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.
That said, I don’t believe for one second that Markham gave that money up without a plan for retrieving it. I’m betting on a tracking device, though for a minute there I was afraid of explosives. I half expected, as a cruel contrast to Boyd’s excitement, that the truck would explode in money-fueled fireball the second Boyd stepped away from it. Instead, we got a different kind of sudden violence, but equally as destructive.
With Boyd at least somewhat sidelined, the final three episodes have taken on a very different anticipatory tone. With a ten million dollar Macguffin in the backseat, Ava is now the focus of both the show and all of the characters. With all the deceptions, secrets and subplots out of the way, the final three hours are setup as a classic “who will get to her first” scenario that seems like something out of, well frankly, an Elmore Leonard novel.
At least that’s how it seems at the moment.
Ending Prediction with three episodes remaining:
Until this moment, I thought for sure that either Raylan or Boyd had to die. For the first time, I think it’s possible that they both survive, but that Ava doesn’t and that the lasting impact is the effect that her loss has on both men. Raylan will have to live with the fact that he couldn’t save her and Boyd will have to live with the fact that he wouldn’t. Raylan will end up recovering Markham’s millions (which Markham will be unable to recover since they were gained illegally) and will retire from active duty and return to Glencoe to teach. Markham and Katherine will decide that love is all you need and, decide to seek their legal weed fortunes elsewhere since Avery hates Kentucky anyway. Katherine will say something sassy like, “I hear Illinois may be legalizing next year.” Then they will walk off-screen arm in arm. Boyd will be convicted of some lesser charges (but not racketeering as Carl and Earl refuse to testify against him), but will be released after the charges are overturned on appeal. He will, of course, represent himself. He will give up outlaw life and return to mining, only to be killed in a mine collapse a few years later. Raylan and Winona remarry and have another child, this time a boy. They name him…….. Dewey.
Tune in next week for more predictions, that will almost certainly be wrong.
Some closing thoughts:
I fear for Wynn Duffy’s future, so let’s just take a moment to celebrate his pronunciation of “United States…….. Mmmmarshal Service” in such a way that I have to assume was a nod to William Shatner’s brilliant delivery of “his was the most…….. Hhhhuman” at Spock’s funeral in Wrath of Khan.
I have to admit, I had to grin at how much both Ava and Raylan seem to relish the idea of her being an outlaw and him chasing her. It makes me think that this was the relationship that they have both really wanted to have with each other.
Nice to see Andrew West (recently eating folks as Gareth over on The Walking Dead as the hipster soda jockey). Though I must agree with Boon that he doesn’t look comfortable in the hat… er, lid.
Conversely, Jonathan Tucker goes from mild-mannered to psychotic. It took me till this week to realize that it was Parenthood that I remembered Tucker from. His squeaky clean politician Bob Little was equally memorable, although it did turn out that he was smarmier than he initially appeared, even going so far as to take advantage of a younger staffer in his office. Then again, maybe the characters aren’t actually all that different.
If we believe Boon when he says that he had never heard of John Wayne, where exactly did his peculiarly western vernacular come from? I doubt you hear folks talk about “going heels” much of anywhere these days unless they’re watching a Deadwood re-run, or catching Silverado on cable. This week’s spin-off suggestion goes to a Boon prequel mini-series. Credit where it’s due, it was a bold move to introduce a potentially important character so late in the game but the creative team has hit a homerun with Boon. He is tremendously intriguing and a perfect foil for Raylan, especially because Boon seems so aware of it. It lets the character make all sorts of “meta” observations within the show, and lets the audience enjoy scenes like the “keepers of the flame” exchange at the soda fountain.
I can’t be certain, but I strongly suspect that Boon’s “Buckaroo” line is a Hunt For Red October reference.
One last thing about Boon. As we see in his conversation with Markham, his accent is real but his overtly western anachronisms are a little bit of a put on, usually intended to unnerve his prey. Both the relationship between Boon and Markham, and the highly curated speech put me in mind of Mr. W from Deadwood. He had a similarly obtuse manner of speaking and was routinely brought in by a rich and powerful employer when lesser methods of coercion had failed. Oh, I should probably mention that Mr. W was played by recent Justified alum, Garret Dillahunt.
And now for some of the week’s best dialogue:
“Anyone ever tell you that you should talk less?”
“Yeah, one guy.”
“Normally, Wynn, I like to avoid pondering your motivations.”
“I guess my main take is I believe you’re overestimating how much you and I have in common.”
“I’m just saying the last time we tried something like this we ended up with his underwear.”
“Well ain’t this the conundrum.”
-Baby?”
Jack McKinney is a professional camera salesman by day and a freelance filmmaker, Paste contributor, and amateur prestidigitator by night (and occasionally weekends). You can cyber-stalk him on Twitter.