This is a review. Thus, it is likely to contain spoilers. If you haven’t, as yet, found yourself at liberty to view this episode then consider yourself apprised of the potential jeopardy and proceed at your peril.
“Don’t take it personal. I’m just doing what I gotta do.”—Raylan Givens
There is a well-worn trope in mystery novels (and television shows for that matter) where all the principles gather together so that the detective may reveal who the killer is. Justified doesn’t often bear similarity to a drawing room mystery, but the writers clearly recognize that there is endless dramatic tension to be gleaned from putting all of your characters into a crowded place just to see what happens. Classic mysteries derived their tension from the knowledge that there was a single unknown killer in the room. Justified derives its tension from the knowledge that everyone in the room is a killer.
Call it ‘the calm before the storm’ or ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop’—the fact that we have so many names for it shows how powerful it is as a literary device. For myself, I’ll just call it ‘gut-wrenching.’ In a season filled with incessant plotting, there is something disarming about forcing all the characters to stand still for a little while. This week’s episode isn’t as outwardly exciting as last week’s, but the tension it leaves is equally lasting.
If there is a constant linking all of the players in our little story, it is that each and every one of them is in an unending battle for control of every situation. I wanted to add “even with their allies,” but watching how Raylan deals with his superiors and colleagues, I should probably say “especially with their allies.”
This week is all about what happens when you take away control. We’ve seen them all be in control, now what can we learn from watching them be helpless?
I’m glad I was enjoying the “Grady Hale rat” mystery so much because that particular pleasure is officially over. I’m sad to see it go, though I do take some pleasure in being correct about the identity of the aforementioned rat. To be fair, finding out that Wynn Duffy has made a career out of turning on his cohorts isn’t exactly a major shock. Characters have dropped comments about his cockroach-like nature ever since he first appeared on the show. If that weren’t enough, the events of the last few weeks not only got us from A to B, but also made it pretty damned likely that we were going to end up at C. Thankfully, the creative team made sure to wring every last bit of fun out of the revelation of Duffy’s duplicity.
Mostly I just feel bad for poor, dumb, misled Mikey who wants nothing more than to live in the stylized world of criminals that he has invented for himself after watching too many movies. Only Mikey could live in the Elmore-verse and still think that criminals have a code that they live by. It would be adorable if he weren’t a mass murderer.
But as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself. Maybe my mind has been warped by yet another sighting of Jere Burns in a speedo (though if I had a body like that at 60 years old, I would put a shirtless requirement in all my contracts). You would think that the “Duffy tanning in a thong” joke wouldn’t work the second time, but Nick Searcy and Tim Olyphant milk so much humor out of the scene that it almost feels like Jere Burns lost a bet and that scene is his penance. Regardless, it’s consistently funny and provides a perfect conduit for revealing Duffy’s history as a criminal informant. So what does Wynn Duffy do when he feels helpless? He makes whatever deal he can to save his own ass. No surprise there.
Katherine Hale is a different monster altogether. Poor Seabass picked the wrong hotel room to walk into with a bad attitude and a gun. I don’t know who was more impressed, Katherine at Markham’s fearless anger, or Markham at Katherine’s deadly calm. I’m more certain than ever that the two of them are undoubtedly perfect for one another, but I cannot imagine a future that involves a happy ever after. Then again, for two such cool characters, they clearly were not prepared for Loretta McCready.
There was no way the series was ending without Loretta playing a major part and it’s fitting that she’s as much a thorn in Raylan’s side as she is an ally. Though she suffers from no small amount of naiveté, she makes up for it in business sense, and she’s the only major player in Harlan who seems to know when to ask for help. Who she goes to for that help is where the naiveté comes in. Loretta’s mentor, Mags Bennett, claimed to have Harlan’s best interests at heart but much like Boyd, she only offered a handshake to distract you while she picked your pocket. Loretta, on the other hand, is the real deal and it’s a little sad that she can’t quite see Boyd’s true colors. Then again, maybe I’m underestimating Loretta as well.