Fantastic episode tonight, as it took a while, but Justified is finally on a roll again. Tonight, we open with Wynn Duffy in his trailer desperately trying to convince Yoon's gang that Boyd is dead, and that he killed him himself, right after Boyd blew up Mr. Picker. Needless to say they're less than convinced, even as Duffy tries his snarky best to tell them that he shot him twice in the chest, once in the brain. The leader tells him that Yoon wants the "skin" of someone in revenge and tells Duffy he's got till sundown the next night to get them Darryl Crowe. Duffy promises and they leave quietly. Darryl meanwhile is knocking on the hotel room door of Duffy's henchman Mike, but then breaks it down and beats the guy to a pulp, demanding to know where Boyd's dope is. Safe to say the dude is going to break.
Boyd meets up with Duffy at the trailer, who immediately called him after the mexicans left, and the two plot a scheme to get out of their predicament. Turns out the bodies of the crew the Crowes shot back in Mexico turned up and Yoon wants revenge. Duffy tries to assure him that he told them Boyd was dead and they're in it together, but Boyd knows right away that Duffy's just trying to save his own ass in case something does happen to Boyd and he doesn't know where to find the dope. Duffy then gets a call from Mike but before he can answer it, all three marshals barge into the trailer, threatening to impound it for expired tabs. Raylan and Boyd exchange their classic witticisms, but Raylan tells them both they're going to help them get Darryl for shooting the chief. Boyd is dubious but Raylan threatens him with a grand jury indictment for the "file" they've got on him that details all his crimes over the years. Boyd laughs that they would wait all this time to spring such a thing on him but Raylan is now a by-the-book cop who's playing his reserved cards (in honor of Art, it seems to me). And then the trailer is in fact impounded, to Duffy's hilarious dismay.
At the women's prison, Ava is called out for a visitor, which turns out to be Raylan, in their first scene together in quite a while. He comments on her hair, but tells her he wants her to pressure Boyd into cooperating with them to get Darryl. Ava flat out refuses unless he can get her released, which he says isn't an option. She then tells him she and Boyd split up so she can't help him and Raylan threatens her with possibly telling the guards not to protect her, but Ava brushes him off and leaves. She's a newly hardened woman with all that she's had to go through in the slammer, as Raylan notes. At Mike's hotel, Duffy and Boyd encounter a sorely beaten man, who confesses that he told Darryl the dope was with Boyd's guys, which sparks an idea in Boyd's head. He plans to send both the marshals and the mexicans to the spot where the dope's planted, so they can fight each other to catch Darryl in the act. Duffy agrees to it and asks what Boyd's role will be, and Boyd answers that he'll do what he does best. The next scene is him walking into the marshal's office and announcing that their "savior" has arrived. Awesome.
That was all before the credits by the way. When we come back, Boyd is waiting to cooperate with the marshals as they commiserate with Vasquez over what he might ask for in return. Rachel remembers that Ava's locked up and they all figure he might ask for her release, which Vasquez claims is possible. Raylan goes in to talk to him and first confiscates his phone before asking him what he wants. Boyd says he's newly single, which means that he just wants a clean slate and for them to shelve his file. Raylan is amused that he hasn't changed after all and more or less agrees to it. Boyd then goes on to tell the marshals where to find Darryl, at the spot where the heroin he of course had nothing to do with is currently hidden. Raylan balks at getting Darryl on felony possession but in a conference with Vasquez, Rachel and Tim, they all agree they should take the opportunity presented. Boyd tries to take credit for his brilliant plan but Rachel insists he's coming with them.
On a back country road, none other than Dewey Crowe (was wondering what happened to him) comes barreling back into town as his broken down shitty car runs out of gas, leaving him stranded for the moment. At the prison, Penny and Ava are walking through the courtyard when the white supremacist gang comes up to them and stares Ava down, before sauntering off. Back at the bar, Karl and the new bartender guy walk in to find Darryl pointing a gun at them, asking about the dope, and he shoots the poor new guy in the leg, which makes him hobble over in pain, crying out again about his horrible job. Darryl now comes back into Audrey's having gotten the information, to find a medicated Wendy passed out on the couch. He wakes her up to ask how she's doing, but she's pretty self-pitying, upset about Kendall, who's now in custody at the juvenile detention center. Darryl tells her she's got to pull herself together, as they've got a new chance to make the money to hire the best attorney for him, and like the slimy little rodent he is, he then tells her where the dope is and that it's her job to go and pick it up. Wendy refuses but Darryl tells her it's their only shot or they're finished.
