Justified Review: “The Toll” (Season 5, Episode 11)

This season of Justified has been comparatively light on the heavy stuff. There has been a constant ebbing of compelling material as Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) and Art (Nick Searcy) continue down their road of indifference, and the Crowes have brought north with them a newfound sense of anarchy to an otherwise quiet Harlan County. But with the (shockingly) levelheaded influence of Boyd (Walton Goggins), even that has not managed to peak – until now.

In the ballsiest move we’ve seen from Daryl (Michael Rapaport) this season, he opened fire on the Deputy Chief Marshal, unofficially declaring war on Raylan himself. Whether or not Art was the intended target, or if him conveniently being there for Allison’s (Amy Smart) safety put him in the line of fire, remains a mystery. Daryl wasn’t keen on explicitly sharing all the details of his plan under the circumstances. There is always the slim chance that he was targeting Allison and just happened to get luckier than he bargained. You may wager that he would consider hitting either one of his available options at that moment a victory. Anything to attract Raylan’s attention.

For the first time this season Raylan took an active stance in matters. That’s not to say that he’s been sitting around doing nothing, because he hasn’t. He’s been sort of discontently moseying along ever since he made the confession to Art that changed the dynamics of their relationship. Although he’s been involved in the Marshal departments caseload, he’s been uncharacteristically reserved for the most part. Even when he took advantage of his vacation time to wrap up some loose ends in his work life, he did so with a restraint that isn’t typical of his character.

This atypical behavior most likely stems back to the disastrous events leading up to last seasons finale. It comes as no shock that his new outlook has extended into his personal life as well. His relationship with Allison was not without its fair share of bumps in what should have been the honeymoon period, but he was able to remain open-minded throughout the duration, right up until and through the end.

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