Justified Recap ‘The Trash and the Snake’: Don’t Get Bit

In the latest Justified recap, Raylan and Tim come face to face with the men forcing people out of their homes all over Harlan and Boyd finds out why explosives and cell phones just don’t mix…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

There’s been an underlying current to a couple of the episodes of this final season of ‘Justified’ that seem to suggest that Raylan Givens is the man most likely to not make it out of Harlan alive.

The season began with a warning from Art to Raylan that at some point during his tenure as the Marshal service’s resident gun slinger that someone would draw a little faster or he might miss and they hit their target. In other words, things won’t always go his way and at some point you have to get out while the getting’s good.

The conversation that kicks off the latest episode titled ‘The Trash and the Snake’ is the same kind of harbinger of doom as Raylan once again picks his old boss’s brain about the new big bad that arrived in town named Avery Markham. Art knew about Markham back in the day when he was Grady Hale’s running mate and likely the person that ratted him out to the Federal government before disappearing into his own business.

But what Art is far more concerned about is Raylan’s new mission to bring down Markham when he was supposed to be focused on Boyd Crowder. The way Art sees it is Raylan is either avoiding his move to Florida or he just can’t stop obsessing about the next big bad he has to tackle. What Raylan doesn’t understand is there’s always going to be someone else. One criminal dies, three more pop up in his place. At some point he has to let go.

The conversation that ensues is similar to the one they shared at the beginning of the season with a similar and equally deadly end of the story.

Raylan: “Your mama asks you to take out the trash you do as she says, but you see a copperhead on the way out, you don’t go back inside and say you didn’t do nothing because all she asked was to take out the trash. You take out the trash and the snake.”
Art: “Didn’t your mama tell you there’s always another snake?”
Raylan: “I knew you’d say that”
Art: “Raylan, if you declare war on ’em all, they’re just going to out breed you and out last you and bring you down for good. I’m telling you not to get your ass bit.”

Once again, Raylan’s undying obsession to get his man might get him dead. With that, let’s recap the latest episode of Justified titled ‘The Trash and the Snake’.

House Hunting

Raylan and Tim spend the majority of the episode tracking down various houses and lands around Harlan County after shady realtor Calhoun helps them decipher his ledger of all the transactions that have taken place since Avery Markham and his syndicate showed up in town. It seems Avery’s methods are fairly simple — he offers to buy and if they refuse, he ups the ante. If they still refuse, something bad tends to happen and they either sell or end up dead. Some people end up victims of house fires or in the case of the Hutchins, they suddenly died after their furnace broke and they were asphyxiated by carbon monoxide poisoning inside their home.

If you don’t remember the Hutchins, they were the couple who refused to sell to a sniffling Ty Walker before Mr. Hutchins made the mistake of calling him a peacock. Later that same night, Walker and Seabass showed up with rolls of plastic, which at the time I assumed were used to wrap up the Hutchins’ in a Dexter style massacre, but as it turns out they had a different plan all together.

Raylan and Tim’s investigation at the Hutchins estate reveals glue and plastic residue around the windows of the house. In other words, Walker and Seabass made sure the furnace malfunctioned and then sealed the windows in plastic, assuring that the carbon monoxide would get trapped and the Hutchins never had a chance to wake up again.

The next stop on the ‘Justified’ reunion tour takes Raylan and Tim to the local prison where we see Dickie Bennett, presumably for the last time, and he’s dug out of his cell because the Bennett property was sold and they want to know who bought it. Dickie — wild hair and all — is still trying to get under Raylan’s skin by taunting him with refusing to give up little or no information but the writing is already on the wall. Raylan figures out from public records and the hints in Dickie’s voice that he sold the land to try and get under his skin, meaning the weed business his family once ran is back in operation.

What Dickie doesn’t know is that he sold the land to Loretta McCready — the one girl his mother favored over all of them despite the fact that she didn’t share an ounce of blood with the family.

A quick refresher from last season — Loretta started her own weed business and even used Raylan to help her eliminate the competition. Now she’s farming the Bennett land and acting as boss to a new marijuana empire.

The only problem is the Colorado weed king wants to move into her territory. Avery Markham’s end game is to buy up as much land as possible around Harlan because he’s convinced Kentucky is going to be the next state to legalize weed and when it happens, he’ll already be way ahead of the game and far, far ahead of his next potential opponent in the state. When we find Loretta planted in Mags Bennett’s old place she’s entertaining Ty Walker while contemplating a financial offer so rich she’ll never have to work another day in her life. Loretta looks curious but in reality she’s just sizing up Walker and when she goes for a Mason jar full of a little drink called ‘apple pie’, you know what she thinks about his offer.

