Though he cuts an unimposing figure, there’s a fire in Sweeney, and both Raylan and the show treat him seriously, so long as he isn’t getting in Raylan’s way, or making Mad Max references. “Hole in the Wall” still plays into the comedic beats that come with a mismatched buddy cop pairing, but that’s mostly because this happens to be an extremely funny episode. A standoff in a scrapyard shed, which has Raylan and Sweeney doing a sloppy imitation of the “take the hostage out of the equation” technique (a nice nod from creator Graham Yost, who wrote the episode, and most of Speed), will go down as one of the show’s best. All in all, the premiere makes for an excellent reminder of how good Justified is at handling the procedural half of its identity.
As is often the case though, it’s the villains that get the long-term trouble brewing early, and while Boyd hasn’t ascended to true archenemy status yet, the Crowder clan’s influence in Harlan’s drug trade has become renascent, now that he controls the OxyContin business. With the help of an old army pal who should shore up the business’ muscle, Boyd puts the squeeze on a dealer who’s given up one salve for another, ditching the Oxy in favor of a new Pentecostal preacher who’s been busy charming the evils out of Harlan’s drug-using dregs. Wielding a venomous snake, and that fire and brimstone speechifying that Boyd knows the power of all too well, preacher Billy looks to be the Eli Sunday to Boyd’s enterprising Daniel Plainview. In other words, there will be blood.
Of course, in that analogy, Boyd’s the real villain, and with his menacing new waistcoat, the season could be setting up Boyd’s transformation into a legitimate big bad. “Hole in the Wall” throws the bulk of the menace to someone else though, by making a more deadly nemesis out of the man Raylan has hated longer than anyone: his father. Visiting Arlo in prison, Raylan grills him for information about the mysterious bag, and the identity of Waldo Truth, whose driver’s license was contained within. Arlo plays things close to the vest, but trips himself up on details the way his aging mind always does. The devastating events of the season three finale destroyed what little remained between the two that wasn’t pure hatred, but locked behind bars, Arlo seems like a wound in Raylan’s life that has little chance of festering.
Then Arlo slits the throat of an overly inquisitive inmate, and all bets are off. How it is he came into possession of the skyman’s bag, and why he’ll go to such lengths to protect it, will become clearer as the season moves along, and we’ll likely find out more as Raylan does. As far as through lines go, a cold case that takes us through Harlan’s history sounds pretty brilliant. It’s an intriguing framework to build the season around, as the further we dig into Arlo’s past, the more we come to understand Raylan, who’s power often lies in how enigmatic he is. It could make for a risky venture, but Justified has never given me cause to seriously doubt it. I don’t think I’ll start now.
- Stray Thoughts
-Ellen May looks like she’ll be a key pivot point again this season. The choice between spiritual salvation, and sex with furries, isn’t much of a choice at all.
-Johnny’s back on two feet with the help of a cane, but his betrayal of Boyd last season means his days are surely numbered.
-Can’t wait to find out how preacher Billy got bit by his snake a second time. Gruesome backstories are among the show’s specialties. Speaking of which: yup, I’m calling something creepy going on between Billy and his sister. The direction tells you a great deal of what you need to know about their relationship.
-Raylan’s still shacking up with Lindsey, the gal from the bar. Between that, and a revealing flashback to his time spent with his lady friend from Knoxville, Olyphant really has to sell how miserable life away from Winona is.
-Nice touch with having Boyd’s two-fingered threat translate into a pair of dynamite sticks.
-“Thank you Donny.” It’s hard not to wonder what a Coen bros. directed episode would look like. A grisly and hilarious miscommunication over the meaning of, “take care of him,” seems right out of their wheelhouse.
-“You run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. You run into assholes all day, you’re an asshole.”
-“whit-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi. Beef stew.”
-If I have a gripe this week, it’s that not even a show this good can make repeated name-dropping of Dr. Pepper not rankle.
