The Crowes have arrived in Harlan County and they are wasting very little time letting everyone, including the authorities, know it. Prepare to have your Justified world rocked with Daryl (Michael Rapaport) and his retro brand of hillbilly mayhem which has unintentionally, if only briefly, reunited Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) and Boyd (Walter Goggins) in the search for a missing informant.
There is something startling about the amount of power that people with ill intentions and stupidity wield in this show, but it is perhaps the facet of Justified that mirrors reality the most. Daryl and his lot arrived in Kentucky and without any resistance worth mentioning, assumed control over Audrey’s, and with it Dewey’s (Damon Herriman) financials.
Daryl even managed to convince Dewey that it was not only in his best interest, but necessary, to kill his employee (and friend) for unwillingly skimming off the top – a condition that Boyd demanded upon his departure from management.
You may remember a couple seasons back when we were first introduced to Wade Messer (James Le Gros). He was man support for Dickie Bennett in his personal vendetta against Raylan, and has since then been a filler character popping up here and there as needed.
Somewhere along the line, probably to avoid jail time for his role in the fiasco, someone decided, and he agreed, that he would make an excellent informant. The U.S. Marshal service was using information provided by him to build a case against Boyd, who we all know has a tendency to outsmart them. The snag in this plan being that Boyd was once again one step ahead of the authorities and knew the entire time.
Another issue with this brilliant plan was that no one thought it was important enough to share this information with Raylan. When it comes to the comings and goings of Harlan County, Raylan has a certain tenacity for being in the know. Since he has ties to the area and so many of the locals, mostly in a negative way at this point, he likes to remain abreast of the situation – and understandably so, since when things go wrong, he’s always the one they send to straighten them out. Although, lately these field trips have been limited to ‘with supervision.’
On this episode of Justified, Raylan is sent in to ascertain the location of a missing informant, who turns out to be Wade. Not only does he question the logic that went into this decision, but he only half asses his investigation. Even thought he does find Wade – or at least his body, he used it as an excuse to evaluate the Crowe situation and assert his position of authority more than anything else. In doing so, he found out that the youngest Crowe might also be the smartest one.
Along for this unlawful ride that the Crowe’s are now on is an impressionable 15 year-old, Kendal (Jacob Lofland). Unlike his brothers, he can apparently see the merit in not shooting a federal officer, but then again, we’re talking about men that recently shot their own brother for messing up their masterful sugar scheme. When you consider that they don’t draw the line on who to kill at their own family, they probably have never met a line they wouldn’t cross. Dewey should probably reconsider his stance on sticking around as it’s liable to get him killed in the same drawn out manner as Wade.
Do you think that Dewey will make it out of this situation alive? Should Raylan be concerned for his own well-being now that he’s taken Kendal out of that situation and created a conflict with Daryl? Let us know all your thoughts on this episode of Justified in the comments section below!
