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In the world of weed dealing, there's an understanding between Memphis's Rodney "Hot Rod" Dunham (we last saw him in Season 3, I believe, involved with Dickie and Limehouse's money that was supposed to be buried under that church) and some African-Americans; one of the latter gets shorted on a deal, and after the offender provides some target practice for his crew, they head to Lexington to settle a score. Meanwhile, Raylan, Rachel, and Tim arrest the loveliest guy -- he's overtly racist and rich from doing money laundering for Detroit, and being a giant cock about it -- but Raylan has to bail from taking him in to head up to Lexington. You see, Loretta -- been a little while for her, too -- has apparently still been dealing some weed, and the cop whose son she's been supplying (the son is also her kind-of boyfriend) is surprisingly pissed about it. Raylan is as well, and he takes a page out of Arlo Givens' Book of Teaching No-Account Kids a Lesson and leaves her in there.
On his way out, he runs into Amy Smart, who's playing a woman named Allison and just so happens to be Loretta's social worker. After a bit of flirting that you'd expect from two people who look as they do, Raylan tails Loretta's lowlife boyfriend -- straight to the two African-American guys, who seem to be about to make the kid's life somewhat less pleasant. Raylan's presence, however, curtails any violence… for now. So the only thing that happens is that he tells the kid "Derrick" to break up with Loretta. However, Loretta soon turns up to Raylan's office to tell him Derrick's missing and Raylan firmly instructs her to tell him what she knows.
Ava, whose trial begins in ten days, is not super-jazzed to hear about Boyd having ostensibly killed the man they needed to recant his testimony. Boyd assures her he's got things under control, but even Jimmy knows that's not true. As it happens, Lee is in a coma, and Mara initially proves even truer to him than she seemed by telling Mooney that it was Boyd who attacked him. However, Mooney gets slimy and a little handsy with her, and whether that's a contributing factor, when Mooney brings her to ID Boyd so he can arrest him, she calmly tells him Boyd's not actually the guy. Later, a beguiled Boyd arranges to meet her privately, and she tells him that even if Lee survives and wakes up, he'll never be the same. She wants to go back to Latvia and needs that three hundred grand he offered Lee to do it -- and if Boyd doesn't come up with it, neither he nor Ava will like the consequences. But Mara's under more pressure than it seems, as Mooney menaces her with death and other horrible things if she won't tell the truth about Boyd. At the end, though, Lee opens his eyes and breathes his wife's name, so we'll see how he feels about Mooney going forward.
Essentially, Loretta and Derrick were the ones that shorted the two dealers, who are now making Derrick dig the stuff up from where he buried it. Unfortunately, Loretta moved it, but just when the two dealers are going to find a use for the convenient hole in front of them, Raylan shows up and saves Derrick, again. The dealers tell him about the tie to Hot Rod, and Derrick adds that it was Loretta's connection that got them involved, which makes sense given how tight she was with Mags. Raylan calls Hot Rod to Lexington for a meeting, the two dealers cuffed in attendance, and proposes that HR leave the kids alone and never set foot in Kentucky again. He uses his formidable powers of persuasion, but I'm not sure if the agreement will hold. Also, Loretta chooses to get a ride home with Raylan rather than go with Derrick, which is the first sensible thing she's done in a while.
What else? Boyd is expecting delivery from the Canadians in two days; in the meantime, Wynn addresses a group of disgruntled distributors to assure them they'll be getting their product soon, but he flails until Boyd shows up and lays on his down-home assurances thick. Also, Art tells Raylan that Sammy called for him less than twenty-four hours before he turned up dead, and Raylan -- who certainly doesn't let anything on about Augustine -- seems genuinely mystified why. He does wonder, though, if Sammy might have been looking to make a deal. For his part, Art makes a call to a colleague asking about Sammy's whereabouts the night Augustine died, so Raylan's guilty conscience may not be the only loose end from that plan.
