"Justified" — "When The Guns Come Out": "You Know You’re In Trouble When The Drums Stop."
Things We Learned:
Trixie and Ellie Mae, BFF Oxiheads, are willing to flash fellas who give them lifts and give some Grade-A fellatio in exchange for a bigger bottle of pills. Too bad Tanner & assoc. had to bust up the Oxihead Head with their supremely scary guns. Also, wasn’t Trixie draped all over Tanner just last week? All’s fair in love and drug wars, I guess.
The only thing that looks better than a wife beater on Timothy Olyphant, is the clingy black Henley he wears for the rest of the episode. Raylan’s trying to track down Winona but neither her sister Gail, Kentucky State Trooper Tom, Charlie and locker 247 nor new court reporter Mabel Johnston and her tropical search history are of any help. However, it’s always nice to see Stephen Root.
Deputy Marshal Tim Gutterson is not dead. Deputy Marshal Tim Gutterson had lines. Deputy Marshal Tim Gutterson has been getting info from the FBI on Quarles.
Though he can’t walk, Cousin Johnny can drive and is on stakeout duty. And while Boyd’s people are eager to believe that Quarles is responsible for the hit on the Oxi clinic in Aunt Helen’s house, Crowder’s cooler head prevails. He and Ava go visit Limehouse for information and the new blend on that spicy sauce.
Meanwhile, in the saddest little whorehouse in Kentucky, William Mapother aka Ethan from “Lost” aka Tom Cruise’s cousin aka Delroy The Pimp beats up on poor Ellie Mae for not bringing him more Oxi.
Arlo is found wandering his house pantsless and muttering to his dead wife. Do you think the writers are trying to tell us something? This evidence of senility plus Wynn Duffy’s confession to Quarles that Raylan’s father might be a worthwhile pawn in the game means, well, I think it may be curtains for Arlo.
Speaking of Quarles, the man is so chilly and evil and bent that in his world a lowlife like Wynn Duffy counts as “a good man.” My kingdom for a gif of Wynn’s “say what?!” face.
Ava has an impressive showing this episode, turning the charm on for BBQ Pit bosses, pimps, whores and U.S. Marshals alike. She is, as we’ve said before, a worthy match for Boyd and possibly an heir to the Mags Bennett “Kill ‘Em With Kindness” throne.
Tanner and Dickie can be limping buddies in prison! Provided they catch Tanner, which, come on Kentucky State Troopers, the man is HOPPING.
It was not, in fact, Quarles who engineered the hit on the Oxi clinic in Aunt Helen’s house. But despite the Limehouse henchman’s best intentions, his boss is none too pleased. What comes out is a long history (15 decades) of Limehouse and his ilk keeping their heads down and quietly running their operation for fear of riling up the intense racism and “buried hate-filled desire” in the county. But Limehouse realizes he has been irretrievably drawn into the fight, and so fight he will. Oh, also, any speech is made that much better when punctuated by a huge, scary butchering hatchet.
Carnage:
2 Crowder Associates and Trixie (Cause of Death: Tanner & Co. and some truly scary weaponry.)
Gus, a Quarles Associate (Cause of Death: A misfire from the gun grapple in The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Oxi Clinic In Kentucky.)
Deputy Marshal Rachel Brooks and Deputy Marshal Tim Gutterson Line Count
Rachel=0
Tim=2
Winona B*tchwatch
You know what, folks? The writers did an amazing job with Winona this episode. She was reasonable, self-reliant, determined and kind. Though I don’t necessarily approve of that Disappear In The Night move she pulled last week, her motivations were completely… wait for it…justified. 0 b*tch points, nice character redemption, I would like that to be that last we see of her please.
Favorite Lines:
“Not today, today’s opposite day.”
“You wanna 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. The next time you set up any operation in this county or anywhere else, it better not have my goddamn family name on the deed or, so help me God, I’ll lose this star, and the dance we do subsequent to that will not end with you finding Jesus in a hospital bed.”
Also, this:
The Gist: I loved this episode. And no, not just because we got a whole lot of tight-lipped, slim hipped swagger from Raylan. But we did, and it was magnificent. The Winona plot was handled beautifully. I was about to throw my shoe at the screen if she stole that damn money…again. Speaking of which, I’m very much hoping that the Charlie In Mexico plot is over and done with as well. The money was an excellent red herring, but if Raylan chases Charlie’s ass down to Zihuatanejo, I will be mightily displeased. Nice advancement of the Drug War plot and excellent development of the Ava character. It was nice to see that Raylan knows when he’s being played by Boyd, even if he’s powerless to stop it. Quarles and Limehouse are still being painted with awfully broad brush strokes, but that doesn’t make me any less excited for the fireworks when all the pieces line up on the chess board. Oh, and did I mention the swagger? Listen, I know we’ve seen that coat on him before, but I think Olyphant’s been taking Dramatic Coat Wearing lessons from Benedict Cumberbatch.
P.S. For those of you pining for our favorite neck-bearded cripple, feel free to check out this amazing 365 Days Of Ballpoint Dickie Bennetts.