Kill the Messenger - Justified

Justified
Episode 5-06

"Kill the Messenger"
Written by Ingrid Escajeda (who penned last season's self explanatory pun of "Foot Chase")
Directed by Don Kurt (who helmed last season's "Money Trap" where Raylan has to chase down the fugitive from the premiere, again)

One of the things I love about Justified is that it subverts expectations like no other show on television.  Subverting expectations is a necessary tenet of television, especially in the current era, but Justified takes it to a new level.  It does it within scenes, with the episodes and within the season.  This episode had several examples:

Crowe-Crowder (within the season)
We spent the last five episodes assuming things between Boyd and Darryl are going to come to a head by the end of the season.  I imagine it will still be a major source of conflict throughout Season Five, and may still ultimately culminate with a showdown between the two.  However, one thing we did not see coming in the "this holler ain't big enough for both of us" is a Crowe-Crowder alliance.

Eva's "protection" (within the episode)
Boyd pays a sizable amount to an old chum for Eva's protection*.  Her protector approaches her in the yard, dispersing what would be a bad situation for her.  What we don't expect is for her to immediately begin wailing on Eva, resulting this being a whole other set of problems that need solved.

*You have to appreciate Boyd describing her as his wife, "for the sake of simplicity".  Why?  Because she already has his last name despite being his fiance.  So it keeps Boyd from having to go into the whole "she's my brother's wife/widow/murderer and now I'm with her".

Carl's phone (within the episode/scene)
When Boyd reaches out to Carl, we expect Danny or Dewey to make the classic "if you ever want to see your friend again" type response.  But in one of the most Dewey-appropriate moments in the show, the phone reception cuts out giving a half garbled message to Boyd, who doesn't even realize who he is talking to.  When the call is done he's more pissed at Carl than before and has no idea what Dewey is trying to do.  It's hilarious, appropriate and sets up another scene.

Safe word (within the scene)
Raylan and Rachel bust through Danny and find a man bloodied and taped to a chair.  Of course, you expect law enforcement to take Danny in at this point.  But Carl reveals there's more going on above the neck than unnecessary facial piercings and comes up with the safe word (brisket?) idea so he can exact revenge on Danny himself.  Again, hilarious and allows a bunch of other stuff to happen in the episode.

I also love how when Danny explains this to Daryl, Daryl is all like "huh, good idea!"  And "consexual" is one of the best malaprops this side of The Sopranos.

Asian/Mexican (within the scene/season)
The cartel guy is Asian, despite it being a Mexican cartel.  This is based in reality based on the story he told about laborers.  A surprising visual as you await the Mexican cartel to show up.  I read that this character appears again later this season.

Two Things from Last Week
I failed to mention the hilarious "Hang in There!" poster at Audrey's

Know the old thing about bringing a knife to a gun fight?  There's a thought that within 21 feet a knife can defeat an armed assailant, provided the gun is holstered.  Mythbusters did an experiment on it.  Danny vaguely mentions this to Kendall.

What I Did Before the Blog

Used to spend all my time emailing and gchatting about television.  Here's an email exchange on the conversation between Amy Smart and Raylan on his hero status.  Something we've touched on here before.   I'll post my email exchange verbatim, but she summed it up much better with " can tell you’re a man who would run into a burning building without batting the eye. Thing is, I think you’re the one setting the fire.”

Q: Fellow Television Aficionado

Random thought:

Is Raylan an anti-hero? We're in a Golden Age of Television that goes hand in hand with anti-heroes like Walter White, Tony Soprano, Don Draper, etc - does Raylan fit that mold? Sure, he does what he does for law and order, but he also treats women terribly, has mob hitmen kill other mob hitmen to suit his own purposes, uses/looks the other away at many (but not all) of Boyd's crimes, abused Marshall/US Government powers and privileges, etc.

Is Raylan Givens a 'good person?" I don't think he is. If we were playing D&D would he be "lawful evil" or "lawful good?"

A: My response
I think of Raylan as a classic hero rather than anti-hero, very different than the guys you mentioned.  But he is flawed and dickish.  Which it is totally fine for a hero to be.  Otherwise, they are Superman, which is boring.  Like, he shoots Dewey's pool.  Just to be a dick.  But to us, it's hilarious.

Raylan's clearly not the most responsible person in the world.  He is a total flake, but that doesn't make him evil (assuming he doesn't completely disappear from Winona and unnamed baby's life...).  And he has a bad time choosing the women he spends time with.  Which is probably more of a judgement on his decision making skills than character.  It's funny how that is limited to women though.  I think back to the school he and Bob and Drew were hanging out in, and he wouldnt give Drew the murderer/criminal a weapon but gave one to Bob, despite their obvious gap in competencies.  Because Raylan's values clearly set Bob above Drew at that point.  And even facing the Detroit thugs, he wasn't going to arm Drew.

Raylan doesn't skirt the edge of legality for his own benefit, but to get the job done, or to help the people he cares about (like the counterfeit evidence thing w/ Winona, or killing Augustine to protect his family).  It's more about "for my family" than anything Walter White ever did.  He doesn't line his pockets with cash (like Vic Mackey from The Shield) from a seized safe, but he takes seized assets for personal use, which is kind of like the marshal version of stealing office supplies/misusing company Internets. 

He kind of has his own view of what right/wrong is, and while it doesn't exist outside society like a sociopath, it doesn't exactly line up with the letter of the law.  I think choosing to overlook a certain crime here or there is just about doing police work, like a murder police not caring about drugs in order to get some information.  I looked up your D&D reference and coupling that with what I just wrote, it seems to fall into the chaotic good  which is kind of like "play by your own rules for the greater good".  

And maybe that is the point.  This is a modern day Western.  Westerns were set up outside of civilization and society (The whole point of Deadwood!!!!).  So Raylan operates slightly out of the norm, but still believes in law and order. 

This show was originally titled Lawman, rather than Justified.  And I think Raylan operates more as a 'lawman' than a 'law enforcement officer' where his interest is general order and safety rather than enforcing the exact letters and statutes.
Round up

• I can't say how tired I am of the argument that the anti-hero is played out (not that I believe Raylan to be an anti-hero).  The Byronic hero has been around since, well at least since Byron, so a few bad shows can't wreck it.  You know what lousy anti-heroes are evidence of?  Lousy shows.
• Raylan has placed Art into a terrible position, casting a pall on Art's big career capping achievement.
• "BTW, I am a good lawyer." 
• Two things reminded me of the pilot.  #1 was the bar where Art awaited Raylan.  Looked a lot like the honky tonk where he first told him about Boyd Crowder.  #2 was when Boyd went to see his old friend, it looked like he may have been holed up in the old church where Boyd first met up with the returning Raylan 
• I am not a big fan of Wendy, or really any character who so obviously insecure and uncomfortable with who they are that they try and be something else.  It's why I never got on the train for Stringer Bell.
• Crowe Brain Trust: "Let's put a gun to his head until he gives us the money."  "Brilliant!"
• Prediction: A major character is going to bit it at the end of this season.  I'm guessing Eva, around episode 12.
• Cue it. Eva may be the best example of the title.
• Rappaport's accent.  I don't think it's Floridian, Southern, Everglades-ish, or really anything.  Except hilarious and fitting the character like a glove.  This episode, more than anything, made Daryll's character for me.  From his respect of good ideas to his exchange with Raylan in the hardware store to taking down Boyd's foe for him, he stole the show this episode.  
• The way he says "twisted", with the saw in his hand, in "Got yourself a dark twisted mind, don't you Raylan?" sums it up