Contributor: Henry T.
Written by Dave Andron
Directed by Bill Johnson
The show continues to color in various parts of its world here. Raylan spends much of his time with Art and Tim tracking down the origins of the Waldo Truth driver’s license. The trio of Marshals run into the Truth family, who seems as much a danger to themselves than anyone else. A hulking figure named Randall also shows up out of nowhere and seems keen on threatening Raylan for some reason that is yet to be seen. Randall reminded me of Coover Bennett (only he’s smarter and seems impervious to any physical harm) and the literal last-minute twist at the end guarantees that we will see more of him as the season goes along.
Like the season premiere, this episode is handling much of the setup for future events that we have yet to see. A good portion of the episode is devoted to the first face-to-face meeting between Boyd and Preacher Billy. Coming so early in the season seemed a bit of a shocker to me, but the fireworks set off during the face-off actually had me rooting for Boyd to shut down this newcomer to Harlan. Of course, part of that stems from how Boyd took on Quarles last season and managed to beat him at his own game. Preacher Billy better be on guard constantly with Boyd because he’s looking for holes to exploit, and one of them could be the preacher’s mysterious sister, Cassie. If there’s going to be a season-long battle of wills, it will be interesting to see if Boyd takes Cassie on or if Ava somehow inserts herself into the mix.
There seems to be changes coming for the Marshals service. Art is taking steps to move into retirement. His description of the various Marshals under his command currently would seem to indicate that will occur sooner rather than later. Indeed, Raylan himself is a handful and Art has made no secret of his disdain for everything Raylan has done under his command. But he remains invested in the cases that come across his desk. Of particular note is the Waldo Truth driver’s license that was in a Panamanian diplomatic pouch stuffed inside the wall of Arlo Givens’ house. A short stakeout of a drop-off point leads Art, Tim, and Raylan to the house of the Truth family. They don’t present the immediate kinds of danger that the Bennett family would, but a lot of them are mighty unpredictable. Many of them have no respect for authority and love toting around various guns, just itching to shoot anything that’s moving.
The matriarch of the family actually is one of the few decent, level-headed individuals the Marshals meet, though that isn’t much of an endorsement for the rest of them. The case becomes much more complicated than initially thought because a man enters the home claiming to be Waldo Truth, but is actually an impostor who’s been doing it to collect the real Truth’s social security checks after his death (the “draw” everyone in the family keeps mentioning that they worry the Marshals are there to take away). It’s all related to a case Art worked in the past, where a man falls out of the sky with a bag of cocaine. There are more connections here than was realized before. What would the parachute man from the season premiere have to do with Art and how did a diplomatic bag end up in Arlo’s possession? Art and Raylan are somehow more connected than they previously thought. It’s the low-key approach to this subplot that makes the mystery all the more intriguing.
The centerpiece of this episode was not the hunt for Waldo Truth, but the showdown between Boyd and Preacher Billy. The lead-up to that climactic scene in the tent plays with the notion that Boyd is mystified as to how this religious man is turning all of his customers away from his drug product. This isn’t a forceful takeover like what Quarles and Wynn Duffy (who shows up at the end of this episode in another great surprise) tried to do last season. No, Preacher Billy is clean, at least according to the local sheriff Boyd has under his thumb. Preacher Billy and his sister Cassie look to be doing the Lord’s work, going from town to town and using the power of prayer to heal those who are sick. We see how effective their approach is, as Ellen May is desperate to hear more of Preacher Billy’s gospel. At one time, Boyd was in Preacher Billy’s place. He was the evangelist who wanted to do the good work of the Lord in order to atone for his sinful criminal past. But Boyd turned away from that path and all he sees now is a poacher who preys on the weak-willed.
That’s what I got out of the confrontation here between these two men. Billy believes sincerely that he’s just doing what God is asking him to do, which is to be the shepherd for those who are lost. Boyd condemns him as a false prophet, and he’s doing so backed up by first-hand experience. The wild card in all this is Cassie, who seems content to possibly be the puppeteer pulling all the strings. She may yet be the power behind this entire operation, or that it’s Billy, or that they’re both con men who are pulling the wool over the eyes of the residents of Harlan. At this point, there’s too little information to draw definitive conclusions. Boyd knows, however, that this is a threat that must be quashed immediately. Billy and Cassie even sent innocent children into Ava’s whorehouse, scaring off potential clients. They aren’t just siphoning off drug customers, but other areas under the control of the Crowders. He gets so desperate now that he proposes a partnership with Wynn Duffy, who looks to be in total control when Raylan isn’t around to threaten him. He calmly declines Boyd’s offer, which makes one wonder if that will make Boyd even more desperate to procure other revenue sources from drugs. There’s a tug-o-war going on here, with Boyd sometimes being in the position of power and other times, appearing weak. That can’t be sitting too well with him, and I think this is the first of many clashes between him and Billy.
As if Raylan didn’t have enough complications in his life, and I think he will cross paths with Boyd at some point this season, the man who made himself a little too comfortable in Lindsay’s bar at the beginning of the episode is revealed to be her unmentioned husband. I first thought Randall had something to do with the Waldo Truth case, but that was wrong. He seems to be a hustler who engages in a Kentucky-style mixed martial arts fight that he easily wins. Like I said before, Randall reminds me of Coover but with a brain and real menace attached to him. Why Lindsay never told Raylan that she had a husband seems to be an issue that will be covered at a later time. The situation itself is rather odd, with Raylan ostensibly estranged from Winona, waiting for her to give birth to their child, and now Lindsay’s husband shows up at the bar. I’m not seeing a good ending to all of this, especially given the brief glimpse into what Randall does for a living. The setup promises a lot of intrigue, though. That’s all we can ask for from this show at this point. It’s going to get messy. The show likes taking its time getting there, which makes each new episode all the more enticing.
Score: 9/10