The Locked Room - True Detective

First, the good news. 

At this rate will have impossible to match expectations for Season Two.  I can already hear the complaining.

Then the bad news.


1992
Rust spends a lot of time going through microfilm on the hunch this guy has satan-killed people before, they just haven't noticed.  So he finds one with the same markings, and him and Marty run down the lead and the connections lead to a suspect who lives in a boondock-ish area, even for this show.

Marty pees on his lawn after Rust mows it.

2012
I like how Rust's general mood is dictated by how many beers he's had so far.  He's a little more rambly and a little more ranty now that he's finished all his Lone Star.  Not able to sit still, he's now fashioning the cans into little beer can figurines.  If I recall correctly, Rust's interview takes place a few days before Rust's interview, so the detectives have Rust's version coloring how they speak with Marty.  It may be purposeful that they spoke with Rust first, wanting to tailor their questioning of Marty for a specific reason

Questions answered/partially answered

• What does the "throwdown in the woods" refer to?  
• Apparently the marshals, troopers and Rust and Marty heading down to this meth lab of Reggie Ladue.  Nothing like a Walter White whitey tightey gas mask get up to set the scene
• Does "DB" refer to "dead body"? (more a technical question than literary)
• Tried Googling this but no dice  

• Rust is set up to have a lot of demons, obviously, but what are we going to learn about Marty? 
• Well, he has a mistress for one.  And hates his in-laws.  Him and his wife fight and it's not clear she is still in the picture come 2012.  Walter White's "for the good of the family" may be the new euphemism for "exactly opposite of that"
• A jealous streak.  Stating "I'm not a psycho" when all evidence at that moment points toward the contrary
• Marty, very conspicuously, looks at his wedding-ring-less hand after one account

• Will the show stick with this format, telling the story entirely through interviews with Marty and Rust?
• So far, but if we wrap up the old case next week I wouldn't be surprised if there's a shift afterwards.
• Rust is set up to have a lot of demons, obviously, but what are we going to learn about Marty?
• When will they reveal to us the 1992 murderer? 
• It could be next week, it could be the finale, the way this is set up
• Unless there's some interesting timeline adjustments, Episode Four is a big week
• Oh, also, who is doing the murdering?  Both in 1992 and 2012?
• Reggie Ladue?

 New Questions

• Is Reggie the guy?  
• Did he do the painting too?
• What's the revival minster's involvement with the task force?
• Where is all this nonsense with Marty's daughter coming from?
• Where is Marty's wife in 2012?

Thoughts
A lot has been made so far on the show about whether the job makes Rust the way he is, or if the way he is makes him suited for the job.  It seems like he is predisposed to the job which then exacerbates his tendencies.  Reading about synesthesia is particularly interesting, and wholly appropriate for a guy who absorbs an investigation the way he does. 

You are a stranger to yourself. The world is a veil. The face you wear is not your own.

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.

Stranger: Indeed?

Cassilda: Indeed, it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.

Stranger: I wear no mask.

Round up

• I wasn't sure how to put this last week, but apparently the world stopped turning on its axis for a few minutes for everyone else as well.  
• This week's Homicide allusion was referring to the interrogation room as The Box, the setting for so many great scenes from that show.  Marty praises Rust's skill in this particular area.  Rust, to the detectives, describes this in the same somewhat blase manner of his hallucinations.  He gets into the box.  He figures it out.  That's how you do it.  You do it by doing it and it's not a skill, it's the natural state of things.  Frank Pembleton would love this.
• I think for the first time Rust was driving and Marty was in the passenger seat

Justified Season Five Through Episode Three

Boyd

1. Boyd is frustrated with efforts to get Eva out of prison
2. Boyd’s supplier tries to double cross him so he heads to Detroit to confront them
3. Turns out the supplier (Sammy Tonin) operation is in disarray. Tonin is double crossed/murdered by Picker. Boyd gets picker to take him and Duffy to the Canadian wholesalers
4. Canadians offer one final shipment to Boyd. Picker to make introduction to new Mexican wholesaler for Boyd
5. Boyd visits Paxter for help with Evan, becomes enraged by him. Does the murder to him. Wife sees but they are like let’s exchange cash for a NDB here.
6. Sheriff Mooney tries to pin Paxton's beating on Boyd but Paxton's wife, Mara, purposefully does not identify Boyd as the culprit and tries to strike a deal with Boyd
7.  Still no progress on getting Ava out of prison, as the judge is not buyable or threatenable
8. Boyd quells a minor uprising by his dealers by offering free drinks and a timetable for fresh drugs, after Duffy's attempt to do so fails
9.  Sheriff Mooney tracks Mara down to threaten her into identifying Boyd
10. Boyd's shipment gets hijacked and all his people get dead. 
11. Boyd gets angry at Duffy, accusing him of stealing the shipment
12. Boyd and Ava have a falling out of sorts during his visit, where he's more concerned with what information Ava can provide him about the drug caravan robbery than about how they are going to get her out of prison .  She's mad he's not even giving her a "hey holding up okay?" and more or less blaming her (rightfully, but he doesn't need to say it) for the whole situation
13. Which leads to an upset Boyd and Mara having tattoo touching time.  A reminder of Boyd's Aryan beliefs, which I'm sure he still holds but doesn't practice actively.

Crowe

I think the Crowe family is working along the lines of a classic bad guy group, albeit with some combined roles. 

