- Will Arlo reveal the identity of Drew Thompson to Raylan, or will he take the secret to his grave? Meanwhile, Boyd tricks the local mob and Wynn Duffy, and Colt is blackmailed over not killing Ellen May.
- Raylan visits former sheriff Hunter Mosley (Brent Sexton last seen in "Blind Spot (2010)"), in his prison oranges and offers him a deal: hand over Drew Thompson and get transferred to a country club prison. Hunter evades Raylan's questions and enjoys himself as he messes with the deputy marshal. Raylan ups the stakes by explaining that another inmate has been offered the same deal and the prize goes to whomever fesses up first. Hunter guesses that the other inmate is Arlo and wonders why Raylan would offer the deal to him rather than his own father. "My God, Raylan," Hunter says, "you want to screw your daddy's deal so bad, that you'd give it to me!" Raylan grins. "I like you better than him," the deputy marshal says. "I tried to kill you," Hunter reminds him. "I still like you better," Raylan replies.
Boyd sits with Gerald, who shares suggestions of how Boyd can get rid of Frank. "You're going to be the boy who takes out my trash," Gerald says. Boyd isn't used to being talked to so condescendingly... at least not lately. He expresses concern that Gerald and his fellow crime bosses might be setting him after Frank's murder. Gerald straightens him out immediately: "Set you up? I got judges and state troopers owe me favors. I call them down on you, you'd be locked up within an hour." Boyd draws himself in close and asks the funeral home owner: "What if I were to kill you right now, right here in this room?" "Well, you'd have to watch my friends destroy everything you love. Maybe it's worth it. But it's not my call." Boyd sighs and resignedly folds the notes Gerald has made and the sketch of the Browning home.
Back at Tramble, a corrupt guard, Cregger (Kyle Sabihy), ushers a near-catatonic Arlo into a seemingly secure room for a haircut from the prison barber (Damion Poitier). Hunter slips in behind them and saps the barber unconscious. He tells Cregger he "needs some privacy," and sets about to murder the elder Givens when the feigning Arlo springs into action. He bashes Hunter in the face with large jar of disinfectant, beats his head with an electric hair clipper and then knocks down the returning Gregger and repeatedly beats him about the head, all the while yelling his mantra of fury: "Get some! Get some!" But Hunter doesn't stay down. He stabs and mortally wounds Arlo in the chest with a pair of barber's scissors.
At the marshal's office, Raylan shows Eve Munro (Julia Campbell) pages of mug shots, but she claims not to be able to recognize Drew Thompson, the husband from whom she thought she was widowed. "Do you know how much people change in 30 years?" she asks. "Time was, I looked like Ava Gardner." Art then shares the news of Arlo's stabbing with Raylan: "Arlo took a shiv to the chest. They don't think he'll make it through the night." Raylan takes the news stoically.
Boyd, in the meantime, visits Frank Browning and wife Trisha (Peggy Dunne) and explains to the mine owner that he has been tasked with killing him. "I thought I would give you a chance to beat their price," Boyd says. Frank doesn't take that well and levels a shotgun at Boyd's chest as his bodyguard Deke (James Ferris) enters, rifle at the ready. Boyd politely excuses himself and returns to the bar.
Boyd and Ava discuss matters while down the bar Colton is receiving text messages -- apparently from Ellen May -- asking for $20,000 hush money. Wynn Duffy and his omnipresent gun thug Mikey (Jonathan Kowalsky) arrive. The Dixie mafia chieftain shares bad news: Theo Tonin is increasingly concerned that Drew Thompson has not yet been found. "Theo has a guy on the way down who has killed more people than malaria," Duffy explains. Boyd says that he has narrowed the list down to two names, one of which is Frank's, and that maybe it's safer to kill both.
At the Browning house, Frank and Deke are making plans when there's a knock at the door. Deke answers it and finds one of Shelby's deputies (Matthew John Armstrong) on the doorstep. When he turns to tell Frank, he is shot in the back of the head. The deputy holds Frank at gun point while he snaps a cell' photo of Frank's blood-spattered face, sends it, then calls to confirm that the man in the photo is "not the target." Frank tries to finesse the situation, but dies on his feet.
Shelby, in the meantime, talks with Ellen May, who is staying at the sheriff's house and wearing Shelby's ex-wife's clothes. She's found his Saint Christopher's medal, which Shelby tells her is "the patron saint of travelers, sailors, pilots... and bachelors." He says the medal "belonged to Abby, my wife, same as those clothers." When Ellen May asks "She ain't dead, is she?" he tells her she ran out "some 25 years ago." During more sharing, Shelby notes that Ellen May looks a little bit like Abby some. They share a quiet reflective moment together as Ellen May wonders if she will ever deserve to wear respectable clothes -- and live a respectable life -- even though she's been a whore. Shelby tells her, "I think if you pretend to be something long enough, it's not pretending." He also figures out that she's got something else on her mind, something she shares with Ava. His cell' 'phone rings and the confessional moment passes.
Colton heads to his drug dealer's house and asks for a $20,000 loan. When the dealer (Michael Stoyanov) begins to laugh, Colton takes the man's gun and shoots him dead before finding his stash of dope and cash in the false bottom of a guitar case. Hearing a noise from the adjoining room, he discovers Tim's service buddy Mark cowering, naked and eyes closed in the kitchen. Colton orders him to open his eyes. He remembers Mark from their meeting at the VA Center. They have a quiet discussion about the situation, and as Colton makes to leave, almost as an afterthought, shoots Mark in the head.
