Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 2 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT What A Tangled Web
By Couch Baron | Season 4 | Episode 5 | Aired on 02.06.2013
that when he caught Roz, she offered to give him a blowjob and Raylan smiles and turns away, only to swivel back and ask if he took her up on it. Bob's aghast, probably not least because of the hardware in her mouth and then Raylan greets Roz and asks how the foot is. Unamused, she tells him it hurts and adds that she just got her braces tightened and so her teeth hurt, too. Raylan: "Well, neither one of us is gonna ask you to use it much." Saving me the trouble and grossing Bob out for good measure? Love you, Raylan -- I don't care what Winona says. He asks Roz who told her where to find the bag and when she unconvincingly says it was Arlo, he counters that she doesn't know him nor the other way around. Roz tries to tell them if she reveals who it was, the guy will kick her ass, but Raylan, shockingly, is unsympathetic, so she gives up the name "Josiah." Bob recognizes him as her stepfather, adding that she and her boyfriend also strip metal for him and when Raylan asks if Josiah is home there now, Roz scoffs that she'll guarantee it, which is another one of those comments that will become clear in the fullness of time. Also, when Raylan hears that Josiah's surname is "Cairn," he laughs and says he knows him. "And yeah, he might kick your ass." He tells them to stay put until he gets back and to keep their clothes on and Roz grimaces from the mouth pain, which I have to admit I didn't need to see.Here's the presumed Cairn, sitting out in front of his house with a dog to keep him company when Raylan drives up. Cairn asks who he is and I should mention that he is most awesomely being played by Gerald McRaney, who's got credits going back to when I was a toddler, but is best known for title roles in Simon & Simon and Major Dad, and was also recurring on Deadwood (George Hearst), which makes this another reunion on more than one level. Raylan's like, oh, come on, don't you remember that scam you tried to pull after the mine explosion in '85, taking money from the widows in an ostensible effort to prove it was the mine's fault and then taking money from the mine to cover it up? I'll admit that sounds complicated enough that he probably hasn't forgotten it. Cairn pegs Raylan as Arlo's boy and Raylan's like, yeah, you already knew that and why I'm here, so how about taking your hands out of your pockets? Cairn complies, but claims not to know what Raylan's talking about, adding that he's retired because the young people drove him out. "No values no more." Heh. Raylan notes that Cairn is wearing an ankle monitor, so maybe the people that put it on him are the valueless whippersnappers to whom he was referring and Cairn tells him he can check the records -- he hasn't left his property in months. Cairn denies knowledge of the bag and the kids and whatever else, but Raylan tells him he doesn't have time for this. "How about you and me go for a drive?" You get the feeling it's not going to be as romantic as it sounds...
...but it's still hilariously unexpected (well, aside from the fact that it was in the previews) when we cut to Cairn running alongside Raylan's car, handcuffed to something inside. Cairn complains that what Raylan's doing is illegal, but Raylan points out that impeding a Federal investigation is likewise a crime, so either Cairn tells him something worth hearing or they're crossing his tether line. Cairn gives in and tells Raylan that Thompson is with the hill people and I like the idea of "hill people" even a bit less than "people named after body parts," so I'm hoping Raylan's correct when he calls bullshit on this, especially since he's started driving again. Cairn, however, goes on that Waldo Truth wasn't the only one to land badly from that plane (from which Thompson threw him, according to Cairn) -- when Thompson jumped, he busted up both his legs. He got word to Bo Crowder and Arlo and they made a deal -- they'd get him a place at which to get fixed up in return for the cocaine. Raylan's still skeptical, but Cairn tells him there weren't many places they could take Thompson without him being discovered, but the thing is, his legs never healed properly and without mobility he's been stuck there all this time. Raylan finally believes, at least enough to check it out. He does warn Cairn as he unlocks the cuffs that if he comes back without Thompson, Cairn will be his first stop. Cairn, however, is too busy falling to the ground from exhaustion to register that. For now.
Back down the road, Raylan tells Roz she can go as he collects those keepsakes he asked Bob to retrieve for him in the premiere. Bob then tells tales of the hill people being cannibals and offers his go-bag, but all Raylan thinks he needs is one old photo. He takes off with Bob telling him it's been nice knowing him...
...and then he's driving up the hill. Later, he's waiting at a rendezvous when who should show up but Tim, who has been far too scarce this season for my tastes. Raylan thanks him for coming and Tim tells him it's his last chance to change his mind. "I'm wearin' my walkin' shoes." Heh. Raylan, however, tells him that "these people" don't take kindly to strangers, as if Raylan isn't far too good-looking for the hill people to recognize him even as the same species, so Tim sighs that he should have brought his book. Raylan asks if that's the one with monsters and magic wands, but Tim is like, um, no: "It's a Native American princess who controls invisible forest animals." Could you be more specific, Tim? Raylan asks if he's not too old for those, but Tim sighs that he was probably too young to blow the heads off the Taliban, so who knows anything about anything? Well, at least he cannot-quite-laugh about it. Raylan says that if he's not back by nightfall, Tim should call in someone with some authority...
...while Ava is packing up some of Ellen May's stuff when some hooker -- followed by Johnny -- comes in. There's not that much to this scene, so I'll keep it short: After Ava explains she's keeping up appearances for the people who don't know she ordered Ellen May's death, Johnny complains about Boyd working with Wynn and wonders if it's not going to stir up dissent in their ranks. He clearly wants to try to turn Ava against Boyd and it just as clearly seems like it's not happening, but it also won't be addressed again in this episode, so let's just move on, shall we?
Raylan makes his way through the woods and eventually, as surely he expected, he hears some coded whistles and calls that let him know he's not alone. He at least is smart enough to stop and hold his hands up in front of him before several armed hill people emerge from behind the trees, but he announces his peaceful intentions delivering his words carefully enough to indicate he thinks it's a password expression. The next thing we know, he's got a burlap sack over his head and is being led to a cabin and I realize the rule of law may not apply up here, but covering up Raylan's face seems like a universal human-rights violation. Raylan's captors toss him into a large metal box, whereupon he takes off his mask just as he hears a familiar sardonic voice greet him by name. He turns to see Boyd, and damn if this isn't a clever way to get these two together for the first time in what seems like an awfully long while.
Back from the break, Boyd diffidently wonders if Raylan might have been to see Cairn recently and Raylan spits that Cairn's an asshole. They compare notes on what Cairn told them and find them very similar, but Boyd remarks that while he's not super-shocked Cairn might betray Raylan, being who he is, he's surprised Cairn did the same to him. After snarking on Boyd for that idea, Raylan notes that Arlo took the fall for Boyd, yet Boyd is out trying to screw up his deal and Boyd's defense that he's just trying to make a living is rather disappointing; you'd think he'd at least come up with a witty metaphor to mitigate his greed. Raylan wonders if he's not just a Dixie Mafia puppet, but while Boyd is not unoffended by the suggestion, he does point out that they've got more pressing concerns...
...w