Justified review – 4×09: ‘The Hatchet Tour’

The season long mystery of finding Drew Thompson has been solved (sort of). The problem is that it’s exactly who we thought it would be.

Let’s bitch it out…Is it fair to say that I’m disappointed by the reveal that Sheriff Shelby (Jim Beaver) is Drew Thompson, without seeing the remaining four episodes that will clearly deal with the fall-out?

In a lot of ways ‘The Hatchet Tour’ feels dull and expository to me because it plays out more or less how I expected. While I didn’t expect Justified to morph into a season-long mystery filled with twists and turns, it’s hard to feel satisfied by this reveal. As Alan Sepinwall at Hitflix suggests, “No one else has registered enough as a character for the reveal of Drew’s identity to matter”. To try and suggest that this fugitive character is anyone else would have felt disingenuous.

Still, that doesn’t necessarily make for an enjoyable episode of television, either.

This may make me unpopular with all five people who read these Justified reviews, but ‘The Hatchet Tour’ is the first episode of the season that made me truly bored. The only parts that were genuinely interesting was wondering who would stumble upon the truth first as both Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) and Boyd (Walton Goggins) discover Thompson’s identity on the same evening. Aside from that, the discovery process feels leaden and needlessly exposition-heavy, to the point that I had to rewind a few times to figure out why people were where they were…because I’d lost interest. Even repeat appearances by former Sheriff Hunter (Brent Sexton) and Constable Bob (Patton Oswald) failed to perk things up.

For me, the fall-out of the non-death of Ellen May (an unseen Abby Miller) is more enjoyable (I’m as surprised as you!) Colt (Ron Eldard) has become deliciously unhinged, even if he’s still merely a cipher to reveal Johnny’s (David Meunier) duplicity. But at least it was uncertain whether or not Boyd would kill Colt, plus there’s the suggestion that Tim (Jacob Pitts) will finally be given something to do now that he’s on Colt’s trail.

Other Observations:

• I miss crazy Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns). He’s so subdued this season triying to play the heavy that I barely get excited when he turns up now. Sad face
• I’m curious what you thoughts are on Constable Bob’s shoot-out with Lee (Sam Anderson) and Gerald (Ned Bellamy): amusing or just plain dumb? I get that Bob is meant to be comic relief but for me, this scene doesn’t work tonally – it feels too stupid for a smart show like Justified
• I expected to see Cassie (Lindsay Pulsipher) again, but not like this. I really hope that we’re not about to embark on a Dexter Detect. Joey/Nadia storyline with Cassie and Tim, because that would SUCK
• Finally, thanks to Danielle Turchiano’s Twitter (@danielletbd), all I want now is a House Hunters spin-off with Ava (Joelle Carter) and Boyd. Who wouldn’t watch the crap out of that?!

Best Lines:

• Tim (referring to Marshal who okay’d Raylan transporting Hunter): “He’s looking at a bright future in mall enforcement.”
• Ava (to realtor): “Thank you very much, but we don’t need your shit. You have a nice day.”

What are your thoughts on the big reveal? Any thoughts on what will go down in the remaining four episodes? Could Ellen May be any less lucky to shack up with the one guy in town everyone wants to find? Who’s first to die: Colt, Johnny and Wynn? (All options are still on the table!)

Justified airs Tuesdays at 10pm EST on FX