• Darryl: The Big Bad 
• The Haitian: Unsure if this character will continue with the move to Kentucky, but could be The Dragon. The person Darryl directs his idiots to in order to deal with their problem.  Completely unrattled by the marshals.  Advises Darryl on their next cash cow.
• Danny: Could be The Dragon if The Haitian stays in Florida, but most likely The Brute.  If he did take on Dragon responsibilities, I get the sense he'd fail at them.  Does the dirty work taking out Dylan.  Preoccupied for much of his scenes with firecrackers.
• Wendy: The Dark Chick.  A city mouse while the rest of the family are country/swamp mice.  Resourceful (causing the car crash) and able to act like a person in order to speak to the marshals.  This is low bar, but it is relative to the rest of the swamp people
• This is Justified/Elmore Leonard so there isn't a clear Evil Genius, but it appears most of the brain power is supplied by a team effort between Darryl and Wendy (per their conversation they shooed Dylan away from)

1. Dewey: Given a settlement for being operating on and punched in the face a bunch of times
2. Dilly & associate: Kill Coast Guard Officer
3. Darryl & sister: Makes deal with marshals to end his parole and hand over the CubanSister: drives Cuban to the marshals until he takes her hostage, but causes a car accident and escapes
4. Cuban: Tries to escape, but caught up by the marshals and shot and killed 
5. Darryl's parole is lifted due to his cooperation.  Advised by Haitian to get a hand into Dewey's $300k
6. Darryl & Co. surprise Dewey by showing up in Harlan, with a reminder of Dewey's Aryan beliefs
7. Darryl eggs Dewey on to get a rebate from Boyd for Audrey's
8. Boyd turns Dewey right back at Daryl telling him to stand up for himself
9. Darryl is amused and impressed by Dewey's newfound confidence.  He side steps it though and shows Dewey he's sussed out Messer's skimming and eggs Dewey on to kill him

Raylan

1. Goes to Florida to track down Dilly and the Cuba (and can see his kid in the process).  Casually mentions Dewey's windfall in earshot of The Haitian
2. Makes a deal with Darryl to find the Cuban
3. Talks with Sutter about how Sutter would find reasons to avoid his family so he wouldn't have to leave his family at the end the weekend (Raylan then avoids seeing his kid)
4. Goes to meet the Cuban, shoots Cuban when he tries to escape
5. Fails to mention he was in town when Skyping with Winona and the baby 
6. Art asks him about why Sammy Tonin would contact him
7. Art investigates into Sammy
8. Raylan is called to jail by Loretta and also meets her social worker.  Doesn't get Loretta out of jail.  Decides to "have a talk" with her boyfriend, Derrick
9. Raylan moves into the seized house of a Detroit money launderer
10. Raylan tries to bang the social worker
11. Raylan talks to Derrick but ultimately has to rescue him and Loretta from drug dealers
12. Raylan eggs on the money launderer, flaunting that he's living in his house and drinking his wine
13. Rachel and Raylan flip the bangmaid and get her to rile up the money launderer by telling him his gold is stolen, directing his ire at Wynn Duffy (installer of the safe which housed said gold)
14. Raylan offers protection to Duffy as he is a target, even though Raylan engineered the whole situation as a ploy to draw out the money launderer
15. Money launderer tries to kill Duffy, is shot by Mike

Good Intentions - Justified

Justifed Episode 5-03 "Good Intentions"

Written by Benjamin Cavell, has his name on a lot of Justified episodes, like last season's "Ghosts"

Directed by Dean Parisot, of the Season Three finale "Slaughterhouse".  He does comedy too and directed the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "Shaq", which involves Larry David and a Lakers game.

Was wrong about Raylan and TCW, though interrupted by the car alarm, which was helped along by a guy on his was to the batting cages.  We've heard this song before where a meathead is not particularly please with Raylan in some way related to the blonde he is seeing at the moment.  About this time last season, the MMA guy was trying to put a hitch in his Gary Cooper walk.

The bang maid shows up to collect some gold coins at the house Raylan and Rachel are marshal-sitting.  Unfortunately, the bang maid has a pretty bad day overall.  After being caught by Rachel and Raylan, she's almost murdered like four times in various ways by Xander Berkely and it is funny in that dark sick Justified humor that calls to mind Breaking Bad and an ATM falling on someone's head.

 
Time to ratchet up the body count again.  

• Boyd's drug caravan.  We'll call it six guys for now. 

After a bloody first episode, Justified has continued the blood but hasn't gone all the way for a while.  Paxton is beaten half to death.  Then Wade Messer's head is stuffed in a dryer and Daryl is going to peer pressure Dewey into killing him.  Then you have Xander Berkely who may not actually be dead by the quick draw of Mike.  So lot's of people almost getting dead, but just not willing to commit.

When Xander Berkely is shot by Mike, Duffy explains he keeps Mike around because Mike is a stone killer, but I think we all thought it was his employee with benefits.  Turns out he has a quick draw and maybe a gunfighter who can go toe to toe with Raylan, whose been outdrawing folks since he and Wild Bill Hickock took down a ruffian in the early Deadwood days.

So, Dewey Crowe is a hilarious character and probably has the single best line of the entire series.  But you have to feel for the guy.  I don't think he actually has an evil bone in his body, despite allegiances to certain groups.  But he's just a simple minded guy who is easily co-opted and taken advantage of.  He'll fall into whatever group is filling a vaccum.  In another life, he may just as easily wind up with a cult.  With Boyd having taken advantage of him in the sale of Audrey's (of course he did) Dewey is forced to confront him about it as a proxy for Daryl.  Both Boyd and Daryl here are pumping Dewey up full of confidence to deal with his problems, while not exactly equipping him with the right tools and back up to do so.  Unfortunately, even though Dewey knows in his pea brain that nothing anyone is telling him is for his own good, or even a good idea, he still goes back and forth between the two guys, who I'm sure will inevitably clash by season's end, each trying to establish dominance in the holler.

As an aside though, as opportunistic as he is, Daryl is getting money for Dewey that Dewey would not otherwise have.  He is working on Boyd refunding $100k, and while he's taking half, that's $50k mroe that Dewey will have than he did a week ago.  Also, Daryl does seem to have some underworld business sense in that he sussed out Messer's skimming and gave him what for.  So while the pie is split more ways now, it's a bigger pie.  So...maybe it is in Dewey's interest after all to work with this guy?

