Another good episode of Justified tonight, as even when the storylines are uneven, the writing is always funny and clever, and the actors are good, which goes a long way to making a disjointed season still watchable. We start with Kendall taking Chelsea out to do her business when the dog runs off and gets hit by a car, scaring Kendall into running away so as not to face Danny's reaction.
Then we get Dewey on the phone, giddy about his escape from Danny last week, bragging about his score, but just his luck, the car rolls down the hill he's on as he's pulling off the toe. He runs after it and manages to get the dope back, leaving an obvious trail for himself with the cops. Back at Audrey's, Darryl and Wendy are fighting about her losing Kendall, but Danny storms back after his all night hike to tell his brother about their new "serious situation." Of course, at Dewey's crime scene, Raylan and a local cop immediately pick up that the guy they're dealing with isn't a genius and has the heroin, while Ava sees Boyd at the prison. Boyd tells her he's got a lead on Albert the guard, but Ava has lost all hope, telling Boyd he's done enough and that they're over. Boyd gets angry but Ava hangs up the phone, saying she'll always love him but he can't come back because she has to do things that he can't be a part of. She then walks away as Boyd shouts her name. Oh boy. I'm really sick and tired of this Ava story- I now think this thread was a big mistake, especially if they were going to leave her there all season long. Sigh.
After the credits, Boyd is telling Jimmy about a new errand regarding Albert, but Jimmy is getting fed up with Boyd's activities as well. Boyd simply tells him he didn't sign up for the easy road and Darryl comes in to tell Boyd about his new problem. Boyd doesn't want to hear it, but suddenly Dewey calls to extort his money out of them in exchange for the heroin. Boyd is frustrated and slams the phone down after Dewey pathetically makes his demands, telling Darryl this is now his problem and not Boyd's. Wynn Duffy hears the news on the phone and Picker is pretty pissed, scolding Duffy for linking himself with Boyd in the first place. Duffy tries to blame the Crowes but Picker says Boyd's still to blame for bringing them in. He orders Duffy to make a choice between him and Boyd as Duffy considers it silently.
Darryl and Danny are putting together a suitcase full of fake money for Dewey when Wendy walks in to join them, still complaining about not being able to find Kendall. Raylan barges in at that moment, bantering with them for a second about what's in the case, but he's not in the mood for games, and when they won't tell him where Dewey is he knocks Darryl's face in with the case and exposes the cash. Wendy orders him out, but Raylan's adamant about Dewey and takes off with the money to talk to the hookers in the back. The girls don't want to give him anything until he offers them some money (hee) and then they give him up right quick, handing over the cell phone with his number on it. Raylan dials and Dewey picks up as Raylan tells him to get back to Harlan and think about what he's planning to do, seeing how he doesn't have a friend in the world right now and is in no position to know what to do about the drugs. Dewey seems to respond to what Raylan said as he hangs up and gets rid of his phone, but not in the way that Raylan hoped.
Alison comes home to find Kendall chowing down on pizza in her kitchen, saying he's surrendering because he had to get out of that house. In prison, Judith gets up to go to the bathroom while Ava puts the shiv in her sleeve and follows her in. She corners her at the sink and mentions dumping Boyd as Judith gives her tacit approval, handing her her cigarette as she goes to the toilet. Ava gets ready to make her move but Penny suddenly shows up, saying they're wanted for bedchecks and Ava hides the shiv under her arm. Back at Alison's, Kendall asks her to run away with him (aww) because he's scared of Danny and doesn't want to go home. But it turns out that Alison has called Wendy, who shows up to pick him up, much to his dismay.
At another prison, the best moment of the episode arrives, as Dewey has gone to visit Dickie Bennett (!) of all people. Jeremy Davies returns for a guest spot in his Emmy-winning role, and the minute he wheels on screen (apparently Dicke's been paralyzed since we saw him last) we're reminded of how fantastic the Bennetts were and it makes me want to watch season 2 all over again. Ah, season 2. One of the very best seasons of television ever, but I digress...Anyway, Dickie's thrilled to see his old pal and they laugh about seeing each other again like this, and now we see Duffy meeting with a woman named Catherine (Mary Steenburgen), who's apparently some old friend of his he's enlisted to make some kind of "assessment." What this has to do with we're spared from finding out until next week but whatever it is he has to pay her $50,000 to do it.
