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.
“Jesus, woman. What did you do?”—Raylan Givens
With so little time left in the show it grows increasingly tempting to act as much as prognosticator as reviewer. Just two weeks ago, I would have bet that the show would end with a confrontation between Raylan and Boyd down in the mine beneath the Pizza Parlor; a fitting symbolic end to their relationship as their entwined fates drew them back into the dark where their relationship began. But that was not to be. The plot of the mine has come and gone as have other likely subplots. In fact, with each passing hour the show grows increasingly unpredictable as this week’s installment so clearly shows. Then again, though the show leans heavily on its western themes, it thrives just as much on subverting those themes and deconstructing our expectations. Thankfully, knowing that unexpected twists are coming does nothing to diminish their impact and this week ends with a whopper.
As overarching themes go, we’ve transitioned from ‘Loyalty’ to ‘Sacrifice.’ Time is running out, not only for the show itself, but for its characters as well. Rather than being about what the characters want to get, this week is all about what they are willing to give up to get it. Many of the answers were surprising.
Wynn Duffy will give up almost anything to save his own neck; an inclination that has obviously served him well over the years. Faithful (until now) sidekick Mikey, on the other hand, has given up everything that he is willing to give up. I always wondered exactly what the arrangement was between Wynn and Mikey. I understood back when Theo Tonin was still running things. At that point, Wynn seemed to be some kind of Lieutenant so I understood Mikey’s obedience in the overall hierarchy. Since Tonin went down, however, the pecking order has been less clear. It is now evident that Mikey has been soldiering on out of loyalty that he now deems as misplaced. It seems fitting that the two of them had a mentor/mentee dynamic, with Mikey modeling himself in Duffy’s image. What Wynn forgot and miscalculated is that betrayal can be modeled as easily as loyalty. The only question now is whether Katherine Hale is too busy with other matters to avenge her husband. I suspect not. My hopes for a Wynn Duffy spin-off show took a major hit this week.
The most interesting thing about betrayal is how easily it can influence and cause more betrayal. Take Boyd’s willingness to sacrifice Carl and Earl to the Marshals. After all, of all the seconds that Boyd has had going all the way back to Devil, Carl has probably been the most loyal. But in the end when push came to shove, Boyd served Carl up with hardly a second thought. It’s difficult to undervalue that event (and the shouting that accompanied it) when considering Ava’s massive betrayal at the end of the episode. I’ve waited until now to finally tackle it, but let’s get to it because with one defiant act, Ava sent the show and all of its characters spiraling into entirely new directions.
I actually gasped a little when Ava pulled Boyd’s gun and shot him. I knew something was afoot (I didn’t buy her “Boyd will confess” nonsense any more than Raylan did), but I did not see this coming.
But I should have.
The beauty of that sudden act of violent betrayal is that all of the tiny moments and factors leading up to it are there if anyone were to go back and look. Go back to Ava going to prison and track forward through all of Boyd’s broken promises, all the passed-on opportunities to free her, all the moments of substituting half-truths for full partnership and love. How many times have we seen Boyd shout down Ava, only to then tell her that he was acting in her best interest? I believe that he loves her, but I also believe that he is incapable of living the love that he professes. Otherwise, when they confessed to each other at Bulletville, he wouldn’t have handed her an unloaded gun.
As for Ava’s side, she has simply run out of options. She tried relying on Raylan but ultimately has to reconcile herself to the same truth as Winona: for Raylan the job always comes first. She tried escaping with help from Limehouse only to be thwarted by the same weakness she sees in Boyd: a man whose morality is shaped by greed. Ultimately, she has to come to the same truth that has sustained Boyd and Raylan for all these years: I am on my own and only violence can save me.
Ironically, Katherine and Markham may have actually benefitted from their betrayals. With all of their secrets revealed, it appears they may truly reach a mutual understanding. It’s like The Gift of the Magi directed by Sam Peckinpah. If there’s one thing Markham understands, it’s playing every angle so understanding that Katherine truly thought that he ratted out Grady casts all of her actions into a sympathetic light. Similarly, Markham’s willingness to give up his fortune for Katherine, while knowing that she betrayed him, casts him in a whole new light. It appears that Markham, for all his villainy, is that man that Boyd kept trying to be.
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