Seeing Things - True Detective

True Detective Episode 01-02 "Seeing Things"

1992
Marty and Rust are being pressured to make way in the case or make way for the political response to the case.  The political response is a made up task force sent by gubernatorial edict to look into the anti Christian crimes on the basis of linking a few animal cruelty cases to the Dora Lang case.  They get until the end of the month. 

2012
Rust is sussing more and more out of the detectives interviewing him, while Marty seems to be taking things at face value.  He also spends a significant amount of time rationalizing his past behavior.  While Marty has the dark suit and coffee compared to Rust's worn clothes and six pack, Rust seems to be much more at peace with himself.  He works.  He drinks.  He doesn't hallucinate anymore.  That seems to be all he needs.  Marty's not reticent to discuss the case, but he's not as engaging as Rust and is slightly more defensive, which may indicate there are some things not yet uncovered that he wishes to leave un-discussed. He's ready to skip to the end and be done with it. Contrast with Rust2012 who admits "Yeah, I hallucinated, what about it?"

Some answers and partial answers previously sought:

• Will Marty and Rust have differing accounts? 
• So far they are covering different ground it seems, rather than giving accounts from different perspectives on the same particular events.
• What drove Rust from Texas?
• The split from his wife coupled with his custom tailored job has him moving around the country doing different kinds of police work.
• How did Rust's daughter die?
• I'm thinking this may be a similar thing to Jesse's rehab group leader in Breaking Bad
• Rust gives different details to different people, but they all seem to be true and part of the whole story.  So far there's a tricycle and a car accident, but it's unclear if Rust ran her over himself (he seems to have avoided prosecution if so) or if it was a third party
• What happened with Rust to put him where he is now?
• See above.  Also ingesting drugs, chemicals via his undercover and narco work.
• Rust is set up to have a lot of demons, obviously, but what are we going to learn about Marty? 
• Well, he has a mistress for one.  And hates his in-laws.  Him and his wife fight and it's not clear she is still in the picture come 2012.  Walter White's "for the good of the family" may be the new euphemism for "exactly opposite of that".

New Questions

• What does the "throwdown in the woods" refer to? 
• Does "DB" refer to "dead body"? (more a technical question than literary)'
• Is there a cover up that Marty and Rust are complicit in?

The King in Yellow
Thinking the ravings of Dora's diary may have some literary significance, I scribbled down a reference to "Yellow King" and "Carcosa" to look up later.  Sure enough, both appear right away on TVTropes.org which will never ever let me know.  Maybe it's my nature due to Lost to run down the rabbit hole of any literary reference in a television show, but I had to find out.  Here's what I have:

From Wikipedia on "Carcosa":

Fictional, ancient, mysterious.  Viewed only in hindsight (after its destruction) by a character who once lived there. Originally from Ambrose Bierce (full text) * in "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" (Wiki entry) where a man becomes aware he is dead after a sort of lucid dream state.

Rust mentions that he always knows his hallucinations are hallucinations.  He says even when he is hallucinating he knows the difference between what is real and what is not.

* This takes a hot second to read.  It has a feel to Gallapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

It's featured again in The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers as the name of a play that ties together the short stories of the titular book.

From TV Tropes
The King in Yellow "the reading of which either drives people mad or leads them to a dark fate."  Sounds like it could be Rust and Marty, either one taking the madness or darkness.

Because we live in the future, I've read "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" online and downloaded The King in Yellow to my Kindle already in about five seconds.

Round up

• References to a "whodunnit" and "in the red" both evoke Homicide.  Must be a police thing more than a Baltimore thing
• FYI the opposite of a "whodunnit" is a "dunker"
• Rust raising his hand was hilarious.  Maybe the only joke so far, but marvelously done.
• An oddly feminist-ish rant from the girl in charge of the bunny ranch
• Marty doesn't want to bring his work home, which is how he rationalizes his liaisons.  But even so, it's still creeping in...with his daughters setting up a homicide scene with dolls.
• Rust's thoughts on humans politely causing their own extinction from the first episode is touched upon again when he speaks about the hubris it takes to "yank a soul out of non-existence"
• Just as Marty canvassed and Rust profiled last week, Marty wants to find johns and Rust wants to learn more about this tent revival thing, their conventional and unconventional approaches.

Justified Season Five - Through Episode 2

Boyd

1. Boyd is frustrated with efforts to get Eva out of priso
2. Boyd’s supplier tries to double cross him so he heads to Detroit to confront them
3. Turns out the supplier (Sammy Tonin) operation is in disarray. Tonin is double crossed/murdered by Picker. Boyd gets picker to take him and Duffy to the Canadian wholesalers
4. Canadians offer one final shipment to Boyd. Picker to make introduction to new Mexican wholesaler for Boyd
5. Boyd visits Paxter for help with Evan, becomes enraged by him. Does the murder to him. Wife sees but they are like let’s exchange cash for a NDB here.
6. Sheriff Mooney tries to pin Paxton's beating on Boyd but Paxton's wife, Mara, purposefully does not identify Boyd as the culprit and tries to strike a deal with Boyd
7. Boyd quells a minor uprising by his dealers by offering free drinks and a timetable for fresh drugs, after Duffy's attempt to do so fails
8.  Sheriff Mooney tracks Mara down to threaten her into identifying Boyd
9. Boyd's shipment gets hijacked and all his people get dead.

Crowe

I think the Crowe family is working along the lines of a classic bad guy group, albeit with some combined roles. 

