Justified: "For Blood Or Money"

Once I determine which dessert is the best compliment for delivering bad news, I'll offer up a review of tonight's episode, after the jump....

Justified is one of those shows thats can excel at small character beats, and did so many times last season, but when it attempted to repeat these beats in the early outings of this season, they tended to fall flat. Why? Well, after wrapping up last seasons “dangling” plot lines in the first ten minutes of the premiere, the show had essentially hit the reset button of its emotional core. But now that the show has aired a few more episodes, and has developed this season's story arcs, the character beats have an background to play off of, something to be couched in, something to really make them pop.

Take for instance the Bennett clan. The first episodes depicted them as fairly generic backwoods villains, yet just smart enough to keep their business afloat. But the show has expanded them a little bit, and we now see them not as a cohesive whole, but as a group with their own interpersonal dynamic. The best television villains, the ones we remember for years after, are those that are both intelligent and unpredictable. Here, we have Mags representing the brains, and Dickie and Cooper representing the unstable element. (Doyle, well, he's probably the conscience, but he's still a wild card at this point). Though this episode did little to advance their plot – all that happened was Mags learning about her family's involvement with the Dixie Mafia – it did let us know how they interact with one another, which sets the stage for when they put the next stage of their mysterious plan into action.

Or take Boyd and Eva's evolving relationship. While I was admittedly sour on Boyd in this season's first two outings – though Goggins is a fine actor, he can't really be a presence on the screen if the show doesn't give his character anything to do – the last episode finally lets us know how his change for good has affected him. As a man who is truly struggling with his decision to live by a moral code, who would just prefer to break free and let out the animal inside of him. So there is real tension tonight as to whether Boyd will return to his criminal ways now that he has a chance. But even more, Kyle offers Boyd the chance to play hero and get rich quick – yeah, that'll peak his interest.

As far as Eva, the show finally showed us how the two act around each other. Last week we had Eva saying that the two are sharing the house for financial reason, and that she doesn't allow Boyd to bring around any sort of criminal behavior. And though we saw her patch him up in the second episode, we didn't have much an idea of what they mean to one another – until tonight. Though we've always known that Boyd has a soft spot/hard on for Eva (like most of the Crowder clan), she was sour on him as the cousin to her abusive husband. But it appears that living with the new, improved Boyd has softened Eva, and she appears to be attempting to grow closer to him. Given how Boyd will eventually relapse into crime, this should make for some heightened scenes in the next few episodes.

Finally, there was Gary and Winona. They were never my favorite part of season one, as Raylan's anger at Winona seemed to hint at some residual feelings, which made him seem a bit pathetic, and Gary's plot lines were never as interesting as I felt they could have been. But now that the shoe is on the other foot, and the plot line is being treated with more levity – it has yet to threaten to derail an episode – it feels more like a grace note, something that will stay on the edges of the episode, where is belongs. As long as it stays there, and doesn't ask us to devote too much of our attention to it, then this arc will service just fine.

I should of course talk about this week's standalone case, which held its own importance for the series as a whole. Last season, through some combination of limited budget and poor planning, the supporting cast got sort serviced, most of all the character of Rachel. Even if I can't see Erica Tazel and not think about the Firefly episode “Safe,” I do like here presence here, and I enjoyed the show taking the time to deepen her character. (They've been trying a bit with Tim as well, but not the extent that the did with Rachel tonight, though I have a feeling he'll get his own episode before the season is out. Oh, and out of fairness I'll admit I can't see Jacob Pitts without thinking of him as Cooper from Eurotrip.)

The case itself was actually fairly slight this time around, but given that it was simplified in order to make room for all of the other arcs covered in this hour, I'm actually okay with it. In fact, I would suggest that the show follow this model from now on, provided all the cases have some sort of emotional element to them, be it for the cast or the villain of the case (both of which were present tonight.)

Tonight's episode was mostly about the characters beats, a breather that also laid down the groundwork for more powerful scenes later in the season. While this will hardly be anybody's favorite episode, it certainly is an important episode in the whole of the season two narrative, and I greatly enjoyed it for what it was.

What did everybody else think?


Additional Thoughts:

Any bets on what went down between the Givens and the Bennetts, or what gave Dickie his limp?

“I know he's old, and he's white, but he gets out in three years.”

“You're usually upset with me.” “That's true.”

Raylan has eight, nine hundred dollars in his savings, easy.

“Why do I have the office where deputies shoot people?"

Raylan expected shooting his father to be far more satisfying.