'Justified' had a format to its seasons that it adhered to pretty closely. Early in a season, usually in the first episode, there's an inciting event. Something that kicks off a whole series of moves by the main characters that play out over the course of the season until the full repercussions play out by the end of the final episode. It's a matter of preference, but I've always enjoyed the back half more than the first half as the season builds towards its climactic moments. Mid-season episodes like this one are where they typically thin the herd of seasonal players a bit and highlight the big life events and personal growth of Boyd and Raylen, who are of course the Yin and Yang stars of the show. Although those weren't always my favorite, this episode is quite good, with big moments for both men that really highlight who they are becoming: peeling back the facade of Boyd's country charm to reveal his ever darker core and Raylen's struggle to avoid the same fate by embracing the more difficult path of his boss and surrogate father figure Art instead of accepting the inheritance of the biological father he despised.
They also establish a story element in this episode that is one of my favorite payoffs of the entire show that has to do with the so-called "twenty one foot rule". It doesn't pay out until the end of the season, but it is one of the absolute funniest moments of the show for me. As I was re-watching the episode it also occurred to me that there was some additional humor to be had in scenes not in the episode. There was a web show called 'Cracked After Dark' that was a kind of pop culture commentary thing. They had a game called "scenes that must have happened", with the idea of looking at a moment in a movie that's played for comedic or dramatic effect and realizing there must have been an awkward scene not shown that made the scene in the movie possible.
An example would be the punch that turns into a hug scene between Solo and Lando in 'Empire Strikes Back', where the web series talked about how the two men must have agreed to do the bizarre greeting at some point in the past. Of course, the Solo movie eventually attempted to explain that, but you get the idea. Anyway, there's a scene in this episode that made me think of that. It involves someone making a power move to seize control followed by a dramatic reveal by the other individual. It's a fun scene, which I probably can't fully detail without having to throw the spoiler switch, but my thought when watching was how weird the second reveal would have been to plan. Thinking about how it must have gone down made me laugh; I think if you watch the episode you'll know what I'm referring to.
All in all a good watch, with a nice blend of humor and drama. Worth watching again if you find yourself missing the cowboy from Kentucky and have access to Hulu.
They also establish a story element in this episode that is one of my favorite payoffs of the entire show that has to do with the so-called "twenty one foot rule". It doesn't pay out until the end of the season, but it is one of the absolute funniest moments of the show for me. As I was re-watching the episode it also occurred to me that there was some additional humor to be had in scenes not in the episode. There was a web show called 'Cracked After Dark' that was a kind of pop culture commentary thing. They had a game called "scenes that must have happened", with the idea of looking at a moment in a movie that's played for comedic or dramatic effect and realizing there must have been an awkward scene not shown that made the scene in the movie possible.
An example would be the punch that turns into a hug scene between Solo and Lando in 'Empire Strikes Back', where the web series talked about how the two men must have agreed to do the bizarre greeting at some point in the past. Of course, the Solo movie eventually attempted to explain that, but you get the idea. Anyway, there's a scene in this episode that made me think of that. It involves someone making a power move to seize control followed by a dramatic reveal by the other individual. It's a fun scene, which I probably can't fully detail without having to throw the spoiler switch, but my thought when watching was how weird the second reveal would have been to plan. Thinking about how it must have gone down made me laugh; I think if you watch the episode you'll know what I'm referring to.
All in all a good watch, with a nice blend of humor and drama. Worth watching again if you find yourself missing the cowboy from Kentucky and have access to Hulu.
