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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment