Justified Season Five - Through Six Episodes

Crowders

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. Paxton instructs Mooney to kill Boyd
13. 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
14. Boyd and Mara get the drop on Mooney and get him to report to Paxton he killed Boyd
15. 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.
16. Boyd traces the hijacking to Johnny
17. Paxton apparently goes for the fake Boyd hand as proof Boyd is dead but will still proceed against Eva
18. Eva is under female guard protection at prison.  The guard gives another hack what for after getting out of line with Eva
19. Boyd, who is aware Messer is a CI, gives Raylan the phone number to track him
20.  Boyd makes Johnny an offer which Johnny rebuffs.
21. Boyd stages Paxton's suicide, getting Eva out of prison, w/ a side of revenge
22. The hack who has it in for Eva stages his own stabbing to keep Eva in prison
23. HR has it in for Johnny who turns the tables on him by giving his henchmen his own share of the hijacking
24. Boyd pays for Eva's protection in prison
25. Eva's protection double crosses her
26.  Carl is kidnapped by the Crowes
27. HR under gunpoint covertly notifies Boyd that he's under duress and the Johnny exchange isn't going to go as planned
28. After Carl makes his way back, Boyd proposes a Crowe-Crowder alliance
29. Boyd restores Eva's protection

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: 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
10. This attempt goes badly and Dewey has to hunt Messer down in the woods
11. Dewey is picked up by some hikers
12. Darryl gets Dewey and takes him to finish the job, but Messer has died and his body is found by the police 
13. The littlest Crowe is taken by Raylan to put pressure on them to leave Harlan
14. Danny takes everything in the world as an insult and sucker shoots the Haitian
15. The Crowe sister visits Harlan to help with Kendall's case
16. Raylans GF checks in on Kendall
17. GF is run off the road by Danny 
18. Danny & Dewey kidnap Carl
19. Carl is let out by Raylan 
20. Boyd and Carl come back at the Crowes 
21. Boyd Proposes the Crowes and Crowders link up rather than fight.   
22.  

Raylan

1. Last season, arranges hit on Augustine via Tonin/Picker
2. 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
3. Makes a deal with Darryl to find the Cuban
4. 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)
5. Goes to meet the Cuban, shoots Cuban when he tries to escape
6. Fails to mention he was in town when Skyping with Winona and the baby 
7. Art asks him about why Sammy Tonin would contact him and secretyly 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
16. 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.
17. Vasquez and Art inform Raylan Messer, who is a CI, is missing, and Raylan has to track him down
18. Raylan runs across the Crowes  and Boyd in his investigation, including a 14 year old bartender at Audrey's
19. Boyd connects Raylan to Messer's phone, which has a GPS
20. Raylan connects the buzzards to Messer's body
21. Raylan's new gal pal mentions a child she had to seize
22. Raylan goes back to Audrey's to take the littlest Crowe into state custody
23. Art speaks with one of the Canadian heroin suppliers who tells him Sammy Tonin used to brag about having a "Kentucky lawman in his pocket" and directs him to Picker who is hanging with Wynn Duffy as of late
24.  A Tonin hitman takes out the Canadian who directed Art to Picker
25. Art brings Picker in, Raylan speaks with Picker, Picker directs Art to the dead FBI agent
26. Picker directs them to a warehouse where the Tonin hitman goes crazy with an automatic weapon
27. Art and Raylan catch Theo Tonin
28. Raylan has a talk with Art...all but admitting his part in Augustine's death
29. Art cannot even look at Raylan except when he is punching him in the face
30. Raylan and Rachel bond a bit.  
31. Raylan tries tracking down the Crowe who ran his GF off this road, but is blocked by a safe word

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

Who Goes There? - True Detective

Episode Four
"Who Goes There?"

First half, Marty. Second half, COHLE!  Really really Cohle.

After a Super Bowl hiatus and then an excruciating extension to the hiatus as I get my cable hooked up, here we are.

Based on the end to episode three, I thought we were heading straight into the showdown in the woods, with the sirens blaring and back up being called, but there's some in between action.

