How good was that scene? Seriously. The first two episodes of this season -- from Boyd's perspective, at least -- steadily built toward the confrontation between him and Preacher Billy, and when it was time for it to happen it did not let me down one iota.
Now, admittedly, I am openly in the tank for Boyd Crowder (and Walton Goggins' portrayal of him), so any scene that starts with him referring to himself as the devil while casually leaning against a weight-bearing part of a tent, and ends with him ripping a win out of a loss by deducing the identity of the true power player in an operation, well, you could say that's somewhat inside my wheelhouse.
Preacher Billy and his professed innocence (which is either real or an elaborate show) going toe-to-toe with Boyd in all his lightning-quick, menacing glory? That will do just fine, especially when it's followed up not five minutes later with Boyd going toe-to-toe with Preacher Billy's polar opposite, the fantastically evil Wynn Duffy, in a confrontation that made Boyd seem like the innocent one. I love Raylan and Art and Ava and everyone else, don't ever mistake that. They all have their moments. But Boyd was mesmerizing last night.
As always, more highlights -- and GIFs from Chet Manley -- after the jump.
- My favorite non-Boyd part of the episode: Near the end of the terrific bit with the Truth family, when Raylan unceremoniously disarmed the hillbilly kid who pulled a gun on him. That had the potential to be a big, dramatic thing -- it's not often a 13-year-old pulls a gun on a U.S. Marshal -- but instead of playing it like that, they just had Raylan walk up and yoink the gun away from him while he was talking. It reminded me a little of this scene from Indiana Jones. I love this show.
- Let me be very clear about something: If, when the time comes for me to step down from my post here at UPROXX, one of you brings me a $200 bottle of Pappy Van Winkle, to the extent I have any say in the matter, you can have my job. I am very corrupt and I like bourbon.
- Two other quick notes about that scene: I love that Art characterized all the fugitives in Bowling Green as pussies, and I loved his descriptions of the marshals in his employ.
- Art also made a couple very good points while they were prepping to go after the hillbillies. One, the boss doesn't drive unless he wants to, and two, you should always grab lunch before you hunt fugitives with Raylan, in case he ends up shooting one of them.
- "On a scale from 1 to a sh-tload, how much do you need to tell me right now?"
- Raylan is keeping addict hours and the office money is on exotic dancing. Ladies...
- Sheriff Shelby thinks he and "concerned citizen" Boyd Crowder are square. Boyd's response: "Now Shelby, I thought we were a circle?" <3
- The one hillbilly spent three months in juvy for pissing on a cop. I ... I must know more.
- This Drew Thompson/Waldo Truth thing has my full attention. Maybe it's just me, but I can get behind a mystery involving a parachuter crashing to his death in a cul de sac -- surrounded by cocaine -- only to be identified 30 years later as someone else thanks to a stab wound his battered ex-wife left in his butt cheek.
- If anyone on this show gets a spinoff, please -- PLEASE -- let it be Wynn Duffy. You can't separate Boyd from Raylan, and most of the other characters probably need to stay within the orbit of one or the other to remain as interesting as they are now. But an hour-long, Breaking Bad-style show about Wynn running his criminal enterprise? Would watch. Forever.
- "I don’t even trust the way you just now said I could trust you."
- Soooooooo hot bartender is secretly married to a bare-knuckle brawler who likes to "raccoon" people when they get tough, and who desperately needs money for some mysterious purpose? This should end well.
There were plenty more notable moments and quotes, as per usual, but those were probably my favorites. Feel free to add yours below. And now, your GIFs.
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The scene with the Hill People was great. When Raylan disarmed the kid. Classic.
“ya know Arts got a bottle of Pappy in his safe” nothing gets by the Marshals!
From personal experience I can tell you 1} Racooning is no fun,2 Pappy is worth every penny!
If I can be half as smooth as Art when I get to be his age, I’m going to be a very happy.
I just hope someone gives Pappy to try to get my job.
“I don’t even trust the way you just now said I could trust you.”
Watched the episode last night. Definitely my favorite line.
Oh, and highlighting “just the badass” parts of Justified is pretty much turning into a full episode description.
The scenes with Wynn Duffy and Boyd Crowder are AMAZING.
I’m behind on my TV this week, luckily this site keeps me motivated to watch. Hard to add much to this discussion so late, but it was nice to see another Deadwood alumni back this season. The sheriff in Justified who also played Ellsworth on Deadwood.
That just reminded me; the lady who played Calamity Jane would absolutely kill on Justified.
I wish I could add more, but I’m too busy swooning over this week to speak coherently.
That Wynn Duffy gif kind of makes my life
Is it just me or am I the only one who liked Wynn’s character with his cojones in check, via Quarles? Also a big shout out to Art’s marshal stiffy. I heart Art.
