fire and brimstoning the opposition
Tonight’s episode was considerably talkier than last week’s awesome “Watching the Detectives”. But that’s ok too. The more tertiary characters get a front row seat, if only to be taken out to make room for the bigger chess pieces on the board to move around more freely. Yep, a lot of people have their grand moment here, leaving even Raylan to take a smaller role as well.
Raylan spends most of the episode looking for loopholes to get closer to Quarles after Art puts his foot down on Raylan’s efforts. Ava’s role has been roller-coastering along since season one, and it was kind of strange seeing her unload a shotgun into Delroy. Delroy I didn’t mind seeing pass on, as his appearances were always intermittent and not of great consequence. Part of the strangeness of Ava’s choice to do so has to do with her motivations and sense of morality. She’s been attached to Boyd’s side for quite some time and doesn’t mind that he’s into theft, drugs and murder. But she tends to balk when it comes to ‘runnin’ whores’. Why doesn’t she realize that helping run an oxy empire in rural Kentucky tends to lend itself greatly to prostitution as a means to support the habit? Just seems a bit off motivation-wise is all.
Boyd only had a handful of scenes, but when he shows up to speak at the rigged sheriff election, magic happens. When he gets up in front a crowd, he completely takes it over in an instant. The same thing happened the first season when he got in front of the pulpit, moving several to action. As much as I miss the scheming shades of Shane (his character from The Shield) that occasionally surface here as Boyd, it’s really something to watch actor Walton Goggins at work in this very different role.
Still no word from Dickie, I wonder if his time is coming to an end as the season winds down. Also, it was interesting to see Art and Raylan slowly uncovering the missing male hustlers that Quarles has a weak spot for beating(?) or worse. This plot element could reveal itself in one of several different directions, and I’m not sure there are any good answers on the other side of the door. I have to say, Tanner had a pretty cool (and tense) death scene at the hands of a modified ‘bouncing betty’. And Limehouse had a great moment opposite Raylan, egging him with recollections of Arlo and Raylan’s mother. “Loose Ends” served as mainly gluing the plots and characters we’ve seen for something much bigger down the line; while not as action-oriented as prior episodes, it was serviceable enough for its own intentions.
Final Grade: B-
TRR TV Revue by Jacob Aquino
