On January 20^th, FX’s Justified began its sixth and final season. Based on several Elmore Leonard works, Justified follows Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), a US Marshal who is “exiled” to his hometown of Harlan, Kentucky. Raylan frequently finds himself in conflict with erstwhile mining buddy, now criminal mastermind, Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), as the two attempt to coexist in a world that seems a little too small for both of them. Justified highlights the local culture and explores numerous themes, such as family, religion, history and the thin line that divides the good guys from the bad.

Join Jeff (of Slazenger1) and me in the coming months as we honor this criminally underrated drama with a series of “RayActions” to each of Justified’s Season 6 episodes. These posts will not be particularly formal, but will give us the chance to make some observations and reflect on each episode, likely culminating in a full Season 6 Dead Season Discussion after the finale.

This week’s RayAction is focused on Justified Season 6, Episode 8 – “Dark as a Dungeon.” It contains SPOILERS for the entire series of Justified. Fire in the Hole!

********************

Patches
“Dark as a Dungeon” was another busy, and fantastic, episode of Justified. Ty Walker tried to escape Kentucky by making a deal with Boyd. Meanwhile, Raylan partnered with Avery Markham, ostensibly to eliminate Walker, but really to put the cheese on the trap for Boyd. Also, no one wanted to play tennis with Mikey.

In our RayAction for “The Trash and the Snake,” I mentioned that I thought Avery was the most dangerous non-Boyd villain in the show’s history. He’s smart, vicious, and possesses a deep understanding of Harlan and its residents, something that’s previously tripped up every Carpetbagger who tried to stir up trouble in the Appalachians. After this episode, I tried to figure out where it all went wrong for Avery.

Raylan would suggest it’s because his henchmen weren’t good criminals, but the truth is Continue reading →