short and to the point.

This week's episode should have had a disclaimer on it that said "Long time fans need only apply." Anyone who hasn't watched the show regularly not only would have been confused by the short scene between Gary and Duffy but they wouldn't have gotten a good sample of what Justified is really like.


I've seen Raylan face gun fire. Stare down the barrel of criminal with bad intentions but I've never been more nervous for him than I was this week as he tried to return the money Winona took from the evidence room without anyone noticing. Stealth and deception definitely aren't strong suits for him. He's prefers to be direct and rely on his ability to be quicker than his opponent. I never got the impression he felt particularly guilty about what he was doing. Committing several felonies. He just seemed annoyed to be put in the position in the first place. It took more work than he would have liked but he and Winona were able to get the money back where it belonged without anyone knowing. Well, except for maybe Chief Deputy Mullen. This incident may not be as over with as it appears.

I was pretty excited to see Rebecca Creskoff show up on Justified this week as the mining companies Vice President Carol Johnson. She's been the only part of Hung worth watching for its entire two seasons. I did find her version of a southern accent kind of distracting but as long as she continues to own scenes with her confidence and sexuality, I can overlook the rest. So, what does she need Boyd for? Well, for most of the episode she claims it's for security but I don't think any of us really believed that line. Her real intentions for Boyd are revealed in the final scene of the episode. She needs someone to get Mags and the Bennett boys out of her way and she believes Boyd is just the man for the job.

There's a moment in the final scene that shows you all you need to know about the brilliance of Walton Goggins in the role of Boyd Crowder. Right after Carol tells Boyd she needs him to deal with Mags and company, without saying a word, Goggins is able to express fear, curiosity and eagerness all in a split second. Next year with Emmy nominations come out, if Walton Goggins isn't at the top of the list then they should just discontinue the award.

As a Justified fan who's been with the show from the beginning, I thought it was a good episode. We got to see a different side of Raylan. We saw him uncharacteristically nervous and completely out of his element sneaking around behind his fellow Marshal's backs. In the end though his intuition and natural ability to read a situation was able to come through during the false bomb threat. It wasn't a typical episode but good none the less.

Random Thoughts:

• Why have I always thought Winona was a lawyer?
• I can always use more Stephen Root. You can give him any name you want but he'll always be Jimmy James to me.
• Two full episodes without the Bennetts is way too many. 

Justified "Blaze of Glory" Review

"When someone is threatening the safety of a woman you care deeply for there is no ends to the lengths you will go to keep that woman safe." Boyd Crowder

Justified decided to take a step sideways this week. Not a step back but sideways to let us explore our hero Raylan and what motivates him. As his relationship with Winona continues to develop it's important to see what he's willing to sacrifice for her and the cracks that divided them before. 

Boyd's little reminder to Raylan is essentially the crux of this week's episode with a little bank robbery thrown in to move our characters further. How far is Raylan willing to go to protect Winona? We saw him willing to put his life on the line to keep Ava safe last season and his bonds with Winona run much deeper. Just as we've seen Boyd is incapable of giving up what he is, a criminal, for Ava, we'll soon witness Raylan is equally incapable to give up being a lawman for Winona. One of life's truths is that we are who we are and the one's who love us have to accept that reality or move on.

My favorite part of the entire episode is the truth in Winona's actions when she is faced with financial pressures and a stash of money she thinks no one knows about. If she had taken a stack of money to deposit the believability of the story would have fallen apart before it started. By taking just one bill to see if it was real was a position nearly everyone could see themselves in. What if no one really knows about this money? This could solve all my problems. Even though she and us know it really wouldn't solve anything. Just as she realizes this herself and tries to leave, a bank robbery sends her little investigation spinning out of control.

When the $100 bill is taken during the robbery, she turns to the only person she can, Raylan. At this point, Boyd's words must be swirling around in his head as Raylan is face with the ethical lengths he'll go to keep Winona safe. Luckily, master bank robber Frank Reisner has his own plans that will tie up the authorities giving Raylan the opportunity to sort things out for Winona without anyone looking over his shoulder.

Reisner is Chief Dupty Mullen's Moby Dick. This one that eluded him thirty years ago before being brought to justice by someone else. Now an old man dying from emphysema, Reisner has enlisted the help of a couple young bucks to get him back into the game. As it turns out the old guy still has something less and a plan to end things on his terms.