I’m kind of disappointed that Garret Dillahunt is on Raising Hope, because he plays a good scary/dangerous yokel. He’d be a fine Hill Folk.
Man, he is completely ruined for me now. There was a rerun of Burn Notice on the other night where he was the Big Bad and for the life of me I just could not get past seeing him doing all the goofy shit he does on Raising Hope. To be honest though I prefer him as Jimmy’s dad.
I started watching the Damien Lewis/Goddess Sarah Shahi show *Life* on Netflix, and Dillahunt shows up as a Russian mobster… it was wonderful (as was the pre-Terriers appearance of Donal Logue and Michael Raymond James). He’s got some great comedic timing in Raising Hope, but I’d still like to see him go back to something menacing.
He was pretty great in Looper as one of the guys trying to hunt down JGL.
Tim’s reaction to Art’s marshal boner + Boyd’s reaction to Wynn killing the dealer > my reaction to the first time I touched a bare boobie.
great ep! Boyd throwin down gospel with Billy was fun, as was the whole scene in general. and yay a Wynn Duffy sighting!
It was sort of like the Doc Holiday vs. Johnny scene in Tombstone where they have a Latin off.
I was kind of hoping that Ellen May was infiltrating the church on behalf of Boyd & Ava. I guess she’s just seeking salvation.
[insidetv.ew.com]
for those of you who dont know
Nice.
And this was a surprise:
But loved all the Truths, in particular Beth Grant [Mother Truth], who I’ve worked with a couple of times in the past. She’s the woman who goes under the bus in Speed [which Yost wrote]. She’s always been great, but this is one of those things where oh my lord, she was wonderful.
Yeah there was another nod to Speed in the first episode as well.
Beth Grant is great in everything she does. In addition to being a great actress she is also a regular voice over on King of the Hill, one of the greatest show of all time.
That scene with the kids singing and handing out the fake church money was very Children of The Corn-ish.
Yyyyup.
Absolutely terrifying
Glad to see I’m not the only one who had that response. Though groups of children singing, especially about God, usually freak me out.
In my mind people weren’t running out of the whorehouse out of embarrassment. They were running to get out before the kids pulled out daggers and started stabbing folks.
I have to say, when Art said they had to get lunch first I nearly pissed myself!
It’s why he’s Chief. He knows his marshals have proclivity for shooting people.
Art thinks ahead.
Art’s the best. His old man chase from season two is still a favorite scene of all time.
More Wynn Duffy and Boyd Crowder please
Boyd’s wardrobe this season is impeccable. I’m waiting for The Crowder crew to place Dewey in the church as an undercover agent only to be turned by Lil’ Timmy.
I don’t know where to begin…more Art and more Tim, more barmaids on bars…more Raylan threatening kids, more Boyd in a Preach-off with creepy Preachers and sweet baby Jeezus it’s Wynn! so more of him! My wife wondered why the hell I was whoopin and grinning like an eejit watching this (she is a non-believer)…..I straight-up love this show. Is it Wednesday next week yet?
DEM’S PREVERTS
I think you and BaronVonHector deserve roles as script consultants.
Now if Mark-Paul Gosselaar did a guest spot on this show, I would spontaneously combust.
Eh, it would be like Joel McHale on Sons. Interesting in theory, but a poor fit.
I still want to see some more Deadwood alums, like Ian McShane or maybe just W. Earl Brown. I’d say John Hawkes has priced himself out of basic cable, but maybe not.
Well, Brad William Henke was on it earlier, and it seems like he and John Hawkes always end up doing the same things…. so maybe…
[cineplex.media.baselineresearch.com]
This show has me freakin’ hooked.
I’m hoping that the Preacher turns out to not be a fraud, just that his sister manipulates him.
For some reason I have that same hope.
@Paul – Probably because the huckster preacher is played out and Justified is too good to go that route, I bet. (I hope the same things y’all hope)
Thinking about it I hope the sister isn’t a conniving puppet master. I hope that she’s a believer as well, just more pragmatic. Something like she believes but they can help more people on the move (and with money from local crime that pays them to leave) than staying in one place and being martyred.
I agree… As much as it would be a pretty bad ass scene to threaten some hoodlums with a rattle snake while preaching I would rather them not go that route as it would be to cliche for them.
I’m glad we have Wynn back in control this season. It was weird seeing him so scared of Quarles (not that I blame him).
The last scene had me thinking the girlfriend might be aware of the legend that Arlo is connected to.
How underrated is Justified? With Breaking Bad leaving the airwaves I think it has a legitimate claim to the throne of Best Drama on TV.
Seconded.
The king in the North would like to have a word with you. And he’s bringing his direwolf.
as evidenced by this episode, we need more Tim Gutterson.
