Justified – “Burned”: Everything falls apart

“One thing didn’t occur to me: dipshit’s not capable of pulling it off.”

– Raylan Givens

So after all that time and energy devoted to Boyd finding a way into Avery’s vault, he makes his move and fails to get inside. This episode had a lot of momentum building up to the moment where Boyd attempted to blow the vault, but ended up feeling a bit anticlimactic when he failed and everyone essentially decided to try again next week.

We also saw Uncle Zachariah make his play against Boyd – chaining his leg and leaving him to blow up with the vault floor. We’ve known he’s up to something for weeks, but I somehow imagined it was a bit more intricate. I guess I should have known blowing shit up is pretty much his exclusive area of expertise. Zachariah remains out in the wind, meaning he could come back at a later date. But, for now, Boyd has bigger fish to fry.

It was a busy episode for Boyd, which also saw him striking up a deal with Loretta to hand over Harlan to her. It was actually one of his sweeter moments as he asks her for nothing. He’s happy to simply see Harlan remain in the hands of the locals. (Of course, he also at that point thought he was walking away with millions of dollars, so he didn’t really need anything from Loretta.)

She seeks Boyd’s help after being threatened by Avery’s new muscle – Boone. What I found fascinating about Boone is the way his style mirrored Ty Walker’s. If you remember, Ty threatened the woman early in the season by going through her grocery bag and offering to come inside to make her eggs. Boone makes a similar play with Loretta, breaking into her house and offering to “help” take care of the dead snake he left on her floor. It’s the same basic strategy, but without the subtlety. Ty was charming. Boone is just nakedly creepy and threatening. (And blissfully unaware of John Wayne movies.)

We also found out, after much speculation, that Wynn is our rat. He’s the one who sold out Catherine’s husband, getting him killed. Both Catherine and AVery thought the other one was the rat. It’s why Avery left town. It’s why Catherine has been plotting against him all season. And it turns out Wynn was the real culprit. I have to imagine this doesn’t bode well for him. It does give Raylan and Co. a new informant though, which they desperately need. They get Wynn back to being a CI, giving them an inside man now that Ava is burned.

Speaking of, she now knows Raylan knows. She finally admits to Raylan that she’s been compromised, essentially putting her all in with Boyd. She has no other outs. Unfortunately, Boyd isn’t sure if she plotted with Zachariah to have him killed. So Boyd is all she’s got, but he’s not her biggest fan at the moment.

Ultimately, this was more of a piece mover episode than anything. It existed mostly to get all of our major players in place for the final few episodes. It had some enjoyable moments along the way, but the botched robbery left it feeling anticlimactic. I still enjoyed it, but feel like it wasn’t very memorable.

And another thing …

• Between Avery, Boyd and Loretta, who gave the best speech at the party? I’m tempted to give the edge to Boyd, who knows how to work a room, but I enjoyed Loretta’s bluntness.

• Mikey didn’t seem too pleased about Wynn becoming a rat. This doesn’t bode well for their guac-eating, Scrabble-playing spinoff I’ve been pitching.

• Raylan and Avery continue to begrudgingly bond this week as they joke around together outside of the smoking vault.

• Raylan really can’t unload Arlo’s house.

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. Follow Joel on Twitter @FreeMisterClark or email him at murphyslaw@hobotrashcan.com.