1995
Marty and Rust interrogate Dora's ex, as he is an associate/housemate of Ledoux.  After some prodding, they get a lead on Ledoux who is cooking meth wholesale for a single client (a biker gang), beating Walter White to the punch by fifteen years.

They need to track down Reggie so through a investigative chain of events it goes Reggie -> Jay Z -> Tupac and Biggie -> Andre from Outkast -> Jada -> Kurupt -> Nas and then me.

Actually, it goes Reggie -> housemate/in jail Charlie -> stripper girlfriend -> guy at a rave* with an onomatopoetic name of Weebs or something like that -> Biker gang

* When are raves not great in a crime story?  Today, it's what an illegal casino would be in a Dashiell Hammet.  See Community's “Basic Intergluteal Numismatics”


It's apparent they are not going to get close to Ledoux/biker gang through conventional methods (Marty's ways) so Rust re-assumes his undercover identity.  Rust has spoken of his UC work before but when we see it in action, it's jarring.  Rust meets his old contacts under the auspices of trading coke for crank and gets pulled into a stash house robbery, which of course goes terribly wrong (as if it could go right) and results in a riot throughout the projects.  Rust has to blow his cover but manages to kidnap his contact and will no doubt coerce him into connecting them with Ledoux.

In the episode's first, less interesting, half, Marty's life falls apart when he's tesitifying in another case and has a run in with Lisa, who tries to make a scene.  Marty tries to put space between them but she's still upset about him wacking around the guy she was with.  Lisa goes to see Maggie and is like "Guess what?!" , resulting in Maggie leaving Marty.  Marty goes to pieces, stalking her at work and shacking up with Cohle.

Wait, Lisa and Maggie?

2012
It's apparent that the detectives are looking into Cohle for something related to this case.  He's suspicious.  They've looked into his absence when he was supposedly seeing his sick dad, and there are no hospital records to back up his alibi.  Because Cohle's UC work was off the books, only Marty knew about it apparently.  So it all looks very uncool.  Actually, the fact that they looked into it in the first place is a dead giveaway they are liking Cohle for this or other murders.

Past Questions

• 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.
• Would not be surprised is Marty walks out of the interview.  He seems more uneasy with everything.  Cohle seems to be more at peace and willing to stick to his story, even as they catch some lies, willing to accept whatever consequences come his way...even though he's the one they're looking at.

• Is there a cover up that Marty and Rust are complicit in? 
• They surely fed some lies to people to do Rust's UC work, and I'm sure they weren't the last fibs they spread in the interest of solving the case.  

• What happened with Rust to put him where he is now?
• See above.  Also ingesting drugs, chemicals via his undercover and narco work. 
• I'm sure eating all those drugs with the biker gang didn't help

• 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. 
• Even as they start to point the finger at Cohle, it seems like Marty will stick to the story.  If not for some shred of loyalty remaining to Cohle, but to avoid implicating himself.

• It seemed like we should take what they are saying at face value.  How reliable are the narrators?
• Hmm.  Well we have the first fib we're aware of, with Cohle's alibi.  Now he's getting into his survivalist dad, and while it sounds plausible it seems like anything related to this has to be taken with a grain of salt
• Reading The King in Yellow, particularly the first story "The Repairer of Reputations", unreliable narration has to be considered.  The narrator in that story makes Arthur Anderson accounting look legit.
• Very unrelated, but making my way through this book it seems like Vonnegut took a lot of inspiration from it

Round Up

• Lots of masks removed in this episode
• Marty's mask of normal family life is torn off by Lisa, leaving him with no kids, no wife and no home
• Cohle is done interacting with the humans at the opportunity to reassume his UC identity, Crash Virginia
• Even the bikers wear police uniforms when they head into the projects to rob the stash house, but that lasts a hot second before it all goes pear shaped 
• Meanwhile, Cohle, is a cop, undercover as an associate of the biker gang, who are posing as cops in the worst disguises ever 

