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Justified: Blind Spot

"So here I am, going back and forth between light and dark."

Everything in this episode was backwards, and in shades of gray. We think it's Bo Crowder who was behind the murder attempt on Ava, but instead it was the Miami cartel again, and Raylan was the intended victim. We think that Sheriff Mosley is a good guy, but we discover he was working with the Cartel, and that he even had understandable (arguably just) reasons for doing so. And even though Raylan put himself in danger, it was Ava who saved the day.

In real life, good and evil cannot be clearly defined. Johnny Crowder threatened Ava, except that he was probably just trying to scare her into leaving town for her own safety. Ava told Raylan that there had been a light side to Bowman that apparently included Hummel figurines. Even Bo Crowder seemed rather cool, rescuing his son Boyd from the prison nasties and promising to leave Ava alone.

And Raylan and Boyd are the best of frenemies. Even though they came to blows, Boyd was the one who saw the truth and told Raylan what he thought was going on, and he was right. Leaving aside whether or not he's being honest about his religious inclinations (the jury is still out on that one), Boyd really does seem to sincerely like Raylan. I think Raylan sort of likes Boyd, too.

Raylan's relationship with his boss Art is suffering, though. Art was furious that Raylan was sleeping with Ava and continuing to shoot people, no matter how justified :) it was. Winona didn't appear to be happy about Ava, either. It sounded very much as if Winona was warning Ava off Raylan, even though their conversation was quite cordial. (Interestingly, I also thought Boyd was sounding Raylan out because he wanted to know if Raylan and Ava were a couple. And now he knows.)

Raylan said he knew Johnny Crowder wasn't the one that shot at them, the same way that he knew it wasn't Sheriff Mosley. Except Sheriff Mosley was indeed involved. Maybe Raylan's instincts aren't all that good. Boyd's are better.

Bits and pieces:

-- Bo Crowder was played M.C. Gaines, Mr. Friendly from Lost. What's with the Bo, Bowman and Boyd name thingy? I assume either Bowman or Boyd were named after Bo?

-- Ava got probation and can't leave Kentucky. Although she really should leave, anyway.

-- A LEO is a law enforcement officer.

-- Boyd said that Arlo beat Frances. I bet Arlo doesn't dare beat Helen. I liked how Helen backed Ava up in the store.

-- There were lots of closeups to their eyes and mouths during the scenes when Boyd was talking with Raylan. I'm not quite sure why, but it was an interesting directing choice.

-- Mr. Duke, the hit man that the Cartel sent after Raylan, was planning to write a book about how to be a hit man. He was a lousy hit man. As the Sheriff said, now we know how it ends.

-- Men of God aren't attacked in prison? That might be a very good reason for Boyd to hang on to his Bible.

-- The prison was referred to as "Big Sandy." I looked it up. It's a big federal prison in eastern Kentucky.

-- Red the idiotic spotter who got himself shot because he didn't follow orders had a crush on Ava. So does Boyd. Johnny Crowder, too. Not surprising, I suppose. Red seemed to feel that having Ava tied up in the back of the van meant they were going off on a honeymoon trip together.

Quotes:

Ava: "I'm gonna have to get a new bed. Unless I keep this as a conversation piece."
Raylan: "You planning on having lots of folks up here for conversation?"

Sheriff: "Old pickup trucks in Harlan are just like assholes."
Ava: "Everyone's got one."
Sheriff: "Same goes for these sawed-off shotguns."

Raylan: "Says he was just warning you because he likes you."
Ava: "How sweet. I guess talking about plastic-lined trunks and chainsaws is kinda flirty."

Art: "Just what part of being under investigation confuses you, Raylan?"
Raylan: "So many things confuse me, Art.
Art: "You think we're gonna banter here?"

Sheriff: "You know what they say about backwoods cabins in Harlan. They're like assholes, pickups and sawed-off shotguns."

Three out of four sawed-off shotguns,

Billie
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

5 comments:

  1. Mr. Duke was also played by another Deadwood alumi, Ray McKinnon, who played the Reverend in season 1 of Deadwood. Dude's an awesome actor, heh.

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  2. Thanks for the info, Greg. It's going to be hard to keep up with all of the Deadwood alumni on this show.

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  3. I'll try to help when I can. :D

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  4. Another fantastic installment. Again, the construction of the episode and the writing were superlative.

    I'm beginning to invest heavily in the Raylan/Boyd bromance. They seem to bring out both the best and the worst in each other. Yet, they seem to have each other's backs. It is a fascinating dynamic to watch.

    And, frankly, Art raking Raylan over the coals was a long time coming. Our boy has had it coming and probably deserved a lot worse than he got.

    The director of this one was Michael Watkins who has directed at least one episode of just about every show going. I wasn't wild about the close up choices he made here. I was so aware of it, that it took me out of the story.

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  5. >>"What's with the Bo, Bowman and Boyd name thingy?"
    I don't know but it tickles me.

    And while I liked the mouth close-ups I agree with @ChrisB that they were distracting and drew attention to themselves

    "Well, I'm guessing you don't want me to waste time pretending I don't know what you're talking about..."
    "You wasted enough time just then (too)"
    lol

    ReplyDelete

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