Welcome back everybody! Justified returned tonight with a surprisingly routine episode, mostly filler even, aside from an important character's death in the very last scene. This served mostly as set-up for several storylines and a procedural throwaway plot for Raylan, and was even shorter than usual, clocking in at 43 minutes rather than the usual 47 or 48.
But we start off with the Crowes, Darryl and Danny, packing up to take off for their mystery job with Boyd, leaving Kendall to tend bar, even though Darryl questions him for looking a little nervous, still a result of the murder he witnessed. Danny gives him a look of warning as they walk out. At the prison with a short-haired Ava (whose new hairdo is conveniently stylish given that she had to chop it off herself with a razor blade), she's waiting around at visiting hours for Boyd to show up while Penny taunts her that all the men stop coming to visit eventually. Ava looks wary as she realizes Boyd isn't coming. Boyd and the Crowes bust into Johnny and Hot Rod's place to find it abandoned, Johnny having already made the trip to Mexico. Boyd threatens to go anyway while Jimmy asks him what to do with the Crowes and Boyd stares at them in silence.
At the marshal's office, Raylan is dismayed to find out he's been put on walk-in duty, and not from Art, when he's accosted by a guy named Larry who claims his gambling money's been seized by the marshals, after they shut down the website he won it on. Raylan is mildly disinterested, but perks up when he sees that the site was only faked to look like it'd been shut down by them, and that it was being run by a guy who worked for Charles Munroe. Larry takes off and Raylan complains to Tim and Rachel about being put on walk-in duty, while they find out that a guy named TC runs the site. It looks like he scammed the money out of Larry, but it belongs to the marshals, so Raylan volunteers to go after him.
We now find the TC guy playing games online while his girlfriend Candice looks on, and Larry bursts into his apartment with a henchman of his own, demanding his money. TC denies having it and denigrates Candice's computer skills while he's at it, but when the muscle man (whose name is Kemp) threatens Candice, she rats him out. Larry secretly records the confession with his phone and threatens TC with the police, but when Kemp finds out it was $250,000 at stake, he blows Larry away and demands the money for himself. At the prisonyard Ava watches Penny and the group of religious prisoners listening to the "heavenly mother," and later meets up with the leader and Penny about getting herself protection by joining the group. This leader (who may be recognizable as the meth whore on Breaking Bad) tells Ava the real reason they're not messed with is because they bring in the drugs for the prisoners. They offer Ava the job of bringing them in, with Penny showing her the ropes.
In Mexico, Johnny has shown up with his new crew, and they meet up with the guys who work for Yuen, telling them he's willing to outbid Boyd if they'll hear his proposition. Johnny gets in the car to go meet Yuen personally and is taken there with a bag over his head. Wendy Crowe runs into Alison at her office, taunting her about Raylan, saying she's going to seduce him, and that she came in to see her boss, presumably to get her fired. We're back in Mexico now, as Boyd is also brought to the Yuen mansion with the bag on his head, but when he's taken inside he sees that Johnny beat him to the punch. Boyd is upset by this and he and Johnny banter back and forth until Yuen shows up to hear the both of them out. Johnny claims he can pay $1 million for the heroin but Boyd tries to sell him short, not believing he can really get the cash. Yuen puts them both in handcuffs and simply says that if Johnny can follow through they'll go with the highest bidder.
Back at TC's place, he's wiping the blood off the floor when Raylan shows up outside, and Kemp takes Candice with him at gunpoint, telling TC he's got a day to get the money to him before she's toast. Raylan passes the two on the way up the stairs, catching on as usual that something's up, but only knowing for sure when he makes his way into TC's wrecked and bloody apartment. TC attempts to stall for a second but then makes a run for it, throwing himself and what turns out to be his prosthetic leg out the window with the money while Raylan watches him take off from upstairs, flipping him the bird on the way. Raylan is fairly impressed at the guy's agility, and relays it to the marshal's office later, which is kind of funny. He begs to be the one to bring the guy in, or at least help, but Tim and Rachel say no (chief's orders again) while Raylan sulks. Later at his desk he replies to TC's blog post, where he had taunted Raylan about ditching him, when Alison calls to tell him Wendy got her suspended.
Back in Mexico, Boyd and Johnny sit outside in their cuffs, reminiscing about their high school days- apparently Boyd set Johnny up with his crush only to sleep with her later himself. They seem to recall that things weren't always bad between them, but Johnny's not looking to make up when the car pulls up with the money he promised Yuen. As promised, Yuen goes with the highest bidder and Johnny's uncuffed while Boyd is handed over to him to do with what he wants, as long as he's not killed on this side of the border. If you're thinking Boyd's been suspiciously laid back and calm about this whole thing, you'd be right, as we'll soon see.
