This week’s episode of “Justified” (titled “The Man Behind the Curtain”) was the first in a while that didn’t feature a main crime-of-the-week storyline. Instead, the show spent the hour setting up dominoes for what looks to be an intense conclusion to the third season. Bad guys are working with bad guys, good guys are working with bad guys, Tim is sassing Raylan, and the FBI is on everybody’s ass. It’s goin’ down, guys. Buckle in.
The highlights:
- Raylan Givens: Bar Security
- Apparently every bar in Kentucky carries Pappy Van Winkle. Related: I am moving to Kentucky.
- Arlo’s off his meds and on the loose.
- Tim’s back! He and Raylan are bickering like an old married couple this season, and I couldn’t love it more if I tried. I bet he and Winona could share some good Raylan stories over a bottle of white wine.
- “I got mad ninja skills, buddy.”
- The International Bank of Limehouse is better than your bank because your bank, I imagine, does not cure its own bacon.
- So, uh… I guess we know what’s up with the dude in the bedroom. Quarles comin’ unglued, y’all.
- NUT SHOTS.
- Stephen Tobolowsky as a pissed off FBI agent.
- Dirty cops and Harlan politics. (FYI: This will be the name of my debut country album.)
- GARY! YOU SH-TBIRD! WELCOME BACK!
As always, GIFs by Chet Manley are on the next page, and feel free to discuss the show spoilers and all in the comments. “Justified” writer Jon Worley will be around a little later this afternoon to answer your questions and address your lunatic theories, so go nuts loading them up now and check back around 2ish to see what he has to say. I’m going to ask how I can get involved with the Detroit mob. It seems like kind of a flawed organization, and I am just the flawed man to run it. (NOTE: I refuse to move to Detroit. These are my terms.)
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Someone needs to make a .gif of Quarles turning around and then cut to Alec Baldwin turning around from 30 Rock.
Wynn Duffy is fast becoming one of my favourite secondary characters.
“I’ll take care of it.”
also GIMP!
Tim and Raylan doing the pee pee dance. Just brilliant.
There can never be a show as good as Justified.
More happened before the entering credits came in than I have see in a long time.
So now that Winona is out of the picture, can we bring back Carla Gugino for some hot marshal-on-marshal action? This would lead way to the inevitable “Justified: A XXX Parody”
Holy shit, a Justified porn would kick an amazing amount of ass!
I would watch the sh*t out of that, but, sadly, no combo of porn actors in the world would equal the attractiveness of Carla Gugino and Timothy Olyphant. On the plus side, if you are willing to sit through a mediocre movie, the two have a brief sex scene in Elektra Luxx.
Jubbs, will any future episodes just be Raylan watching NFL Sunday Ticket for 60 minutes. I would watch the shit out of that.
Verified
No, he’ll be watching Downton Abbey.
So I kind of like Winn Duffy. I used to think he was a sad excuse for an outlaw, as he was far, far less threatening than anyone from Harlan, but he has mixed well with Quarles, and is a normal enough criminal that he makes Quarles that much more frightening.
…or Wynn Duffy. I’m good with either spelling.
Wynn is full of win(n)
Trolololol.
The Civil Wars should do a song for Justified called Shitkick Hollow
With all of the Deadwood alumni showing up, if Ian McShane is not the head of the Dixie Mafia or something even more wonderfully badass, I am going to cry like a little bitch.
Verified
Teaser: it’s not Ian McShane or even a Deadwood alum, but we have a great guest actor appearing as a mob boss down the road.
Looking forward to it; even without former Deadwood people the guest cast has been pretty stellar.
CHECK BACK AT 4PM FOR THIS STORY WARMING GLOW YOUR SOURCE FOR BREAKING NEWS AND ALSO GIFS OF DOGS
So, I’ve only season like half of Deadwood, but I don’t remember seeing any Deadwood alums on Justified. Can someone refresh my memory?