Oh, and Darryl Crowe Jr. arrives at Audrey's and makes himself right at home, to Dewey's chagrin. Also, Boyd's shipment gets hit, and when he arrives at the scene, there are corpses, evidence of a shootout -- and no drugs. Lots of suspects in Harlan already, which is just the way I like it.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open in a barn filled with plants that are not only quite fresh-looking, but even legal in certain states and countries. From the way two African-American men therein are whaling on a third, I'm guessing they're not allowed any free samples. The victim tries to tell his attackers that he didn't mean to do anything wrong, but that argument proves unavailing, and the more animated of the other two guys complains that there are "all these damn crackers in this crew, and it's the brother that had to go and screw shit up!" Well, I'm sure the crackers have screwed their share of shit up as well, but that's not likely to help the guy writhing on the floor here.
Speaking of crackers, here's Memphis's Rodney "Hot Rod" Dunham (last seen in Season 3, as I mentioned in the recaplet) and a few members of his crew. The guy who was disappointed on racial-performance grounds tells Hot Rod that the human punching bag claims "they" shorted him. Hot Rod wonders if that's true before inspecting the large diamond stud in the human punching bag's ear, and if you've watched this show as much as I have you're probably waiting for Hot Rod to rip the thing out at any moment. The kid claims he didn't steal from "HR," but he did mess up, so HR replies that he's a mere moron instead of crooked before grandstanding that maybe he was unclear in his instructions. The two guys who were whaling on the kid before ominously agree on "can of corn," but the kid tries to save himself from his fate by explaining that he made the exchange in Lexington as planned, but "they" didn't give him all the dope. HR thinks perhaps weighing it out would have been advisable, but with a smile that's as menacing as any physical violence could be, he replies that the guy's friends will take care of him. Speaking of whom, as HR and crew leave, the two who were rearranging the kid's face agree to a "Seal Team 6" and that that the "tightest shit wins," so even though the human punching bag isn't all that bright, he probably anticipates the forthcoming hail of bullets a moment before it hits him in the chest. I'm not sure that this reflects more wonderfully on their people than did the poor human punching bag's error, but from the pleased looks on the two guys' faces, they're not going to agree with me.
So as guessed, Lee did in fact survive Boyd's attack, and sitting on his hospital bed, Mara tells Mooney that the doctors had to put him in a coma for the swelling to go down, and they're not sure if his brain activity will ever resume. Mooney asks if it was Crowder who attacked Lee -- "skinny guy, about medium height, dark hair, he wears it up all crazy. Smile that nearly blinds you." Oh my, Mooney. Sounds like you're looking forward to frisking him. Mara replies that it was in fact Boyd, and Mooney laughs that she crossed paths with the most dangerous man in Kentucky and lived to tell about it. Mara asks if Mooney's afraid of him, but Mooney says no -- if anything, Boyd's afraid of him! Given that you locked Ava up, Mooney, I go less with "afraid" and more with "hell-bent on revenge," but instead of listening to me Mooney goes for some inappropriate touching as he puts a hand on Mara's neck and assures her she has nothing to worry about "as long as you keep me close." Mara considers that before turning to look at Lee, probably hoping that people in comas do in fact hear everything.
"This is horseshit." That's what a middle-aged guy, his hands cuffed behind him, thinks about Raylan, Tim and Rachel being in his expensive-looking home that's liberally decorated with weapons of American antiquity. Apparently, this guy is under investigation for something and as such, the marshals have repossessed his property, at least temporarily. Raylan checks out an old gun and is told that it's a "third model Colt dragoon, which the guy is sure is worth more than Raylan's annual salary -- then again, the same could be said of his car stereo. In aid of letting us know that the gun does shoot (wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be important at some point), the guy says that he has a "Negro" who keeps it working, prompting Rachel disbelievingly to ask the African-American woman on the couch if "this" doesn't bother her, but the woman -- barely paying attention -- says she makes sure he doesn't keep the loaded guns in the house.
