"I'm sure my baby shouldn't have to ride my rap."This was sort of a criminal of the week episode, except that it wasn't just that. Maybe it was a continuing exploration of the "innocents in danger" theme.
The heart of the episode was about Jamie, a pregnant inmate who was being treated like a disposable brood mare to be put to sleep after producing a foal. (At one point, the bad guy even referred to the plains Indians and Jamie in the role of the buffalo.) I remember how helpless and slow I felt when I was nine months pregnant, and it was easy to imagine how I'd feel in Jamie's situation. If Van the EMT hadn't had a line he wouldn't cross, she would have met a gruesome death on that kitchen table. The takedown with Tim's sharpshooting and Raylan talking about the "apricot" section of the brain was pretty satisfying.
Because this is Justified, there were other layers to the story. Raylan and Winona apparently often talked about having children, and may have broken up because he wouldn't tell her about stuff like what happened with Jamie. I can imagine how hard it would be to burden the person you love with a work day like this one. But maybe they're going in the right direction now, because she confronted him about it, and he told her. Good for both of them.
Winona's husband Gary isn't taking this new development lying down, though. He has courage, going right up to an armed Raylan and saying he was going to win Winona back. Except that it was sort of funny that Winona was already inside the motel room waiting in Raylan's bed. That elevator scene in the courthouse where Gary told Winona she smelled nice right after she complained about smelling like Raylan was pretty funny. Gary didn't know at the beginning of the episode that Raylan and Winona had reconnected, but he did at the end.
There was a multi-layered Mags and Loretta scene, and I wasn't at all sure what was going on there. Mags was clearly pumping Loretta about her abduction to find out what she knew, and she gave her some apple cider to drink that mimicked the way she killed Loretta's father. If Loretta had known too much, would Mags have killed her, too? The conflicted way Mags looked at Loretta, touched her hair, and said, "I never had a girl. Just those damn boys" was mildly creepy, but I think Mags really meant it.
Will Mags be taking over Bo's territory? She expressed distaste for meth, but she's practical. I guess we'll see.
In other news, Boyd is living with Ava. How very interesting. Their relationship has definitely changed and for the better, although there was nothing romantic in the air. She patched him up and dressed him down for fighting. If Boyd is getting drunk and into fights, he might not stay on the straight and narrow for long.
Bits and pieces:
-- Dickie and Coover dumped Walt McCready's body in a mine shaft and obediently dusted it with lime as Mags instructed. When Dickie wasn't looking, Coover took Walt's watch. Now you know that'll come back to bite him. Dickie is smart enough to do what Mama says, but Coover isn't.
-- Raylan and Boyd went out for a drink together. Sort of. Boyd said Raylan would never believe that Boyd's outlaw days were behind him.
-- Tim made sure Raylan got credit for making Jess Timmins leave a fingerprint on the handcuffs. That was nice of Tim, as well as smart of Raylan.
-- There was a brief, funny scene at Arlo and Helen's. He's got an ankle tether until he turns in the $20,000, and she was not pleased that Arlo tried to give Raylan to the cartel. Loved the camper.
-- Arlo has a history with Mags. Do tell, Arlo.
-- I noticed that when Mags was lying to Loretta, she kept running her hand through her hair. It was a good lie. One that Loretta would want to believe.
-- I love that Boyd wears glasses. It's a little thing.
-- Sign at Mags' store: "Shooting supplies: Ammo, Bullets, Primers, Powder." If I saw a sign like that in front of a general store, I'd keep driving. Okay, I lived in Texas once, and saw a number of signs that made me pretty uncomfortable. Like not taking your gun into a classroom.
-- Van, the EMT who couldn't kill Jamie, was played by James Jordan, who did a fine job with two completely different roles on Veronica Mars.
Quotes:
Raylan: (gesturing toward the mine) "I'm not afraid of heights, snakes or redheaded women, but I am afraid of that."
Boyd: "Gio and his niece got nothing to fear from me, my friend, because my outlaw ways are behind me."
Raylan: "Just you saying that scares the shit out of me."
Raylan: "You kicked the man out of the house? He's under house arrest."
Helen: "Get back in the house!"
Arlo: "I hope you get cancer!"
Helen: "Already had it!"
Arlo: "I hope you get it again!"
Man, they know how to fight, don't they?
Winona: "Just by looking at your closet, one would think you were a simple man."
Winona: "Are you staying in Kentucky?"
Raylan: "They offered me my job back in Miami and I'm here, so what does that tell you?"
Winona: "You're also still in a place that puts a piece of paper over the toilet, so what does that tell me?"
Raylan: "That it's sanitized for your protection?"
Did he stay in Kentucky for Winona? Is he just being contrary by not getting a more permanent home?
Glen Cosgrove the evil guard: "Just the two of you?"
Tim: "I had an instructor at Glynco say that two marshals should be enough to transport King Kong."
As it turned out, two wasn't enough, after all.
Raylan: "Glen. We got it. You knocked up an inmate. You hired someone to murder her and sell your child. Shut the hell up, or Tim's gonna hit you in the face."
Three out of four... well, I can't think of anything. Any suggestions?
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
I love what they are doing with Boyd. That shot of him arriving home and staggering up the stairs was heartbreaking. So much pain, and so much struggle to figure out his place and his path.
ReplyDeleteI also quite liked the scene between Raylan and Winona at the end. Lots of interesting insight into their past. It had a nice bittersweet quality.
Sarah Jones was very good as Jaime. Her scenes in the bathroom and her expressing her fear of dying when talking to the EMT before things went horribly south were very affecting. It made me more eager to see Alcatraz in a couple weeks.
She's going to be on Alcatraz? Hooray!
ReplyDeleteRaylan: (gesturing toward the mine) "I'm not afraid of heights, snakes or redheaded women, but I am afraid of that."
Mines On Justified: So we've found out Raylan's great weakness--a fear of mines. The mine symbolizes so much for him: the trauma of nearly exploding while underground; the past he left behind after that explosion; even the risk that, if he left the Marshal's service, he'd have to work in the mines again because hometowns have a way of sucking you in. It's death either way you slice it: the living death of moving back to Harlan, or the actual death that he and Boyd narrowly averted.
Speaking of Raylan and Boyd: I loved the way their scenes were shot. Raylan's admission was exactly the kind of openness that Winona wants him to have, but Raylan is more comfortable revealing that sort of thing to his bromantic foil Boyd. Nonetheless, they never quite faced each other in any of their scenes: they were always at odd angles, like Raylan with his back to the bar while Boyd sat facing the liquor, or Boyd talking to Raylan from behind the chain-link fence.
The "realtor" joke continues, with Raylan opting for "re-la-tor" when talking to Winona.
I may be over-thinking things, but:
ReplyDelete(1) Mags and the cider. I kept wondering what was in it. Obviously nothing poison, but something addictive? Something that is going to keep Loretta near by? That scene really creeped me out, although I do think that Mags would have liked to have had a girl.
(2) The way Raylan was touching Winona's belly. Could she be pregnant? I just love these two together, and I really like the idea of a Boyd/Ava relationship -- even if it is fraternal and not romantic.
I fell in love with this series :) And it reminds me so much of my beloved Deadwood and not because of Timothy Olyphant. I love the dry, sarcastic humor of it.
ReplyDeleteWinona and Raylan are such a great couple. I can´t stand Gary, so I hope he goes with the wind.
Boyd and Ava....that could be interesting. And Arlo and Helen are so much fun.
Mag creeps me out and her "apple pie" references make me think of the Baldwin sisters "recipe" on the Waltons.