Season 3, Episode 12
“They
make for some strange bedfellows, don’t you think?”
Last week, I went on and on about how “Measures" was
fascinated with the darker side of Raylan, and it was a piece that essentially
saw me reveling in the cynical, darker side of Justified. But what I perhaps forgot – and what tonight’s episode
certainly reminded me – was that among the various offerings on FX, Justified is perhaps the lightest drama
show on the network. The show isn’t afraid to be funny when it wants to be, or
to have antagonists that are mostly pathetic, and all the more enjoyable for
it. In fact, the more I think about, the more it occurs to me that last week’s
episode may have been an aberration from the norm (albeit an enjoyable one)
while tonight saw a return to that lighter normalcy, just in time for the seasons
to close out a mostly enjoyable season.
In his review for the Game of Thrones premiere, Todd
VanDerWerff returned to a long standing “television as a novel”
metaphor/argument, saying that the first episode of GOT felt like a lot of an
novel’s early set-up, especially in regards to how the episode just sort of
ended without any real thought behind it, and episodes being more interested in
serving the whole over being individual pieces on their own. He also discussed
how the episode sort of seemed to be string together the story by having the
various groups all be fighting for vaguely the same goal, even if they were
scattered to the far ends of this fictional land.
As you probably already guessed this by the point, this
got me thinking about how this season of Justified
has played out, in no small part because it reflects what I’ve been saying
about the show for the first two seasons. Well, the first part anyways,
especially in regards to how the overall narrative of seasons two and three
have been slow builds, and the entire plan doesn’t come into focus until at least the halfway point, though that moment seems to have come much later this
season. (More on that in a minute.)
But really it’s the second part of VanDerWerff’s
assessment that was the real eye-opener for me, as it suddenly became clear how
it was that the show was justifying including so many desperate plot point
under the guise of a single season. I mean, I’m sure on some level I’ve realized
before that the show likes to have one focal point in the center of a narrative
and see how all the various factions of Harlan react to it. (And while it was
in full affect this and last season, there were even some hints of this being
the case in the first season as well.) But to have it spelled out in such a
manner I think helped me to understand just where all of my issues with this
season have come from. Yes, the fact that the show has doubled down on villainsin order to fill the black hole where Mags used to be is part of the problem,
and so is Raylan’s marginalization in the story, but I think it’s this approach
that explains why the show feels comfortable with giving us an overly complex
narrative. There’s something to be said for this approach, it certainly worked
for The Wire for enough seasons, but
the difference between what the stories that were told on The Wire and those on
Justified is that the former always had the good sense to keep those various
elements separated, and create a purposeful narrative doing so.
I know it’s never fair to compare something to The Wire, so I admit that Justified wants to tell a different
story, one where all of the parts do come together, and that in and of itself
isn’t a bad thing, and done correctly could possibly come up with better
stories that those told using the Wire
method. However, the problem is that Justified has introduced so many elements
into its particular storytelling formula for this season that it’s been a bit
of a chore watching the show try to dig itself out of a hole that you’re not
entirely sure it can escape from. Or, to put it another way, by trying to up
the complexity within one type of storytelling formula, the show has
accidentally stumbled into another, and by failing to play into the rules of
the “new” formula, it’s created a narrative that doesn’t really work in the way
the show wants it to. The worst we can accuse Justified of is failing through ambition, and while it’s hard to be
mad or criticize the show too hard for any of that, I think it’s still
important to identify why things aren’t working the way they’re designed to.
That’s especially important in regards to “Coalition”, which
seeks to return this season to the show’s native territory, as well as set everything
up for the season finale next week. I’ve admitted on these pages in the past
how I’m a sucker for those payoff episodes, those where the light bulb suddenly
clicks, all the parts of a plot come together, and suddenly it all makes sense,
and in that respect, I quite enjoyed the central conceit of the episode, which
saw everybody focused on locating and procuring Mag’s money stash. Seeing
Dickie and Errol team up, and then join forces with Boyd (at Ava’s request),
and then watch the trio of criminals fall out in exact reverse order, all
thanks to a lot of waving of guns. I got a similar thrill from seeing Raylan
and Limehouse briefly join forces, as well as Limehouse and Quarles, and all of
the interactions between all these duos and trios made for quite a great thrill,
especially considering all the twists and turns that in which they resulted.
