"Trust" - Justified - 6-10

The mark of a truly well thought out and established character is when the character is able to surprise us in a convincing way.  That's Ava Crowder in "Trust". 

Ava was introduced to us six years ago as the woman who blew her abusive husband away as he sat at the dinner table eating his favorite meal which she prepared for him, calculating that that would give her the best chance to put a whole bunch of shot into his chest.

When Raylan gives away that Vasquez is putting her behind bars regardless of what she does, she knows she can't get anything out of cooperating.  Her backs against a wall, living an inescapable life, much like the one where she lives in a broken down town with an abusive husband.  So she shoots her way out.  It's not what we expected, but it makes sense, especially considering Boyd's short temper with her lately.  She has to recognize those signs, even if there's a good chance Boyd won't become Beaumon, she's going to make sure.

We're so caught up in the Raylan vs Boyd, where Raylan realizes Boyd is not going to fall for their trap at the same time Boyd is realizing Raylan wouldn't allow the money to be moved in the way he expects, that we forget about Ava. 

I've expected Ava to bite it for almost two entire seasons now.  This is the final season and nearly every episode has echoed "never leave Harlan alive" in one form or another.  The suspense builds to where you're constantly worried about these characters while also fully expected them to bite it by the end. 

• Dewey's necklace appears again, but it doesn't have the effect I expected, unless we aren't done with it yet
• Boon is a creep man.  Just as the whole series is able to create tension on a macro level about whether Raylan, Boyd or Ava are going to survive, he's able to do it on a micro level, with two characters we've never seen before.  Just when I thought we were out of ways to make a henchman unique, we have this guy.  Then again, should I have been surprised?  Elmore Leonard wrote about 100 novels.
• Speaking of Mr. Leonard, we get a call back to Raylan enjoying vanilla ice cream.  Originally an item from the books, Justified dropped it in a few early episodes, namely when Raylan stops in a conveinence store in 'Riverbrook" and when he orders it when meeting Pinter in "Fixer".