Ugh, seen*
Verified
Sam: imdb trivia has you covered. [www.imdb.com]
@Sam Losco – Well Jim Beaver who was in last night’s episode is a Deadwood alum. As is W. Earl Brown who had that hostage in the conference room episode.
What the hell is going on with the comments? All out of time.
@Sam Losco and @jubbs a big one I can’t believe IMDB missed on the Deadwood alumn, Elsworth, who returned to Justified as Boyd’s man in the sheriff race tonight
Jubbs, will you lighten Tim up a bit? I know Raylan is lazy as hell, but last night’s sniping by Tim, though funny in some parts, comes across as trying to force conflict. Rachel for example also has the same problem with Raylan, but there’s more meaningful dialogue between the two, and we see even less of Rachel than Tim.
I like Tim when he’s laid back and shooting people in the peach, not acting like a snark.
Verified
Well, we’re pretty much done with the season, so what we’ve done is what you’ll get, but I think you’ll like some of the Tim stuff coming up.
It’s interesting that you bring this up; I’ve seen a lot of other folks (not here, of course) commenting that they absolutely love that someone is calling Raylan on being a total dick. I actually liked the fact that Tim was getting fed up with Raylan using him on a regular basis, as no one else seems to bother caring.
@Jubbs – Thanks mate. Your name on any of the upcoming episodes?
@0tarin – I acknowledged that Raylan is lazy and acts like a dick a lot of times, it’s just that petty sniping doesn’t really work. Just causes resentment in my experience.
Uproxxxxxxxxx’s commenting system is swallowing my replies, but I just want to mention that I don’t disagree. I’m just surprised to realize that I hadn’t seen the comment come up before, because upon reviewing, it is a bit jarring.
Yeah, I actually like that Tim (and the other marshals) make a point of talking about what a pain in the ass it is to work with Raylan.
Drinking PVW is second only to incessantly talking about drinking PVW. I was super pumped to see Gary back, as he is the most realistic character on the show. For the record, a lot of characters on the show are super realistic. Don’t believe other people from Kentucky, only me.
Verified
I’ve heard PVW is harder to get since we gave it a dialogue shout-out in THICK AS MUD. Sorry. It was already hard to get.
You would be correct. Not that that’s a bad thing.
Jubbs, a quick question relating to Boyd’s overall arc over the series: when he emerged a reformed man and resumed working at the coal mine “just trying to get by”, are we to take away that he really was trying to keep completely clean? Or should we feel that he was biding his time until the right opportunities presented themselves? It may be a moot point in the character, but it’s been nagging at me that I can’t quite get a handle on him.
Verified
One of the great things about the character is his ambiguity, that you can never *quite* tell what he’s up to or how sincere he is. But I would say, at his core, he likes to blow shit up and make $$$, so the “biding time” theory holds some water.
Excellent, thank you.
Jubbs- I know its been mentioned that Noble’s Holler is based on some actual areas of Kentucky. I was curious if Limehouse’s banking / information brokering activity was based on a particular person or criminal enterprise.
Verified
Yes, I believe it was something Nichelle Tramble Spellman, one of the writers, unearthed — rural black communities hiding money under their churches, etc., sometimes for white criminals. I don’t know if there are specific/proven examples.
After all the Van Winkling going on lately, it was almost refreshing to see Boyd and his former foreman toss back a bit of Old Crow. Also refreshing? The return of the Stetson of Invulnerability; any time he seems to lose the hat, he winds up in trouble.
Verified
Season one’s HATLESS certainly set that up.
“You can’t paint over blood” hardly explains just what the heck Quarles was doing with his prisoner…any ideas about that or is Danger pulling our chains?
I assume it relates to how Quarles was run out of Detroit for his predilection for beating “male hustlers”.
he likes to torture male prostitutes. ‘rent boys’
‘rent boy’ was an odd bit of dialogue I thought. I’ve only ever heard it used in UK slang. Eitherway I assumed Quarles is beating on him then sticking him through the MRI machine to generate legit x-rays for oxy scripts. A disturbing mix of business and pleasure maybe?
