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 "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.