• Darryl: The Big Bad 
• The Haitian: Unsure if this character will continue with the move to Kentucky, but could be The Dragon. The person Darryl directs his idiots to in order to deal with their problem.  Completely unrattled by the marshals.  Advises Darryl on their next cash cow.
• Danny: Could be The Dragon if The Haitian stays in Florida, but most likely The Brute.  If he did take on Dragon responsibilities, I get the sense he'd fail at them.  Does the dirty work taking out Dylan.  Preoccupied for much of his scenes with firecrackers.
• Wendy: The Dark Chick.  A city mouse while the rest of the family are country/swamp mice.  Resourceful (causing the car crash) and able to act like a person in order to speak to the marshals.  This is low bar, but it is relative to the rest of the swamp people
• This is Justified/Elmore Leonard so there isn't a clear Evil Genius, but it appears most of the brain power is supplied by a team effort between Darryl and Wendy (per their conversation they shooed Dylan away from)

1. Dewey: Given a settlement for being operating on and punched in the face a bunch of times
2. Dilly & associate: Kill Coast Guard Officer
3. Darryl & sister: Makes deal with marshals to end his parole and hand over the CubanSister: drives Cuban to the marshals until he takes her hostage, but causes a car accident and escapes
4. Cuban: Tries to escape, but caught up by the marshals and shot and killed 
5. Darryl's parole is lifted due to his cooperation.  Advised by Haitian to get a hand into Dewey's $300k
6. Darryl & Co. surprise Dewey by showing up in Harlan

Raylan

1. Goes to Florida to track down Dilly and the Cuba (and can see his kid in the process).  Casually mentions Dewey's windfall in earshot of The Haitian
2. Makes a deal with Darryl to find the Cuban
3. Talks with Sutter about how Sutter would find reasons to avoid his family so he wouldn't have to leave his family at the end the weekend (Raylan then avoids seeing his kid)
4. Goes to meet the Cuban, shoots Cuban when he tries to escape
5. Fails to mention he was in town when Skyping with Winona and the baby 
6. Art asks him about why Sammy Tonin would contact him
7. Art investigates into Sammy
8. Raylan is called to jail by Loretta and also meets her social worker.  Doesn't get Loretta out of jail.  Decides to "have a talk" with her boyfriend, Derrick
9. Raylan tries to bang the social worker
10. Raylan talks to Derrick but ultimately has to rescue him and Loretta from drug dealers

The Long Bright Dark - True Detective

True Detective - Episode 1-01 "The Long Bright Dark"

All episodes written by Nic Pizzolatto
All episodes directed by Cary Fukunaga

Eight episodes, two hippy dippy movie stars.

HBO wouldn't make The Killing, right?  They make good shows.  So it's encouraging to think this show will have, you know, characters.  And stories.  And resolution.

"The Lone Bright Dark" introduces Marty and Rust, state police officers, specifically criminal investigations (murder police).  Partners, not friends*.   One is a man of the family and company and one is a weird loner interloper.  But it's one of those things where you have a feeling we're going to learn there's a lot more to it.

* Some reporter once asked Geno Malkin about his friend Alex Ovechkin.   Geno replied in his broken English "Teammates.  Not friends."


There's a homicide involving antlers and satanic symbolism and hookers, so it's a media sensation.  The story is told via taped interviews with Marty (now working as a PI and security consultant) and Rust (a disheveled alcoholic).  It's unclear if this is a deposition or a documentary or something else at first.

Unlike the other murder shows* that follow a single case, this one does indeed have characters in it.  Focusing on Marty and Rust and their relationship, rather singly focusing on the case, will give the show the dept the other murder shows failed to grasp.  It'd be tough to believe we've met the killer yet so it may just be.....some guy **, which would make the resolution underwhelming.  But if there's enough story to go with it, the journey rather than the destination, it can immune itself against that possibility.  The first episode also does a good job of explicitly or implicitly positing a good number of other questions to be unfolded in the next seven hours.  As opposed to the approach of providing a red herring, running it down for 1-2 episodes until it is debunked and the next red herring is introduced. 

* Community did an episode very appropriate to this theme this past Thursday.

** Like the guy who moved Brody's car bomb into place at the CIA turning out to be just some guy on Homeland


At the episode's conclusion, two questions are answered.  Rust and Marty did catch the guy (so we have that resolution to look forward to).  The interviewers are cops who caught a similar case.  So this all raises new questions of course. 
Question

• Will the show stick with this format, telling the story entirely through interviews with Marty and Rust?
• It seemed like we should take what they are saying at face value.  How reliable are the narrators?
• Will Marty and Rust have differing accounts?
• Who is the mean looking old man uniform cop?  He stormed into the major's office (through Marty who muttered "...dick...") and slammed the door, stood prevalently at the press conference and ushered the reverend around.
• Did Marty and Rust arrest the right guy?
• What drove Rust from Texas?
• What caused the split between Marty and Rust after a seven year partnership?
• How did Rust's daughter die?
• I'm thinking this may be a similar thing to Jesse's rehab group leader in Breaking Bad
• What happened with Rust to put him where he is now?
• Rust is set up to have a lot of demons, obviously, but what are we going to learn about Marty?
• When will they reveal to us the 1992 murderer? 
• It could be next week, it could be the finale, the way this is set up
• Oh, also, who is doing the murdering?  Both in 1992 and 2012?

I Love the Nineties

I'm noticing more movies set in what I thought was the recent past...but it turns out the early nineties was twenty years ago.  When did that happen?  Any who...there seem to be more, or maybe I'm simply noticing more, shows/movies set in the early 1990s (e.g. Wolf of Wall Street, Confessions of a Wallflower, The Place Beyond the Pines).  Apparently even as recently as then these workforces were solidly male dominated.  I supposed enough time has passed to tell those stories.  But it is strange to see what is essentially a period piece set in a time I can actually remember.  So far, the show has a lot of looks that mirror early episodes of Homicide.

The suits in that roughly 1989-93 period are underrated.  They actually fit the adults between the American Pyscho suits in the 1980s and the even worse Swingers type versions in the mid/late 1990s.  I'm also all about the baseball jackets from that time. 

I digress...