Thanks for shedding some light on that, guys. I’ve never met a show that was more reliant on the slick dialogue to understand what’s going on. That’s not a qualm or anything, just an observation of my jealous nature that you fine folks are probably able to enjoy Justified in peace and quiet.
If Quarles and Duffy knew where to find Gary, can we assume they know where Winona is?
Was Gary’s new name Walter Goggins? Nice little Easter egg.
It was Walter Parks.
Wow, that bourbon must’ve really scrambled my brains towards the end of the episode. That probably explains why Wynn Duffy was wearing a dolphin costume at the bar.
Also, as I’ve been corrected myself so now I need to pay it forward. It’s Walton Goggins.
Where’s the old lady from the end of season 2!? Who is SHE!?
Verified
I’m here! Keep ‘em coming…
Really needed to add the line to the .gif Raylan threw out when punched Boyd “I think he swallowed a peanut.”
Kicking Johnny’s wheelchair out of the room was classic too.
This week’s episode should’ve been subtitled “Return of the Hat”. Woot.
Also woot-worthy: TIM.
And: not that I don’t love the idea of Raylan moonlighting as a dive bar bouncer, but why is he there, exactly? Didn’t he have a dumpy motel room the past 2.5 seasons?
people kept showing up at the dive motel room trying to shoot him.
There’s a very similar scene in the latest Elmore Leonard novel that makes sense in the context of that story but felt a little sudden in this episode.
Kinda surreal to read it and then see it play out almost word for word 15 minutes later with a few character changes.
Verified
He had moved out of the motel room and in with Winona, then she left him. So this is the new crib. Also, yes, the bouncer thing is from Elmore’s new book.
Tim will be there to console Raylan when Boyd breaks out “Raylan doesn’t know.”
Raylan doesn’t know that Wynona and me
Do it in my van every Sunday.
She tells him she’s in church but she doesn’t go
Still she’s on her knees and Raylan doesn’t know!
Oh Raylan doesn’t know!
So Don’t Tell Raylan!
Raylan doesn’t know!
Raylan doesn’t know!
So Don’t Tell Raylan!
Wynona says she’s out shopping,
But she’s under me and I’m not stopping…
Because Raylan doesn’t know!
Raylan doesn’t know! (X3)
So don’t tell Raylan!
Raylan doesn’t know!
Don’t tell Raylan!
I can’t believe he’s so trusting,
While I’m right behind you thrusting.
Wynona’s got him on the phone,
And she’s trying not to moan.
It’s a three-way call and he knows nothing! . . .
Verified
Wow, you put a lot of work into that EUROTRIP reference, Chubbs.
based on the preview it looks like that bullet Raylan threw at Duffy a couple weeks ago is going to come back and bite him in the ass.
I am in love with Boyd’s cardigan collection.
Also Tim! being all snarky and awesome! yay!
I’ve never had Pappy Van Winkle but I’m guessing: Pappy > Rip > Rob
Having had the 15 and 23 I think we can safely say that particular inequality statement probably won’t create the same debate as Zoey v. Emily.
oh.. and Emily > Zooey.
Emily > Zooey
Wynn Duffy slowly realizing he’s not even close to the biggest socio-path in the room when he’s hanging with Quarles might be my favorite subtle bits of acting / writing this season.
I’m always curious how these types of arrangements between crime syndicates work. How does Duffy’s relationship with Detroit work- Did he just join up after Quarles killed his boss? Or is he still in the dixie mafia?
Relevant.
I like to think Wynn Duffy only hangs out with Quarles in his spare time of being the head of AA meetings. He joined the criminal element after accidentally running over his daughter.
Nice synergy there, Jam Cakes.
