Well, Justified wrapped up its fifth season in very satisfying fashion tonight. After what most considered an uneven run this year, I thought the first 4-5 episodes were really good, with a lull in the middle, but these last three especially have been vintage Justified, and with the way things ended tonight, I can't wait for the show to come back for its swan song next year.
We pick up where we left off, with the marshals talking over what Raylan just pulled off with the judge now trying Kendall as an adult for Art's attempted murder. Wendy and Darryl are pretty pissed off, with Darryl coming out swinging, charging up to Raylan and making threats, challenging him to fight him and not his family. He tries to take Wendy with him but Raylan insists they're still holding her, so that Darryl will leave and Tim can follow him. Darryl storms off and Raylan again tries to convince Wendy that he's the one who shot Art, but Wendy's still in denial. Darryl has a fit outside in his car when he sees that Tim is sitting across the street watching him. He confronts him and Tim makes sure he knows that he'll be on his tail all night, which will be easy for him since he's had lots of practice with stakeouts in Afghanistan.
Boyd comes back to the bar and hears a noise, which leads to him finding Jimmy tied up and beaten by the mexicans, who've got a gun on him and one on Boyd too. Boyd can't think of any way out of this (for the moment) and puts his gun down, but then, and very sadly, they shoot poor Jimmy in the heart and he dies. Boyd cries out and is pretty broken up about it (aww- I kinda am, too), while the mexicans tell him he's got til noon to get them Darryl Crowe. So now they've got Boyd trapped, with the heroin on the table so they know he's lied to them. Boyd cleverly replaces Raylan's name on his phone with Darryl's and makes a show of sending texts to try to get "Darryl" to come meet him.
Raylan is talking to Kendall now and tells him the new deal about trying him as an adult, where he'll get 40 years in a federal penitentiary. Kendall looks petrified and it looks like maybe Raylan will crack him pretty quick after all. In the prison yard, Ava is now abandoned by her followers (her reign seems to have lasted one day) including her new curly haired friend Nikki, and so she goes directly up to the psycho bitch Gretchen to confront her then and there. She challenges her to fight and then gets up on a lunch table and declares to everyone that she didn't snitch and in fact it was Gretchen who sold out her own girl to get her alone and isolated. She spills about the arrangement Boyd has with Gretchen's brother before the guards take her down, but it looks like she's saved herself (some time at least).
Raylan brings Kendall the cocoa from the vending machine he likes, and continues to try to work on him so that he confesses. He uncuffs the kid and spills his own story about the first time he killed something- which was a, pig that Art forced him to gut. It's obviously not a lie, as Raylan has these stories laid out in his back pocket for good use, and it seems to work on Kendall, who's interested in what happened, and looking more and more terrified at the idea of the prison sentence he's facing. He mentions killing a gator in Florida, but after Raylan's horror story and when questioned again about Art's shooting, he sticks to his guns, although it's obvious from his behavior now that he's lying. Probably because he's afraid of Darryl at least as much or more. Raylan goes to talk to Wendy, who was listening behind the glass and she's now convinced he didn't do it either. She asks what to do and Raylan tells her to wear a wire, which she balks at but then agrees to because there's really no choice.
Darryl meanwhile runs a red light to get rid of Tim, and it works, as Tim gets taken out by another car, and back at the bar Boyd tries to convince Alberto's two cronies to kill Alberto and team up with him, promising them partnerships and a trip to Vegas (lol). When Alberto comes back in the room the two goons tell him about Boyd's offer and crack up, as this is one time where Boyd's silver tongue fails to make the sale. Alberto tells him he's now got 15 minutes so he'd better try something else. Darryl makes it back to Audrey's and gets a call from Wendy, who lies and tells him the marshals were faking Kendall's charge and she's now going to sue them and get their payday, since nothing else has worked. Darryl reluctantly agrees to meet her at the bar but looks a bit suspicious as he hangs up. Rachel asks Raylan what's going on, but Raylan is totally keeping her in the dark on his plan, while he notices the weird texts he's been getting from Boyd who's purposely calling him Darryl in them.
As Jimmy's body is packed up by the mexicans, Alberto tries to threaten Boyd with how he learned to skin animals (and other things) from his father, but Boyd basically mouths off to him and says to just do it already, since he's living in misery anyway. Alberto just about does when Raylan (as Darryl) finally texts him back, wanting to meet at Ava's old country house. Just in the nick of time. By the way, where does Boyd live now? At the bar? At the prison, Nikki is pals with Ava again, but warns her that Gretchen's not going to back off and she's going to kill her sooner or later. Ava's response to this is to walk over to Gretchen's gang and slam her lunch tray against the face of a Nazi crony, starting a big fight with all the inmates.