Setting a piece in a certain period has to have a purpose.  Here, it may simply be that they needed to set it twenty years ago so Marty and Rust could tell their stories upon reflection.  And 1992 happens to be twenty years ago.  The Revolution was Televised discusses all the period piece pitches that came in after Mad Men.  Some seemed period for the sake of being period.  Some have purpose. Interestingly, the starting timeframe for Mad Men (March 1960) was largely pegged due to the availability of birth control.  Or, The Americans.  You can set a spy story at any time, but you need to pick a time between the Truman and Bush presidencies for it to be about the Cold War.  Thus, the 1980s and the Reagan era makes sense.  Frankly, I think anything that pre-dates cell/smart phones helps a story.  Not that it can't be adapted.  The Wire is largely inspired by David Simon's time at the Sun in the 1980s, and writing Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, set in 1988.

The Kids Aren't All Right - Justified

Justified episode 5-02 "The Kids Aren't All Right"
Originally aired Tuesday January 14, 2014 at 10 p.m.

Written by Dave Andron, who wrote last season's great "Get Drew"

Directed by Bill Johnson, who directed last season's finale "Ghosts"

As suspected, next season will be Justified's last.  Early on in Season Four, a colleague from another field office stopped by to see Art under the guise of visiting his old friend.  He brought him a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle, which is like the Johnny Walker Blue of Kentucky bourbons, and was designed to ingratiate him to Art to think of him for the soon to be open marshal spot in Eastern Kentucky.  It was a small plant in Season Four in the interest of their likely conclusion at the end of Season Six.  The U.S. Marshals Service has a mandatory retirement age of 57 and Art is creeping up on that soon.  He waxed about candidates to take over (Rachel, Tim, Raylan) and their various shortcomings.  With Raylan's kid on the way and newfound ambition to close the Drew Thompson case, he was looking to move up.  The success of the case was no doubt tempered by his 30 day suspension.  With just under two seasons to go, I wonder if we'll see more and more about the possible promotion for Raylan and how he can go about screwing it up.


Almost immediately in this episode, the Raylan's vulnerable spots are prodded at.  Not so much the small issue of Raylan borrowing the seized Audi (and his moving into the seized house) but Art's curiosity at Sammy Tonin's attempt to contact Raylan immediately before his demise.  Art chalks the delay in relaying this information to Raylan's as due to his need to verify the source, but I think there's more there.

Raylan's able to brush off the unanswerable question as to what Sammy wanted with the entirely plausible explanation of him wanting to cut a deal.  Art's not satisfied though and contacts his marshal buddy in Detroit to get some more information.

Having been under fire and investigation for the following, throughout the series:

• By the media for shooting Tommy Bucks in a restaurant
• the FBI who thought him dirty
• The court system for his relationship with Eva despite their involvement in Boyd's shooting
• U.S. Attorney Vasquez for his various shootings
• Lexington Homicide for being set up for Gary's murder
• The court system again in conjunction with various abuses incurred by Dewey Crowe
• Internal Affairs, always for everything.  As Art said, they have him on speed dial.

Raylan (having piqued Art's interest once in relation to Winona snatching up some counterfeit bills) is now informally and perhaps unintentionally the target of his bosses marshaling with regard to Sammy Tonin.  Ultimately, Tonin being dead severs the direct connection between Raylan and Nicky Augustine's death, but perhaps someone like Picker could link them and create a world of trouble for Raylan.

Tons and tons of characters
The old: Not the parade of old faces we saw last week, but we still get Vasquez again.  H.R. (short for Hot Rod) the Tennessee weed dealer is back.  I mostly remember the actor, Mickey Jones, from being one of Tim's friends on Home Improvement, but he's been in approximately everything exactly once each for the last thirty years.  Candy, Johnny's favorite whore from Audrey's, is looking to score some oxy.  When you think about it, she's impovershed and drug addicted so she works as a prostitute for a whorehouse Boyd once owned.  She spends her little money on buying drugs which ulitmatley come from Boyd's operation.

Most significantly returning is Loretta, one of the great Season Two stars, who we saw bookending Season Three in yet another example of using a character in a perfectly precise manner, rather than forcing it.  Messer and Dewey are back again, as is a coma-tized Paxter (not dead!  But may end up being a turnip). 

Speaking of comas, Tasty Coma Wife (TCW) appears as Raylan's blonde of the moment.  For the first time in possibly television history, a character who said "I'm not going to bone you" actually followed through on the promise, rather than smash cut to the couple doing just that.

The two random thugs of the week are Avon Barksdale and his familiar-but-not-on-IMDB friend.  Less stupid than hilarious, they actually seem semi-competent and are more out muscled than outsmarted by Raylan.  All the same, they don't seem too upset at him personally and are glad to shoot the shit with him while they wait for HR (handcuffed to each other), despite Raylan's threats to put them in the trunk.

Xander Berkley is the target of an asset forfeiture.  There's not many things better than a rich guy losing all his stuff, and not many things public servants would enjoy more than being the ones to take it from him (and joy ride in).  To make him completely unsympathetic, this guy is obviously a racist under the guise of being a Civil War enthusiast (guess which side?).   He employs both a maid and a bangmaid.  They will likely lose their jobs, but probably for the best in the case of the bangmaid.  I could see this guy popping up again, as he's going into the clink for laundering Detroit money.  Also, it's Xander Berkley.
 
Round up

• It's not a cops and criminals show, it's a show about lawmen and outlaws (i.e. Raylan & Boyd).
• On the Walter White scale of hero to villain progression, Raylan is a good guy who occasionally does bad things but for good reasons and in the true best interests of others he cares about
• Raylan & Boyd are entirely separate, let's guess episode six for when their paths cross
• Raylan's hillbilly whisperer ability is on display with HR and his thugs.  
• Similar showdown scene to "Long in the Tooth" but Rayland doesn't have to shoot any body.  Probably because HR is a rational actor, a rarity.
• Lots of shots of Raylan holstering a weapon this season
• Possibly the first time an electronic cigarette has been featured in a television show? 
• One of those things that will mark the times of the day down the line when rewatching this show
• Tim and Rachel are present for the seizure, which is nice.  They could easily carry their own show or shows.  I do not understand the indignation though that follows episodes they are not featured in, or the inevitable minimal involvement they'll have in the season overall.  Justified's writers are nothing if not prudent and have never shown a desire to shoehorn anything in that doesn't fit the story. 
• This is a good example of how Justified can have a tiny tidbit toward (what I think is) the overall story, but also have a largely self contained, nearly standalone, episode.  It does this better than anyone.   
• After an episode that introduced a lot of new characters and stories, while being light on Raylan, we're back in Kentucky mostly following Raylan around in his quests 
• Anytime Raylan tells a story about his childhood is a good time. 
• Raylan's rarely funnier than when he's giving his blase reactions to people who are angry at him 
• Darryl's in town and as we've learned, the holler ain't big enough for Boyd and other folk

Justified Season Five

Running account of the plot for Justified Season Five....


