Justified review – 5×04: ‘Over The Mountain’

The season is coming together as the central conflicts come into focus. Plus: has Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) gone too far with his latest ploy against the Crowes?

Let’s bitch it out…All roads lead to family. For better or for worse, ‘Over The Mountain’ is obsessed with the lengths we’ll go for family: whether it’s to prove ourselves like Dewey Crowe (Damon Herriman) or to strike back like Boyd (Walton Goggins). Of course, since we’re in Harlan the lengths generally involve violence, crime and (often) death.

This episode does a great job of keeping the narrative balls in the air, possibly because the people that don’t need to be in the episode don’t appear (or don’t appear for long). This is mostly a Raylan-centric week and that helps because he’s a great anchor for us. The story is simple, too: a missing person case in the wake of Dewey’s failure to kill and dispose of Wade Messer (James LeGros). The result is classic Justified: funny, witty and just a bit violent. My favourite parts are mostly humourous, particularly Raylan’s encounter with Danny Crowe (A.J. Buckley) and his dog and anything to do with Dewey, who remains the most pathetic character in Harlan. And Boyd and Raylan get to spend some quality time together, which always results in the most eloquently combative dialogue on TV.

We’re still very early in the season, so there was no way that Raylan’s not-so-subtle threats would send the Crowes flying home. Instead the provocation lights the simmering fuse between the lawman and the Florida immigrants. Inspired by Allison’s (Amy Smart) tale of a deplorable man who abused his son but nevertheless refused to part with him, Raylan goes after the most vulnerable member of the Crowe family: Kendall. In the process he may just have kick-started S5’s central conflict. Something tells me we’re going to see a great deal more bodies piling up alongside Wade and Boyd’s drug runners moving forward. And those of us who have been waiting for Michael Rapaport to take center stage should expect big things from Daryl Jr….

Other Observations:

• Lee Paxton (Sam Anderson) is home from the hospital and recovering, but he has not calmed down in the slightest. I’ll confess that I feel like I’ve missed something about Mara (Karolina Wydra) and Mooney’s (William Gregory Lee) plan to lie about Boyd’s death. How long can this ruse possibly last?
• Meanwhile in prison, Ava (Joelle Carter) encounters a far-too-typical scenario. Whether or not prison is really like this, I can’t say that I’m excited to see Ava abused because violence behind bars has been done to death. Hopefully now that Missi Pyle has beat down Jonathan from Buffy (Danny Strong) this storyline has been put to bed.
• The battle of wills between Cousin Johnny (David Meunier) and Boyd wasn’t as explosive as I’d hoped, but something tells me this is just getting started. I’ll reserve judgment until we see what happens next.
• Finally Art (Nick Searcy) inches one step closer to the truth about Raylan’s role in Nicky Augustine’s death. In Detroit he hears that a Kentucky lawman was in Sammy’s pocket and he’s directed to follow-up with Picker, who just happens to be hanging out with Wynn Duffy. It will be interesting to see Art deal with those two.

Best Lines:

• Dewey (when Messer produces a tiny shovel): “Are you a midget? That’s a midget shovel!”
• Rayland (to Danny, about Chelsea): “Your female dog has a big old set of balls”
• Rayland (when Danny suggests he’s Wade’s roommate): “That’s a sitcom I’d pay to see”
• Ava (to “Jonathan” when he asks what she was smirking about): “I was thinking ain’t you a little short to be a storm trooper?”

Do you feel like the season’s conflicts are starting to really come into focus? How will the Crowe’s retaliate against Raylan? What about Boyd and Johnny? Is Dewey still the most pathetic character on the show? What will Art’s interaction with Fisher and Wynn be like? Comment away below

Justified airs Tuesdays at 10pm EST on FX