Raylan's set up a barrier and stopping cars to find Dewey, but he's suddenly receiving a collect call from a "don't hang up Raylan, it's Dickie Bennett!" on his cell. which takes him over to see Dickie in prison himself. This makes for a long, cleverly written scene that takes full advantage of having Dickie back, as he insults Raylan while pretending to be remorseful about his crimes, and offering to give Dewey up in exchange for being moved to a hospital to serve out the rest of his sentence. Raylan is less than accommodating however, and after a minute figures out that Dickie probably sent Dewey over to one of his old Bennet dealers anyway, leaving Dickie in the lurch. But it's a great scene while it lasts. Raylan's right of course and at the dealer's place, Dewey is unloading his stash, but it's too much for the dealer, who has to bring someone else in on it. At a bar, Albert the gross prison guard is flirting with a blonde while Boyd watches morosely from the other end of it, looking depressed about Ava.
Darryl's now consoling Danny about Chelsea when Wendy and Kendall return, and Danny berates Kendall over the dog, but Kendall's not having it. He lashes out at Danny, telling him she's dead as Danny tries to attack him but is held off by Darryl. Kendall then reveals that Danny killed Jean-Baptiste, which shocks Darryl but he yells at the both of them, telling Kendall to go get the dog's body and bury it. When they leave he punches Danny out for killing the Haitian and sends him to pick up the dope from Dewey. At the women's prison, Penny comes up to Ava in the yard and gives her a different weapon with which to kill Judith, telling her she wants her dead too, because she's gotten pregnant a few times from all the guards Judith's made her screw for the drugs. She also tells her that Judith's got an arrangement with the guards for isolated prayer time in the chapel and that's where she can get at her.
At the dope dealer's place, Danny walks in and pulls a gun on Dewey, who responds in kind, but the dealer pulls two guns on the both of them and stands them off, yelling at the two idiots to trade bags, give him his cut and get out. It seems to work for now, although Dewey doesn't really have any money, and as Danny walks home he comes across Chelsea's body in the yard. Raylan intercepts him as he falls to his knees in mourning, and they have another cleverly written exchange, as Raylan offers to arrest just him for the heroin if he comes with him now, and he can spare his family members that way. Danny's not having it though and comes toward Raylan with his gun drawn, bringing up the 21-foot rule again, but in one of the best surprise deaths ever on this show, accidentally walks head first into the hole Kendall dug for Chelsea. Raylan looks amused and kind of grossed out as we see that Danny fell right on his knife, which went through and up his chin and jawbone. Yikes.
Raylan tells Art what happened, and irks his boss again, as he tells him to warn Alison that the Crowes may be coming after her now and Art complies, sending him out while promising to take care of it. Ava approaches Judith in the chapel, who of course knows what's going on, but Ava offers to team up with her against Rowena, to prevent her from calling all the shots. Judith first seems open to it, but suddenly attacks Ava and tries to strangle her. Ava manages to fight her off and stab her three times with the shiv, killing her as she gasps for air and looks distressed when it's over. Boyd has tied the weaselly Albert to a chair but is looking weary about this whole thing as he confesses to him he's a criminal but Albert was supposed to uphold the law. Albert denies doing anything, but admits to it when Boyd gets rough with him. He orders him to recant his statement but Albert says he can't for some reason. Boyd comes at him with a knife but Albert just cries and screams that he did it because he "loves" Ava and couldn't make her his. I'm not sure what's going on here exactly, but for some reason Boyd just gives up and lets the guy go after this, falling to his chair in misery. I don't know, maybe he's giving up on Ava because he feels like she's given up on him? Seems that way for now at least.
Wendy and Darryl are now sitting together, Darryl upset over Danny's death, but Wendy insists that it's time for them to leave now and that at least their father always knew when to quit. Darryl resists still, accusing her of being a terrible parent who can't even acknowledge her own son, and Wendy stands up to him, punching him in the face. Darryl responds by beating her to the ground, punching her and kicking her until she's down and goes to see Kendall himself. He demands that Kendall claim himself a Crowe and cuts his hand and Kendall's, cementing their "blood bond," while saying it's time for Kendall to become a man. And that's it for this week, everybody. Not sure what's going to happen, but I still think that the Crowes are some pretty weak villains, and now that Danny's gone, I guess this all must be leading to some confrontation between Darryl and Raylan (or maybe Boyd). I get the feeling he'll try to kidnap Kendall and it will all come down to saving the kid, a bit like the Loretta situation in season 2 (but nowhere near as compelling, sorry guys). I really hope Boyd resolves this prison issue with Ava though- it's time for this thing to be over. See you next time!