Rachel then lets us know she thinks the woman is the guy's girlfriend, but he (I just placed the actor -- it's Xander Berkeley) says that "Gloria" is actually the maid, and she takes care of his "more personal needs." Whatever that may mean: Ew. The other woman on the couch, a Latina lady named "Manuela" in more maid-y clothes, is the one who keeps the house and also "sautés a mean iguana if you're ever in the mood." Manuela: "It's bery tender." Hee. Tim appears and brightly says there's a bowling alley in the basement, and Rachel sardonically notes that Xander Berkeley got all this "for doing Detroit's dirty laundry." Oh, that's why he's such a lovely example of humankind. All this fun is interrupted by Raylan getting a phone call, and as Rachel leads Xander Berkeley away -- undaunted by his threats that he's going to own every "shit-kicking" one of them -- Raylan chats for a bit, after which he explains to Rachel that a "Lexington PD lieutenant just accused me of being responsible for his kid's dope problem." Rachel: "Are you being funny, cause I can't tell anymore." Hee. What Rachel does not realize, though, is how easy for longtime viewers of the show to see the through line that leads to Loretta. Not a lot of people would claim a connection to Raylan, and fewer still would cause him to drop everything. Raylan thinks his errand won't take more than an hour, but Rachel's like, we came in your car, remember? Raylan mulls that over and tosses the keys at her, only to pick some others up from to him.
Cut to Xander Berkeley being led to the car; he pauses when he sees Raylan driving his shiny black Mercedes. Referring to the car stereo, Raylan grins, "You were right -- this sounds fantastic!" Ha! He peels out, and after some impotent flailing from Xander Berkeley we go to the opening credits.
In prison, Ava is sounding panicked as she digests the news of what Boyd did to Lee. (Of course she, like Boyd, is still under the misapprehension that Lee is dead.) Ava reminds him that they needed Lee to recant his testimony against her, and with the trial ten days away, "you want to rely on this asshole to get me off?" A different camera angle shows the stupid Wildman lawyer obliviously listening to music turned up to eleven again, and I wonder what would happen if a guard took notice of this but that doesn't change the fact that it's still hilarious. Boyd asks Ava to remember that he's doing everything he can for her, and she takes a deep breath and apologizes before telling him the "long, humiliating days" are getting to her. Boyd says he knows what she's going through from personal experience, and Ava urgently tells him that he's the only person in the world looking out for her, which now that she says it seems kind of hard to believe if true. Boyd tells her not to lose faith, but even though she kisses him, she doesn't look completely at ease.
And such unease proves to be well warranted, as back in the bar, Boyd confesses to Jimmy that he assured Ava he has her situation under control. Jimmy points out that he does not, though, to which Boyd bites out, "You get paid to tell me things I already know?" Well, if it was in the script, I'd have to say yes. Boyd asks about the Canadians, and speaking of Jimmy's duties, even if he's earned Boyd's loyalties I'm surprised he'd be trusted with communicating directly with that outfit (especially since Wynn could have done it in Boyd's stead), but he tells Boyd that they're still on track for delivery in two days. Perhaps proving my point, Boyd snaps that for the nine hundred thousand dollars they paid, he'd like a little more than an ETA, but before they can bitch about foreign trade any further, a rather smug Mooney enters the place with a deputy in tow.
Boyd steps forward with some predictably antagonistic words, but Mooney gestures to his man, whereupon another deputy walks Mara in. Boyd gives nothing away as he asks if Mara's supposed to mean something to him, but Mooney's unimpressed as he tells Boyd that Mara was a witness to him trying to kill her husband. Impressively, Boyd's answer of "Excuse me?" doesn't betray any reaction to the hidden news that Lee is still alive, but a bigger surprise comes on its heels, as Mara tells Mooney that Boyd was not the guy who attacked Lee. It takes Mooney a good several seconds even to regain his faculty of speech, after which he spits and flails about language barriers and whatever, but even though he practically frogmarches Mara forward, after fixing Boyd with an inscrutably cool look, she sticks to her contention that it wasn't he. Boyd takes a moment to calculate what this shift might mean before pointedly telling Mara he's sorry about her husband, whereupon an irate Mooney escorts her out. Well, that could have gone a lot worse, particularly since it would have been hard for him to help Ava from the inside of his own jail cell.
