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Raylan's on grunt detail at the office, coming in super-early and handling irritating walk-ins with his legendary people skills -- a duty Art didn't even tell him in person he was getting, so annoyed with Raylan he apparently still is. One such person walks in babbling about online backgammon winnings the Marshal Service confiscated, but he gets Raylan's attention when he says that Charles Monroe was the owner of the website in question. Raylan realizes the Marshal Service never got the money; the site administrator put up that fake notice and absconded with the cash. Raylan goes after the admin, but the backgammon guy, whose winnings apparently totaled a quarter-mil, gets to him first and brings some muscle. I believe the technical term for what happens is that it "goes bad," as the henchman (played by that gross car dealer who, um, "bought" Joan on Mad Men), unhappy with his cut of the take, kills Backgammon Dude right there and tells the admin to get him his money. However, Raylan shows up before the admin can negotiate the asset into cash, so the henchman kidnaps his girlfriend and tells him he's got eight hours to pay him. The admin, whose name is Fleming, and his prosthetic leg manage to escape Raylan with a bunch of cash (he LIED), and soon he's canceling Raylan's credit cards and draining his bank accounts and showing him the dark side of pissing off a hacker. Fleming, via his hack-fu, gets the marshals to rescue his girlfriend -- who then turns around and gives him up, because he is pretty much a total dick.
Despite her brother's face having been turned to hamburger, it doesn't seem like Gretchen is treating Ava much better, so Penny tries to get Ava to join a churchy group of prisoners, which is a lot more attractive given that Dale Dickey is their leader. Dale Dickey is a true believer, but as she tells Ava, her group also is the prison's drug supplier, which is why people leave them alone and they're in a position to protect her. Ava's happy to join in -- until she learns that part of the deal is giving up sexual favors to a CO. Thinking quickly, she surreptitiously sabotages the operation and then offers to get Dale Dickey a new supply of heroin, and Dale Dickey goes along with it but is pretty sure that Ava did exactly what she did, so let's just say she's on heavy probation.
The Crowes accompany Boyd and his crew to try to take Johnny out, but when they arrive in Tennessee, he's already gone. In Mexico, Johnny arranges a face-to-face with Yoon -- who sees fit to have him waiting at a large villa in the middle of nowhere when Boyd shows up. After telling Boyd that Johnny's promised him way more money for the same merchandise, he keeps them on ice while the compensation Johnny promised gets delivered -- and when it does in fact come through, Yoon's people release Boyd into Johnny's custody with the proviso that he not be killed until they cross the border. When they meet up with Hot Rod's crew, still on the Mexican side, Johnny thinks he's won… only to quickly learn that Yoon double-crossed him when the Crowes, Carl and Jimmy appear and capture Hot Rod's traitorous men. Everything seems to be coming up Boyd, and he's going to save Johnny for later, but Danny and Darryl have an unknown plan of their own that consists of them pretending Hot Rod's men pulled on them and blowing them away. In frustration, Boyd kills Johnny right there, but knowing they now have no chance of getting the drugs and bodies out of Mexico, he makes a phone call: "Tell Mr. Yoon we have a problem." I could be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure Yoon said he wasn't a huge fan of problems?
Wendy gets Allison suspended for two weeks by tattling to her boss about, among other things, her relationship with Raylan; she also kills Raylan's attempt to rescind Darryl's parole. Meanwhile, Kendal tries to tell Wendy about Jean-Baptiste and when that doesn't happen, he calls an "Uncle Jack" and pointedly asks where he's living. Raylan then gets drunk with Wendy and asks her to help him get Darryl, and when he drops the news about Darryl having killed Dilly that looks like information Wendy didn't have prior.
Finally, Raylan finally can't take the silent treatment Art is giving him and marches into his office to demand a transfer to anywhere if Art won't go back to treating him like a normal person; he says he's going to take some time off to go see his kid, and when he returns Art better give him one or the other. I'm hoping the gambit works for Rachel and Tim's sake if nothing else.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Darryl and Danny are weaponing up when Kendal comes in and asks where they're going; they decline to enlighten him but tell him to look after the place while they're gone. Darryl then notices that Kendal's been off for the last few days (so as usual this season is taking place in a very short time frame) and asks if anything's up, but he says no, and after Darryl walks out of the room, Danny winks at him. You may be surprised, but that doesn't seem to make Kendal feel any better.
