Written by Ryan DeMarco
The Trash and the Snake Plot Summary:
In the latest episode, Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) and Tim (Jacob Pitts) go after Avery Markham (Sam Elliot) and Ty Walker (Garret Dillahunt), Boyd (Walton Goggins) and Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns) seek help from a safe cracker, and Ava (Joelle Carter) and Katherine Hale (Mary Steenburgen) rob a jewelry store and do cocaine. Good times.
“The Trash and the Snake” took a moment off the throttle, slowing the pace of this revved up season. Which was fine with me in all honesty. The past two episodes build up the intensity level pretty high, however it still being early in the season, writers choose to slow the pace and offer some character moments and some nice new tangles in what first seemed like a simple story. Classic Justified.
The episode picks up right after Boyd takes Ava to bone city. It’s the morning after and Boyd has an agenda to follow. Once he’s quickly out the door, Ava gets a surprise visit from Katherine Hale. From there the two are off. It’s quickly established that Hale knows quite a bit of info on Ava referencing her ex-hubby that she shot along with her stint in the slammer. Admittedly this was an odd pair to watch during the episode, props to the both Joelle Carter and Mary Steenburgen on how they handled each of their characters. We’re not sure of what Hale’s plan is while they spend the day doing drugs and robbing. At the end Hale gives Ava a surprise ‘Hey Bitch’ when she mentioned about “that guard who tried to convict you who then suddenly had a change of heart”. That certainly gains Ava’s attention. Does Hale know about her role as a CI for Raylan? Maybe. It certainly added a new twist on Ava’s story. The writers seems to be trying to make Ava’s story the story of the season, so I’m thinking however she handles her situation whether it’s helping Raylan or sticking with Boyd will greatly affect everyone else situation.
The big story of the week was Raylan and Tim with their investigation regarding Avery Markham and Walker and their quest to buy up big land in Kentucky and use it to grow weed. They discover that Markham and Walker are killing those landowners who keep turning down their offers to acquire the land. That includes the couple who called Walker a peacock. Guess it really bothered him. At the end Raylan and Tim show up at Loretta’s when they find out that she’s next on the list. When they arrive Walker and Markham are their waiting. This led to a nice table talk with Raylan and Markham. It was great to see Olyphant and Sam Elliot burn up the scene together while they exchange pleasantries and get to know what the other is about. Judging from the first meeting they are destined to have a great showdown.
I would be very surprised if Markham or Walker are left standing by the last episode. Whether that means Raylan and Boyd teaming up to take them down before those two settle their own differences or something else remains to be seen.
The last story of the episode was Boyd and Wynn Duffy meeting up with a safe cracker named the Wiz, played by Jake Busey of all people. I was a little disappointed by this story because although I found Busey’s character enjoyable and rather refreshing, but they took him away too soon. By that I mean, he blew himself up splattering all of Boyd and Wynn. Which as much of a surprise as the exploding cigarettes trick they pulled last season. Very cool but I felt he would had been a nice addition to the show if he lived more than 10 minutes of screen time.
Overall, the story took a break from the suspense and took some time examining some of the characters. The writers took the liberty of tangling the spider web more which was interesting. The way I associate the status of all of the characters right now is a garbage bag full of leaves. It’s nearing that point if another twist occurs, the bag will break. And If I was a betting man, I would say that the bag will break within the next episode or two.
Rating: 8/10
http://youtu.be/D_dND0EJ0Ug
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