As they enter the Lexington PD building and pass a boy sporting a classic teenage mixture of boredom and defiance, Raylan is hearing from the guy who called him earlier how his wife busted their son using a vaporizer in their basement. Raylan asks if said son is the kid they just passed, but the guy tells him that's "the boyfriend." Raylan tells the guy he didn't know "she" had one, and he's not sure what she told him, but they're not that close. The cop retorts that she said Raylan is practically her stepfather, and I hate to give Raylan a hard time, but after last episode it's hard not to point out that for him being a father (figure) is hardly a guarantee of a close relationship. The cop, however, does go on that he was about to "rain legal shit" down on her until she mentioned Raylan. "You are here as a courtesy. If you don't go in there and set her straight, I will. And neither you nor her will want that." Perhaps as an answering courtesy, Raylan does not list the 5,798 people from whom he's survived scarier threats; instead, he stands in front of Loretta's jail cell and recalls his first time in lockup -- he and a buddy "Mike Graves" (I wouldn't bother mentioning the name, but you never know out of what woodwork he might crawl someday) got busted for playing mailbox baseball.
Loretta replies that it isn't her first time in a cell, but Raylan pays her no mind as he continues that Mike's dad had him out within the hour, but Raylan spent the night. Loretta scoffs that his dad sounds like a real asshole, which I guess shows that she hasn't kept up too hard with Raylan -- not that she's wrong except for her use of tense. Raylan says he's not surprised, given her history, that she's been selling weed, but selling it to a cop's kid? Loretta stands up and dismissively says that she can't ruin a future someone doesn't have, but Raylan is unimpressed with her bravado as he goes on that on top of that, she's throwing his name around in association with her misdeeds. Loretta drops the attitude and apologizes for screwing up and bringing him into her situation, "but if you get me out of here I swear I won't ask for your help again." Raylan: "time, lead with that. It's bullshit, but at least it's an attempt." First off, hee, and second, Raylan puts his money where his mouth is by leaving her in there to ride the rap. Awesome.
When Raylan emerges in the lobby, the punk kid calls to him, but Raylan is too preoccupied with his phone and/or doesn't feel like acknowledging him, so the kid finally calls, "Hey pig, I'm talkin' to you." Raylan, unperturbed, tells him that "pig" is slang for a police officer, which he is not… and by the way Loretta isn't coming. He heads out, so the kid follows and once Raylan has gotten his name as "Derrick Waters," he tells him he's welcome to share Loretta's cell if he doesn't get out of his face. Derrick calls him "a total dick," which I'm pretty sure is exactly what he was going for, especially since said dickishness leads to the desired result of Derrick stomping off. Coming the other way is Amy Smart, who without preamble says that she sees Raylan has met the boyfriend before babbling about what a "shit-stain" Derrick is and what a forgetful ditz she can be, and Raylan's face is like, among the things you forgot is an introduction?
As it happens, Amy Smart is "Allison," Loretta's social worker, and Raylan's like oh, you're quite an improvement over the old whale she used to have. (He actually refers to her predecessor as "kind of heavyset," but that drawl always makes his meaning clear.) Allison asks where Loretta is, and when Raylan's like, she's where I left her, Allison laughs that lawmen are all alike. "You think just leavin' her in there all alone will scare her straight, but what it really does, it makes her feel like no one gives a shit about her." Raylan's like, food for thought, but right now I have to chase after Derrick and get him to dump Loretta, so how about I call you after and we'll debrief? Okay, he doesn't use that word, but again: Drawl. He asks if she has a card, but she smiles: "I thought finding people is what marshals do." Raylan smiles, not just at the sassiness but also at the hidden "yes."
So here's a fairly inconsequential scene between Wade and Carl; not much of this is explicitly stated, but it seems like when Boyd sold Audrey's to Dewey he surreptitiously made a deal with Wade to get a cut of the take? Wade points out that Dewey's currently in the office, so even as dumb as he is getting money past him will be a hard thing to pull off, but Carl seethes about not being able to wait around for Wade to grow a pair -- at which point Dewey emerges and asks what's going on, having heard the last bit. Wade's cover story is that Carl's upset because he let Dewey fire "Chrissie" and Carl agrees, after which Dewey's like wait, the fat chick? Carl grits his teeth as he's basically like, more of her to love, and Wade pipes up that actually a lot of customers like something extra for their money before speculating that Chrissie probably makes up for her girth by excelling "in other ways." Dewey looks so immediately intrigued I wouldn't be surprised if he gives Chrissie a spin himself. As Carl continues to clench, Dewey sighs that he supposes he has to give the customers what they want: "Hire that big bitch back!" When he's gone, Wade apologetically says it was all he could think of, but Carl just seethes for Wade to call him when he's got the money. Okay Carl, but you might want to make a date with Chrissie just to make it all look good.