• Six plus minutes of a single shot, the camera following Cohle in and out of rooms and buildings, tracking helicopters, going over fences, etc. Has to be seen to appreciate.  Consider the actions involved, it makes the tracking shot in Goodfellas look easy (they go in a big square, people)
• Getting it over the fence alone was a feat 
• EDIT: Here it is!!!! 
• If it reminded me of something, it was Kima's undercover work in The Wire's "The Cost"
• Actually, maybe it wasn't only Rust and Marty, considering that helicopter was there.  Or maybe it got called over to the fracas
• Rust tells Marty he thinks Marty and Maggie will get back together, but I think he just needs him stable as his back up
• Another mention of the Yellow King and Carcosa, first in the diary and now Charlie talking about the nonsense Reggie was spewing
• Reggie also claims the spiral symbol as his
• And leads satan worship
• Something about stones and Carcosa.  Could be the gravestones mentioned in "An Inhabitant of Carcosa"?

• Unsure of the passage of time.  Thought it started in '92 but must be '95.  Cohle mentions Mogadishu, which happened in '93 and the way they are counting the years doesn't work with 1992.  Not sure where I got 1992.
• Marty made a wisecrack!  Found it hilarious when he gives Cohle a look as he and Charlie commiserate over spending all day with someone spouting nonsense 
• “Gotta be tough, living with somebody spoutin’ insane shit in your ear all day long,”
• One of the great things about this show is that there is so much more leg work to be done in the absence of Google machines.
• I think there will be some whining that the shootout didn't happen in this episode.  And knowing that they catch the guy eliminates some of the suspense.  But there are so many facets to this show which they set up early on so that catching this one guy is not the sole purpose of the show.  Not only that, there are only eight episodes, so we know it's only delayed a month at most, rather than say, years.  Cohle's UC work was far more than just a side adventure, it was filling in the middle of the investigation.  If you're only concerned about the start and end points, then you are likely to be disappointed.  But seeing Cohle in his element was well worth the delay, as was the 6+ minute unbroken shot. 
• One of the other facets they set up early on was having characters after all.  And this was the character episode of character episodes for Cohle. 
• Maybe I just enjoy things differently, but why skip to the last chapter of the book?
• Whining probably exacerbated by the two week layoff.  But c'mon, it's eight episodes.  Any shorter and it'd be a movie.
• Also...
• Crazy about this show, folks. 

Justified Season Five - Through Episode Five

Crowders

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. Paxton instructs Mooney to kill Boyd
13. 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
14. Boyd and Mara get the drop on Mooney and get him to report to Paxton he killed Boyd
15. 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.
16. Boyd traces the hijacking to Johnny
17. Paxton apparently goes for the fake Boyd hand as proof Boyd is dead but will still proceed against Eva
18. Eva is under female guard protection at prison.  The guard gives another hack what for after getting out of line with Eva
19. Boyd, who is aware Messer is a CI, gives Raylan the phone number to track him
20.  Boyd makes Johnny an offer which Johnny rebuffs.
21. Boyd stages Paxton's suicide, getting Eva out of prison, w/ a side of revenge
22. The hack who has it in for Eva stages his own stabbing to keep Eva in prison
23. HR has it in for Johnny who turns the tables on him by giving his henchmen his own share of the hijacking

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: 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
10. This attempt goes badly and Dewey has to hunt Messer down in the woods
11. Dewey is picked up by some hikers
12. Darryl gets Dewey and takes him to finish the job, but Messer has died and his body is found by the police 
13. The littlest Crowe is taken by Raylan to put pressure on them to leave Harlan
14. Danny takes everything in the world as an insult and sucker shoots the Haitian