In prison, Ava and her new hair are waiting by the visiting room, with Gretchen nearby looking evil, when Penny happens by and points out that there's only five minutes before visitation is over. Ava sighs that she's aware, and Penny bitterly says she knows her man isn't coming -- in the beginning they visit all the time, but then stuff inevitably starts to come up. "That's why you ought to rely on the Heavenly Mother." Ava tells Penny she's not interested in religion, but Penny retorts, "You interested in stayin' alive?" Another look Gretchen's way suggests this pitch from Penny is going to be a bit more effective. And I guess this means Gretchen's hatred of Ava is too strong to be affected by any threats to her brother. Good to have principles!
Team Crowe-der turns up in Memphis, but Johnny's already flown the nest for Mexico, so Jimmy and Carl confer with Boyd, who tells them he's going down himself to bring back his twenty-five kilos of heroin. Jimmy asks what they're going to do about the Crowes, then, and as Boyd regards his new allies looking mighty dangerous as always, his mental wheels spin us into the opening credits.
At the office, Raylan's just grabbed some coffee as Dunlop offers to get him something from the cafeteria, but Raylan declines. A thirtysomething potbellied dude then pops in and somewhat fussily asks who he should talk to about his money, and Dunlop supposes he's talking about a reward and tells him Raylan handles walk-ins, to which Raylan's like, say what now? Dunlop gets stuck with the unfortunate duty of having to inform Raylan that the reason Art's been having him come in so early is to handle such walk-ins and Dunlop thought he knew, which he's now seeing from Raylan's typically incredulous squint that he did not. However, Raylan takes it like a man (and doesn't take it out on Dunlop, which is nice) and invites "Larry Salmeron" to have a seat. Salmeron's beef is that he had online backgammon winnings (don't believe that's actually legal in the U.S. anymore, but I could be wrong) of nearly a quarter of a million bucks. When Raylan doesn't fall at his feet in awe, Salmeron asks if he's heard of "Falafel," and Raylan replies that he never much cared for it. "Always found it kinda like a cut-rate hush puppy." Disagree, but still: Hee.
Salmeron gets shirty as he informs Raylan that he's talking about Mr. Falafel, the backgammon star -- whom he believes he rivals in online winnings, "winnings which you and your colleagues took when you shut down my website of choice." Raylan's like, still bored until Salmeron brings up Charles Monroe, who just so happened to own the website in question. Raylan pulls it up as Salmeron goes on that Monroe had a local IT genius administrating it before asking for his money, but Raylan turns his screen toward Salmeron and shows him how the site claims to have been seized by the "U.S. Marshall Service," and I have to admit I was ready to make a crack about whatever PA let that slip through until I realized it was a plot point. You really never disappoint me, show. Raylan adds that he's pretty sure that if the Marshal Service had seized the site they'd have spelled their own name right, and he muses that impersonating a Federal agency is a crime -- but Salmeron's heard enough and walks right out the door. Raylan halfheartedly is like, rude, but I can't blame him for not having any more energy than that. The coffee hasn't even kicked in!
Sometime later, Rachel asks if Raylan just let Salmeron walk out even though his money actually does rightly belong to the agency, but Raylan counters that maybe he wasn't on his game given that he just found out "I was covering walk-ins in the middle of a walk-in." Rachel asks Tim if he didn't tell Raylan he was on walk-ins, and Tim replies, "Raylan, you're on walk-ins." Hee. What do I have to do to get more Tim around here? Rachel adds that the order came from Art, prompting Raylan to take a look in his direction that most definitely isn't reciprocated. Tim has a redheaded IT guy of their own checking into the situation as he says that the admin "T.C. Fleming," who apparently can't spell, must have cleaned out the cash and put up the fake notice from the Marshal Service, and Raylan says he'll go chase down Salmeron, but Rachel nixes that -- since Raylan already rubbed him the wrong way by, you know, interacting with him, he can track down the admin instead. Raylan makes a sarcastic comment about what might happen if another walk-in enters without him there, but Rachel points out that they could hardly do worse, which true and ha. Raylan leaves in huff, after which Tim asks if that means it's him and "the backgammon dude," and at her Look, he adds, "I'm just sayin' I'm more of a cribbage guy, is all." Hee.