Heading up to Derrick's door, Raylan notes a truck with Tennessee plates on it in the driveway, so that's a little hint before we cut inside, where Mr. Racial Performance is menacing Derrick with a baseball bat for lying while his taciturn friend sits with an arm around Derrick's neck. Raylan conversationally asks a few questions, and when he gets no response, he finally asks if they speak English. Mr. Racial Performance: "A little." Hee. Raylan then displays his badge and gun, at which point the taciturn guy releases his hold on Derrick and Mr. Racial Performance goes on about how he and his friend considered being lawmen, but they were ultimately put off by the fact that if someone like Raylan shoots someone, he has to have a reason. It's an oblique way to quote the show's name, but I'll give it to him.
Mr. Racial Performance wonders if Raylan is there because Derrick did something like sleep with his daughter, and when Raylan replies that his daughter's in diapers, Mr. Racial Performance is like, "That must be awfully upsetting, then!" He cracks himself up, but Raylan stays stony-faced, whereupon the two guys leave. Derrick thanks Raylan with a "Nice job, asshole," but Raylan doesn't even blink; he does, however, tell Derrick he'll be breaking up with Loretta now, and he should make her think she's too good for him and he'd just be holding her back. Derrick kills me dead with his genuinely confused delivery of "We talkin' about the same Loretta here?" but Raylan doesn't even pause on his way out the door. His loss, I guess. What's not his loss is that he's managed to track down Allison's number, and he calls and asks if she'd like to get together and discuss his little encounter with Derrick. She can't be such a ditz that the answer's anything but "YES," can she?
In the hospital, Mara is puffing on an electronic cigarette when a man accosts her and tells her she needs to take it to the stairwell at the end of the hallway. She looks a little suspicious but complies, and when she gets up, the camera moves to reveal Jimmy, so when she enters the stairwell, she maybe shouldn't be so surprised to hear Boyd's mellifluous voice saying he thinks they need to talk, and doesn't she? She gives him an appraising look as she seems now to retroactively place Jimmy from the bar, and he sits on the stairs as he says he's fairly up on human behavior, but she's quite the enigma and would she care to fill him in on events after he left? She replies that once she realized Lee was alive, she had to try to save him, and Boyd can follow along with that but doesn't get why she didn't give him up, so she admits that with Lee never again going to be the man she married, she needs some help, and she decided the best person to supply it would be Boyd. Boyd is all ears, so Mara goes on that she thought America would be great, but she ended up in a backwater burg married to an old fart and working with stiffs, so she really thinks the other half isn't all it was cracked up to be and she'd like to go home now. He realizes she wants the money he promised to Lee, and she reveals she heard the original sum (I'm assuming, otherwise it's a pretty great guess) by telling him she'll be gone for the price of three hundred grand. Boyd suggests he instead finish Lee off, but she tells him she signed a paper precluding any inheritance on her part until after she and Lee pass the ten-year mark in their marriage. Boyd tells Mara he can't produce that kind of money at the moment, but she replies that he's a resourceful man, and while I'm always skeptical of the wisdom of reminding known killers of their ability to solve problems in creative ways, I suppose she is fairly desperate. She leaves him with her Mona Lisa smile, but there's no answering softness on his face.
Wynn and Mike are sitting at the bar, and Wynn is looking nervous and irritated that a certain someone hasn't yet shown up, but he bites the bullet and addresses the small crowd of rowdy-looking toughs, saying that he knows the "valued distributors" were expecting Boyd and have some concerns "regarding the inconsistent nature of our product's delivery," but he assures them that the new shipment will arrive soon. That, however, is not good enough for one of them, a young-ish dude with pulled-back hair who tells Wynn he needs more product, and Wynn is not trying to hear that, but he's definitely losing the room as the dealer (we'll imminently learn his name is "Cyrus") makes fun of Wynn's "cute little suit" (it is cute!) and says he's not shooting straight, so it's a good thing Boyd and Jimmy turn up. Boyd immediately goes into glad-handing/grandstanding mode, saying that Cyrus's questions are worthy of the White House press corps before A) using a tenuous comparison to cell-phone technology to "explain" their situation, B) assuring the crowd the product will arrive in two days, and C) wrapping it up by giving everyone free drinks. Well Wynn, you may be the boss (and Boyd does whisper a sincere apology for his tardiness), but Boyd certainly does some things better than you. Partnership!
