Justified makes things awesomely uncomfortable

I loved this week’s episode of Justified. It also made me feel like I needed a hug. Here, then, is another reason for the show’s brilliance: it’s fantastic and it is unafraid to mess you up.

Let me explain: there were some pretty cool moments in this episode. Raylan running bent prison guard Murphy over with his car twice? Awesome and also kind of hilarious. Dickie realizing that his mother had a lot less money than he thought she did? Surprising and a little bit sad. And Boyd and Johnny killing Devil? Shocking and really, truly uncomfortable.

To be fair, Devil had it coming to him from the teaser. When he met with Quarles (a still very creepy Neal McDonough), it was clear the guy’s ego was too big for his brain, and the Detroit fixer manipulated him expertly. But even though it was obvious Devil wasn’t going to be with us next week, how he exited was still stomach-churning. Watching him bleed out from one gunshot wound, clearly terrified, while Boyd gave him some final words on loyalty — and then put a mercy bullet into his brain? That’s going to stick with me for awhile. Having interviewed him once, I know Walton Goggins is a nice guy, but he’s so chilling as Boyd Crowder that if we ever crossed paths in public, I might entertain the thought of walking on the other side of the street.

And although I will forever have a TV character crush on Raylan Givens, who will run you over with his car if you attempt to kill him, the U.S. Marshal who stole the spotlight tonight was Rachel Brooks (Erica Tazel). Not only did we learn more about her backstory (she’s from Tennessee and graduated from Ole Miss), but we got to see what makes her, to quote Art, one of the “best marshals” in Lexington. Here’s how good Tazel is in the role: until I looked it up today, I had no idea that Justified is her first TV role of longer than two episodes. I always thought she’d been a lead somewhere before, because she’s always acted with that kind of poise. I’m a fan of Tazel’s, as well as of her colleague Jacob Pitts (better known as Tim Gutterson), so any time there’s more Rachel or Tim, I will be happy.

Of course, good actors can’t do their best work without good material, and this episode threw in some curveballs as well. Aside from Devil’s death, it was great to see Dickie finally find the much-talked about money … and an interesting surprise to learn that there wasn’t much left of it. That wasn’t something I’d ever considered. In that moment, we got a plot point resolved and something else to chew on simultaneously, plus one heck of an entrance by Mykelti Williamson. (Although someone please give me a scene between Williamson and Neal McDonough, and let it have a Boomtown reference. We need that.)

We knew from last week that Raylan and Quarles were on a collision course, and that Boyd and Limehouse weren’t exactly buddies either; we now know that Limehouse and Raylan have a past (albeit brief) and that Boyd and Quarles are due to have it out, too. Am I alone in being far too excited for the inevitable messy, suspenseful, angsty trainwreck that’s headed our way?

Clacked by Brittany Frederick
on Feb 08, 2012 @ 10:00 EST5EDT