Justified – “Weight”: Chelsea dagger
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“Doesn’t look like you are dealing with any kind of Einstein here.”
– State trooper
Twice this season, Dewey Crowe has found himself in a position of power. And both times, he has squandered that power horribly.
First, he blew the money he got from his court settlement on Audrey’s, a fool-hearty decision which allowed Boyd to unload unwanted real estate and siphon money off of him and attracted the Florida Crowes to Harlan to get a piece of the pie. And now, as a fallout from all of that, he commandeers the two truck full of heroin and imagines himself in the catbird seat, but quickly realizes he has no play.
Daryl is ready to give Dewey a ringer, then presumably kill him for his betrayal. Raylan is hot on his trail and tries to get him to turn himself in. But Raylan’s “only friend” speech makes him think to turn to Dickie Bennett, who seems ready to turn him in for a reduced sentence and better accommodations and who sends him to a drug dealer who is ready to turn on him the first chance he gets. As Danny points out when he comes to get Dewey and the drugs, Dewey just doesn’t have a head for this stuff.
What I liked about the drug dealer selling Dewey out by calling the Crowes was how it mirrored Alison calling Wendy to come get Kendal. Of course, in Alison’s case, it is probably the right thing to do, though you would imagine if she knew the kid was coming home to threats from Danny, his mom getting assaulted by Daryl and a creepy blood pact, she might have tried to rescue him.
It was a bit of a mixed episode overall, but I enjoy any excuse to bring back Dickie Bennett and the showdown with Raylan and Danny was near perfect. The third time was not the charm for Danny’s idiotic 21-foot rule. Though if he didn’t learn his lesson last week, he was unlikely to ever learn.
I ended up really liking Danny as a character. They way he killed Baptiste portrayed him as perhaps too unstable to function for long in a criminal enterprise without being arrested or shot, but the version of him presented this week felt like a well-rounded, intriguing character. His story about rescuing Chelsea and his genuine concern for her being left all alone on the road were actually touching. That mixed with his volatility made him a really great wild card.
His death adds to an already high body count this season. With reoccurring characters like Cousin Johnny and Hot Rod being killed off in addition to newcomers like Danny, John Baptiste and one half of Hammer and Anvil, there aren’t a lot of bad guys left on the board at this point. They are going to have to do some serious restocking for the final season.
Also kicking the bucket this week was Judith, though that was actually a welcome sight. It means one less character to pay attention to in this pointless, dragging prison saga Ava finds herself entangled in, which once again felt like the low point of the episode. Not only does it continue to feel like a waste of time, but I thought the opening scene where Ava told Boyd to leave and never come back painted her out to be be completely unlikable. It seemed to come out of left field (especially since it was just last week that she was asking him for heroin) and it just was so utterly stupid that I can’t begin to imagine what the writers were hoping to accomplish with it.
Of course, Boyd ended up letting the prison guard go, presumably without convincing him to recant his story, which means there’s no end in sight to this debacle. (Especially when you add in the fact that Ava is covered in blood on her way back to her bed, which makes her pretty easy to sniff out as Judith’s murderer.)
Still, more good than bad this week, even if it didn’t quite live up to the fun of last week’s episode.
And another thing …
- Was it just me or was that fight scene between Daryl and Wendy horribly shot? It looked like that first punch she threw missed by about three feet. And his shot back at her wasn’t much better.
- So Agent Miller isn’t dead, just in the hospital. Hopefully we see him on the show again.
- I like the random Cheerwine logo in the background at Audrey’s. Mainly because I love Cheerwine.
- I really, really wonder what Dewey’s next move is.
Written by Joel Murphy. If you enjoy his recaps, he also writes a weekly pop culture column called Murphy’s Law, which you can find here. You can contact Joel at murphyslaw@hobotrashcan.com.