Raylan visits his dying father in the prison infirmary. "Just give me something," Raylan says. "Who's Drew Thompson?" But Arlo, who appears to be under heavy sedation, says nothing. As Raylan is about to leave, Arlo whispers "Don't go... closer." Raylan leans in and hears "Kiss... my... ass."
Sam Keener (Grainger Hines) and his afternoon delight in a leather bikini, Petra (Scout Durwood), are just starting a sex game when the doorbell rings. Sam answers it and discovers the murderous deputy who calmly snaps and sends the photo, and follows up with a 'phone call. "Okay then," he says to the receiving party. Petra, restrained in the bedroom, hears two gunshots and starts frantically trying to free herself.
Shelby and Raylan stand outside the murder scene and discuss the rising body count as Keener's body is taken away along with a shaken Petra. "So," Shelby says, "not half a day after you asked me to look into a list of names, one of the men on that list turns up dead. Can I assume that's not a coincidence?" When Raylan agrees with Shelby's deductive process, the sheriff tells him "Except now I've got a second stiff, who's not on your list and was killed the same way." Raylan reveals that he's had Drew Thompson's "widow or former widow, or whatever she is," go through some DMV photos to see if any of them look like "Drew plus 30 years."
Johnny visits Wynn who is quite proud of himself until Johnny explains why neither Frank nor Sam could possibly have been Drew Thompson. In fact, Boyd had simply given Duffy two names on his enemies list. Duffy is furious, and gives Johnny the ol' good news/bad news bit; Wynn is finally going to kill Boyd... but which will make Johnny responsible for bringing Wynn "Drew Thompson... or die trying."
So the assassin shows up at Johnny's bar and, as he is still disguised as a deputy, takes Boyd into custody to deliver him back to Wynn. Raylan happens to stop by and knows that Shelby gave no such order. The confrontation is delayed as Raylan notices the flashy engagement ring on Ava's left hand, and offers Einstein's definition of insanity regarding doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The man in the deputy's uniform directs Raylan to stand aside, which does not sit well with the deputy marshal. Pistols are drawn, many shots are fired at close range as Boyd and Ava dive out of the way, and the faux deputy falls to the genuine one. "Jesus, I hope I got that right," an uncertain Raylan mutters as he uses the toe of his boot to move the pistol away from the assassin's not yet cold but surely dead outstretched hand.
Following texted instructions, Colton visits the Harlan County Outdoor Recreation Board Authority ball park with a baseball game in the background. He cautiously enters the groundskeepers' shed and leaves the blackmailer's money on top of the fuse box. As he exits, Johnny watches him from bleachers, then himself leaves, discarding his cell' 'phone in a trash receptacle.
Nick Augustine (Mike O'Malley) calls Boyd, giving him 30 seconds to say what he has to say. Boyd offers his services to the Tonin family -- in the matter of Drew Thompson and beyond. Nick, speaking for the Tonin family expresses displeasure at the trouble Boyd has been causing them of late, having given their "button man two wrong targets." Boyd points out that he didn't give the button man anything; the targets were given to Duffy. "Now why would you want to back a man who got took," Boyd reasons, "when you can back the man who took him?" This starts making sense to Nick as Boyd assures him that he can deliver Drew Thompson and, as the Tonin family's man in Kentucky, "can assure that your interests down here run smoothly." He then tells Nicky he needs one little thing from him.
At the marshal's offices, Raylan, Shelby and Art discuss the dead fake deputy/Tonin assassin who is still unidentified. Shelby reckons the uniform was "probably stolen from a dry cleaners." Art says "Five'll get you ten that he's probably out of Detroit." Art conversationally gives up Eve Munro's location to Shelby who seems interested in getting a look at her. After the sheriff leaves, Raylan tells Art he still doesn't entirely trust him, then casually announces that Arlo is dead -- and doesn't seem too terribly concerned. Art immediately decides to put Raylan on leave for a week. Raylan strenuously resists, and negotiates his time off to grieve down to two days. As he leaves the offices and gets on the elevator, it's clear that Raylan isn't completely unaffected by his father's death.
At Johnny's bar, Boyd and Johnny host three of the surviving Harlan Illuminati, Lee Paxton, Gerald and Judge Executive Arnold, and break the news that besides Frank Browning, Sam Keener is also dead. "Police think it might have been the same fellow that killed Frank Browning." Gerald gets crazed, calls Boyd a "piece of white trash," and is going to personally see that Boyd doesn't live to see Sam put in the ground. Boyd encourages him to contact "all those judges you tell how high to jump." Gerald tries, but the two numbers he calls have both been disconnected. When Gerald rises to leave, Johnny pulls his magnum revolver as Boyd tells him in no uncertain terms, "Sit your white collar ass down!" An intimidated Gerald complies as Boyd explains the realities of their situation to the trio of elites. "Now all the things you've done, the way you've built your fortunes, it might make you criminals but it don't make you outlaws. I... am... the outlaw, and this is my world! And my world has a high cost of living." The Clover Hillers stare at him. Arnold breaks the silence. "How much do you want," he asks, falteringly. "One hundred...," Boyd says levelly. "Thousand?" Arnold asks? "...Each!" Boyd drawls laconically, adding, "O, and I want you to help me get a Dairy Queen franchise."
In the back office, Boyd kisses Ava in celebration of the coup de Harlan he's just pulled off with the unseen help of Theo Tonin, but it is the Tonin involvement which worries Ava. "This is our time," Boyd tells her. "Let's break through that glass ceiling." His top priority is their move to respectability.
Raylan visits the prison morgue and stands motionless and silent over his father's corpse on a slab.
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