At Ava's house, Alberto questions him about her when he sees her picture while Boyd just looks depressed (I guess Ava dumping him has erased any concern he had for her welfare), but then a car pulls up to the house. The mexicans go outside to see that it's Rachel and Tim (who's completely uninjured from that car crash I guess), who pull guns on the crew while Alberto threatens Boyd for trapping them. He then goes out to face the marshals and basically invites them to shoot, since their own boss will kill them if they don't deliver anyway. They start firing and a shootout ensues, with Tim and Rachel taking them down as one of the guys (the one who shot Jimmy) races back inside to kill Boyd but he manages to pull off an awesome shot while handcuffed and kills him instead. As Tim and Rachel let Boyd go (while he brags about his impossible shooting skills), Rachel comes up to him and promises they're going to take him down eventually, but he brushes that off and leaves, managing yet again to luck his way out of a bad situation.
Ava is now in solitary as Rowena the nurse comes in to fix her dislocated shoulder again, and basically tells her that she's got two options- either spend 5 years in solitary or be ready to fight every single day that she's stuck in prison. Great. Ava looks bummed as she contemplates her future. Wendy now meets Darryl at Audrey's, where she proceeds to tell him she knows he shot Art and made Kendall take the fall. He denies it but she starts a big fight about all the things he's done to their family, which makes him defensive, yelling at her for being a bad mother and claiming he did it all for them. Wendy starts to cry and apologize, telling him she understands and getting him to the place where he admits he did it, but only for the family, and because he thought Kendall going to juvie wouldn't be such a big deal. Wendy nods and then pulls out her phone, thanking him for giving him what she needed. Darryl is furious, but she's unafraid, even as he comes close, threatening to kill her. She pulls a gun out and aims squarely at his crotch, telling him she'll do it in a heartbeat. But then of course, Raylan walks in and pulls his own gun, saying he's got her covered, but Darryl lunges at Wendy and she shoots him point blank. He doesn't go down at first and comes at her again, so she pulls the trigger once more. Raylan finally tells her to put the gun down (took your time there, buddy) and kneels down as he watches Darryl twitch and die, telling him he told him he was going to make him wish he'd killed him earlier.
At the hospital, Art is now awake and Raylan comes in to find him talking again with his wife, Tim and Rachel. The other marshals take off and Art mentions to Raylan that he got him that Florida transfer the day after Raylan told him to do it. Raylan looks startled and fairly disappointed, but Art asks if Raylan killed Darryl and he says that he didn't, but he's dead anyway. The two men seem to have made some kind of peace with that, as Raylan quietly leaves the room and then talks to Winona over skype, who can hardly believe he's finally moving to Florida. He says it's all being finalized and will only take a few weeks, and now he actually looks happy to see his daughter, as the baby giggles at him over the screen. Vasquez and Rachel call him into Art's office to tell him they're going after Boyd once and for all for vast criminal conspiracy and they want his help, which Raylan is only too thrilled to offer. Looks like Florida might wait a little bit longer after all.
Boyd is back at Ava's house, trying to fix the porch when he gets the call from Ava's lawyer that all charges have been dropped and she's being released. He doesn't get it, but Ava is in fact being signed out of the prison (thank god for that) and he talks to her over the phone as she tells him she's coming home right away. Ava and Boyd then reunite, but things between them are awkward and when Boyd asks what happens now, she just says she wants to take a bath and to have some time alone. Boyd has go meet Duffy anyway, and so Ava walks into the house looking a bit ambivalent, much like Boyd. Boyd goes to meet Duffy (who evidently got his trailer back) and Catherine Hale, who both want to recruit him for some new business dealings. Boyd's not into it though, and gives Duffy the heroin, saying he wants to lay low. Duffy tells him that Catherine used to run her husband's business and was a lot more involved in his affairs than anyone knew. Boyd still isn't jazzed about it, but Catherine then says to him that she's heard he was a lot better at robbing banks than he was at shipping heroin, which brings that familiar smile to Boyd's face.
Now, in the last scene of the season, Ava goes to meet Raylan on the bridge to Harlan, where it turns out (and i guessed this the minute she was released) that she's been flipped, and Raylan got her sprung on the condition that she report back to him on all Boyd's dealings and function as the marshal's spy. He says if she doesn't play ball he'll put her back in prison, and Ava agree to this but says she's scared. Raylan promises her she'll be fine as he walks back to his car while the song "You'll Never Get Out of Harlan Alive" plays us out. Well, that's a wrap, folks. And it's quite the set-up for next season, with things looking to conclude with a massive Boyd vs. Raylan showdown, with Ava smack in the middle. My guess is that she'll never turn on Boyd and only lasts maybe 2-3 episodes before they get back together and she works with him against the feds somehow. But as for the series, it may have been an uneven season, but I truly love the show and the last few were as good as it's ever been. Bring on the final season, guys! I'm excited to see if anyone will indeed, make it out of Harlan alive.