Raylan and Alison are on a date at the bar, drinking as she tells him all about what Wendy said to her, seeming a little concerned about Raylan succumbing to her feminine wiles, but Raylan laughs it off in his flirtatious way. The bartender suddenly comes over to tell him his card's been declined, and when Alison takes off he gets a phone call from TC, who informs him he's emptied all his bank accounts and again taunts Raylan to come after him. Raylan jumps at the chance as the two exchange mildly amusing insults, but to be honest, this little hacker plot is pretty weak tonight. At the office Tim has their own computer guy trace the call, where they find out it's coming from a hotel and plan to raid the place.
Wendy is all dressed up and on her way out of the bar, ignoring Kendall, who tries to talk to her but backs off, deciding to call his "Uncle Jack" instead, asking him if he's located anywhere near Kentucky lately. At the prison, Penny takes Ava to go see the guard and janitor, who smuggle the drugs in to them in exchange for, as it turns out, sexual favors, which Penny goes off to perform for the guard in the bathroom. Ava balks at this, and when the janitor's back is turned, places the heroin back in his mop kit. At the hotel, Kemp is sitting around with Candice when the marshals raid the room, Raylan at the helm, but bummed to find out TC is nowhere to be found. It's not a big deal though, as it turns out Candice is willing to sell him out because of his earlier denigration of her own hacking abilities. The marshals then find TC in the basement of his grandma's house and take him in, making this particular case of the week one of the easiest in the history of Justified, I'm pretty sure. As Raylan takes TC to jail in the car, he warms to the guy, who tries to butter him up by offering to return his money and admitting he only uses his skills to fix radio shows and win free TV's.
Back at the office, Rachel informs Raylan that Wendy fixed the Miami judge so that Darryl Crowe does not have to leave the state and when Raylan realizes this is the third piece of information not directly relayed to him by Art, he storms in to confront his boss. Art is still pissed at him but Raylan demands he quit the silent treatment and either treat him like a deputy again or transfer him to another state because he's not quitting. Art is unsure, but Raylan says he's taking two weeks off to go see Winona and the baby, and when he comes back he better have made up his mind. Ava's at her bunk now, awaiting the confrontation from the preacher woman and Penny, who tell her that the janitor was busted with the drugs earlier, thus cutting off their supply. Ava offers to get the heroin herself and is taken up on this by the older woman, who shows off her battle scars and hopes out loud Ava didn't put them all at risk to avoid screwing the guard. Penny then mentions to Ava that if she can really get the drugs she can help her get them inside. Ava looks worried as the two leave her on her own.
Raylan's drinking now with Wendy, who's doing her best to win him over, but he's not falling for it, telling her he's researched her and he knows she never finished law school because she's always stuck at the hip to Darryl and the family. He also spills the beans about Darryl killing their brother in the first episode of the season, which she's shocked by and refuses to believe. Raylan tells her to help him get Darryl so she can cut ties and save herself, and then he leaves her with the tab as she appears to consider it. Finally, we come to the last scene of the episode, as Johnny and his guys load Boyd out of the car and in front of a truck that should be filled with the drugs, but as it turns out- yeah, Boyd's guys are all in there and they jump out and surround Johnny and his posse, who give up, realizing Yuen was in on it all along. Johnny wants to know why he doesn't just kill him, and Boyd says he'll die but not in that desert, and tells his crew that they'll go back to working for Hot Rod as soon as they get the heroin across the border. The guys agree to that but something about that arrangement strikes the Crowes the wrong way, as they exchange looks, and Danny pretends that he suddenly has no choice but to open fire on all of Dunham's guys, under the pretense of shouting first that he was responding to the first shot. Chaos ensues and now all the crew is dead, while Johnny looks on and laughs at Boyd, who's lost control of his own people. Boyd responds by shooting Johnny dead (bye Johnny) and proceeding to call Yuen, telling him they have a problem.
So that ends what for me was the weakest episode of the season. The hacker guy was kind of lame and Ava now feels like she's on another show, one that looks to continue for the rest of the season, much to my annoyance, although needing to get heroin into the prison at least looks like it will tie back into Boyd's story somehow. The war with Johnny ended far sooner than I would have liked, so it looks like the Crowes will end up being the main villains of this year, but with so much blood shed already this season I hope what ultimately happens with them won't feel anticlimactic. Tune in next week as the season goes on and hopefully Raylan gets a far more compelling storyline (he is our hero after all) than the one he had tonight. Until then!