Raylan

1. Last season, arranges hit on Augustine via Tonin/Picker
2. 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
3. Makes a deal with Darryl to find the Cuban
4. 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)
5. Goes to meet the Cuban, shoots Cuban when he tries to escape
6. Fails to mention he was in town when Skyping with Winona and the baby 
7. Art asks him about why Sammy Tonin would contact him and secretyly 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
16. 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.
17. Vasquez and Art inform Raylan Messer, who is a CI, is missing, and Raylan has to track him down
18. Raylan runs across the Crowes  and Boyd in his investigation, including a 14 year old bartender at Audrey's
19. Boyd connects Raylan to Messer's phone, which has a GPS
20. Raylan connects the buzzards to Messer's body
21. Raylan's new gal pal mentions a child she had to seize
22. Raylan goes back to Audrey's to take the littlest Crowe into state custody
23. Art speaks with one of the Canadian heroin suppliers who tells him Sammy Tonin used to brag about having a "Kentucky lawman in his pocket" and directs him to Picker who is hanging with Wynn Duffy as of late
24.  A Tonin hitman takes out the Canadian who directed Art to Picker
25. Art brings Picker in, Raylan speaks with Picker, Picker directs Art to the dead FBI agent
26. Picker directs them to a warehouse where the Tonin hitman goes crazy with an automatic weapon
27. Art and Raylan catch Theo Tonin
28. Raylan has a talk with Art...

Shot to Hell - Justified

Justified
Episode 5-05
"Shot to Hell"

Directed by Theo Tonin himself

•  Is Art listening to Rush Limbaugh?  That's disappointing.  Let's pretend he's listening to the unintentional hilarity of it all as he sits for hours on a stakeout.
• Taking a page from Raylan, which he even pointed to later, Art stares down Steve the Pirate in a showdown at the diner.  
• Glad that Steve the Pirate, aka the pilot from Firefly, got work after being bumped off Suburgatory
• Picker is indeed the link between Tonin/Augustine and Raylan
• I figured Daryl was communicating to Boyd via subtext, I didn't actually think he didn't know who Boyd was, or would allow Boyd to get the drop on him.  So Daryl's competencies go down a bit from where I'm standing
• Classic Justified-type scenes
• Super violent "Suicide"
• Near shootout in a diner
• Shootout in a warehouse
• Body count -3
• Boyd suicides Paxton
• Art & Raylan take out Washburne from Firefly in a warehouse shootout
• Danny sucker shoots the Haitian.  Definitely stemming from some inferiority/jealous feelings of the Haitian's status in the pecking order

There's a three relationships between three people that may dictate how the rest of this season/series plays out, so I thought I'd scribble down some thoughts on where I see them standing

Art-Raylan

Art and Raylan knew each other previously from firearms training at Glencoe.  Art knows he's getting a good marshal, but with a lot of baggage, and he does with it what he can.  Knowing Raylan's penchant for shooting people, he often makes light of it.  Probably because each of the shootings are justified (except for the one that put him back in Kentucky, and even that one gets justified on paper). 

Art may be frustrated or disappointed with Raylan, probably both.  Going back to Season Three when Raylan tried to replace the counterfeit bills for Winona, Art always knew something was up.  He, and the other marshals, are aware of Raylan's side business at the start of Season Four, but don't care enough to do anything about it.  So far, there's been enough smoke since then for Art to always have a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind, but no fire in that he still defends Raylan when Lexington Homicide or the FBI come knocking.  While he's intrigued at what he's hearing about Raylan-Augustine/Tonin, he's not telling anyone what he's doing or looking for.  

Art gets that marshal services, and being a lawman, is not a by the numbers things.  He didn't hesitate to take a phone book to a suspect's face in order to get some information.  He also commented to his fellow marshal that Raylan is some sort of karmic punishment for Art's early days, so we know he probably gave his own chief deputy some grief back then, which is why his tolerance for Raylan is higher than it probably should be.

Vasquez-Art

Art and Vasquez are professionals.  They get along well enough but don't share friendship bracelets.  Vasquez has no problem working with Art on something like Messer being a CI.  They both know how frustrating Raylan is, but their defaults on that issue are slightly far apart.  Art defaults to letting Raylan be Raylan and Vasquez defaults to being super annoyed by Raylan.  While Vasquez isn't going out of his way any more to put paper on Raylan, he would not hesitate to do so if something fell into his lap.

Raylan-Vasquez

Vasquez has the characteristics of a modern age television lawyer/prosecutor, in that he is realistic about the cases he takes and he is career oriented.   Both of which point him toward often taking the path of least resistance.  He has no problem getting in Raylan's face early in the series while investigating him for the poolside shooting, both because he doesn't like Raylan and to make a mark on his own career.  It lays the foundation for an general uneasiness between them, as well as simply not getting along. 

