Justified: Bloody, Good Finale

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: “Bulletville” — the episode that capped season 1 of “Justified” — is one of the best season finales I’ve ever seen. The shootout in that cabin is the stuff of legend.

So how could I not have sky-high expectations for the show’s latest season-ender? The episode was called “Bloody Harlan,” for cripes sake!

Though I don’t think it topped “Bulletville,” “Bloody Harlan” ABSOLUTELY delivered on the promise of its title. There was an explosion, a couple of shootouts, the deaths of several prominent characters and several lives (literally and figuratively) hanging in the balance.

Winona seemed to have a sense of what was coming. After Raylan formally asked a still-terse Art for a transfer to Glynco, Winona casually revealed to Raylan that she was pregnant. (I was WAY early in calling this one, but I was right! Eventually.) Even though Winona has caused more than her fair share of trouble for Raylan this season, every scene between Timothy Olyphant and Natalie Zea has a natural, live-in quality that’s very appealing.

Unfortunately for the not-quite-destined-to-be-happy couple, Raylan received a phone call from Loretta’s cell phone. Instead of Loretta, there was a police officer on the other side of the line: Loretta was missing. After the cop left, Raylan got the foster dad to confess that he kept a gun and about $300 hidden away, both of which were now gone.

Raylan quickly deduced that Loretta was on her way to Harlan to avenge her father’s death. (As soon as they kept showing Loretta at that foster home — instead of never showing her again once she was gone — you just knew that she’d be pointing a gun at Mags by the end of the season.) Winona begged him not to go — Raylan was still persona non grata in Bennett-run Harlan — but Raylan feels a (fatherly) kinship to Loretta that Winona wasn’t privy to. When trying to stop Raylan didn’t work, Winona went to the marshal’s office to beg Art for help. Let’s just say that having a pushy ex-wife paid off big time for Raylan.

Meanwhile, Boyd had requested a sit-down with Mags to hash out their issues. (I loved that these redneck-y Kentucky folk insisted on calling their meeting a “parley.”) Boyd and Mags had agreed that Boyd would run all the crime in Harlan, except for weed. Dickie (acting independently) had gotten in Boyd’s face, so Boyd decided to break the deal he’d made with Dickie’s mom and ripped Dickie off. Boyd was obviously a force to contend with, but he was badly outnumbered by the Bennett’s manpower, which was why he requested the meeting.

Of course, the genius of the parley scene was that both parties believed they knew something the other didn’t know. The Mags and Doyle believed they were keeping Boyd (and Arlo) busy while their small army killed the wheelchair-bound Johnny Crowder in his home and assaulted the home Boyd now shared with Ava. On the other side, Boyd had found out about the assault from Doyle’s colleague that he’d bribed (and that was unhappy about Mags’ Black Pike deal), so Boyd’s people were ready for the assault. Johnny blew up the thugs who were supposed to kill him, and Devil was mostly able to fend off the people who’d come to Ava’s house.

Except that Ava just couldn’t help being Ava. Most of season 1, the character seemed to mostly exist so that she could get in trouble and Raylan could pull her out of it. This time, after being instructed to hide in the cellar, Ava insisted on making herself coffee. She was supposed to be watching the back of the house, but she was too distracted to see the Bennetts’ people pull up. (That shot through the kitchen window was awesome.)

Since they were ready for the assault, Boyd’s people were in good shape…until Dickie somehow slipped in and shot Ava in her kitchen. (He’s been doing a lot of that lately.) I literally gasped when Ava got shot. When that happened, it was impossible to think of her quick bonding scene with Helen, and how alike those two ended up being. Fortunately, Ava was hit in the right side of her abdomen. Last we saw of her, she was being tended to by a doctor who Boyd had paid to come to the house.

So at this point, Raylan was looking for Loretta while Boyd was looking for Dickie: luckily for Raylan both men wound up at the same place. Raylan had found the man who’d driven Loretta close to Harlan, but that guy was so terrified of the Bennetts that he’d made a deal with Dickie. Dickie got the drop on Raylan and knocked him on the head with a baseball bat. (My second gasp of the episode.)

When Raylan woke up, he was hanging upside down by one leg as Dickie treated him like a piñata. This scene was fantastic in so many ways. I loved that even though it was very likely he was going to be beaten to death, Raylan was still cracking jokes to piss Dickie off. (To make Dickie lose his cool so that Raylan could escape…or so that Dickie would kill him fast?) I also loved that Dickie was wielding a baseball bat, which we all know is what Raylan used to cripple Dickie 20 years earlier. Unfortunately for Dickie, Boyd popped out from behind a tree and helped free Raylan. (And handed him his hat.)

The button on the scene was that, although Raylan couldn’t kill Dickie himself last week, he’d “sleep like a baby” by allowing Boyd to do it. The only problem is that he needed Dickie to find Loretta.

Cut to the confrontation at Mags’ house. The place was being guarded by Doyle and a bunch of his men. First, Loretta arrived and she was allowed through because Mags still considers her somewhat of a daughter. Then Raylan arrived with a gun to Dickie’s head and wanting to get Loretta back. It was kind of perfect that Loretta shooting Mags in the head is what incited the shootout outside. Raylan was shot in the abdomen and was about to be killed by Doyle. Unfortunately, Doyle couldn’t help but say something before shooting his enemy (too many action movies). So right after he told Raylan that the bullet he was about to put in him had been on the way for 20 years…he was shot in the head.

The cavalry…I mean, the marshals had arrived! I thoroughly enjoyed everything that this scene implied. I love that the clean headshot on Doyle almost certainly means that Tim is the one who took the shot. (That’s how he killed the human trafficker earlier this season.) I also love that, as disappointed as he was in Raylan, Art couldn’t just leave him twisting in the wind by himself. It must’ve been particularly difficult for Winona to convince him since he was probably pissed at her too for her part in the $100 bill/evidence locker saga.

Now all (a wounded) Raylan had to do was stop Loretta from becoming a killer. He eventually talked the girl into not shooting Mags. Everything seemed ok until we got another horrifying callback to the season premiere: Mags pulled out two different glasses and sat down with Raylan for some apple pie. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been mildly terrified every time Mags has offered anybody something to drink this season after the way she poisoned Loretta’s dad. Watching both Mags and Raylan drink some moonshine out of their glasses was a punch to the gut.

Having Raylan ask “Mags, what did you do?” didn’t help matters. It turns out that Mags had poisoned herself and died while Raylan held her hand. At first, I didn’t love Mags’ suicide. I thought it was a copout for her character and I was selfishly annoyed that we were losing such a great character. (All the credit in the world should go to Margo Martindale.) But the more I thought about it, the more I liked and accepted the idea that Mags just wanted to be reunited with her boys. (That reunion doesn’t include Dickie, who is now in custody. Ouch!)

So what’d you think of this episode? How long was Boyd hiding behind that tree while Dickie treated Raylan like a piñata? Do you think we’ll see Dickie next season? Is there any chance that Ava doesn’t survive? Finally, is there any chance Raylan actually goes through with his transfer to Glynco? (Winona is still pregnant, and Harlan is obviously still not baby-friendly.)

Thanks for hanging with me and putting up with all my nonsense throughout this season of “Justified.” It was a blast!