Boyd

1. Boyd is frustrated with efforts to get Eva out of priso
2.  Boyd’s supplier tries to double cross him so he heads to Detroit to confront them
3. Turns out the supplier (Sammy Tonin) operation is in disarray.  Tonin is double crossed/murdered by Picker.  Boyd gets picker to take him and Duffy to the Canadian wholesalers 
4.   Canadians offer one final shipment to Boyd.  Picker to make introduction to new Mexican wholesaler for Boyd
5. Boyd visits Paxter for help with Evan, becomes enraged by him.  Does the murder to him.  Wife sees but they are like let’s exchange cash for a NDB here.

Crowe

1. Dewey: Given a settlement for being operating on and punched in the face a bunch of times
2. Dilly & associate: Kill Coast Guard Officer
3. Darryl & sister: Makes deal with marshals to end his parole and hand over the CubanSister: drives Cuban to the marshals until he takes her hostage, but causes a car accident and escapes
4. Cuban: Tries to escape, but caught up by the marshals and shot and killed

Raylan

1. Goes to Florida to track down Dilly and the Cuba
    (and can see his kid in the process)
2. Makes a deal with Darryl to find the Cuban 
3. Talks with Sutter about how Sutter would find reasons to avoid his family so he wouldn't have to leave his family at the end the weekend (Raylan then avoids seeing his kid)
4. Goes to meet the Cuban, shoots Cuban when he tries to escape
5. Fails to mention he was in town when Skyping with Winona and the baby

M-V-P! M-V-P!

With the Golden Globes last night, now is as good of a time as any to expand on my MVP nominations from the Year's End post.  Here's some additional information on the four most valuable characters from 2013:

MVP
The character who kills every scene and single handedly brings up the overall quality of the show.  The nominees are...

Raylan Givens
Justified
You run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole.  You run into assholes all day, you're the asshole"

“You run into an asshole in the morning: you ran into an asshole. You run into assholes all day: you’re the asshole.” – Raylan Givens. - See more at: http://brandnewcool.com/2013/01/08/hole-in-the-wall-favorite-moments-and-more-from-justified/#sthash.MSIoGZBj.dpuf

Always good for a quote about assholes.  For how he dealt with his father dying and his baby being on the way.  He showed ambition for the first time as well as considerable depth and incredible acting (think scene in front of the elevators).  Raylan doesn't fall into the anti-hero lead category that is on the verge of being cliche if more poorly formed versions pop up. He is a more traditional 'hero' albeit with deep flaws, yet still intensely likeable.  And tied together the best plot of 2013. 

Ygritte
Game of Thrones 
"You know nothing, Jon Snow"  
The refrain of the year.  She's hilarious and badass and incredibly astute.  Ygritte elevates the entire North of the Wall storyline in a way Tyrion did in Kings' Landing in Season Two.  Picking an MVP from the cast of Game of Thrones could prove an exercise in futility, but Ygritte made it surprisingly easy.


Saul Berenzen
Homeland
"When it's over it's over. Pull down the shades and go home."
The above quote could well be advice to Homeland as a series.  "The Maestro" had the opportunity and resources to implement his grand vision for moving forward United States foreign relations with a certain country, and it just so happened to settle an old score of his.  Audacious in his vision, yet till hardened enough to do what it took to accomplish the end game.  If Saul's not back next season, we can take comfort in the fact that he did get to play his opus on the grandest stage.

And the winner....

Jesse Pinkman
Breaking Bad 
"Can you just, uh, stop working me for, like, ten seconds straight? Stop jerking me around?

For being the soul and conscience of a show that turned the protagonist into Scarface and gave us a rooting interest we could all agree upon.  Put through the wringer and beat up worse than Ben was in Lost, we can all hope and pretend that he just sped out those gates* and kept driving all the way to Alaska. Even though Vince Gilligan in a GQ interview reminded us his fingerprints are all over that lab run by Jack and company.  

* As much closure as the finale brought, there's still unanswered questions (what happens to Jesse when two miles down the road, etc)  .  You can only do so much.  It's like the big bang theory... each answer begets a new question. It was unfair to knock Lost for the same things because each time they solved a mystery, the answer would inherently raise a new question. 

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Reading Live From New York gave me impetus to rewatch Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.  The show went off the air in 2007 following its first and last season.  I watched it as it aired and probably saw the DVDs via Netflix.  Now the episodes are available on Amazon Prime streaming.

Studio 60 suffered many of the same criticisms lobbed at Newsroom, as well as from unattainable expectations following West Wing's commercial and critical success*.  Critics panned the show for the same qualities they supposedly enjoyed in West Wing.  And when ratings didn't measure up to expectations (Studio 60 placed #63 in ratings that season) critics took more joy in tearing the show down for the lower than expected ratings rather than put any effort into writing about the show's content. Nevermind that it went head to head with CSI: Miami, the #11 show for the season, acted as a non sequitur to its lead, Heroes.  And despite the audience's moderate size, it was particularly affluent (think Mad Men's audience of today). 

*While Sorkin left West Wing in 2004, only a summer separated the series finale of West Wing and series premiere of Studio 60.