Recently Vasquez, admitted he probably should have told Raylan about Messer being a CI.  He also called Raylan a dick.  That pretty much sums up their relationship.

Raylan is not corrupt, but he's not completely above board either.  The thing about where Raylan walks that gray line is that he doesn't do anything for the purpose of lining his own pockets* or advancing his own interests.  Corners cut are in the interest of what he believes to be upholding the law (being lawman) and putting himself in the mix of illegal activities are to protect the people he cares about.

* Except for the side jobs to save money to give to Winona for the baby

That all said, I could see Raylan putting himself and Art in a position where Raylan has to walk away from the Marshal Service at series end, not unlike Detective Jimmy McNulty.

Over the Mountain - Justified

Justified
Episode 5-04
"Over the Mountain"

Written by showrunner Graham Yost

Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton who direct a few of the final episodes of The Shield

Very Deadwood-esque dialouge between Boyd and Raylan.  Hard to believe Walter Googins wasn't some interloper who came through Deadwood challenging the authority of Bullock.  Should have cast him as one of the Earps, but maybe he was busy being Shane Vendrell aka Cletus Van Damme.

Danny Strong plays the prison guard.  You may remember him from other short person roles such as the hack copywriter at SCDP.  He's also penned Game Change and Recount for HBO, as well as Mockingjay Parts I & II.

Culling of the herd of established characters continues with Messer

Raylan is just looking for a fight going to Audrey's alone to take Kendall into state custody.

The thing about Dewey is that above all else he is impressionable, even if he is not able to fully process what those impressions mean.  Think back to Boyd's cult in the woods.  "You strike at the shepherd so the sheep may scatter."  Every cult member was able to remember this, except for Dewey, in hilarious manner.

The show always takes care to ensure the Eastern Kentucky office's cases actually fall under federal and specifically marshal purview.

Raylan finds Messer even though Messer is dead.  Win-win for Raylan.

Raylan's unwillingness to give Boyd credence as a crime boss is kind of like when a sports team has a rival, or wanna be rival, who they have consistently beat, and they do not want to acknowledge them.

Ultimately, I think Raylan's in on the Crowes demise will be via the Haitian.  Or maybe the girl.

As suspected, Picker is going to link Raylan to the incident on the tarmac.

Justified Season Five - Through Episode Four

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. Paxton instructs Mooney to kill Boyd
13. 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
14. Boyd and Mara get the drop on Mooney and get him to report to Paxton he killed Boyd
15. 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.
16. Paxton apparently goes for the fake Boyd hand as proof Boyd is dead but will still proceed against Eva
17. Eva is under female guard protection at prison
18. Boyd, who is aware Messer is a CI, gives Raylan the phone number to track him

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
10. This attempt goes badly and Dewey has to hunt Messer down in the woods
11. Dewey is picked up by some hikers
12. Darryl gets Dewey and takes him to finish the job, but Messer has died and his body is found by the police 
13. The littlest Crowe is taken by Raylan to put pressure on them to leave 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 and secretyly investigates into Sammy
7. 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
8. Raylan moves into the seized house of a Detroit money launderer
9. Raylan tries to bang the social worker
10. Raylan talks to Derrick but ultimately has to rescue him and Loretta from drug dealers
11. Raylan eggs on the money launderer, flaunting that he's living in his house and drinking his wine
12. 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)
13. 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
14. Money launderer tries to kill Duffy, is shot by Mike
15. 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.
16. Vasquez and Art inform Raylan Messer, who is a CI, is missing, and Raylan has to track him down
17. Raylan runs across the Crowes  and Boyd in his investigation, including a 14 year old bartender at Audrey's
18. Boyd connects Raylan to Messer's phone, which has a GPS
19. Raylan connects the buzzards to Messer's body
20. Raylan's new gal pal mentions a child she had to seize
21. Raylan goes back to Audrey's to take the littlest Crowe into state custody
22. Art speaks with one of the Canadian heroin suppliers who tells him Sammy Tonin used to brag about having a "Kentucky lawman in his pocket" and directs him to Picker who is hanging with Wynn Duffy as of late