The second bank robbery is all classic Raylan being smarter and faster than the average Harlan county criminal. He's able to thwart the robbery without a single shot. Well, that part isn't classic Raylan but the wit and banter with the suspects is. However, he still has the problem of getting his hands on the stolen money and Winona's bill before anyone else.

Mullen finally is able to outfox his old nemesis Reisner when he catches up with him at the airport. Reisner's plan was to fly himself to Mexico while the law was out chasing his young cohorts. If you didn't find yourself laughing at the worlds slowest fugitive chase then you don't find humor in humanity. Just as Reisner is facing mortality and the end of his life, Mullen is facing the mortality of his career. He's been on the job a long time and with agents like Raylan who are excellent at what they do but take an immense amount of supervising and patience, how much longer will he be able to keep up.

Ultimately, Raylan is able to get the stolen money and what could be Winona's rogue bill. He acknowledges that they need to talk about what went down and the position in which she has put him. In there is also the assumption that a discussion about their future together is in short order. He's now knows he'll sacrifice his own ethics for her but how far he'll go is still unknown.

Random Thoughts:

• I missed my Mags Bennett fix this week. I'm not so sure the Bennett stuff is going to find a resolution this season. This season may just be a primer for an explosive third season involving the Bennetts. 
• I don't think there's a relationship on television I enjoy more than Boyd and Raylan. 
• Mullen's ability to match wits with Raylan makes that relationship work on screen. 
• The previews for next week make it obvious we are going to see exactly how far Raylan will go for Winona.
• There is no shortage of dumbass criminals in Harlan County.

Justified "Cottonmouth" Review

At some point every week I'm reminded I never want to piss off Mags Bennett. If a woman is willing to smash her beloved son's fingers with a hammer for disobeying her, imagine what she'd do to a shlub like me. Oh, never mind we've already witnessed the bear trap and poisoned cider scenes. She is one bad lady.

Justified is one bad show too. I thought Justified was one of the better shows on television last season with a terrific but somewhat uneven first year run. This season they've worked out the kinks and have elevated themselves to one of the premier shows on TV along with Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad and Mad Men. So how did they get to this lofty position?

Well this season Raylan is doing real Marshal work instead of running around shooting everyone. He's working cases. He's working towards bringing down the Bennetts but he's also working the individual cases that may or not be connected to the season long story arc of the Bennett clan. They've brought in the Bennetts. Mags is a frightening villain capable of any sort of atrocities. Her sons range from bad to deranged and lack any fear of law enforcement. There are secrets we crave to discover but have only been hinted at so far.

The biggest payoff for this season though has been the evolution of Boyd Crowder. Boyd's character has a depth and sensitivity worthy of our sympathy that he lacked last season. Last season he was pure wild card antagonist. This season he faces moral and ethical dilemmas that affect his and Ava's survival. We've been able to see him work through these issues while trying to find his true self in his choices.

I think that true Boyd is what we finally saw this week. He realizes the only thing he's truly good at is being a criminal. However, he also found there may be a higher calling for a lifetime crook than selfishness and greed. There's giving back to those who care for you. Maybe there can be good gained by evil deeds. True Boyd gave in to the temptations of robbing the mine but when faced with the putting himself in danger or having the blood of an innocent clerk on his hands, he chose to turn his back on the evil doers and give the innocent clerk his life back. In return the clerk (Shelby) looked the other way for his part in the crime. Boyd is smarter and better than most of the criminals Raylan faces from week to week. Combine his intelligence with a conscience and he is now a tremendously complex and interesting character.

Most of the talk this week about Raylan came from him tasering a guy in the nuts. That was funny and I bet painful but that was but a blip on Raylan's day. Chief Deputy Mullen was right when he said Raylan "was fishing with dynamite, trying to see what would float up" in his dealings with the Bennetts. Raylan knows the Bennetts have killed Walt McCready he just can't prove it yet. Still he keeps throwing those sticks of dynamite in the Bennett lake to see what he can stir up. Loretta is the person in the most immediate danger from Raylan's pursuit. Even though Mags has taken her under her tutelage don't think for a minute she wouldn't leverage that girl to get a leg up on Raylan and the authorities. We saw this week that Raylan is aware of the danger he's putting the girl in and offered to rescue her if she's ever in trouble.

