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Justified: Long in the Tooth

"You can rinse now."

A rather sweet, perverse character study, with teeth-pulling.

Despite the cringeworthy "repossession" in the opener, this is one of the better early criminal-of-the-week episodes. Rollie Pike and Mindy Springer were a rather nice couple providing dental work for underprivileged kids and happy with being paid in tamales. If only he hadn't lost his temper and his past working as an accountant for Tommy Bucks' drug cartel hadn't come back to screw things up, huh? I did want Rollie and Mindy to make it to Belize, and it was rather sad that Rollie sacrificed his life for Mindy, instead.

The character bits were again the best thing about the episode. Poor Mindy really wasn't made for life on the run (who orders ceviche from a taco truck?), but it was sweet that she was going to give up her comfortable life for Rollie's sake. Clarence Williams III had a nice character bit as a foul-mouthed old man who thought he was getting a free car. And even the hit men sent to execute Rollie were interesting. I liked the professional and his idiot local partner arguing about movie assassins. When the professional got shot, he kept talking so superficially about how Raylan had won this one, as if he couldn't quite accept that he was dying. It gave a brief character part dimension.

It was also nice to get to know Rachel Brooks a little better. She was right that she wouldn't have been able to get away with wearing a cowboy hat, and it's not surprising that she was unhappy that Raylan walked into the Lexington office and got to the "front of the line". But Raylan did a lot of smart, courageous things in this episode. He got right into the back seat of the assassins' car and confronted them, and later outshot them both. He charmed the elderly grandfather and the foul-mouthed old man into telling him where Rollie had gone. I think this all suggests that Raylan didn't go to the "front of the line" just because he's a tall, good-looking white man. (Although it probably doesn't hurt.) Loved Rachel trying on the hat. It looked like it was bigger than she was.

Raylan just killed two more very bad men. Maybe they can get away with a shoot-out in nearly every episode. I did enjoy the deliberate wild west set-up on the deserted road with the hawk screeching in the background. I also liked the possibility that Raylan's shoot-out with Tommy Bucks in the pilot episode is going to have long-term consequences.

Bits and pieces:

-- Alan Ruck was a great choice for Rollie. He's such a talented, likable actor, perfect for a quirky, complicated character.

-- In his last moments, Rollie told Raylan he realized he wanted to be a dentist when he saw Hermie the elf in Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

-- This week's episode mostly took place in Los Angeles. In reality, it's always mostly Los Angeles.

Quotes:

Art: "Rachel's downstairs. She's gonna go with you. What? You afraid she's gonna cramp your style, cockblock you from banging a starlet?"

Jim: "Look at that hat! How's Winona?"
Raylan: "She's still happily married to someone else. Thanks for asking."

Raylan: "He gave me his word."
Jim: "Yeah, see, I always take a fugitive's word over handcuffs."

Raylan: "You ever consider I happen to be good at the job?"
Rachel: "And you being a tall, good looking white man with a shitload of swagger, that has nothing to do with it?"

Two out of four repossessed teeth,

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

3 comments:

  1. Brian Goodman, the professional hitman, was also in Lost for a bit before getting run over by Hurley.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've always loved that the woman who paid for dental care with tamales had a flat screen TV in her living room.

    (Maybe I should stop paying my dentist.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. "See the man in the hat?"
    "The tall guy?"
    "...The man in the hat"

    It's not especially funny but I cracked up because that's the kind of retarded 2nd distinction I'd make too.
    "See that guy wearing nothing but a garish green speedo?"
    "Black guy?"

    ReplyDelete

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