Dude from Jurrassic Park and The Pacific has been pretty strong in the first two episodes. I was worried his acting off the pulpit wouldnt be as good as his two stepping, snake handling, on stage debut, but Ive been pleasantly surprised so far.
ok…I know Art is a wildcard in this scenario…but does anyone else notice that they swap between the two marshalls every episode? Very few(if any) contain both, but they seem to either be a Tim episode or a Rachel episode.
Def need more Tim and Rachel
They’re the same person. Hair and makeup people on this show are fantastic.
Speaking of hair, I prefer Raylan’s Winona hair to his Lindsey hair. I hope his next lady isn’t trashier or we may be looking at a rattail.
I think it is a budgeting thing for the show. Raylan being a US Marshall seems to be more of a sub plot to the series now… which is a good thing over the “crime of the week” format season 1 had.
The reason this show is so amazing to me is that the protagonist is so incredibly bad-ass and gets told to fuck off by almost every person he encounters initially. It could be some genius crime lord or some two-bit thug, but they all love giving Raylan shit. No one is impressed with how awesome he is other than the viewer.
And one of the guys investigating him last season after Gary’s murder
I forgot about him! He almost worked as a stand-in for the Justified fan awestruck at Raylan’s badassery.
I love that they show what an unholy pain in the ass that it must be to work with Raylan.
That’s because Raylan looks like he’s confused half the time. Then he fucks you up.
Nice to see Wynn with his balls intact considering yhey were taken away from him for the majority of last season
It’s what makes him such a great slimeball. He’s scary and vicious when he’s got the upper hand, but when shit goes down he pisses his pants.
I didn’t like him having a one up on Boyd, though his methods of doing so were exceptional.
Tim Gutterson’s wry humor…FTW
“He’s stealing your bit”
Only thing missing is him headshot-ing someone
More apricot shots, please.
Who ever thought the Ellen Mae would be an important character this season?
I didn’t even want her to.
I’d say enjoy her while you can. I think Ava’s got her number.
I feel like I’m gunna get herpes just seeing her onscreen, I can’t believe people pay to have sex with her.
She’s got that stray cat brought in from the cold quality. They befriend the stray, take care of the stray and eventually want to fuck the stray.
Make sense?
I agree with Otto Man
She reminds me of Lizzy Caplan, if Lizzy had been Lohanning it up for past 5 -7 years.
Are we ever going to find out why Raylan has no money? Or so little that he has to take side jobs? His living expenses are negligible, and he’s been a Marshal for like 15 years. Does he have a separate family that we haven’t been made aware of?
I’m gonna say he’s had a lot of legal expenses.
My assumption is that he’s not in a position to support Winona and his new child. He’s okay taking care of himself, but not a kid.
Verified
There will be some discussion about this in upcoming episodes, through episode 5.
Innnnnnnteresting…
The standoff with the yokels was pretty great. “You ain’t takin’ our draw!”
Reminded me of the little shit from Deliverance.
Any idea how much and how often their ‘draw’ is? And why they’d be willing to risk jail for it?
@FZKilla its more that none of them would be willing to actually find work. Not that disability is much to live off of, but I imagine in tiny communities it stretches pretty far.
“And we’re stopping for lunch on the way because if you shoot somebody we won’t be able to stop after.”
I love you Art.
I want another ‘Arti is a badass’ episode so bad
I would watch a show completely about Art. Or Tim. Or Dewey. Or…
I just think they need to show us the supporting Marshalls cast just a little more often. Episodes with Gutterson’s sarcastic look (like when he let them in the VFW) and Rachel’s anger toward racist hicks are great, and I look forward to them precisely because they’re so rare. Every week of that might get old.
Agreed, for minor cast members the other Marshals add a hell of a lot to the show.
@Too Many Pizza I think it was with either Season 1 or 2 where Tim shows up after having a the day off really drunk.
That was season 1, when they needed to get into the Veterans building to see Arlo
I liked the way Boyd was all well-dressed in this episode. Damn good look for him.
Also, Lindsey’s husband seems pretty cool, and I look forward to discovering what his deal is.
What’s the deal with some of these gifs’ file names? Castles in the sky? Leaf? Can’t let go?
I like how he’s been rocking the pocket watch these last two episodes, its ready for a comeback
Also, maybe the line of the night for us married folks when Art says, “Lots of time together in a close space; that’ll be good for the marriage.”
i thought that too, even though I’ve only been married a little while.
I was waiting for Boyd and the new preacher to have a God-off. I can’t help but think they’re just getting started.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure Boyd has the entire Bible memorized.
Got to be honest, a few time last night I looked at Goggins and all I could see was him with makeup and a big rack.