So here's the admin/hacker, played somewhat jarringly by the same actor (T.J. Linnard) who's currently a high-ish-priced prostitute on Looking, doing some programming while also playing a shoot-em-up game against his blonde girlfriend, and when she complains that he's not paying attention, he replies that he doesn't need to because he's playing a girl. Nice attitude, but in my experience with this type, authentic. She only gets more annoyed when he proves himself right by kicking her ass, but their little (somewhat physical; save that for later) spat is interrupted by a knock at the door – he's expecting a new client with an emergency for which he's going to pay top dollar. "Candace" gets the door for, as I said in the recaplet, that guy who played the unbelievably gross Jaguar dealer on Mad Men whose dick made Joan's partnership possible, called "Kemp" here -- and Salmeron. Kemp asks who does what around there, to which Fleming condescendingly says that he does the programming and Candace "makes the sandwiches," which again is lovely. He must be a treat on Valentine's Day.
Salmeron gets down to it, asking Fleming if he ran the backgammon website, and knowing they must be there to collect, Fleming goes for a taser he's got stuck to the underside of his desk, but Kemp is too quick and easily disarms him. Salmeron tells Fleming he took his money, and when Fleming claims it was the Feds, Salmeron informs him that Kemp specializes in getting people to pay their debts. "I learned that the hard way three years ago." Played Falafel one too many times? Fleming still denies his involvement, so Kemp genially draws a very large gun, grabs Candace's left arm with his other hand and holds the weapon right up to it: "This will probably take that arm clean off!" Come on, Fleming, the real thing isn't going to be nearly as fun to watch as a video game. Anyway, she understandably blabs that he took the money and he's annoyed, like was he really going to test Kemp's resolve here? Just when I thought his boyfriend stock couldn't go any lower. Fleming tells them the money is all code right now -- "it ain't like I just got it layin' around here" -- but Salmeron informs him that he's been recording the whole conversation on his phone, so he's going to call the police, who will get him his money "while you get anally raped in prison." He doesn't seem to grasp the part where the marshals actually will seize the money if they get the opportunity, but that proves to be irrelevant when Kemp is like whoa, two hundred and fifty thousand clams and you're only giving me five? Salmeron condescendingly replies that a deal's a deal, and he's also got him threatening Candace on the recording, but as good a backgammon player as he may or may not be, he proves unaware of all the variables in this particular game as Kemp quickly points his gun and shoots him right through the head. The nerds are horrified, but Kemp once again puts on a bright smile: "Quarter mil, huh?" Hee.
In the yard, the churchy group whose existence Penny implied is meeting, and as I mentioned their leader is played by Dale Dickey, who (a) is always amazing and (b) I can't believe hasn't been on this show yet. Drugs, white trash, trouble with the law? Those elements are in her wheelhouse JUST A BIT. As her disciples stand around holding hands in a semicircle, Penny among them, "Judith" (we'll officially get her name later) pours on the preaching and the accent thick as Ava watches; later, with Ava sitting alone at a large table, Judith and Penny join her as the former asks if she has any cigarettes. Ava wishes she did so she herself could have a smoke before introducing herself, but Judith already knows who she is -- Penny's been "tryin' to witness" for her since she arrived, but Ava wasn't interested. Ava admits she never had much use for religion, but now she sees there might be some sense in it? Judith, however, didn't just fall off the prison laundry truck and understands that Ava needs protection and Ava admits it, which scores her a point with Judith. She drops her voice as she tells Ava she sincerely believes what she preaches, but the information she thinks Ava will find relevant is why her group doesn't get harassed -- and it's because they're the ones who bring in the drugs, even though none of them use the stuff themselves. Well, it's hardly the worst thing I've ever heard religious groups do. Penny asks if Ava's up for it, and Ava sensibly asks what she'd have to do, but Judith tells her there's a shipment coming in that day, and Penny will show her. I'm usually a fan of showing instead of telling, but in this case, Ava, you might want to ask for an exception. Ava supposes that the job is dangerous, but Judith -- putting out her cigarette on her palm (like any of us wanted to mess with her regardless) -- easily says it's got its downsides, but isn't it better than the alternative? She then goes to find another smoke, because there are still spots on her hands that aren't scorched.
