Is it just us, or is season three getting a little
complicated, what with all the new baddies and their plots? Boyd
has his doings and Neal has his own, complete with a slew of underlings for
Raylan to investigate and shoot arrest. We thought we’d start recapping Justified more in case any of ya’ll are getting lost in all the clever
dialogue and Western-style action.
This week, we got a temporary criminal antagonist in the
form of Fogle, owner of a pawn shop and drug trafficker. The pawn shop is a
cover for illegal goods. Fogle employed Wade Messer who is still on the run
from Raylan. Fogle only employs complete idiots. One of his underlings, JT,
messed up, so Fogle had JT play Russian roulette in order to acquire a bottle
of oxy. The junkie played, but he ended up dead anyway, after Fogle toyed with
him a bit.
Bam! No more incompetence! That did get one of us
wondering if Fogle could be charged with accessory to murder or something if he
HAD put a bullet in the gun on the first place and if JT had been dumb enough
to shoot himself for drugs. At least Ern has a question for a law professor if
she decides she cares by tomorrow… Anyway, that’s an intro to Fogle. He has a
charming personality (sarcasm), and it’s pretty funny.
When Raylan looks into Fogle, he gets on Fogle’s radar. Raylan
deduces that the pawn shop is a cover for dealing drugs and tells Fogle his
suspicions. Fogle calls Neal McDonough, mobster. Neal wants to make Harlan into
some sort of oxy hub by setting up a fake medical business where addicts will
get their prescriptions filled halfway and the other half will be shipped back
to be sold. Neal explains this to his own underling, Wynn. Neal is using a
house for his evil plan and he takes the owner and ties him to a bed. Neal goes
into the bedroom with the homeowner and shuts the door. Wynn looks concerned,
but we don’t find out what happened to the homeowner.
When Neal hears about Fogle’s problem with Raylan, it
takes him a while to remember who Raylan is. Then he says, “Oh, the hat.”
Hahaha. Neal then advises Fogle to take care of Raylan. Fogle orders Wade to
kill Raylan, who easily outsmarts Wade. Fogle has to show up to take care of
things himself and brings another incompetent druggie underline. Raylan plays
the two, hilariously, and they end up shooting each other. We’ll miss Fogle,
though we knew him briefly. Before he gets shot, Fogle tells Raylan a little
about Wynn. Wynn is a stupid name.
Raylan crashes Wynn’s motor home where Neal is also
present. Raylan punches Wynn in the face and drops a bullet on him, as a
message. Raylan sees Neal and takes a picture of him with his phone so that he
can investigate this new face and probable Big Bad of the season. Neal smiles
for the camera, and it’s a creepy, belligerent smile. Neal is not scared. Just
what Raylan needs is another drug-running enemy. This one wears a suit and
seems to exude power.
And now for our main secondary character, Boyd. Some
people were annoyed with Boyd’s character for giving religious people a bad
name. We think that arc was realistic and disagree that it was offensive. Lots of people take on religion when it's convenient, socially beneficial, or when it contributes to their comfort. Boyd really thought he had changed and found God. Part of him was just using
the whole thing to look good and to get power over others, but there was a part
of him that thought religion could make his life better. Sadly, Boyd was using
faith as a means to an end (like Santorum and Perry). Unless faith is the end in itself, it’s not going to
be powerful enough to last when the going gets rough and you don’t get what you
want. When trouble came to Boyd’s door and his followers were killed, he left his religious prophet gig. Boyd's into the prosperity gospel only. Now, he is full-on back into
crime, in service of the almighty dollar.
Boyd has always been funny and entertaining. He is still working
with Arlo, who has always been a disappointment to us. He should have been what
Neal is: a powerful criminal to be reckoned with. The Darth Vadar to Raylan’s
Luke. But alas, he is pathetic. Ava gets Boyd a meeting with Limehouse. Boyd
plans to kill Dickie so that he can get Mags’ weed money and he wants Limehouse’s
help. Limehouse offers Boyd help with his weed situation. Limehouse’s men came
to pick up the ruined weed. Boyd considers refusing Limehouse’s money, but he
takes it in the end. Boyd takes the Harlan bar as his headquarters, ejecting
the bar’s owner.
A character asks which Boyd he is dealing with. The racist
one? The religious one? This new wanna-be crime boss Boyd? Boyd says that he
contains multitudes. Boyd isn’t a simple character and even Boyd knows it. He
has also decided that he wants nothing to do with prostitution when he builds
his criminal empire. Good going, Boyd!
It seems like the religion thing killed off the racist
Nazi thing, which is progress. It forced him to admit that it was stupid, he
didn’t really believe it, and that he probably had never even met a Jewish
person. Boyd has been alive this long. He may make himself into the mob boss of
Harlan for Raylan to shoot in the series finale. Who knows? Dickie is still in
prison and a corrupt guard wants the Mags money as well. Dickie might get
released early so that he can join the rest of these motley villains/buffoons in
entertaining us and complicating this show.
Episode grade: B+
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