Even relatively smaller things, like Arlo returning to senility because he
didn’t take his meds and pulling a gun on Ava were exciting, since they existed
in this gentle framework where the slightest bump could bring everything
tumbling down.
But despite how well constructed this episode was, and
how fun it was for a single offering, I’m still left questioning it’s role in
the larger season, especially since it seems like a last-ditch effort to save
all the narrative dicking around that the show has been doing this season, as
beautiful dicking around as it may have been. To wit: watching as the show
slowly peeled away the layers of Quarles by depicting his professional and emotional
breakdown has created one of the greatest character studies that I think I will
ever see on television, and I’ll be surprised in Neal McDonough doesn’t lock up
at least an Emmy nomination, if not a win. However, that Quarles low point,
where he’s so string out that he becomes useless to anybody for anything other
than a distraction, feeling like the show put him through all of this for no
other reason that so he could become a tool of the plot feels like a let down,
regardless of the fact that his actions tonight were simultaneously fun and
moving.
That Quarles’ last act of the episode was to shoot Ranger
Tom (note: I don’t actually know what his official station is, or if that’s even his
name) only helps to underscore this fact. The show has done good work of
building up the relationship between Tom and Raylan this season that I found the
closing minutes to be somewhat moving, and I buy Raylan being upset about his death
and ready to dole out some revenge against Quarles, even if we know so little about the actual dead man. And given the character’s
lack of agency this season, I say bring it on. Yet two things stick out at me:
1) Using Tom’s death just feels like a watered down
version of what the show did last year with Dickie slaying Helen. There’s
nothing wrong with the show trying to make sure Raylan has an emotional
connection to the case each season, but it’s something that has to be earned,
not thrown in at the last minute.
2) Making Quarles’ shooting of Tom the event that helps
brings the entire season to a close feels like a weird left turn, especially
considering all of the larger shit that’s going on around this. Yes, seeing Quarles
as a cornered animal will most likely make for an exciting end to his character
arc, but I can’t help feel as if the show has squandered a lot of good material
by making the means to Quarles’ end so simple.
What’s particularly sad is that I don’t think Quarles breakdown
had to result in such a way, especially not if Dickie’s story tonight was any
indication. Tonight very well may mark the end of Dickie – or not, considering
how found the show is of it’s lower-tier criminals and brining them back – but it
did so in a way that didn’t betray the rest of his actions this season, or his
role overall. As a narrative tool, Dickie was meant to introduce us, and the
characters on the show, to the idea of his mother’s secret money stash, and to
get the show headed in that direction. That he did. But on a character level,
the show turned to exploring Dickie’s feelings of inadequacy, as he realized
all the freedom and power that his mother’s presence afforded him. This also
went off with out a hitch, and seeing him breakdown in Lorretta’s house in
front of Raylan, and then meet his possible end in an ill-advised attempt to
shoot his way out felt like a natural culmination for the season.
It’s something like that that proves to me that the show isn’t
incapable of telling stories that serve both the character and plot, and that
the writers are capable of resolving both aspects in a logical and affecting
manner. So why isn’t that the case with the rest of the action this season? Still,
we have one more episode left this season, and maybe it will all make sense
then.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
That Mags left all her money to Loretta is one of those things
that we all should have seen coming, but didn’t because Loretta’s only shown up
a couple of time this season. So I guess we can be thankful to Last Man Standing for one thing.
Seriously, seeing Arlo talk to a manifestation of Helen
was awesome and creepy at the same time, and a good follow-up to Arlo’s senile
behavior earlier in the season.
It’s been suggested that Limehouse is probably going to
be a two-season character/villain. Discuss.
“You want to know what the two saddest words in the
English language are? ‘What party?’ I feel like that right now.”
“In the end they pull the curtain back, turns out the
guy’s a bit of a pussy.”
“Marshall, I strike you in anyway as a Van Halen fan?”
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