From Mexico, Johnny checks in with Jay, who reports that Hot Rod is telling him they already cleaned out his bank accounts. Johnny is skeptical, but he thinks they'll have time to make him talk once he gets back, and he then gets off when a car pulls up, containing Ruiz and his underlings. Ruiz asks where "Mr. Crowder" is, so Johnny tells him he is Mr. Crowder, just a different one. Ruiz asks if Boyd sent him, but he tells him that actually, he's there to outbid him and he'd like to discuss the matter with Yoon. Ruiz asks if he has the cash on him, but Johnny tells him Yoon first, then dough. Ruiz agrees (in retrospect this seems a little easy, no?) and has Johnny get in, but Ruiz stipulates (a) no henchmen and (b) Johnny has to wear a bag over his head. God, it's not summer, is it? That's gotta be stuffy.
Wendy's coming out of an office at CPS when she runs into Allison, whom she asks, "What kind of moves work best on Raylan?" The female kind, unfortunately. Allison takes a while to figure out that she's being serious but is happy to tell her that she's wasted her time coming all the way up there "just to give me shit." Unfortunately, this allows Wendy to smirk brightly that actually, she came up there to talk to Allison's boss, and I'm kind of surprised Wendy bothered to give her shit since the boss is so clearly going to do it for her as well.
Ruiz's car pulls up at a large estate somewhere, but when he pulls off his passenger's hood he reveals not Johnny… but Boyd. Ruiz tells Boyd that Yoon likes to keep his location secret, but Boyd waves off any apologies as they head inside. Ruiz tells him they'll return his gun once their business is over, and Boyd cracks that he thought they were all friends, but Ruiz replies, "That's what we thought," whereupon Boyd sees Johnny in the room into which he's been led. Ruiz tells them Yoon will be with him shortly, but I hope he takes a little time to let this mood simmer.
We return to the same spot, where Boyd remarks that even vultures can fly south for the winter. Heh. Johnny asks how Memphis was, and Boyd admits they weren't there very long; Johnny wonders how Hot Rod managed to tip him off, but Boyd isn't forthcoming on that point, although he does suggest Johnny isn't long for this world. This just makes Johnny chuckle, though, before he asks how much Boyd has in the bag he brought in: "Seven hundred? Eight hundred thousand?" He disparagingly clucks and goes on that he's not the one in trouble, and then Yoon comes in and grins that the situation before him is a first, "and I don't mean that in a good way!" I do wonder what it will take for this guy to frown. Boyd asks for five minutes alone with "this piece of shit" to smooth out their road, but Yoon -- continuing to enjoy this -- says Johnny's willing to pay almost $40,000 a kilo (coming to almost an even million) and that he claims he can have the cash there with a simple phone call. Boyd wonders if the outrageous price isn't too good to be true, but Johnny gleefully lets it be known that the markup isn't just for the horse -- "I'm buyin' your life." Well, small consolation, but at least the price is pretty hefty. Boyd reminds Yoon that they had a deal, adding that "the rednecks in Kentucky" have a reputation to maintain as well, but Yoon is unimpressed. As he leaves, he has his men tie Boyd's and Johnny's hands behind their back as he tells them that if Johnny gets them the money, the deal goes to him and Boyd stares into space as he contemplates what a turn this day has taken.
Candace is cleaning up the blood on the floor (see, she doesn't just make sandwiches) as Fleming tells Kemp that the money's in Bitcoins, and he's going to need six to eight hours before he can turn it into cash. That, however, does not fit with Kemp's timetable given that Raylan has just parked outside, so Kemp grabs Candace, covering the blood with some dirty clothes in the process and tells Fleming to call him when he's got the money. To show he's serious, he pulls her arm taut and adds that he'll give him eight hours "before I start blowin' pieces off this girl," and given Fleming's attitude before if I were Candace I'd really savor the use of my limbs for that time. He manhandles her out of there before passing Raylan on the stairs, and when Raylan offers a reasonably friendly "How you all doin'," Kemp gets a bit shirty with him, and I was wondering why he'd be cavalier enough to get into it with an agent of the law, but maybe he thought he needed to buy Fleming a little time for something? He could just be an asshole; there's plenty of that going around.