Raylan comes into Art's office and asks if he's interrupting anything, and Vasquez's like no no no, sure aren't! Hmm, I wonder if they were just discussing the phone call we'll hear about in a moment. Raylan reports on the events at Xander Berkeley's house, and when he hears about Raylan having repossessed his car, Vasquez laughs that if he really wants to piss him off, he should just move in. He's not joking, though, as they've done this before -- station someone in a high-end property "and see if anything pops up" -- and Art asks, "Am I liable for any damages that he causes if I say yes?" Vasquez: "No!" Art: "Then yes!" Hee. When Vasquez is gone, though, Raylan asks if everything's all right, and Art's slightly pinched "Yeah!" is a no in my book; he elaborates by telling Raylan that Sammy Tonin called and asked for Raylan while he was in Florida -- this was less than a day before he turned up with a hole in his head -- and does Raylan have any idea what he might have wanted?
Raylan, probably baffled himself on that point, wonders if Sammy might have seen his demise coming and been fishing for a deal, and Art thinks it's possible but doesn't really fit with him calling Raylan specifically. I love Art's interrogation technique with him acting like this is an intellectual exercise of getting in Sammy's head rather than a straight-up accusation of Raylan doing something Raylan-y, but Raylan pulls that face-to-face he and Sammy had at the stables back in Season 3 out of his ass and says he told Sammy to call him if he was ever looking to make a deal. Honestly, I don't remember if that's actually true, or even if it is whether Raylan said it in good faith, but there's no way to disprove it at the moment. Besides, Loretta has just walked into the station, so Raylan goes to put out a different fire. Loretta, looking rather upset, asks Raylan what the hell he did, and Raylan thinks Derrick dumped her, but Loretta's like, as if I'd waste even one tear over that -- he didn't break up with me because he's missing. Raylan, in his best "listen, missy" voice, tells Loretta that total honesty from her about what they're mixed up in is the only thing that can save Derrick. Surprisingly, it looks like Loretta actually cares!
And that's good for Derrick, because right now his friends from yesterday are forcing him to dig a large hole. Since we won't hear Loretta's explanation to Raylan, here's a little plot catch-up: "Derrick and" Loretta shorted the late drug dealer who didn't believe in scales and buried the money on this spot. Unfortunately for the bloody-nosed Derrick, it seems Loretta subsequently moved it on the sly, so he's left with a hole quite large enough to hold a person, should such an eventuality be desired. Mr. Racial Performance takes the time to rub in the fact that Loretta didn't trust Derrick before informing him that, just FYI, Derrick was going to die no matter whether the cash was there or not -- but at that moment, Raylan appears with the shovel Mr. Racial Performance just tossed aside and clobbers the taciturn guy in the jaw with it before getting the drop on Mr. Racial Performance. Derrick crawls out of the hole while Mr. Racial Performance tells Raylan arresting them won't do any good because Hot Rod will keep going after the kids. Raylan's like, Hot Rod Dunham before turning to Derrick and asking how he got mixed up with him? Derrick: "Guess." The kid may be a scumbag, but I sure like his line deliveries.
Oh, here's Mara in her BMW being pulled over by Mooney, and her little smile is nowhere to be seen as Mooney tosses her out of her car and menacingly says that embarrassing him was bad enough, but now he hears from his deputies that Boyd came to visit her in the hospital? Well, his network is earning their pay, at least. Mara tries to deny it, but Mooney shoves his gun up to her face and tells her that people around these parts see her as "a sexy woman that cashed in her self-respect for a rich husband." He casually feels her chest as he adds that basically, people see a whore, "and when I arrest you for tryin' to kill your husband, there ain't a jury in the great state-a Kentucky that won't convict your ass." Despite the fact that I'm not sure she could physically have inflicted Lee's injuries, it's a solid threat, and I have to say despite his checkered past I think Harlan was a lot better off with Shelby as a sheriff. Mooney tells Mara to reconsider her story carefully before withdrawing with an admonition to "drive safe now, honey," so as usual the crosscurrent of enemy agendas is getting more and more deliciously tangled.