I´m just scared of his teeth
Random thoughts:
-More locker-room banter for the marshals would be appreciated.
-The guy who sniffing around after Art’s job seemed like a weasel.
-Raylan’s ‘oh snap’ moment when he found out bartender was married.
-I hope to see the hillbilly ‘perverts!’ kid get smacked around some more, mouthy little git.
My initial reactions to your random thoughts:
-hell yes!
-he was a weasel, but he brought him a bottle of 20 year Pappy. I would gladly surround myself with weasels if they brought me Pappy Van Winkle.
-Raylan has not had much luck when it comes to the fairer sex these days.
-I would have broken my foot off in that kids ass if he gave me the double bird, and then pulled a gun on me.
@Palin Givens I hated that kid on sight.
@Madfall Damn Straight!
Also, where the hell was Johnny when the little singing gypsies came into the bar/brothel? Not that I have been to many brothels, but I’m sure that some adult would have sent the little kids packing before they could get through the door.
I don’t think that kid was an actor. I think they flew him in fresh from Harlan County for reals.
that little kid creeped the hell out me, I seriously wanted Tim to drop him when he drew on Raylan
@BaronVonHector I was totally expecting that kid to get shotgunned.
@VJ Any chance Colt could be working under-cover for someone? I assume him killing the drug dealer in episode one precludes law enforcement… but maybe Frankfurt or Detroit?
Oh there is definitely more to him than we know.
Verified
Colt does have an arc this season, you’ll see where it’s going by the end of episode 4.
Very excited to see how Not Mitch Hedburg plays out
Ooh. Colt just happening to have clocked the heroin dealer and the dealer being casually eliminated by Wynn… h’mm. He could be working for Wynn. If he expresses an interest in women’s tennis we’ll know for sure.
Boyd vs Preacher Billy reminds me of There Will Be Blood… but with heroin; “Im an oxy man, I’ve just come from my brothel in Harlan, Kentucky”
Also, Tim, Art, and Raylan could be its own show.
The amount of joy I got when I saw Jere Burns’ name in the credits is describable. Love that his dumbass henchman guy was back too.
Also, Duffy seemed extra badass tonight, like he’s moving on up after the whole Quarles thing. Shooting someone in the head so randomly seems kind of new for him
Maybe he feels like he has to reestablish his rep post-Quarles.
Yeah they really need to go into the whole Dixie Mafia thing. They always mention it but they’re always outliers in the plot
I get the feeling that the overall arc is Boyd trying to consolidate crime in Harlan, which means dealing with both elements (Dixie Mafia, and the preacher) pulling in different directions
I don’t think it was out of place… In fact when Boyd said that the dealer might not leave here alive.I thought “The Wynn Duffy I know would just shoot the dealer to prove a point to Boyd” and then BOOM!
I don’t ever recall Boyd looking so disconcerted as he did when Wynn shot the wayward dealer.
I loved how he seemed so in control when talking to Reverend Billy but 5 minutes with Wynn left him all rattled. Great scene.
Which was surprising, because it seemed obvious that Wynn would shoot him, right?
VJ, I thought the preacher and Wynn got the better of Boyd in their square offs. Was that intentional, or am I reading those scenes wrong?
And is there any connection between the Bowling Green Marshall stopping by on that particular date, and the Drew Thompson mystery?
I’d say only Duffy did and that was more about the writers indicating Duffy was taking it up a notch in my opinion than Boyd being bested.
As far as the preacher, Boyd backed off as soon as he picked up on the fact that the sister was “the man behind the curtain”, i think he could have bested him, but as he said he got what what he came looking for, no need for Boyd to win the battle, all he cares about is winning the war.
Verified
Both those scenes with Boyd are ambiguous. Could Boyd have bested Billy? Maybe, but he stopped because he figured out what he needed to know. Could Boyd have bested Duffy? Again, maybe, but he wants to work with Duffy, so why try?
The Bowling Green Marshall is not dirty, if that’s what you’re asking.
Thank you for the response. Much appreciated. Show is excellent.
Yeah, I got the vibe from both scenes that Boyd was holding back. He was playing a longer game in both.
This episode was super great for my giant Tim Gutterson ladyboner. And I appreciated Art’s insights into the mental states of his deputies.
I just know I won’t be able to think of the Truth family matriarch as anything other than the “Sometimes I seriously doubt your commitment to sparkle motion!” lady, among her other various guest roles on television. She was great though.
Fair or not, she will always be compared to Mags Bennet in my eyes.
I also really like how we’ve had these hits about Tim since season one, and then Art just comes out with: “…he’s probably looking to kill more, and I think he has a serious drinking problem”
and by hits I mean hints
The writing this season is inspirational. I love Boyd crowder. And I love Raylan