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I agree, I think one of the great things about this season is how complicated situations are getting for all our characters-- as much as I love seeing Boyd Crowder own a situation, seeing him get screwed over and over and then pair up with some of the most dangerous criminals we've yet met out of a lack of options is making for some great television. In some ways the Crowes remind me of Marlo on the Wire-- more dangerous than anyone else because they don't follow the accepted rules of the criminal underworld. True, the Crowes are doing so out of bullheaded stupidity rather than the flippant immorality of Marlo, but its their lack of common sense and self-preservation that makes every scene with them ripple with tenseness. For a show that has been consistently great for so long, this might be the best it's been in a while (not that the contrast is all that jarring!)

Also, I couldn't place where I recognized Boyd's new henchman (the one who got "kidnapped"), but I realized 2/3 of the way through this ep-- it was from a modern Christian film, Blue Like Jazz! Quite a range!

EDIT: And did my eyes deceive me, or was that a Smog sticker in Raylan's bar? Raylan frequents the indie bar?!

domino harvey wrote:In some ways the Crowes remind me of Marlo on the Wire-- more dangerous than anyone else because they don't follow the accepted rules of the criminal underworld.

Reminds me of how a novice to a game like, say, poker, can frustrate and even beat a seasoned player simply because their choices don't follow any familiar pattern. You play a game long enough and you internalize the conventions merely by observing the behaviours of other knowledgeable players. But it's hard to have a response to players who can't even be relied on to follow their own self-interest, let alone act conventionally. The Crowes are that: they're volatile outsiders who have no idea who the players are and how the scene works, so they're unpredictable. For someone like Boyd who thrives on manipulation, they're the worst people to get in bed with.

Should be fun.

In some ways the Crowes remind me of Marlo on the Wire-- more dangerous than anyone else because they don't follow the accepted rules of the criminal underworld.

Almost as exciting as what's been happening on Jeopardy lately, amirite?

Raylan half-assing his job in the first half of the episode was hilarious-- his response to the hacker shimmying out the window was priceless. Also, it was only a matter of time til Dale Dickey showed up!

Raylan's response on TC's blog - and that he just couldn't let the guy go unanswered - cracked me up.

So long, cousin Johnny. Happy that finally happened; I get annoyed when writers start coming up with elaborate and improbable ways for two antagonists to always escape each other.

Also gives the impression that no one's safe this season.

Raylan's response on TC's blog - and that he just couldn't let the guy go unanswered - cracked me up.

"Respond to a blog? No, we're years away from that kind of thing..."

I love Tim a little while later: "Chris is a little bit of a dick, isn't he?"

Yost's take on things.

Wow, I didn't even recognize him but the ocean-loving kidnapper was played by ANOTHER Boomtown cast member!

Justified had more great timing with this week's episode coinciding with the Bitcoin disaster at Mt Gox -- Everything about "Bitcoins" is so fascinating/bizarre/idiotic

Really good episode tonight. Things are inching closer to making this a more interesting season. Plus Mary Steenburgen as Mrs. Duffy next week.

This just might be my favourite season.

I absolutely love that Dewey is apparently going to make his big desperate break next week in an AMC Gremlin.

Yeah, this is in the running for best season for me too-- maybe it's just the accumulated joy of so many of these characterizations that when they all get thrown together like in last nite's whore house clusterfuck, it's just entertaining beyond reason. And I just don't understand people who aren't enjoying Michael Rapaport's performance (or, any performance)

Also, Comcast cannot be trusted to report the correct runtime for this series-- this episode ran 16 minutes over an hour! Holy cat. And of course I watched it on my DVR version because I figured an extra seven minutes would cover enough and then had to run the entire episode again until the last ten minutes showed up thanks to On Demand's "no fast forwarding" policy. I know, zero world problems, but still!