Back at the prison, Ava has rounded up her new followers and is doing her own preaching, less about God and more about how it's their job to watch out for each other on the inside and stick together. They seem into it, but the scary Nazi gang walks by and talks about how she took out a guard. The sister of Boyd's pal, the one who beat her up originally, doesn't buy her toughness though, and thinks they can get to her as payback for Boyd putting her brother in intensive care. Dewey is now stealing gasoline from an old lady's car, and when she comes out and sees him doing it, he first tries to trick her into giving him some food, but of course even this elderly woman is too sharp for Dewey Crowe and pulls a shotgun on him, chasing him off the property. Wendy pulls up to the abandoned barn where the dope is, willing to do Darryl's dirty work for him and walks in, as the marshals and Boyd monitor from a nearby van and wonder what's going on. Wendy almost opens the fridge where the stash is, but suddenly thinks better of it and leaves- but it's too late, as Raylan confronts her at her car and arrests her, taking her to the van despite her protestations. He then tells Boyd Plan B is for him to wear a wire while he gets Darryl to confess to Art's shooting, and Boyd mouths off for a bit at this idea until he sees the mexicans pull up and changes his mind, now willing to comply.
In the van he calls Darryl and arranges a meet as only he can (Tim revels at his "silver tongue,") while back in prison, Ava talks to a new friend about how the women in the place need to look out for each other more, as all of them are in there mostly because of men (looks like she picked up at least some of Judith's ideology after all). Penny goes to the bathroom, but while she's gone Ava sees one of the Nazi women come back with a bloody knife and she rushes to the bathroom to find poor Penny dead on the floor. As the marshals drive back to Audrey's Wendy berates Raylan for trying to destroy the rest of her family as Raylan bites back that she won't let herself see that Darryl's the guilty one and she keeps protecting him in spite of herself. Wendy insists she's got no choice. At the prison, guards come in and take away the woman who killed Penny, while Ava's new friend asks her if she snitched. Ava says no, but it's clear that won't be the feeling in the cell block as her situation has deteriorated once again.
Dewey returns to his favorite two hookers, asking for the gifts he gave them before he leaves the state ("again?" they ask incredulously). They lost his stuff of course, but their new client comes out of the toilet wearing Dewey's necklace, which he demands to have back. The guy shoves him down and Dewey puts up a fight, surprisingly managing to actually overpower the dude and take his necklace back. As Boyd walks into Audrey's with the bag of heroin, a newly confident Dewey peers around the corner and unwisely decides to make a play for the drugs himself. Oh, poor dumb Dewey. Boyd meets Darryl inside and sits down at the table with him, attempting to get him talking as the marshals listen in. Suddenly, just as Boyd brings up Kendall, Dewey charges in with two guns pointed at them, demanding they turn over the heroin. Boyd and Darryl stare at him in disbelief and annoyance on Boyd's part, as Raylan instead gets Dewey on tape, bragging about murdering Wade Messer and taking possession of the dope. As he does so, he's of course confronted by the marshals as he storms out of Audrey's and immediately arrested.
As Dewey is hauled into the back of a police car he expresses shock that they heard everything he said and Raylan gives him some last advice to stop talking about himself in the third person. Advice that of course, Dewey doesn't understand. So long, Dewey. It's been...well, it's been something. Ava calls Raylan to come back and see her, which he does, and she tells him she's changed her mind and will talk to Boyd if he can just get her out of there, but Raylan has to tell her it's too late, that Boyd already helped them and she missed her chance. She's stunned and asks what he got in return, but when Raylan tells her about the clean slate thing, she's confused. He tells her he'll do what he can to get her a safer situation but leaves her pretty depressed.
Back at the marshal's office, Darryl is now in custody along with Wendy for intending to pick up the dope but it's a charge that will never stand, according to his lawyer, since of course he didn't touch the bag. Raylan comes in and Boyd asks for his phone back, but Raylan's distracted by the Darryl situation, determined to nail the guy however he can. He and Vasquez go see Judge "Hammer" (Stephen Root in a welcome return appearance) to ask him to sign off on a last case scenario, which he doesn't want to do, but Raylan and Vasquez insist this is now their only option. When Raylan walks back into the office, Boyd again demands his phone but Raylan brushes him off, telling him he didn't help them and they're proceeding with the indictment based on his file. Boyd doesn't believe it, but Raylan tosses the file at him, now bristling with anger at the dead and suffering left in Boyd's wake (probably thinking of Ava now too). Boyd tosses Raylan's own actions back in face, accusing him of murdering Nicky Augustine, which seems to bring Raylan to a frosty silence, as Rachel and Tim don't believe that and defend him. But Raylan then hands Boyd his phone and walks off, as Boyd calls Jimmy and tells him to hide the last of the dope, warning him that storm clouds are gathering. Jimmy says he will, but we then see that he's being held at gunpoint by the mexicans as a tear runs down his cheek.
The last scene of the episode reveals Raylan's big play, as Vasquez tells Wendy, Darryl and their lawyer that Kendall will now be tried as an adult for the attempted murder of Art, which carries a life sentence of 40 years. Wendy is devastated and protests, while Raylan coldly takes the credit for this action, as Darryl stares him down with a dark and threatening look. Well, it's almost here everybody. Next week we'll find out what happens with Boyd, the Crowes, Raylan, Art and whether Ava will ever get out of prison now that Boyd has seemingly abandoned her. I can't wait.
