I can use the hiatus to let my nails grow back.
Soooo the Justified season 2 finale flew by this evening.
* I should have known that Boyd would be plugged into backchannels, and ready for what happened during the parley. Boyyyyyyd. ♥ So criminal, and so competent--he's like the Anti-Dickie. I might have said a few bad words out loud when events unfolded with Ava--I was honestly startled.
* I must admit, Winona has already had a hard row to hoe with me, once the scripts had her spending time on that old TV-cop-show chestnut, 'This job to which you are devoted is too dangerous, you need to quit because I want you to.' It's a cliche I'm super-tired of. But I could have handled (or at least tolerated) it a little better if she hadn't kicked it up a big notch in this episode, with her saying basically, 'Oh, an orphaned fourteen year old girl for whom you feel responsible (and with whom you explicitly identify, and who you directly promised to be there for) is on the run into a war zone with a pistol and a grudge? Leave it alone, this is not your problem, and if you need to go after her then Iiiiii might not be here when you get back sob sob.' At that point, I'm afraid I said, Bye Winona, I'm kind of done with you now. Because really. Who does she actually think she's in love with, and who would Raylan be if he had been able to say, 'Yeah you're right, shrug, never mind'? I mean, not just in terms of emotion, and honor, and protectiveness--but in terms of all his history and his neuroses and his damage. Does she really not know who he is?
* I liked that doctor who came to Boyd's--he was in a dangerous situation, and yet clearly kept his head. Boyd could threaten him, whatever, no flinching; he has a job to do, and he knows Boyd has the money that his clinic needs.
* Startled again by the scene at Wade's. Zounds!
* Nice recurring theme in this episode of people riding to Raylan's rescue--but not because he asked them or anything. He was off lone-wolfing around as always, and got in WAY over his head more than once. And why isn't he plugged full of holes and ta-da the series is over? Because other people, with their own agendas, show up in the nick of time, and in the process of going about their own business, they are willing to save his narrow behind. (...mmmm, his narrow behinnnnnd...)
* I just love how Raylan and Boyd interact. LOVE. IT. Always shifting, on some kind of fence where they're each on both sides of it, and they know each other so well and so intensely but not perfectly. It was very telling, I think, what Raylan said when he was first walking away and planning to just leave (right before Boyd handed him his hat! ♥). Boyd will, and sometimes Raylan needs to rely on that.
* The fact that Boyd did let Raylan have Dickie speaks volumes, and it's fascinating that the final moment of decision happened offscreen/between scenes. Because Boyd settled into that dangerous stance--and then Raylan had that stiffnecked line about "you can tell people I asked"--was that Raylan threatening? Or, was it as close as Raylan could come to admitting he was asking? I think the latter was more likely to have an effect, at this point...
* I am thinking it was Tim who took the shot that saved Raylan's delicious bacon the second time. No canonical proof for it, per se, but it fits, doesn't it?
* ART. I love Art in any amount, and here we got a nice spectrum. We saw more of that unspoken estrangement of sorts between him and Raylan, and how Raylan had more realizing to do, re: the fact that Art won't necessarily just automatically do him a favor with the reassignment. I also liked Art's brittle chivalry with Winona, where he slathers on the Southern courtesy but doesn't really want to talk to her. And of course, I loved his participation in the theme of Rescuing Raylan From Himself. "On the ground, hillbillies!"
* I was a little surprised that Mags ended up dropping her cover story about Coover; if she had been committed to manipulating Loretta with it, I feel like she could have managed it. But in the end, I think she really did have ideals and affection for Loretta, in a hazy and narcissistic way... Now that I consider it, it's interesting to note that both Mags and Raylan see something of themselves in Loretta. Hmmm. Really, though, that final decision Mags took after hearing about Doyle (and Dickie) definitely proved once and for all who she cared about. Coover was her baby; Doyle was the future. Dickie? Eh. *g*
* In conclusion: the scene when Raylan asks "How about if I just lean against this doorjamb for a little bit?" OBVIOUSLY THE WRITERS UNDERSTAND THE THEME OF THE SERIES THUS FAR. For Raylan is all about leaning lankily-akimbo.