Before he can partake, Raylan and Tim show up and offer him an exit before he calls his boss to come out to the Bennett place for a little sit down. Finally, Raylan and Avery come face to face for a meeting. Some words are exchanged, some subtle threats are made, but in the end, Raylan and Avery are caught in a stalemate. Raylan can’t arrest Avery without proof and Avery can’t start killing cops if he’s going to build his new weed empire on the land he’s buying up all over town. It’s clear, however, that Markham isn’t your average, everyday criminal who plops down in Harlan County. He’s even smart enough to call Loretta on her apple pie moonshine when he sees the glass sitting there just begging for a drink.

“Stick your pinky in there and have a lick”
~ Avery Markham to Loretta

He knows about Mags Bennett’s favorite drink and he’s smart enough to know he’s facing a worthy adversary in the U.S. Marshal hot on his trail. In reality, one has to wonder, is Avery Markham the snake who will finally bite down on Raylan Givens? We shall soon find out.

Click-Click-Boom

Boyd gets to spend the day with Wynn Duffy this week as they explore options on getting the safe open that’s currently occupying the basement at the Pizza Portal in Harlan. It’s not just some wall safe that you can crack with a sledgehammer and a lot of patience. No, this is 16-inches of Youngstown steel, son.

Thankfully, Wynn has a guy who can do the job and his name is the Wiz. And yes, he’s played by Gary Busey’s son who looks creepily just like his father. Following a few back and forth exchanges about explosives and watching Boyd nearly simmer over was worth the time we spent with Wiz, but it was clear just moments later that he wasn’t getting paid on a recurring salary for his appearance on the show.

Wiz has another safe just like the one in the Pizza Portal that they can experiment on to find the right combination of drilling and explosives to crack it wide open. Wiz collects everybody’s phones because the explosives he’s using can detonate with any electronic signal. The only problem is Wiz forgot to remove his own cell phone and seconds later he goes ka-boom.

Wynn and Boyd are covered in blood and muck and they both go home with a little bit of Wiz on them. Safe security 1, safe crackers 0.

Katherine and Ava’s Day of Fun

While Boyd is out getting blood splattered on him, Ava spends the day with Katherine Hale, who invites her to lunch where they share fruit salad, tales of husbands being killed with shotguns and finally some premium grade, pharmaceutical grade cocaine. Katherine even uses Ava on a heist where she steals a diamond tennis bracelet from a local jeweler, who used to give her a house account and champagne while her husband Grady was still alive and the crime boss to end all crime bosses in the area.

Katherine even tells a rather interesting story about Hillary Clinton and the idea that she was the real brains behind the man who Americans called President for eight years. The point of the story is that Katherine was also the brains behind Grady’s operation and after his death, she was forced to fend for herself. Now she’s going after Markham for one part revenge, one part financial satisfaction.

Before Ava leaves, Katherine finally unloads her real agenda, which is to quiz the recently released convict about the guard who once sent her to jail and now suddenly recanted his testimony and helped her go free. Katherine even offers to find him and help Ava get a little closure, but she politely declines. Katherine sees just how rattled Ava got with her line of questioning and she’s one step closer to proving that Boyd’s sweetheart is really government rat.

Naturally, Ava freaks out, calls Raylan and says it’s time she gets the hell out of Dodge. Before she can pack a bag, Boyd shows up (in new clothes and no longer covered in Wiz) and tells her some good news. He decides to change his plan (again) — instead of robbing Avery of his money, he’s going to rob him of his idea. Boyd is going to set up shop as Harlan’s resident weed king before Markham can even get a foothold.

Boyd Crowder — the pot king of Kentucky. It does have a certain ring to it.

Review:

A much slower episode this week without much action, but some real meaty dialogue between Raylan and Art as well as Raylan and Markham as well as another standout week for Ava as she tries to play both ends against the middle without getting torn in two. A lot of set up that will likely pay off as the season progresses and count two more down in the reunion category after seeing both Dickie Bennett and Loretta McCready this week. It appears we’re in for a lot more of that as the season moves forward.

Best Lines of the Week:

“Not to mention Leslie’s been waiting on me hand and foot and feeling sorry for me and that shit gets old. I know she’s sick of me and I know she’d rather be doing yoga with her hippie friends so I had to practically shove her out the door cause I’m hungry and I’m sick of eating all her healthy twigs and cat food and shit.”
Art

“When are you going to tell me the story of Miss Hutchins? Was she the teacher who cared? She watered little Raylan so he could blossom?”

~ Tim

 “I hated her and she hated English, nearly turned me off of books. The only thing she taught me was don’t do a job just for money.”

~ Raylan

 “I’m kidding. I want Sigourney Weaver to choke me out with her thighs.”

~ Tim

“They catch you with it they’re taking you to Guantanamo Bay and hooking your nuts up to a car battery.”
~ Wiz

“Okay, you ain’t talking to me, she’s done talking to you — now do you want to get your ass out or is there something else you’re here to do?”
~ Raylan

Next week’s episode of ‘Justified’ titled ‘Sounding’ will see the return of everybody’s favorite machete wielding butcher Ellstin Limehouse.