Inside, Fleming is in fact putting the extra time to good use, although given that the errand is packing up a bunch of cash he had hidden away I don't think Kemp would approve. Fleming, you LIED! When he walks, we see that he's got a slight limp, but he still answers the door, whereupon he tries unsuccessfully to talk Raylan out of coming in. Raylan offers that he seems jumpy and wonders if it has anything to do with "that asshole" (see?) he ran into on the stairs, and while this is all entertaining enough, it's only moments before Raylan pushes the clothes covering the blood aside with his foot and Fleming grabs his bag and runs into his bedroom. It takes Raylan a moment to break open the door, and when he does he sees Fleming about to go out the window -- having detached his prosthetic leg, which, along with the bag, he chucks out the window and then follows. Maybe this explains his cavalier attitude toward the potential loss of Candace's limbs. Raylan's like, whoooa, and when he gets to the window, he sees Fleming slide down a convenient pole; once he lands, he straps his leg back on and runs, but not before taking the time jauntily to flip Raylan the bird. Raylan doesn't seem too concerned about catching him -- pretty sure he could manage going out the window too if he wanted -- but it's still something you don't see every day. Also not a daily event is Raylan checking the bathroom and finding Salmeron's corpse, which seems to bum him out, although I suppose the bright side is that he won't be perpetrating any more walk-ins.
Tim gives Raylan predictable (but as ever enjoyable) shit about being eluded by a man with only one natural leg, which Rachel tries to be more productive as she asks about the guy from the stairs. Raylan then wonders why Art isn't in giving him hell about this, and I don't know what he expects Rachel or Tim to say, so it's just as well that the redheaded IT guy, whose name we'll learn soon enough is "Chris," comes is to display a blog post from Fleming about how he just made a "US Marshall" (yes, still misspelled) his "bitch." (If you squint, you'll see he also describes Raylan as "jack-booted" and an "asswipe.") Raylan offers to find Fleming, but Rachel once again gives him other orders, saying she and Tim will go after "Hopalong" (hee) while he checks into Kemp. Raylan begs Rachel to give him another shot at Fleming, but she stands firm and when he asks if her giving him orders is also per Art, she sighs, "What do you think?" After Rachel and Tim file out, Raylan asks Chris if there's any way to put a reply on Fleming's blog, to which Chris answers, "God, no. The technology to reply to a post is decades away." HA! So uncalled for; so hilarious. Cut to Raylan, looking a bit odd with his eyebrows having been singed off by that epic burn, putting up a reply, and I'd complain about an unnecessary comma except he's probably using it to represent his drawl. He then gets a call from Allison, and from his side we're to understand that Wendy got her suspended, which isn't much of a surprise except for the part where Raylan says he thought they all would have been gone by now. You didn't count on Boyd and his need for muscle, Raylan!
Outside, Johnny and Boyd sit on a large rock, their hands still bound, when Boyd asks if Johnny really has that money. Johnny says he does, thanks, so Boyd supposes Hot Rod must be in quite a state. Interesting that he seems to be sure he's even still alive, but Johnny doesn't note that; instead, he asks if Boyd isn't going to "use that silver tongue of yours to try to talk your way out of this." Boyd replies that the life they chose can only end in premature death, and he's been at peace with that for a long time; he then recalls how they used to get along, more or less, bringing up a girl in high school he helped set Johnny up with, but Johnny remembers things differently, and the fact that he goes on that he'll be looking to get with Ava after Boyd's dead probably means there's no détente to be had, although Boyd's response of "I guess there's something to be said for keepin' it in the family" is pretty great. Incidentally, I could be giving Boyd too much credit, but given what we learn later, I wonder if he's feeling Johnny out for any mercy when it appears to him he's got Boyd dead to rights; his lack thereof is certainly going to make things easier. Ruiz and one of his men then appear as a car approaches the house, and out comes another guy who, once his hood is removed, shows Ruiz a bag full of cash. Ruiz looks to his man who rode in the back seat and gets a nod, so I suppose that guy already counted the money, and having been assured it's all there, he turns to Johnny and frees his hands as he says they're going with him. He goes on that Boyd is Johnny's to do with as he wishes, as long as he doesn't kill him on the Mexican side of the border. "I cannot stress that last part enough. Dead Americans in Mexico creates a problem for us." A problem, did you say? Don't want to forget that! Ruiz tells Boyd he's sorry things didn't work out, to which Boyd gives a "Not as sorry as I am." Not overly original, but his wrists must really be starting to chafe to a distracting degree.
