Contributor: Henry T.
Written by Benjamin Cavell
Directed by John Dahl
New alliances form and old ones take a bit of a shift in this episode. Once again, there are more and more pieces being moved around the chessboard before the big events start to occur. I’d argue that the constant changing of partnerships feels detrimental to serving the plot of this particular season, but the great casual atmosphere makes up for that.
It’s nice to see Art and Raylan work together, remarking at how ridiculous their job is sometimes. Or seeing Wynn Duffy turn on Quarles by going to mob boss Theo Tonin and asking him to rein in the business for himself. Dickie is also free now, and he only wants to acquire his mother’s fortune, though that will require an uneasy alliance with Boyd. It’s desperate times, desperate measures at this point for everyone, and that can be a dangerous mindset with the potentially explosive situation developing in Harlan County.
Art “protecting” Raylan was, I think, the favorite of the various subplots in this episode. A couple of Detroit thugs come into the bar to threaten Raylan and so Art decides to go into the field with him to make sure he doesn’t get hurt or killed. This is in addition to the death threat Quarles laid on Raylan last episode so Art has legitimate concerns about his maverick Marshal. It is Art’s detached bemusement about everything (since he’s a veteran Marshal who rarely goes out in the field these days) that makes it a joy to watch.
For the majority of the subplot’s running time, I thought the Detroit hitmen were coming for Raylan. Each time the two pairs of men ran into each other, it felt as if Raylan was done with everything involving Detroit save for Quarles. Only, the truth of it was that the two hitmen were coming for Quarles. They were on orders from Theo Tonin to kill Quarles. So Raylan could have used them instead of trying to arrest them! They aren’t the only people trying to Quarles, though. There’s Wynn Duffy, who makes a personal appeal to Theo Tonin himself to take out Quarles as a way to get ahead in Tonin’s organization. Given what he has seen of the Tonin operation and how scared Duffy is of the psychotic Quarles, I’m surprised that he would stick around to deal with any of them.
In the end, it is Boyd who traps Quarles and holds him hostage. He gets Quarles after Quarles killed two drug dealers who were under Boyd’s protection. Like last episode, Quarles is just adrift and without much power, though he’s still quite dangerous so Boyd’s trap seemed a necessity for the story to move forward. Either that’s a good thing for Boyd (Tonin might pay him to kill Quarles or return him to Detroit alive), or it’s a bad thing. A lot of people are now hunting for Quarles and all of them might end up on Boyd’s doorstep. Does he want that kind of hassle?
As for what’s happening with a now free Dickie Bennett, he puts the focus back on Mags’ fortune. It’s still under Limehouse’s control, though he’s being stingy with its true location. He still offers Dickie the $46,000 that he says is “all that’s left” though there’s more missing, and Dickie knows that. Dickie comes by the rumor that Limehouse buried the fortune under a church in Noble’s Holler. I like that the rumor is a long-standing urban myth everyone knows about, and even fewer people believe is true. Limehouse might not even think it’s true. I think Mags actually did bury the money under the church knowing that no one would think to look there because the myth has perpetuated to such a large degree.
The subplot does meander a bit here, though. Dickie goes from person to person in a quest to find the right partner to come at Limehouse, get the money, and escape Noble’s Holler without dying. Judging from the complexity of the plan — and the fact Dickie is not the meticulous kind of planner that Quarles or Limehouse or even Boyd is — it seems to be an impossible task. Dickie fails with Rodney, as Tim and Rachel efficiently snuffed that out. He goes to Errol, who recommends he align himself with Boyd and take the money by force. Boyd still wants Dickie to pay for what happened to Ava last season, but he also does want the Bennett fortune so there’s that to factor into this. Dickie is desperate now, while Boyd can contemplate his options.
It’s pondering for the final episodes of the season, nothing else. The episode was so filled with characters and little subplots that there wasn’t much resolution here. They’re moving the pieces into place for the final endgame, and I’m still sticking with my prediction that there will be a lot of blood spilled when the last moments of the season come about.
Grade: 7/10