If any of the Bennetts are going to do something stupid it's going to be Coover. He's been itching to rub out Raylan since Raylan first stepped foot on their property. Dickie is sadistic and greedy but not prone to the idiotic mistakes Coover is. Maybe his new flat finger will remind him to stay clear of Raylan and any other potential trouble for the family but I doubt it.

Random thoughts:

• I'm still itching to find out the history between the Givens family and the Bennetts. Whatever it is Arlo doesn't want any run ins with the Bennett clan.
• I loved how cool Boyd was throughout the entire robbery compared to his accomplices. He was always three steps ahead of them.
• Every scene between Boyd and Raylan is gold. 
• I loved Boyd's question of what it said about him that he never thought to tell Raylan of what Kyle and company were up to and let him handle it.
• I think Boyd has found a way to help Ava rationalize his involvement with his old lifestyle.
• I'm not all that excited about an episode next week revolving around Winona. She's very nice to look at but I'm just not that interested in Raylan's love life.

Justified "The I of the Storm" Review

Much of what tonight's Justified was about was catching up with Boyd. Not just where he is physically, working in the mines and living with Ava but where he is mentally. Last season his "conversion" seemed a little contrived and insincere but watching his father get shot down by the Miami hit men seems to have had a real effect on Boyd.

He has resolved himself to living a quiet life with Ava as his guide. He works, drinks alone and goes home. But the problem that faces most reformed criminals, especially the good ones, is that someone always wants to get you back in the game. Boyd seems annoyed by Dewey's attempts to get him to help with an oxy robbery and even more so when he's approached by a fellow miner, Kyle.

When Raylan is called in to investigate an abandoned church bus that has been robbed as part of an oxy run his first instinct is to check on Boyd. With the help of Ava, he finds Boyd again drinking alone insistent that he's living a straight life. I think at this point Raylan is just confused as we are whether or not Boyd has honestly changed. His steadfast denial of wrong doing almost appears to be a facade created to shield him from suspicion. Raylan always the bully reminds Boyd the best way to stay out of prison is to help them instead of working against them.

You have to feel for Boyd when the only "friends" he has in the world are lowlifes whose only intentions are to use him for illegal gains. The most useless of all being Dewey. Boyd's struggle for peace presents us with a side we never saw last season. We now have a reason to sympathize with Boyd. You want Boyd to find his peace even though a part of you knows he's only likely to find it in the ground.

In an act completely against Boyd's own ethical code, he calls Raylan to inform him that Dewey had pulled a robbery disguised a Raylan and gave him his whereabouts. Dewey continues to remind me of The Black Widows from the Clint Eastwood movie Every Which Way But Loose. He's a criminal but the kind that can't get out of his own way. Somehow he throws a wrench into every one's lives and usually is only saved because Raylan is there to arrest him.

The best scene with Raylan is by far when Doyle thinks he actually pulled the oxy robbery and tries to strike up a "see no evil" deal. Raylan's interrogation of Doyle's witness is classic and exactly the reason we like Raylan. He gets directly to the point and moves on.

What we learn is that Dickie and Coover are behind the oxy robbery and threatening to disrupt the peace between the Bennetts and the Dixie Mafia. I don't know what would scare me more facing a group that calls themselves the Dixie Mafia or telling Mags I went against her wishes. We know for sure the Bennett boys fear the latter much more.

The episode ends essentially where it began. Boyd drinking alone searching for peace between work and home. His co-worker Kyle urging him to get back into the outlaw business. After being thrown from a moving vehicle I don't think Kyle will make that mistake again. The depth actor Walter Goggins is bringing to Boyd this season is astounding. Without many words or the crazy antics of the character we saw last season Goggins is expressing the pain and struggle Boyd is constantly battling with. Great episode for Boyd and Goggins.

Justified "The Life Inside" Review

Tonight's Justified was kind of like Raising Arizona only less funny and more white trash.

Raylan got back to the business of doing US Marshal work tonight. Charged with transporting a pregnant inmate to her OB/GYN appointment, Raylan looks to have a pretty uneventful day. Yeah right.

The moment they enter the Doctor's office Raylan and everyone watching knows the dirty fella waiting for his wife to show up is going to be a problem. And off we go, fugitive hunting time. The dirty criminal, who we now know as Jess, and his former EMT accomplice take the pregnant fugitive, Cassie to a cabin where they plan to deliver the baby. Unbeknown est to Cassie, Jess has no intentions of letting her go once they get the baby.

