Justified
is one of those shows that ends too quickly and this week’s episode was no exception. Last week we briefly met Walker, played by Garrett Dillahunt, as he offered to buy the Givens’ land. This week we see he is trying to buy up tons of land all over Harlan, though most people are saying no. Boyd hides the ledger and the paperwork he got in the bank robbery in Ava’s garage. She finds it, and eager to stay out of jail, gives it to Raylan. He thinks it was too easy to find and thinks Boyd might suspect Ava so tells her to put it back. She gets home to see Boyd waiting for her so confronts him about hiding something in her garage when it could send her back to prison. He leaves but you can tell she is Freaking. Out.
We find out the ledger/deeds belong to a local real estate guy, who has been doing some land deals with Walker’s gang but after realizing they are shady deals, started keeping track of the deals to cover his ass. Boyd contacts him and tries to blackmail him for the ledger but Raylan puts it together and is at the real estate office when Boyd gets there with the ledgers. Raylan and Boyd screen time has been rare lately so it is phenomenal to see then together; their chemistry is fantastic. Raylan leaves with the ledgers and Boyd goes back to the bar to wallow. Ava shows up at the bar and tells Boyd that he needs to let her in on what he is working on and reveals that she noticed that one of the land deeds was to the old pizza place, and reminds him of what it used to be. This makes Boyd very happy so he leaves to get more to drink, as Ava almost breaks down.
In this episode we also meet Avery Markham, played by Sam Elliot. He is in love with Katherine Hale, who along with Wynn Duffy, hired Boyd to rob the bank and the safety deposit boxes that contain the deeds/ledger. Each season of Justified has had a new bad guy so it is nice to know that Katherine-Avery- Walker are the main players this year. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. Walker seems on the edge and has already freaked out when his lackey, Choo Choo, gets caught following Raylan. You can tell he is close to snapping and that is going to be fun to see.
Raylan and Tim check out the pizza place, which has become the headquarters for Walker and the Security Services people he employs, Choo Choo and the fabulous Scott Grimes. The pizza place used to be a bank. Clearly that plays into the master plan, yet what that is, I have no idea.
I am really enjoying the Raylan Tim interaction and the feeling that this season is racing towards a Raylan – Boyd showdown is palpable. Joelle Carter’s Ava is strong and scared and I have no doubt she is going to be pivotal in how it ends. This episode had the dialogue that I love and the scene where Raylan confronts Choo Choo for the first time is hilarious. I am still very sad that this is the last season but I am certainly enjoying every second of the ride.