Premiering at a time of limbo for quality television, Studio 60 was either too early or too late for its aim.  Reality programming was pushing quality dramas out of broadcast television.  Cable had yet to pilot the high quality shows that define the current era.  The Sopranos and The Shield were on the air but we certainly didn't dedicate the time and energy to dissecting those shows the way we do today.  Had Studio 60 aired in the 90s it may have found similar support as West Wing and had it come a few years later, it may have benefited from a streamlined format with more leeway in what could be included as content. 

Containting three areas of focus for the season, Studio 60 could have done thirteen high quality episodes on two of them.*  The show opened with an assault on reality programming, name checking Network in the series' epic pilot **.  It brought to mind the "raising the level of debate" conversation found so often on West Wing, whether it was on the issues or electing the elite Bartlet or his man of the people opponent.  

* The third (i.e. weakest) area of focus would be a romantic comedy angle which seemingly came as a result from network notes

** I wonder if the pilot would have worked as a movie as well.  It is without a doubt the best pilot of Sorkin's four shows. 

The other quality storyline involved the acceptability of humor and political criticism in a post-September 11th America. Written and produced at a time when George W. Bush had just been elected to a second term on the heels of wrapping himself in the flag and calling anyone who dared lend an opinion unpatriotic, Studio 60 explored what it meant to voice unpopular opinions at tenuous times for the country, including addressing the war and the media's failure to cover and criticize it.  It also covered themes a few years ahead of the political climate like gay marriage, how the FCC chooses to spend its day, and giving everyone an unpleasant and necessary reminder that we should probably still be helping out post Katrina New Orleans. 

Studio 60 was a victim of timing and unrealistic expectations.  In hindsight, the timing makes the show more interesting since I now view it as a good depiction of the political and television climate of 2006.  And if nothing else, it's worth a watch for that.

True Detective

True Detective premieres on Sunday and I'm intrigued.  It will use the anthology format (like American Horror Story) and will play with multiple timelines (which I am always a fan of, if done well).  It is wholly penned by Nic Pizzolatto who comes from an academic background in fiction and literature.  He is also an acclaimed writer.

Without seeing a single frame, I'm guessing either Matthew McCongoughy or Woody Harrleson (or both) will receive Emmy nominations.  This is based on the predilection to nominate any movie star who makes a television appearance, and the possibility of submitting in the less competitive miniseries category. 

Like I said, I'm intrigued and I like the format.  So in the interest of diversity, I will cover this series about lawmen in the South, accompanying Justified, which is about lawmen in the South. 

A Murder of Crowes - Justfied

Justified Episode 5-01  "A Murder of Crowes"
Originally aired Tuesday January 7, 2013 at 10 p.m.

Written by Graham Yost (showrunner) and Fred Golan (who has several Justified premieres and finales)

Directed by Michael Dinner (also a few Justified premieres and finales)

I'm not entirely sure how I want to approach this season, but I'm going to start with a regular raw data type post and see how it goes.  I'm considering a single post to run concurrently with the post-episode write ups in an attempt to tie the plot together.  The plot moves swiftly and tightly so it can be easy to miss the cause -> effect -> effect 2 -> effect 3- > ... effect 497 throughout the season.

For the first time I can remember, most of the episode is not only outside Harlan, but outside Kentucky all together.  Not to say it won't come home soon, since it looks like the Crowes are coming to town. Because you'll never leave Harlan alive, except for the occasional business trip, and after an appropriate time to conduct said business you will return to Harlan. 

Boyd
It's not Justified if there's not a bag or briefcase of cash.  Or nighttime bridge meetings.  Boyd's receipt of a shipment (of Oxy, I assume) goes sideways when the delivery boys from Detroit (pronounced day-TWAH) try to work him over.  The Day-twah supply has gone dry.  They bring a truck that's empty, except for the guys who plan to jump out and shoot Boyd.  Boyd sniffs this out, kills the delivery crew and holds onto his cash


Understandably upset, he and Duffy visit Day-twah to see Sammy Tonin, who has lost any grip he ever had on things, evidenced by their guest whose getting the business end of a chain saw.  He's in debt to the Canadians who supply him.  So much so that those Canadians contract Picker to kill Tonin (for not paying) and Boyd and Duffy (to get their briefcase of money for the Canadians).  In exchange, the Canadians will not murder Picker.  Boyd and Duffy survive this due to Boyd being smooth and Duffy being able to survive anything.

Boyd, Duffy and Picker sit down with the Canadians.  The Canadians take the payment directly from Boyd in exchange for a final shipment.  Then they sever ties because quite frankly they have had enough bullshit from their Sammy Tonin debacle.

With the supply gone, Duffy and Boyd must look south.  Luckily, Picker has the connect down in Mexico. 

The Crowes
Dewey is awarded $300k in a settlement for getting punched in the face a bunch of times by Raylan.  Also having fake kidney transplant surgery performed on him.  Dewey makes a shopping list which reads as follows (corrected for spelling errors of course):

- One whorehouse
- One above ground pool

Dewey also has the line of the night "I never seen that gun before and it ain't even loaded!"

A member of the Crowe Brain Trust (Dylan), Florida office, screws up a stolen shipment of sugar for unimportant reasons which results in him and his Cubano associate murdering a (previously under investigation) Coast Guard officer.

The marshals are called in to investigate the disappearance of the Coast Guard officer (I'm unsure how this falls under the purview of the marshals though).  The Coast Guard officer has a connection to the Crowes, so Raylan is assigned due to his previous relationship with the Crowes.

Raylan visits Florida and his old buddies from his Miami days.  The patriarch is D?, assisted by his sister.  Raylan and Champ Kind make a deal with Sis and Bro to hand over the Cubano.  Darryl fails to mention his own brothers involvement.  It turns out this is because Darryl wants to murder him himself.  The deal removes Darryl's parole, so he's free to move about the country.