* I should have known that Boyd would be plugged into backchannels, and ready for what happened during the parley. Boyyyyyyd. ♥ So criminal, and so competent--he's like the Anti-Dickie. I might have said a few bad words out loud when events unfolded with Ava--I was honestly startled.
* I must admit, Winona has already had a hard row to hoe with me, once the scripts had her spending time on that old TV-cop-show chestnut, 'This job to which you are devoted is too dangerous, you need to quit because I want you to.' It's a cliche I'm super-tired of. But I could have handled (or at least tolerated) it a little better if she hadn't kicked it up a big notch in this episode, with her saying basically, 'Oh, an orphaned fourteen year old girl for whom you feel responsible (and with whom you explicitly identify, and who you directly promised to be there for) is on the run into a war zone with a pistol and a grudge? Leave it alone, this is not your problem, and if you need to go after her then Iiiiii might not be here when you get back sob sob.' At that point, I'm afraid I said, Bye Winona, I'm kind of done with you now. Because really. Who does she actually think she's in love with, and who would Raylan be if he had been able to say, 'Yeah you're right, shrug, never mind'? I mean, not just in terms of emotion, and honor, and protectiveness--but in terms of all his history and his neuroses and his damage. Does she really not know who he is?
* I liked that doctor who came to Boyd's--he was in a dangerous situation, and yet clearly kept his head. Boyd could threaten him, whatever, no flinching; he has a job to do, and he knows Boyd has the money that his clinic needs.
* Startled again by the scene at Wade's. Zounds!
* Nice recurring theme in this episode of people riding to Raylan's rescue--but not because he asked them or anything. He was off lone-wolfing around as always, and got in WAY over his head more than once. And why isn't he plugged full of holes and ta-da the series is over? Because other people, with their own agendas, show up in the nick of time, and in the process of going about their own business, they are willing to save his narrow behind. (...mmmm, his narrow behinnnnnd...)
* I just love how Raylan and Boyd interact. LOVE. IT. Always shifting, on some kind of fence where they're each on both sides of it, and they know each other so well and so intensely but not perfectly. It was very telling, I think, what Raylan said when he was first walking away and planning to just leave (right before Boyd handed him his hat! ♥). Boyd will, and sometimes Raylan needs to rely on that.
* The fact that Boyd did let Raylan have Dickie speaks volumes, and it's fascinating that the final moment of decision happened offscreen/between scenes. Because Boyd settled into that dangerous stance--and then Raylan had that stiffnecked line about "you can tell people I asked"--was that Raylan threatening? Or, was it as close as Raylan could come to admitting he was asking? I think the latter was more likely to have an effect, at this point...
* I am thinking it was Tim who took the shot that saved Raylan's delicious bacon the second time. No canonical proof for it, per se, but it fits, doesn't it?
* ART. I love Art in any amount, and here we got a nice spectrum. We saw more of that unspoken estrangement of sorts between him and Raylan, and how Raylan had more realizing to do, re: the fact that Art won't necessarily just automatically do him a favor with the reassignment. I also liked Art's brittle chivalry with Winona, where he slathers on the Southern courtesy but doesn't really want to talk to her. And of course, I loved his participation in the theme of Rescuing Raylan From Himself. "On the ground, hillbillies!"
* I was a little surprised that Mags ended up dropping her cover story about Coover; if she had been committed to manipulating Loretta with it, I feel like she could have managed it. But in the end, I think she really did have ideals and affection for Loretta, in a hazy and narcissistic way... Now that I consider it, it's interesting to note that both Mags and Raylan see something of themselves in Loretta. Hmmm. Really, though, that final decision Mags took after hearing about Doyle (and Dickie) definitely proved once and for all who she cared about. Coover was her baby; Doyle was the future. Dickie? Eh. *g*
* In conclusion: the scene when Raylan asks "How about if I just lean against this doorjamb for a little bit?" OBVIOUSLY THE WRITERS UNDERSTAND THE THEME OF THE SERIES THUS FAR. For Raylan is all about leaning lankily-akimbo.