“Raylan Givens! Don’t tell me you don’t remember me, ’cause I sure as heck-fire remember you! Watch that first step, it’s a doooooozy!”
Like Philadelphia is that much better than Detroit
How dare you.
I find your comment terribly insulting and painfully accurate.
HEY NOW…
…yeah, all right.
I think we can all presume that it’s Gary Raylan is framed for next week yes?
…Please tell me we see him beg.
That was my assumption from the preview as well.
Im not a betting man but I would put money on it being Gary
Would the Pappy Van Winkle everywhere really be worth moving to Kentucky? I say, no… but it is a close call.
I enjoyed the episode but it wasn’t brilliant. No Winona makes me sad.
Did enjoy Johnny fumbling for his gun and Raylan simply rolling him out of the office. Should have been a GIF for that.
Chet actually sent me that one, but it was longer and my computer was being a total dick about the file when I was trying to load it, so it got scrapped. Lo siento.
I forgive you Danger.
Spoiler Alert: You can’t actually get Pappy Van Winkle at every hole in the wall bar in Kentucky. My buddy had to get the 23 year in Japan. It’s just as difficult to find here as most places, even the 15 and 20 year. We had the hookup back in the day because my former roommate was college roommates with Preston Van Winkle and he’d just get it for us, but even he could barely get the 23 year and could never get it for us.
PLEASE HAVE PRESTON VAN WINKLE CALL ME AT ONCE.
ALSO, HOLY SHIT “PRESTON VAN WINKLE.”
On the list of things that impact my suspension of disbelief for any given TV show the availability (or lack there of) of a certain brand of booze is pretty low.
That said, I appreciate this comment because the image of someone named Preston Van Winkle being cutoff from the high-end bourbon that his family produces is simply delightful. This needs to be a TV show.
Preston Van Winkle is such a lacrosse name.
Verified
BOYD AND JOHNNY LIKE GOOD BOOZE GUYS GET OVER IT. Also, I’m going to be Preston Van Vinkle for Halloween next year. I imagine he looks like a dirty Colonel Sanders.
Preston Van Winkle? Sounds like Vanilla Ice’s brother….
Another great episode last night, and the previews show Quarles busting out the “Taxi Driver” sleeve gun.
Jon: Will we get the back story on the sleeve gun?
Verified
Wait and see. We had some fun with that in the room.
So why doesn’t Quarles just pay off the piano teacher to leave? Easy way to get rid of Raylen’s court order.
He is having money problems as illustrated in the episode. Also he would have to pay them to leave within 24 hours and have it not look absolutely suspicious enough to justify a warrant for the house. which just wont happen.
Who cares if it’s suspicious? And how much do you have to pay to incentivize a Piano teacher? 10k, tops?
Also, can someone get on a supercut of Raylin beating/slapping the shit out of people. C’mon internet, I thought you were better than that.
Verified
Seconded.
There is something I find hilarious about a badasss slapping someone. It’s just so incredibly insulting to the person that they’re hitting them with an open fist.
I lost it at:
“you know karate?”
“and two other japanese words.”
Ditto.
Due to circumstances,I was forced to illegally stream the ep (sorry Jubbs! Im not a neilsen home but i swear i always watch live!) and it cut out at the last 4 minutes, just as Gary turned around to see Winn. Can someone PLEASE give me the gist of this convo. I’m sure it involves Winonna but if there were any details, I’d really appreciate some help here. Sorry and thanks.
Verified
You didn’t miss much. They basically just tell Gary to come with them.
First, the “unsalted” ending killed me.
Second, was I the only one who kept waiting for Max Perlich to whip out a camera and start recording a crime scene like he did on Homicide?
As much as I love Boyd, nothing is better than seeing him get socked in the balls by Raylin, followed directly by Johnny getting his crippled ass handed to him as well.
Underrated part of the episode: Arlo saying “Sumbich”
Verified
I was on set for that Johnny wheelchair fall. Sumbitch did four or five takes like a champion.