Well, that 21 feet rule runner paid off in the most beautiful way possible, as we all knew it would eventually! And Dickie fucking Bennett! Not sure what to make of the whole Boyd-Ava thing yet, but let's be honest-- this show has never really figured out what to do with Ava's character, and at least they're trying this season

Yeah, they turned the end of Danny Crowe into something memorable, and in retrospect, the whole character revolves around that dog in ways that didn't register at the time. I loved seeing Dickie again - particularly his reunion with Dewey. My only disappointment is with Ava's storyline. The whole 'women's prison' thing is perhaps the weakest narrative thread Justified has ever run with. For a show that's so good at creating uniquely persuasive characters, the prison seems to be populated with clichés. At least they finally killed off Holy Mother, who was the most grating of the 'lockup raw' types. Fortunately, my quibbles with the prison stuff are mitigated by the Crowe family, who are everything a Justified criminal family should be and more. (I agree that Rapaport's Daryl Jr. is just great)

How does this show manage to just keep getting more amazing? Some delicious plot developments this week, which in hindsight fit perfectly, though I didn't see them coming at all.

Agreed.

Spoiler

It had been far too long since we'd last seen Boyd blow something up with characteristic savoir faire.

These last couple of episodes have been brilliant, and I can't wait to see how the coiled tension between Raylan and Daryl Jr. unwinds. Also, after seeing Rapaport and Olyphant's scene at the elevator, one wonders how exactly anyone questioned Rap's casting. Wow.

Thirded, a wonderful episode that pushed everything into completely unexpected arenas while remaining perfectly logical and set-up. Boyd's solution was brilliant and hilariously dark ("Lock the door" was just the perfect comic topper to the incredible surreal violence) and it's interesting how they finally found a promising angle for the Ava storyline. Only two more episodes? Life is unfair

The fifth season is about where shows start to unwind, not crank up. I think my favourite part was the look on Boyd's face right after the explosion, followed by his ice cold line that references the pilot: "I may not know a lot about a lot of things, but I do know how to blow shit up."

Indeed.

Apparently Mary Steenburgen has signed on to take a lead-equivalent presence in the final season, so looks like she's being set up as the final big heavy

Wow. Amazing episode. I was exhausted when I sat down to watch it, and there were three instances (not hard to guess) that made me sit bolt upright. The elevator scene was a tour de force, and the way the show finds new ways to explore variations on familial relationships, especially parental or surrogate-parental ones, continues to impress.

As for Boyd, it's a real pleasure watching him continue to survive by the skin of his (immaculate) teeth. The guy's time has been up... what? six, seven times now?

I hope it's not the last zinger we ever hear from him but Art's line to Alison about her taking Raylan away from him was typically perfect.

Another phenomenal episode full of "Oh shit" moments-- barring some horrendous wrong turn in the finale, this season has cemented itself as the best of the series, and the chips are starting to fall for next year's big finish. Some hilarious references (American Hustle, World Star Hip Hop) and probably the single most incriminating thing ever said during a recorded sting, poor Ava getting set up wonderfully right after it looked like she'd turned the corner, Darryl Crowe's funniest line of the season ("Get at 'im!"), and Boyd crossing a surprising line with Raylan that can't be walked back (one of many such irreversible moves in the episode)

domino harvey wrote:Boyd crossing a surprising line with Raylan that can't be walked back (one of many such irreversible moves in the episode)

I didn't find it so surprising because, as I understood it, they've always had a sort of uneasy understanding between each other--not quite a truce, but not full out hostilities, either. Raylan broke that freely when he invoked the file and then outright said he was going to send it to the grand jury, almost out of spite considering that Boyd had done his best to help Raylan capture Daryl. Boyd reciprocated, and I guess what started in the first episode will be finished for good next season.

For Raylan's part, he's always been sort-of (forgive me) justified in the more unethical things he's done, but this is the first time he seemed to be freely crossing over into uncaring ugliness in pursuit of Daryl--between his comments to Ava, his spiting of Boyd for no good reason, and his decision to potentially sacrifice Kendal to force Daryl's hand, he's going down a dark path.