Season 3, Episode 9
“You always bring broken things in here, tryin' to fix 'em.”
I've been loathe to admit this both because I was trying to give the show the time to get over this hurdle on it's own time, and because I would hate to go against the critical consensus and thus in anyway be “wrong”, but I haven't really loved this season of Justified like I loved season two. I mean I still really enjoy this season, but I don't love it, and that's a crucial distinction that I feel I has to be made in criticism. I believe the reason for this is that while last season gave Raylan a direct connection to the criminal world – thus making it more weighty and intense – this season has mostly seen him removed from the action. There's been a lot of genius plotting that I can appreciate, and individual moments of tension that grip me, but as a whole I just don't feel the same pull that I did last year.
So it's only fitting that the week that I finally acknowledge what's hindering my complete enjoyment is also the week where the show offers up hope of a fix.
I mentioned this several times during my reviews of the second season, but Justified has this off-putting but ultimately rewarding knack of starting off its seasons with a bunch of disparate storylines, and then as the season progresses it find a way to slowly and organically bring them all together, culminating in a huge climax for the season finale. While this works on the intellectual level in the fact that it's fun to watch all of the pieces come together, it can be a bit rough in the early outset, as sometimes the show doesn't give you enough to hang your hat on outside of these new plot threads. There's no real emotional connection to these new characters yet, and Raylan and Boyd can't be in every scene, and that makes it hard to be invested.
That season three has only doubled down on this technique from season two is both fascinating and maddening to watch. By introducing five distinct power players (Raylan, Boyd, Quarles, Limehouse, Arlo) as opposed to the three of season two (Raylan, Boyd, Mags), and givng each power player a higher number of second-tier allies, I can't deny that the storytelling has gotten even more ambitious. Likewise, the show has fleshed out it's world a lot more this season, which both allows the viewer to believe that they are actually entering Harlan as real place, and it gives the show a good stable of characters to draw on for it's standalone stories, which makes this automatically more interesting. (The show's ability to tell this standalone cases has also gotten much better.)
However, these things appeal more to my head than my heart, and so far this season we haven't seen a whole lot of things that affect the characters directly. The best so far has been Raylan and Winona's relationship falling apart, but as they exist like something of the Sam and Diane of the Kentucky, it's not like it was a large shock when Winona decided that they weren't working as a couple and up and left. Heck, the show didn't even play it for all that big of an event. And that I think it was gets to what is a least one large part of my aloof feelings towards this season – so little of it is about Raylan, and he's ostensibly the protagonist of this show. If season one of show was about Raylan learning to control his anger, and season two was about Raylan facing his past head-on, what is their in season three for him to do?
For the most part this season has instead focused on anybody but Raylan, as we have spent large amount of time learning about Quarles, or seeing what Boyd's up to with his latest criminal enterprise, or trying to figure out just how much of a hold over Harlan Limehouse has, and how he's going to be a deciding factor in all of this. I don't want to pretend as if Raylan hasn't been around, because he still gets a large amount of screen time and his character certainly has enough agency in investigating the fight over the Oxy trade, but so little of it affects him on a personal level outside his sense of justice and morality that it's hard for me to care emotionally.
(And if Justified is changing into a Wire-type show where there really is not protagonist, that's fine too, but that doesn't make up for this awkward transition phase the show is going through. I mean, even The Wire was able to keep telling specific character-based stories while also spinning a grand narrative about the city of Baltimore.)
But, as I said up above, that seems to be changing, and even if that change is coming a little late for my tastes, it's still a welcome one anyways. It's fitting then that the story were a little more mainlined in this episode, and that Qaurles was relegated to much smaller role this time around certainly helped to give that return focus to the characters that I have been longing for.
On the Boyd (and now also Ava) side of thing, we finally see Boyd getting some actual play. Like it was in the first section of season two, so far we've seen a lot of plotting from Boyd with perhaps too few instances of him actually doing things, and there's only so much interest that potential action can generate. (I'm looking at you, seasons two and three of Lost.) However, the slow build to all of Boyd's scheming paid off tonight, as he crashed the debate at the local VA hall, and had himself a Mags-style rallying cry for all those in attendance. That's the Boyd I want to see, the Boyd who serves as a real and credible threat to those around him.
While all this is going on, Ava meanwhile gets involved with Ellen May after she crosses Delroy, and while this mostly served as a way for the show to get in a standalone plot for the week, it was certainly a growing moment for Ava, and a shock to the audience. No longer can she nor us pretend that this a passive participant in all of the criminal activity Boyd's bringing around. And the fact that Ava both upset one of Boyd's alliances and is willing to take charge of it represents what should be an interesting change-up of the status quo in the episodes to come.
And on the Raylan side...well, that's a bit more difficult, as it's a plot that still has Raylan operating in that same vein that he had been for all of season three in much of its running time, and it involved Quarles, who as already established seem to be stealing the focus a bit too much from the main characters. Quarles role in this episode was mostly to provide money with Limehouse (and to realize that getting involved with somebody with such a different world view he is perhaps not the best idea), and it's the setting up of Limehouse that is the most important development here. I have of course documented my frustration with the show's slow-paced fleshing out of Limehouse in relation to the other characters, but this seemed like a good step forward, as much like Boyd, Limehouse has now gained larger narrative significance.
