Justified (TV Series) Decoy (2013) User Reviews

So long, Drew

[Mr-Fusion · 10/10 · 15 December 2016]

The big season four storyline meets its end as the Marshals battle Detroit button men to sneak Drew Thompson out of Harlan alive. And it is a nail-biter, to say the least. 'Decoy' is a pressure-cooker, packing just as much tension in the conversations as it does in the action scenes. It's hard to imagine Raylan (almost) taking a backseat to the other players, but this belongs to Boyd, Nicky Augustine and Constable Bob. I was surprised when this was first broadcast to see Mike O'Malley in such a villainous role. I think he'd just been on "Glee" and he certainly wasn't a raging prick on that show.

I'd say the man of the hour is Bob, finally seeing a payoff after besting a Detroit thug, despite the savage beating ("People underestimate Bob at their peril"). The little guy turned into a real badass.

This is only the eleventh episode, and I think it shows real nerve to close out the main storyline with two episodes remaining. This alone would've made for one hell of a finale, but the writers played that close to the chest.

Fine television indeed.

10/10

Best Episode to Date

[jana-carr · 22 March 2013]

This is arguably the best episode of Justified thus far.

Very high praise for a show in which every episode has been unfailingly excellent & superbly written, directed & acted. In "Decoy", the story focuses on, and centers around The supporting characters.

If someone had told me that Raylan & Boyd take a backseat to the rest if the cast, my expectations would have been pretty low. I felt high action & witty dialog were contingent on scripting focused on those two main protagonists. All of the actors appear to be thoroughly & genuinely having a great time with the brilliantly written dialog. There are some scenes so masterfully scripted, that the dialog levitates perfectly over a fictive schism between barbarity and comedy. More than once in "Decoy", I simultaneously laughed at the witty, jocular dialog while simultaneously disturbed, tense and uneasy about the scene.

Justified Decoy

[dalydj-918-255175 · 20 March 2013]

Finally the show has done an episode that is both entertaining and a great episode to watch for drama shows. So many moments to talk about in the episode from Bob's scene with YOLO, Drew not getting killed and overall the good guys winning after it looked like the were going to lose. Such a great episode and the writing was very strong. The best scene of the episode was Bob being held captive by the guy and I felt so sorry for him to see him get so badly beaten but winning in the end showing he cannot be underestimated. All secrets were revealed and the Ava's departure from the bar was nice with her fun in hand. The scenes as Colt watch the sheriff's was nice because it showed Tim is an interesting character. It's funny how well the show is using Tim and Rachel making them characters I actually care about. Patton Oswalt keeps getting better the more he appears on the show and also Jim Beaver is doing great work from Detective Shelby turned Drew Thompsons in both his natural talent and how they have written his character so well lately. Strongly written and one of the top 5 episodes in the shows history.

EPISODE GRADE: A (MVP: Patton Oswalt)