In a parking lot somewhere, Raylan is waiting with the kids and Derrick's two attackers, the latter two handcuffed to each other. When Mr. Racial Performance essentially tells Raylan it'll be tough for him to keep the date he made with Allison while riding in the car on account of the fact that he'll be dead, Raylan replies, "My general rule is you keep talkin', I put you in the trunk." I would think making plans in front of criminals who want you dead is a no-no for reasons of the other party's safety if nothing else, but still: Ha! Mr. Racial Performance has a good reply when he snits that Raylan is "a lousy conversationalist," but there's no more time for repartee as a town car pulls up and disgorges HR and minions.
Raylan, with an ingratiating smile, supposes they're armed, so HR -- grinning even wider -- replies that when he gets a call from a Givens this late at night, he gets nervous. Raylan's like oh, great, another dude who knew Arlo back in the day before starting his pitch: HR is going to forgive the kids for their transgression against him. HR: "Would you prefer that I respond point by point or should I wait 'til the end?" I like a man who's into defining procedure. Raylan tells him he can wait, thank you, before going on to say that no one in HR's organization is ever to set foot in Kentucky again, and they're also to leave him and his alone. HR at least argues the point rather than just laugh, pointing out that the kids pulled "a slick one" on him and asking why he should let that slide.
Raylan, however, has no sympathy for someone who's surprised when a drug deal with teenagers goes wrong: "You the type of fella that walks under a flock of birds and is surprised when he ends up with shit on his face?" It's a good line, Raylan, but I think HR's the kind of man that might plug a few of the birds in response. HR, however, minces words even less than that as he says that just because he knew Arlo doesn't mean he won't have Raylan killed right now -- in a parley ground, HR? -- and we get a hilarious cut to Derrick's two attackers kind of stamping their feet in anticipation before HR goes on that Arlo knew when to walk away and wonders if Raylan learned nothing from him. Raylan, however, replies that in fact he did learn a few things: Arlo was involved in scamming a mining concern back when Raylan was a teenager, and when a couple company men got wind of it, they went after Arlo and his crew with one result being that Raylan's house got shot up and an innocent man, "Casper Johns," who was living with them at the time was killed. Raylan's point: "Even before I went to Glencoe and trained to be a dead shot, I seen people kill one another and I learned to be ready in case they came after me to do me harm. In other words, I'll kill four a-ya before you even clear your weapons and I'll take my chances with the other two and you see this star" -- he holds up his badge -- "that's gonna make it legal." It'd kind of break the fourth wall, but I'd still like to see a PA run in with a mic so Raylan could drop it. Raylan asks if they have an understanding, and we don't hear the reply but given that HR doesn't strike me as someone who's often at a loss for words, I'll say that it's a "yes" at least for this night.
Derrick and Loretta are sitting in the back of Raylan's car looking like teenagers in trouble with their dad, which is not super-far off, but Raylan once again shows his disciplinarian bent when he pulls over at a bus stop and tells Derrick to get out. Derrick can't believe it and looks to Loretta for help, but none is forthcoming, and then Raylan reminds Derrick he's got a loaded gun. Heh. Derrick gets out (bye, actor Riley Bodenstab; I think you've got a bright future) and calls for Loretta, but she hesitates and when her eyes go to Raylan, he tells her it's her call. She thinks about it for another few seconds, and then we cut to Raylan driving, looking a little tired for the first time. The camera then pans around and we see Loretta sleeping in the passenger seat, and I kind of wanted to hear Derrick's parting words but I'm sure I'll live.
In the morning, Raylan pulls up at Loretta's foster (I think?) home, and she's about to peace out with no discussion, but Raylan calls her on having moved the money on Derrick. She reluctantly admits it with an "I'm not a total moron," and Raylan then realizes she pulled crocodile tears at the Marshals' Office so he'd take care of her problem for her. "You played me." Loretta doesn't dispute the facts, but still denies having played him: "You are who you are. You were gonna go lookin' for Derrick the moment I told you he was missing." There's a compliment in there, but Raylan still stops Loretta from getting out of the car to ask if in future she'd please "take it easy on the rest of us." Heh.
