Justified: "Reckoning"

Season 2, Episode 12

The show’s finest – and quietest – hour

“You’re worried I might do something rash”

-Raylan

 “Reckoning” is the least characteristic episode of Justified so far, but it just might be the show’s most brilliant, as it continues the show’s trend of subverting out expectations, tonight paying off with great dramatic effect. Face it, at the end of last week’s episode, the general assumption was that Raylan was just going to go apeshit, becoming just a whirlwind of violence and revenge. Yet this episode saw him highly restrained, too shell-shocked from the loss, and too focused on bringing justice, to get lost in his anger.

In fact, not a whole lot actually happened in this episode, and I’m sure that this might disappoint some people. Instead, the show played off on everything that has come before it this season, allowing Raylan’s relatively simple manhunt to weave him throughout Harlan County, letting us see the effect that Helen’s death has. Perhaps the most brilliant aspect of this was how the show navigated all of the criminal and blood ties of Harlan, in a way that follows logistical sense, yet feels dense enough to be real.

“I know what she did for me. I don’t need to be reminded by you.”

-Raylan

The most powerful of the storylines tonight was Raylan’s, watching as he is forced to face the facts of Helen’s death as he went about tracking down Dickie. Through shock and determination, he was able to mostly keep his anger under control, yet the further he went, the more and more frustrated he got, and the harder it was to keep that anger down. Yet it was also hard for him to stop and feel sorrow, so focused was he on finding Dickie. Yet those times when he was forced to stop – when he was talking to the hooker, when he was dealing with Arlo – and you could also see that his even bigger struggle was fighting back those emotions he had for Helen, in order that he could bring about justice for her.

 “This is who we are, Dickie. This is what we do.”

-Raylan

And it was these feelings for Helen that would ultimately prove to be his downfall of sorts, as he was unable to kill Dickie, so powerful was the love that Helen showed him growing up. It was a fine moment for both Raylan and Timothy Olyphant, and it was a new side of the character. As often as we have seen Raylan become angry and violent, we have never seen him sad, and it’s an emotion that’s obviously foreign to him. This turn only added to the almost alien feeling of tonight’s episode, throwing us for a bigger loop and making it even better.

 “Not a day went by that we weren’t tearing strips of each other. But that was our dance.”

-Arlo

And here is where I apologize for my previous comments on Arlo. Clearly the show isn’t trying to repeat anything with the character; instead they are just building on what has already been established. Arlo has often been depicted as a criminal, and it’s been hard to imagine him as anything else. Yet here Raymond J. Barry brought it, letting us believe that Arlo has had this side to him all along, albeit buried under his years of toughening criminal activity. Yet his emotions also made him a liability, and man able to fly off the handle at any moment out of anger. He and Raylan may have more in common than his son wants to believe.

“I am still the head of this family.”

-Mags

And then there’s Mags, and the rest of the Bennet clan. At the start of the season, they were the big bad; then they seemed to fall out of that role. But now the roles have reversed again, and it seems that the Bennets and the Givens are primed for a battle Royale next week. It’s been an interesting path for these characters, and one that might seem a bit illogical in lesser hands.But this show’s hands aren’t lesser by any means. I could go on, but for now, I’ll just leave you with Mags’ very chilling words:

“Don’t you worry. We’ll take care of everything.”

Holy. Shit.

Quotes, Etc.:

So what is Raylan’s brand of Razor?

“Arlo, do you remember the last time you pointed a gun at me?”

Apparently “D&D” has a whole other meaning for law enforcement.

“Oooooh, that sounds kinky.”

“Well, why don’t you them for me that I was the best two pumps of your life.”

“You pat me down, I’ll kill you.” “It was rhetorical.”

“Well, you both make good points.”