Meanwhile, Raylan and his partner Deputy Marshal Gutterson are hard at work trying to figure out who the real father and likely architect to this escape really is. It doesn't take them long to figure out it's an inside job.

Jess's partner Van it turns out isn't all that keen on killing a woman minutes after she gives birth and even less keen on letting Jess cut her baby out while she's still alive. By the time Raylan and Gutterson arrive on the scene Jess has killed Van in a struggle and has a gun on Cassie's unborn child. From here we learn two things, if you shoot a man in the part of the brain Raylan calls the apricot, it's lights out. He has no chance of getting his own shot off. We also learn that Gutterson is a damn fine shot.

So that was the episodic portion of tonight's episode but what about the serial story lines. We get just a glimpse of the Bennetts tonight to remind us who this season's bad guys are. Mags drinks some cider and tries to get close with Loretta. I have to admit Mag's cider looks tasty and I damn sure want to try her apple pie. We also learn there is some history between the Bennetts and Givens.

Raylan and Winona continue to grow closer though neither seems to trust the other completely. I knew there was something I liked about Winona though, Natalie Zea born in Harris County, Texas. I'm all in pulling for the hometown girl. Looks like her latest ex, Gary, has every intention of stealing her from Raylan again though. I don't know how he did it in the first place but if there's one guy I don't want to have to compete with for the affections of a woman, it's Raylan Givens. The dude is witty, smooth and wears the best hat on television.

Boyd continues to claim he's given up his life of crime but as Raylan says "the more you say that the less I believe you." And of course, Ava and Boyd are shacked up together. Ava seems exactly like the type of girl who would hook up with her dead husband's brother. The same brother who recently made several attempts on her life. I guess that's just life in the back woods of Kentucky.

Justified "The Moonshiner War" Review

Season 2 of Justified kicked off tonight and Raylan Givens was just as cool, slick but a little less trigger happy as ever. Before things could really get going though it was time to settle all old business and that meant Miami.

We picked things up with an edited version of the the end of last season's finale. I was hoping there was some way Bo Crowder was going to survive last season mostly because I'm a big MC Gainey fan. It wasn't to be. Boyd set out to find Pilar and exact his revenge for killing his daddy. Boyd's attempt to kill Pilar is thwarted by Raylan and Raylan takes her back to her uncle in Miami to use as a bargaining chip.

I'm I the only one who had flash backs of Niel going after Van Zant in Heat when Raylan showed up at Reyes' glass walled house? Anyway, with the help of the Miami Chief Deputy Marshal the loose ends in Miami were all neatly tied up as Raylan headed home to Kentucky.

It was nice to see a show where an officer/agent actually is held accountable for his actions. Raylan finds himself in paperwork hell for everything that went down with his father and the Crowder clan last season. So when Agent Brooks asks for his help tracking down a sex offender, he jumps at the opportunity.

The show makes a point to address the uncomfortable situation a black female agent finds herself in when questioning these backwoods white criminals. I have a feeling the racial tension will continue to play a part throughout the season.

The search for the sex offender leads Raylan and Agent Brooks to the Bennetts a clan of pot farmers. We've already been introduced to their harsh brand of justice when they make a man put his leg in a bear trap for growing on their land. The Bennetts are led by the matriarch of the clan Mags and her three sons Doyle, Dickie and Coover. Doyle it turns out is a local sheriff. While Dickie played by the always beautifully weird Jeremy Davies is the sadistic seed. Coover is just plain nuts and nearly meets his end tonight when he tries to test Raylan's patience.

The sex offender story is used as a vehicle to introduce us to the new villains in Raylan's life but the fun is all on the horizon. Somehow we made it through and entire episode without Raylan killing anyone. By the looks of it his ex wife, Winona, is looking to rekindle their relationship or at least the physical part of it. Boyd who had gone missing after the encounter with Pilar shows back up at the end of the episode working in a mine. Somehow I doubt we've seen the last of Boyd's criminal ways.

This was an excellent beginning to what I hope is a great second season for Justified. I'm really looking forward to the confrontations with Mags and the Bennett boys, especially Dickie. I love the potential Jeremy Davies brings to that character. Personally, I'd be happy if we've seen the last of Ava. Beyond getting Raylan involved with the Crowders I don't think she brought much to the show. The relationship with Winona is a more interesting subplot.

What were your thoughts on tonight's premier? Are you as excited about the Bennett clan as I am?