Justified - "Coalition"

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?”