In a bar, Allison tells Raylan that Wendy went through every court case she's ever been involved in tracing out a "pattern of misconduct," and also mentioned a pot arrest from a few years ago that got overturned (Raylan's "…yeah" face at that one is pretty hilare). "And then there's you." Raylan's like, what did I do, but obviously her involvement with someone who's been up in the Crowes' faces all the time doesn't look great. Anyway, it's a two-week suspension, and although she doesn't seem that bummed or annoyed, she asks the waitress to close them out so she can go meet some friends who want to cheer her up. Raylan: "How about I just come over with a bottle of Blanton's and cheer you up the old-fashioned way?" That's a pretty great pitch if you ask me, but Allison tells Raylan that Wendy plans to try to, not to put too fine a point on it, jump his bones, so he casually assures her Wendy's not his type, and there's a bit of rage-flirting from Allison and aw-shucks-ing from Raylan until the waitress comes over and informs Raylan his card was declined, and she has orders to destroy it. He's confused -- he probably shouldn't be -- but after Allison pays for the drinks and leaves in a not-entirely-thrilled-with-him mood, Raylan answers his ringing phone and finds Fleming on the other end, who asks "Deputy Dipshit" if he's having trouble with his card. Raylan asks how he got his number, but Fleming sneers that he's been "phone freakin'" since he was fourteen; he's also drained Raylan's bank accounts, which he'll only restore if he leaves him alone. Raylan assures him his agency has a whole department designed to catch guys like him, but Fleming points out that the search for him hasn't stopped Raylan from having a beer -- "several beers. You an alcoholic, Deputy?" By Kentucky standards? He invites Raylan to come get him, and as dickish as this guy may be I have to give him his due for playing Raylan like a fiddle here.
Cut to Tim, who's with Chris, telling Raylan that the call was made over a hotel wifi network. He goes on that Chris traced the call to his room and holds out a fist for Chris to bump, but Chris merely closes his laptop and crosses his arms: "Am I done?" Chris, you had the chance to show Tim some love and passed? It's a dangerous expression to throw around on this show, but you are dead to me. Tim continues to Raylan that the fugitive task force is on its way, but Raylan cautions him to instruct them not to move until he arrives. By the way, it's day, but it can't be the day to still be in the eight-hour window, so I guess Raylan was day-drinking with those beers? Maybe Fleming had a point. Anyway, over at Audrey's, Wendy pops in and Kendal asks if he can speak with her, so I guess he's finally about to spill the Danny-killed-Jean-Baptiste news, but Wendy's in a hurry to get back to Lexington and asks if it can wait. He considers the question but ultimately says no, although he really should just say fuck it and tell her while Danny's away, but he's probably glad of the excuse to change his mind. Instead, he makes a call to an "Uncle Jack," who sounds nice enough; it's therefore probably not a surprise that he doesn't seem to be part of the tight-knit section of the Crowe family, since Kendal has to ask where he's living. Hey Wendy, it'll be pretty ironic timing if your brother disappears right after you got his social worker suspended, don't you think?
In the prison shower, Penny introduces Ava to a burly, friendly enough maintenance worker, adding that she's going to be taking over for her starting week, and when the guy is basically like "hubba hubba" in Ava's direction, Penny asks, "What am I, dog shit?" Heh. A youngish CO then comes in, and the introductions are all very pleasant, but when he beckons Penny over and guesses this is a farewell session, Ava starts to catch on, and when Penny, after giving her the drugs to take to Judith, tells her that "he doesn't take long," Ava calls her back: "This is every time?" Penny replies that she shouldn't worry, as he's a nice guy. "He's real big, but you'll get used to it." With that, she disappears around the corner, and after the other guy gives her the rest of the drugs and we start to hear some telltale moans from within, he's like, sure you can't stay for a while, but Ava tells him she's got to go. With that, he turns away from her and squats down to work on some pipes (and also, it looks like, to watch the show) -- leaving her open to drop one of the drug packets into a pocket on the side of his tool bucket. And Ava, you asked if what they were going to ask you to do was dangerous?
