Contributor: Henry T.
Written by Dave Andron
Directed by Jon Avnet
Crime in Harlan County seems to have many different aspects to it. There are clear and separate tiers to it, and this episode demonstrates that so fluidly within the hour. The lowlifes and scumbags occupy the bottom tier, men like Devil or Dewey for Boyd’s operation or Wally Beckett and Wade Messer for the Dixie Mafia. They get the dirtier or more violent jobs and are often the easiest people for law enforcement to identify and catch. The middle managers take the next tier up. These are men with some power and control the street soldiers, men like Wynn Duffy or Glenn Fogel, introduced here as a drug runner for the Dixie Mafia. The top tier belongs to people like Limehouse or the man from Detroit. They will prove to be the most difficult people to bring down, even as Raylan finally gets to meet one of them. The show’s world will only grow more complex from this point forward, and it’ll be interesting to see how the good and evil sides conduct their war as the season goes on.
The issue of Mags’ hidden fortune is drawing more and more attention. Boyd has already revealed his card in repeated attempts to acquire the location of the money. He has a tense meeting with Limehouse on a bridge that gets him and his organization nowhere closer to finding the money. Again, he keeps showing how his mind is always working every angle. He orders for Devil to sell off what’s left of the Bennett weed to some of Limehouse’s lackeys in order to keep Limehouse from launching an all-out assault on the Crowders. It also achieved the objective of getting rid of something Boyd no longer has any use for. Boyd then takes over a bar to set up as his new headquarters, with the added bonus of bringing his cousin Johnny back into the fold with more muscle for the organization.
I get the feeling Boyd is still trying his hardest to get into the position that Mags once held in Harlan County. It’s hard to get a sure read on Boyd’s intentions because his agenda is constantly changing with what comes at him. He operates with a purpose though, and that’s incredibly fascinating to watch. The prison guard who comes at Dickie with eyes for the money might get to it before Boyd does, though. The guard doesn’t have to deal with a threat like Limehouse the way Boyd does, and only has to slowly break down Dickie’s defenses until he gives up the location. It’s just a question of who’s faster with their various methods.
Much more complex is the man from Detroit’s plan to make Harlan County a profitable drug source for the Dixie Mafia. The only thing getting in his way is Raylan and the US Marshal’s Office. He tried once to kill Raylan with Icepick Nix, and that didn’t work. He then gets Wynn Duffy to pass the order to Glenn Fogel and his drug-peddling posse of addicts. I think they would have been more successful if they weren’t addicted to oxycodone. One guy gets caught by Raylan, and he eventually gets killed by Fogel in a twisted game of “Harlan Roulette” that gives the episode its title.
It’s left up to Wade, a guy who strung Raylan up on a tree for Dickie to whack with a baseball bat in last season’s finale, and he gets caught by the smarter and more savvy US Marshal. That left only Fogel and his right-hand man to try and kill Raylan. That didn’t end too well, with only Wade as the last man standing from Fogel’s little pawn shop operation. That leads to the final confrontation, arguably the best one in an episode full of really good ones, between Raylan, Duffy, and the man from Detroit. Raylan has already beaten Wynn Duffy at his own game — something he does literally in this scene — before getting his first glimpse of the man from Detroit.
This is probably not the last time Raylan is going to face this guy, but I think both will be more prepared at the next showdown. I did find it interesting that the man from Detroit smiled for Raylan’s picture to identify him, as if he had nothing to hide. It seems a little arrogant, though that does add to his dangerous mystique.
At first, I thought this was a very simple episode. There are far more layers of complexity with what’s going on in Harlan County than what you see. Battle lines are being drawn by every character, and it feels like there are different games of chess being played by multiple players here. Who will end up the victor? More importantly, how much damage will be done by the time everything is finished? With so many bad elements out there, both Raylan and the US Marshal’s Office looked outmatched at times. How they deal with that will determine who ultimately wins the war.
Grade: 8/10