Aware of Dewey's newfound fortune and embracing his own newfound freedom, Darryl says "boys, we're going to Harlan!".

Raylan

• Harrasses Dewey
• Shoots a dude
• Avoids his daughter and ex-wife

Call it a day.  Most of the episode is showing Boyd's situation and establishing the Crowes.

Most significant for Raylan this week is him avoiding seeing his daughter.  We already know Raylan pretty well so his storyling is about establishing where he is in relation to his kid at this point.  Last season he was trying to earn extra money, but missing doctor's appointments.  So his involvement was dubious.  The side jobs were probably more of an excuse to get out and about catching more criminals under the guise of the Walter White-esque "doing it for my family."

What we do see from Raylan is multiple attempts to avoid seeing his daughter.  First, Art tells him to go to Florida and by the way see his kid.  But Raylan's all like "But, Art!  I can't!  Because of...uh...reasons.  The taxpayer!  Yes, I can't go because of the taxpayer."  He tries Dewey instead, but ultimately winds up in Florida.  When his colleague suggests they call it an early day so he can see Winona and the baby, Raylan deflects.  This, despite Champ Kind's best efforts to relay his own fatherly experiences.  Finally, Raylan makes no mention of the fact he was in town when he Skypes Winona. 

Tons and tons of characters
There were a ton of names in the credits.  First, Jere Burns is in the main titles.

Then we see a ton of established characters/favorites in the guest starring credits.  Despite the parade, the show never felt too crowded.  They never force it.  Look at how they used Limehouse in Season Four after being a #3 or #4 lead for Season Three.  With precision.

Duffy makes good on his promotion to the main titles.  Vasquez. The Judge. Dewey. Winona.  Marshal Dan.  Art, because you can't always count on the other marshals showing up.  Not to mention Picker, Sammy Tonin, Paxton and Mensa member Wade Messer all show up.  Maybe the reason it's not too crowded is because there's always the chance someone is going to get their head blown off or caved in at any moment. They conduct some pruning in this episode. 

Plus, the new characters, and some of them even survive the episode!  Dickie, Doc, Danny, Dopey, Dirk and Diggler Crowe.  I'll learn their real names in time.  Alicia Witt plays a redhead named Wendy.  I'm guess Wendy Thomas doesn't have a tramp stamp.  Maybe fake Wendy does.  Coincidentally "D-Girl", guest starring Witt, ran on one of the HBOs this past week.

Sir Not Appearing in this Film: Tim and Rachel

Body count (11)
Coast Guard officer: shot by Dilly, with the coup de grace from the Cuban (1)
Detroit suppliers on the bridge by Boyd & Carl, two on the bridge and one inside the truck (3)
Picker goes nuts: Sammy Tonin, the guy their torturing with the chain saw and the chain saw torturer (3)
Detroit thugs in cahoots with Picker: I believe at least two are killed by Boyd and Duffy after Picker shoots everyone, but I need to re-watch to confirm
The Cuban: Raylan and Sutter both fire a good number of bullets into his body until he is made dead (1)
Dilly: Stabbed by Dorky on the orders of Doofy (1)
Paxton: Maybe the first time Boyd completely lost his mind and took it out on someone violently (11)

Drink of the Episode
For the premiere, I had some Bulleit Bourbon from Lawrenceburg, KY.  With one giant ice cube.  Bulleit sounds like Bullock, like Seth Bullock from Deadwood played by Timothy Olyphant aka Raylan Givens.

Additional Reading
In the "Book was Better" posts, I originally failed to mention 52 Pickup, which is an Elmore Leonard novel, and therefore television adjacent.  It was featured in the Leonard tribute that preceded the show, which was very nice.  I'll have to update it.

In the year end post, I mentioned "Decoy" was my favorite episode of 2013.  Here is a good write up on that episode's strengths and why it is quintessential Justified, from the AV Club's own year end wrap up.  

In advance of Tuesday's premiere, I found this article echoing some of my own thoughts about Justified being a "favorite" and "top tier", while also expanding on how the series perfects adaptation

Justified returns Tuesday January 7 at 10 pm on FX

A while back I wrote part of a post titled Why Justified is the Best.  The show is coming back next week for it's fifth season.  It is far and away my favorite show on television. 

I believe there's a top tier of television, rather than a single best show currently airing.  The top tier is composed of shows impossible to separate including Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Justified, Breaking Bad and Sherlock.*  Distinguishing a show of shows among these is merely a result of personal preference rather than a clear winner existing.**  When people ask for recommendations about what shows to watch, I usually ask what their tastes are, or to name other shows they enjoy before giving suggestions.  The only show I recommend in every single case is Justified.  You could reasonable consider it the best in any one of the categories that make up a show, acting, writing, plotting, dialogue, humor or characters. 

* Still considering Breaking Bad a current show even though it technically concluded.

The series probably has one, maybe two, years after this one about to air.  Maybe there will be a rush to catch up for its conclusion at that point like there was for Breaking Bad this past fall.  My suggestion is to take five minutes and give it a try

If you are an Amazon Prime customer, you can stream, for free, the existing four seasons of the show.  Watch either (or both) the first five minutes of the pilot* and the first five minutes of the Season Four premiere to get a good feel for the show (basically the open to the first break/credits).  Neither can wholly encompass all the positive aspects of the show, but both will give a decent taste for the timbre of the series without needing a ton of context.

*The pilot's opening is heavily lifted from the pages of Pronto. 

Random Thoughts on Justified

• One fun thing that sets Justified apart from other shows is the high level of involvement in its production its lead, Timothy Olyphant, has.  His producer credit is for real and any interview about the show or episode post mortem will identify plenty of contributions he's made outside of his role on the show.
• Even the most random one-off characters are better written than 90 percent of all characters on television
• Raylan is the only person since this guy (coat flip!) who can wear denim with denim
• Elmore Leonard passed away in 2013.  If you don't want to read his entire catalog, watch this show

 So yeah.  If you add a show this year, add Justified.