Kemp, who's drinking a beer and seems half in the bag, is babbling to a hostile Candace about sailboats and the ocean and whatever about him being her new boyfriend -- this actor plays a type, that's for sure -- when there's a knock at the door. Kemp warily checks the peephole, whereupon one of the marshals kicks the door into Kemp's face, allowing him to be taken without incident. Raylan's like wait, where's Fleming, and when his brain catches up with his mouth, he's like, well, shit. "He's the only reason I came!" That's what she said! Yes, her, right there!
As Kemp's being taken away, Tim gets off the phone and asks Raylan if he's ever noticed Chris is kind of a dick? Hee. Raylan's face is like yeah, except for the "kind of" part, and Tim reports that Fleming faked the origin of the call, so he could be anywhere, except that Candace is like, I totally know where he is and it would be more than my pleasure to tell you, not because he beats me around -- I'm kind of into that and give it back twice as hard -- but since I write damn good code for him and he still says all I do is make sandwiches. "That's when I decided he was an asshole." We don't get a reaction shot from Raylan and Tim, which seems like an actionable oversight.
Fleming's playing a game on his laptop when he hears someone on the stairs; he starts to yell at his grandmother, but it's in fact Raylan, who says he's surprised he hid down here with no window to jump out of. Fleming mutters about "that bitch," and Tim's like who, Grandma? Hee. Raylan tells Fleming to get up, and we see another shot of his leg that looks like effects work to me, but I suppose could be the real deal. I have the feeling Looking is going to settle that question pretty definitively, though. In the car, Fleming can't believe Candace gave him up -- he even sent the marshals after Kemp to save her! Raylan informs him that she claims Fleming disrespected her computer skills, to which he replies, "What skills? She's a shitty coder." Maybe these two could do with some computer-couples counseling.
After Raylan asks about the leg and Fleming tells him he lost it to cancer when he was fourteen, Fleming asks how much time Raylan thinks he's looking at, but Raylan won't speculate; talk then turns to all the TVs and other expensive electronic equipment Fleming had in his place -- he won them all in radio contests for which you had to be Caller Number Seven, which he just so happened always to hit. Fleming, who for some reason has become a lot more affable since he got caught (and I don't think it's all a play to appease Raylan) tells Raylan he's going to reverse all the fuckery he engaged in with his bank accounts and everything, but even though Raylan seems to be enjoying his presence more than most, he says giving him back what's his isn't going to get Fleming any special treatment. Fleming: "What if I teach you how to be Caller Number Seven?" Raylan doesn't say he'll go for that, but the side-eye he gives Fleming via the rearview mirror look pretty promising from my point of view.
Raylan comes back and reports a successful conclusion to Rachel, who doesn't have as good news for him -- Art asked her to relay that Wendy complained to the judge in Florida, who asserted that Darryl's parole is valid. That does it for Raylan, who goes right into Art's office and gets a heaping helping of attitude in return. There's no good way into this, but for a while I've been kind of marginally aware that Nick Searcy -- who plays Art -- is a big neocon, but kind of like with certain Scientologist actors I chose to ignore it. Besides, he's entitled to his beliefs. However, when he's being such a bully and so outspokenly antithetical to anything I believe in that I can't help hearing about it, I have to root for an early retirement/death for Art no matter how avuncular/fun his onscreen presence may be. So maybe it's easier for me to be on Raylan's side when he says he doesn't need this shit treatment from Art, so here's what's going to happen: He's going to take a couple weeks' vacation he's got saved up and go see Winona and the baby, and when he returns, either Art's going to see fit to treat him like a human being or he's going to give him a transfer. Seething, Art tries to get in the last word by asking if Raylan's paying for the trip to see his kid on his own dime this time, but Raylan's one step ahead of him: "No, Chief. I won it on a radio contest." I hope at least you gave Fleming his leg back, because that was awesome.
