“You ever hear the saying, ‘You run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. You run into assholes all day, you’re the asshole?’ ”
Justified, FX’s pinnacle of all-around bad-assery, returned for its fourth season last night with the episode ‘Hole in the Wall‘ and it hit the ground running. Well, more accurately, it fell from the sky, hit the pavement and left all its coke and intestines weaving in the wind.
Season 2 and 3 of Justified relied heavily on “a big bad” or three to be the overarching storylines throughout each season. In several interviews leading up to last night’s premiere, creator Graham Yost has said that this season will be a bit different and instead of a “big bad,” will have a long running mystery at its heart. That mystery most certainly involves the ill-fated skydiver who 30 years ago met his maker as he met the street, and somehow before all is said and done, it’s going to reel in Raylan.
As we catch up with Deputy Marshall Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), he isn’t necessarily on hard times, but he has definitely seen better ones. He’s split from his wife Winona (Natalie Zea) and, to complicate it matters, they have a baby on the way. In preparation for said baby (Raylan’s hoping for a girl so as to put an end to the Givens family tree), Raylan takes up a moonlighting gig as a sort of bounty hunter; collecting a handsome reward for finding a bail jumper and helping him create a financial cushion for the baby’s impending arrival. He’s also still living above the bar where his new bartending lady friend works, but that part doesn’t seem all that bad.
Raylan’s more literal “other half” is Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins). Boyd seems to be in a bit of a tough spot himself. He’s trying to run a legitimate Oxycontin business in Harlan County, with Ava (Joelle Carter), but a new church has swooped in and appears to be getting his clients off the drugs and on to Jesus. This is hurting his wallet, as well as his employees, leading them to believe they might be better off on a different path. Boyd does not take kindly to such dissent.
‘Hole in the Wall’ was just about a perfect episode of Justified. It managed to work the “bad guy of the week” motif in the bail-jumping fugitive, but at the same time it laid groundwork for the rest of the season’s threads, including the introduction of Constable Bob (Patton Oswalt) and the continuation of a much more sinister Arlo (Raymond J. Barry).
Notable moments and quotes:
WTF #1: It’s not every day some guy falls out of the sky, explodes on your street and leaves bundles of cocaine behind.
“It’s from ‘Lebowski’. Netflix it and you can be one of the cool kids.”
WTF Moment #2: A drug fueled Furry role-play fantasy turns near homicide in a no time.
“I was on drugs and it was a good costume.”
Raylan prodding the fugitive on raising kids within a split family was priceless.
“Never too early for a Dr. Pepper!”
“Beef Stew!”
Constable Bob going all “Beef Stew” on the wrong perp’s foot.
“That’s funny. You wouldn’t think a man with a stick of dynamite in his lap would go for funny.”
Raylan and Arlo’s interaction was as good as always. The two actors play off each other impeccably well.
Boyd quoting Isaac Asimov was not only flat out awesome, it’s just another layer to the character that makes him all the more intriguing.
Arlo’s throat slashing via toothbrush shank; proving that Arlo is far more of a threat than he’s ever been.
I hope Boyd shows up and teaches this young snake-handling minister how to really dance.
From start to finish, this was a superb episode of one of my personal favorite shows. I’ve been anxious to see where this new sense of narrative would take the show and if ‘Hole in the Wall’ is any indication, this is going to be another fantastic season. One can’t say enough about the cast on this show as they all do stellar work, but Olyphant and Goggins have taken their character to the next plateau and represent two of the most well-rounded, deep and all-around entertaining characters that have ever graced the small screen.
– Matt Hardeman
