Justified: When the Guns Come Out

"You know you're in trouble when the drums stop."

There are now three conflicting sides full of bad guys fighting for control of the Harlan county oxy biz, and as per the episode title, the guns have come out and people are getting killed.

Quarles, who has previously left me cold, is now starting to get to me. The big, bright blue eyes and gleeful grin and phone calls home, combined with his love for homicide and the poor guy tied up in the bedroom that he is doing something horrible to in his spare time, and was Quarles playing with a cigar cutter? Ick. And now he's decided that Raylan is in Boyd's pocket, which is really funny when you think about it.

(It's also dangerous for Arlo, who incidentally, was talking about Helen as if she were still alive, and couldn't remember Boyd's name. This can't be good. My grandfather lost his mind after my grandmother died and didn't outlive her for long, and he was only 62. I'm getting that vibe from Arlo.)

On the second side of the conflict, Limehouse was even scarier. When he was talking to his idiotic minion who just started the shooting war without clearing it first, I kept expecting him to do something horrible to him with that cleaver. Shudder. The Boyd/Limehouse scene where Limehouse pointed out that it was a survival characteristic for the people in Noble's Holler to know all the white people in the surrounding area was really interesting. It also meant that Limehouse almost certainly did recognize Arlo.

And that takes us to the third side of the conflict. The Raylan/Boyd confrontation was great fun. While Boyd stayed calm and even appeared amused, Raylan was ticked off and short tempered, mad at Boyd for deciding to re-enter his life of crime (and not incidentally, taking Ava and Arlo along for the ride). Raylan was even abrupt with Ava. While Quarles and Limehouse creeped me out, Boyd and Ava used Raylan to solve the shooting at Helen's house and help the unfortunate Ella Mae.

And yay for the return of Ella Mae, who was a hoot as the stoned hooker in last season's "Reckoning". Now she has a name and a nasty pimp, Delroy (William Mapother from Lost) who grew up in a hippie drug commune. Is this the last we'll see of Delroy? I doubt it. The way characters are set up and keep coming back is one of the reasons I like Justified so much.

Raylan was short-tempered and upset because Winona left him two terse sentences and no forwarding address. It seemed so unlikely, but for a moment I really did think she had taken the money and absconded to Costa Rica. I was a tiny bit relieved that all she did was leave Raylan and move in with her sister. Bad for Raylan if it's permanent, but good for drama, and who can blame her? Raylan is an exceptionally attractive and charming man and she's admitted that he's the love of her life, but he did just shoot a man in front of her in their motel room, and he was just the latest of three. Has he really shot three people just in the motel room? I bet that doesn't count Arlo. Funny how my review keeps going back to Arlo when he was only in the episode for five minutes.

Anyway, it was a great little twist that Charlie stole the money. That whole thing with Winona last season probably brought it to his attention. And since he's been in law enforcement forever, he might be smart enough not to get caught.

Bits and pieces:

-- Raylan seems to be spending all of his time in Harlan lately, and I was curious how far it was from Lexington. So I checked. It's not short. Nearly a three hour drive.

-- It was nice to see my favorite judge again, although Judge Hammer didn't have much to do but give Raylan unwanted advice on what to do about Winona. Which Art did, as well.

-- Wynn Duffy is still being quiet and competent. I bet Quarles scares him. The writers are definitely using Wynn to make Quarles appear scarier. Smart.

-- A fistfight in a moving oxy clinic. That was new.

-- The second working girl from Audrey's who died was named Trixie. How very Deadwood. Limehouse just lost his spy.

-- Delroy offered Ava a job at Audrey's. Not quite as threatening as when Bo Crowder did it, but definitely uncomfortable.

-- Good casting of Gail, who did indeed resemble Winona.

Quotes:

Raylan: "I need some time off."
Art: "Are you trying to be funny?"

Raylan: "I know you don't give a shit about me or my job, and I've given up expecting you to act right, but you know the position you're putting me in here, Arlo?"
Arlo: "Missionary."

Raylan: (to Boyd) "So this is the new you, huh? Bartending, pushing pills, moved on from swastikas and rocket launchers?"

Raylan: "You want to run your hillbilly heroin fiefdom up here? That's between you and the great state of Kentucky. I got no interest in shitkicker-on-shitkicker crime. But you will not drag me into this."

Raylan: "Saw that Kenny Chesney on your computer, I figured you were capable of anything."
This would probably be funnier if I had any idea who Kenny Chesney is.

This season, like the last, is like a novel instead of a string of independent episodes, and it feels like we're still in the opening chapters. Three out of four oxy drug lords,

Billie