And this led to Raylan finally gaining an emotional connection to the overall plot, as he is led to a meeting with Limehouse, who trots out the family knowledge that he hinted at some episodes back. And based on Raylan's reaction at the end of the episode, he has touched on something that is going to send Raylan into an irrational rage. And that's the sort of Raylan I enjoy watching.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
“Well if a person is pointing a gun at you, doesn't matter if she's wearing a dress.” “She was wearing pants.”
“I'm from Detroit; elected officials are always part of the business plan.”
“I haven't don't the forensics yet, but I'm pretty sure that's a dead body.”
“County elections aren't over until the dead have voted.”
“Do you think for a minute you can cut out that country bumpkin, bar-b-que king bullshit?” “You'd rather talk pig shit?” “Close...Robert Quarles.”
That season three has only doubled down on this technique from season two is both fascinating and maddening to watch. By introducing five distinct power players (Raylan, Boyd, Quarles, Limehouse, Arlo) as opposed to the three of season two (Raylan, Boyd, Mags), and givng each power player a higher number of second-tier allies, I can't deny that the storytelling has gotten even more ambitious. Likewise, the show has fleshed out it's world a lot more this season, which both allows the viewer to believe that they are actually entering Harlan as real place, and it gives the show a good stable of characters to draw on for it's standalone stories, which makes this automatically more interesting. (The show's ability to tell this standalone cases has also gotten much better.)
However, these things appeal more to my head than my heart, and so far this season we haven't seen a whole lot of things that affect the characters directly. The best so far has been Raylan and Winona's relationship falling apart, but as they exist like something of the Sam and Diane of the Kentucky, it's not like it was a large shock when Winona decided that they weren't working as a couple and up and left. Heck, the show didn't even play it for all that big of an event. And that I think it was gets to what is a least one large part of my aloof feelings towards this season – so little of it is about Raylan, and he's ostensibly the protagonist of this show. If season one of show was about Raylan learning to control his anger, and season two was about Raylan facing his past head-on, what is their in season three for him to do?
For the most part this season has instead focused on anybody but Raylan, as we have spent large amount of time learning about Quarles, or seeing what Boyd's up to with his latest criminal enterprise, or trying to figure out just how much of a hold over Harlan Limehouse has, and how he's going to be a deciding factor in all of this. I don't want to pretend as if Raylan hasn't been around, because he still gets a large amount of screen time and his character certainly has enough agency in investigating the fight over the Oxy trade, but so little of it affects him on a personal level outside his sense of justice and morality that it's hard for me to care emotionally.
(And if Justified is changing into a Wire-type show where there really is not protagonist, that's fine too, but that doesn't make up for this awkward transition phase the show is going through. I mean, even The Wire was able to keep telling specific character-based stories while also spinning a grand narrative about the city of Baltimore.)
But, as I said up above, that seems to be changing, and even if that change is coming a little late for my tastes, it's still a welcome one anyways. It's fitting then that the story were a little more mainlined in this episode, and that Qaurles was relegated to much smaller role this time around certainly helped to give that return focus to the characters that I have been longing for.
On the Boyd (and now also Ava) side of thing, we finally see Boyd getting some actual play. Like it was in the first section of season two, so far we've seen a lot of plotting from Boyd with perhaps too few instances of him actually doing things, and there's only so much interest that potential action can generate. (I'm looking at you, seasons two and three of Lost.) However, the slow build to all of Boyd's scheming paid off tonight, as he crashed the debate at the local VA hall, and had himself a Mags-style rallying cry for all those in attendance. That's the Boyd I want to see, the Boyd who serves as a real and credible threat to those around him.
While all this is going on, Ava meanwhile gets involved with Ellen May after she crosses Delroy, and while this mostly served as a way for the show to get in a standalone plot for the week, it was certainly a growing moment for Ava, and a shock to the audience. No longer can she nor us pretend that this a passive participant in all of the criminal activity Boyd's bringing around. And the fact that Ava both upset one of Boyd's alliances and is willing to take charge of it represents what should be an interesting change-up of the status quo in the episodes to come.
And on the Raylan side...well, that's a bit more difficult, as it's a plot that still has Raylan operating in that same vein that he had been for all of season three in much of its running time, and it involved Quarles, who as already established seem to be stealing the focus a bit too much from the main characters. Quarles role in this episode was mostly to provide money with Limehouse (and to realize that getting involved with somebody with such a different world view he is perhaps not the best idea), and it's the setting up of Limehouse that is the most important development here. I have of course documented my frustration with the show's slow-paced fleshing out of Limehouse in relation to the other characters, but this seemed like a good step forward, as much like Boyd, Limehouse has now gained larger narrative significance.
And this led to Raylan finally gaining an emotional connection to the overall plot, as he is led to a meeting with Limehouse, who trots out the family knowledge that he hinted at some episodes back. And based on Raylan's reaction at the end of the episode, he has touched on something that is going to send Raylan into an irrational rage. And that's the sort of Raylan I enjoy watching.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
“Well if a person is pointing a gun at you, doesn't matter if she's wearing a dress.” “She was wearing pants.”
“I'm from Detroit; elected officials are always part of the business plan.”
“I haven't don't the forensics yet, but I'm pretty sure that's a dead body.”
“County elections aren't over until the dead have voted.”
“Do you think for a minute you can cut out that country bumpkin, bar-b-que king bullshit?” “You'd rather talk pig shit?” “Close...Robert Quarles.”
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