Oh, here's Cyrus on the street with a bunch of meth-heads, one of whom he shoots with a BB gun for some reason, and after their little drug deal is done that blonde girl Teri from Audrey's -- you remember, she's the one Colton beat up last season and then lied about it -- comes walking up. When Cyrus tells "Candy" (don't know if that's a nickname or what she's going by now) he's out, she turns to go, but he calls her back and says there's a shipment coming in, and he'll give her the details and "a free taste" if she'll stick around for a bit. He then asks if he's got what she likes, and she pulls out a bag of Pop Rocks from her shirt: "It'll be just like your dick's in a popcorn machine!" I'd think that was banned by the Geneva Convention, but I guess it's not torture if the victim wants it. Cyrus tells her the stuff is coming in that night and will be on the street first thing in the morning, and Teri is so happy to hear it she's definitely going to see to Cyrus' needs.
Also about to be serviced is Dewey, by two Audrey's denizens at the same time no less, but Wade interrupts with a knock and the news that he needs Dewey, now. Inside, Wade is explaining that he told "him" he couldn't take stuff for free, "but he said he's your kin!" And with that, Dewey gets his first look at Darryl Crowe Jr. in a long time, and a big embrace ensues that's all big smiles on one side and terrified stares on the other. Guess which belong to who?
Art gets a call from an "Ed," a middle-aged African-American lawman I can't recall if we've seen before. I think he's a marshal as well, though, probably in the Detroit area, and Art asks if he has any extra information about Sammy Tonin's whereabouts the night Augustine was killed. So whether that's what he was discussing with Vasquez earlier or not, it seems likely Art has his finger on Raylan's involvement there, and Ed promises to poke around and see what he can find. Oblivious to the danger, though, Raylan has invited Allison over to Xander Berkeley's house to enjoy some red wine that's supposed to be choice but from the color looks like it aspires to Riunite. Allison, whose accent I have to say is in and out, asks about Loretta and Raylan borrows her turn of phrase: "She's the daughter of a murdered pot farmer. She is who she is; ain't gonna change."
Allison thanks him for "not feeding [her] bullshit to get laid," and some requisite flirting ensues; Allison then tells a long story about a job she had selling wares at military trade shows, the point of which is that she's known a few boys in the service. Raylan thinks that turned her off, but she's like, haaaail no -- they were ripped and polite, and it's just since she got her new job and started dating cops that she got turned off. Heh. Allison then brings up Raylan's daughter and wonders if he shouldn't be trying to make things work with Winona, and Raylan's counters that they did. "That's how we ended up with the kid." Hee. Allison's like and you're wondering why I might be hesitant, and Raylan hilariously admits that there are "some red flags" when it comes to his history, but he can change, and what does she think about bowling? Good idea, Raylan -- get her in the basement and see what happens!
Oh hey, guess who comes out of his coma and breathes his wife's name? Lee, who's going to have good reason to wreak revenge on both Boyd and Mooney. I mean, after all requisite physical therapy, of course.
Boyd has more immediate problems, though, as we see a smoking car in the distance, and then he, Carl, and Jimmy arrive to find three bullet-ridden cars, a bunch of corpses, and no drugs. Carl duhs that "they" hit our shipment, but the "they" is the question, isn't it? The prime suspect seems like Cyrus, but as usual in this town it could literally be almost anyone. Boyd does take a meaningful look at a red sedan, and I can't read the license plate but the design looks suspiciously like it might be from Tennessee. More intrigue! Boyd tells his crew to clean up the cars, bodies, everything -- and we're out. This show, man. Still so good!
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. His new film, a documentary on online privacy and the exploitation of personal data called Terms And Conditions May Apply, a New York Times Critics' Pick, is now on iTunes here. You can get news on it from the film's Twitter accountor website, or check out trackoff.us to learn how to protect your privacy. Also, you can email John at couchbaron@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/couchbaron, or check out his blog, "Pull Up A Chair," which he'd just love for you to stop by.