February 13, 2013

Episode Review: JUSTIFIED, "Foot Chase"

The search for Drew Thompson continued as Raylan and Boyd took too very different approaches to finding the mystery man in "Foot Chase."

In one corner, Raylan teamed up with Shelby to find out who was responsible for cutting off Josiah's foot. Their newfound partnership led them to Roz (the girl who started it all), and she told them that she was there when two men jumped her step-father and cut of his foot. She even mentioned how they called him Drew Thompson before taking him away. From there, the two lawmen went on their hunt which involved shaking down Boyd, but they eventually ended up at a house where the two men were keeping Josiah. As it turned out, they were in cahoots with Arlo's lawyer, and it was the senior Givens who fingered Josiah as the would be Drew, but the one footed man insisted that he wasn't Thompson, but he knew an ex-cop who might know where to find him.

In the other, Boyd took a less streamlined approach towards finding Thompson. His plan was to strong-arm every rich man in the upscale Clover Hill who was around Thompson's age. When it started to look like things were not going to pan out for the Crowders, Ava suggested that they blackmail a judge with a furry fetish to get them into a swingers party that could get them in with the Clover Hill crowd. Boyd wasn't too keen on the idea, but Ava took it upon herself to pay the judge a little visit anyway, and she was able to get them an invite. When she shared the good news to Boyd, she admitted that she was feeling guilty over Ellen May's death, and he took her to one of his favorite childhood spots to remind her why they're doing what they're doing. He wanted to start a life with her and to turn the Crowder name into one of the most respected families in Kentucky, and then he asked her to marry him.

While there were some other sub-plots that muddled up the episode (more on them later), I enjoyed most of "Foot Chase." Pairing up Raylan and Shelby was genius since the former has zero reason to trust the latter due to his connections to Boyd, but they had a nice rapport, and things only got better when Boyd was tossed into the mix. I hope we get to see more from these two as they realize that they have the common goal of taking Boyd down once and for all.

As for Ava's role this time around, it was nice seeing her be a driving force and using her smarts over her intimidation skills to get what she wanted, and I appreciated the fact that she's not so far gone that she's lost her sense of morality. Sure, she's whoremongering killer, but she still cares. I just could've done without Boyd's proposal because it was so tonally off from the rest of the episode that it stuck out and didn't feel genuine, but that's probably because I'm heartless.

Other Odds and Ends:
  • Tim got his own sub-plot this week that involved a buddy of his who's a recovering addict, but he ended up getting caught up with a shady drug dealer, which will inevitably get him tangled up with Colt.
  • Speaking of Colt, him cracking under the pressure of losing Ellen May has been interesting so far, but part of me wanted his story to take place in an entirely different episode so it could breath a little.
  • Getting Arlo's lawyer mixed up with Josiah was an added layer that was somewhat unnecessary.
  • Art busting Raylan's balls will always be entertaining.
  • Rapes-with-a-Smile! So wrong, yet so funny.
  • "Repeatin' a lie don't make it true."
  • "I think Lynyrd Skynyrd's overrated, I know you're in Boyd's pocket."
  • "Well, you got out of the tether."
So, while "Foot Chase" may have had too much going on, the scenes involving Raylan, Shelby, and Boyd were good enough to make me forgive the episode for its missteps. That said, this season long mystery arc does need to find a brisker pace if it wants to be successful.

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