In prison, Ava returns from the bathroom to see Judith and Penny heading toward her; they confer at Ava's bunk, where Judith reports that the guy got caught on his way out, so no more horse for the girls. Ava, however, says she might be able to replace the supply, but Judith once again isn't some rube. She shows Ava a bunch of prison scars from bites and stab wounds, saying she doesn't want to go back to a life of being attacked before warning her the hardest part isn't getting the drugs but smuggling them inside, and then: "Maybe it's coincidence, [that dude] gets busted the day I introduce two of you. I hope to God Almighty you didn't risk all our lives to keep from havin' to screw a guard." With that, she takes off, but Penny lingers to say that if Ava really can get the dope, she might have a way to bring it in. Then she bounces as well, and Ava's left to hope that, once again, Boyd doesn't screw this up for her.
Raylan and Wendy are having a drink (not their first, from the sound of it), and is this the emergency that kept Wendy from hearing her little brother's confession? Raylan wonders why she keeps cleaning up after Darryl, especially since family loyalty doesn't seem to be a valued Crowe trait. She points out his own thoughts about family are suspect with his child down in Florida, but he counters that he's checked into her too, and she hasn't even graduated the law school she started at over a decade ago, probably because she keeps having to deal with Darryl. She tries a different tack by saying she finds "your blatant abuse of government privilege incredibly sexy," and he laughs, but then asks her to help him get Darryl. Now it's her turn to chuckle and wonder why she'd betray her brother, but she's not laughing anymore when Raylan mentions that Darryl killed Dilly. From the look on her face, it's like she never really thought about it but suddenly some pieces just fell into place. She eventually recovers to invite Raylan up to her room to "keep negotiatin'." Raylan, however, finishes his drink as he encourages her to take a week or two to think about it -- and I bet Kendal will have told her the truth once Raylan gets back -- and as he leaves, he adds that oh, could she get the drinks? "Havin' trouble with my card." Ha!
The Dodge version of a VW bus carrying Johnny and Boyd reaches, presumably, the rendezvous point to pick up the drugs. When Johnny's men open up the back of the truck they're meeting with, the one that's going to transport the stuff back to the U.S., out come the Crowes, Jimmy and Carl, who quickly take Johnny and his men prisoner. Johnny realizes that Yoon was always on Boyd's side, which makes sense because Boyd had Picker's recommendation and Yoon never has seemed like a capricious businessman -- and Boyd backs that up by intoning that some people still care about with whom they do business. Of course, that statement is about to bite him with respect to the Crowes, but let's let him have his moment. Johnny asks why Boyd didn't just kill him, but Boyd tells him that (a) he wanted to make sure he had his money, and (b) as Ruiz commanded, he's not dying in Mexico. He clocks Johnny in the face before announcing to Johnny's men that they're free to go back to the original agreement and work for Hot Rod, and the guy who speaks for the rest of them sensibly says he's fine with that. Sounds good, but I don't know how Boyd's planning to deal with the fact that Hot Rod's still a prisoner, not that this scenario is going to play out as he wants it to anyway.
For, you see, after Boyd gives Johnny a grandiose lecture about leaders and followers and then tells Jimmy to put Johnny in the back of the truck, Darryl and Danny exchange a silent look, after which Danny yells "Don't do it!" and then the two of them (not Dewey, though) blow Johnny's/Hot Rod's guys away. Boyd yells for them to stop, but it's too late, and Darryl pretends like he wasn't in on this decision as Danny yells that the guys pulled on him, so he had no choice. Johnny derisively laughs and wishes Boyd luck in getting the drugs out of Mexico now, whereupon Boyd, having had enough, whirls and shoots Johnny right in the head. He does take a moment to digest the fact that he finally just killed his cousin, but then he turns back to the Crowes. With Jimmy and Carl still covering them and probably not loving the look on Boyd's face, Danny repeats that he didn't have a choice, but Boyd tells him not to say "another goddamn word" before making a call: "Tell Mr. Yoon we have a problem." It's just as well he doesn't know about Ava's need for heroin, since he's in a bad enough mood as it is. See you week!
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.