Justified – “Sounding” Retrospective. Seeking a Friend.

Season 6, Episode 5

Air date: Tuesday, February 17, 2015, 10PM E/P on FX

Rating: ★★★★★

“I like Ava; it’d be a shame to have to kill her.” – Katherine Hale

In the aftermath of last week’s episode “The Trash and the Snake,” Ava (Joelle Carter) is scared out of her mind that Katherine Hale (Mary Steenburgen) is ready to put a bullet in her head. In “Sounding”, Ava tries to take matters into her own hands but her plans to get the hell out of Harlan don’t go quite as she hopes. Meanwhile, Katherine and Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns) want to find out for sure if Ava is an informant or not. They don’t want to take any chances and try to get to the bottom of things before it’s too late. I think the use of a “cattle prod” to get information out of Albert Fekus (guest star Danny Strong) may have been a bit much, but Fekus deserves it for what he did to Ava. I’m just glad he doesn’t lose his proverbial shit and tells the truth about recanting his story.

Does Errol really think Ava’s got money buried somewhere?

If you live in Harlan, KY, where do you go when you need to make a quiet getaway? Well, you go see Limehouse (guest star Mykelti Williamson) up in Noble’s Hollar. Limehouse ain’t no fool, though. He knows helping Ava can get him into some sticky business and he’s not in the mood to get stuck. The offer of lots of money is enticing but Ava’s no dummy either. She’s not willing to give up any information until she gets what she wants first. As I mentioned, the way Ava wanted all of this to go down doesn’t pan out the way she hopes and she ends up right back where she started – at home and fearing for her life.

Carter does a brilliant job of portraying Ava as a panicked informant trying her best to keep her cool. While she loses her grip on the phone with Raylan (Timothy Olyphant), she’s calm, cool, and collected as she serves up a big homemade country breakfast for Boyd (Walton Goggins).

Is it just me or is Raylan a little too invested in Ava’s business? I know she’s his C.I. but they also used to be lovers back in season one. How kind of Ava to remind Raylan of that fact. Their close proximity to one another really heats up the screen. You can feel the tension growing when Raylan takes off his signature white Stetson and takes another step closer to Ava in her kitchen. What will Boyd do if and when he finds out Ava’s been giving the U.S. Marshals information on what he’s been up to? I can’t imagine he’ll be pleased but do you think he is capable of harming Ava? She might need to put some extra down home goodness on the “fried chicken” dinner she promised him.

I like Constable Bob but Raylan should have known better than to have him stage a ruse.

With this being the final season of Justified, I can understand the desire to bring back familiar faces like Constable Bob Sweeney (guest star Patton Oswalt), but is it truly necessary? I like Oswalt and his portrayal of Constable Bob is a hoot, and perhaps Bob’s reemergence in “Sounding” will be crucial in a future episode in this final season. While I understand Bob does serve a purpose in “Sounding,” since he’s closest to Limehouse up in Noble’s Hollar, he really isn’t the right man for the job. Bob can’t even stand up to Errol (Demetrius Grosse) in the hardware store. Bringing Limehouse back, given his history of helping Harlan’s damsels in distress, is plausible. I know he still has some unfinished business with a few folks down in Harlan. I’m anxious to see where the writers take this plot point, if anywhere.

Avery Markham (Sam Elliott) is not pleased after Raylan tells him he can’t have his property or Loretta’s (Kaitlyn Dever) land either, for that matter. The question is, how does Raylan know about all the properties Markham is interested in buying? Of course, we all know the answer to that. The best realtor in Kentucky just can’t seem to catch a break, can he? Poor Calhoun (Brad Leland); he thought he was doing a good thing by keeping a ledger of all the transactions he helped procure for Markham’s guys but it only seals his fate.

Funny Conversation

We all know Choo-Choo (Duke Davis Roberts) isn’t the brains of the operation but he doesn’t seem to care too much about that. When Choo-Choo and Seabass (Scott Grimes) pay Calhoun a visit, the subsequent conversation in the aftermath of what happens made me chuckle.

Seabass: “I said a starter tap!”

Choo-Choo: “You want him slapped like a little girl, you do it, alright? You ask me, he gets Amtrak’d.”

Overall

“Sounding” is a good filler episode because it moves some of the story lines forward. I’m still wondering about Boyd employing Ava’s uncle Zachariah (guest star Jeff Fahey) to help break into the bank vault inside Markham’s Pizza Portal shop. Hopefully the writers will clue us in sooner rather than later. Is Raylan truly thinking of sticking around Ava’s place knowing full well Boyd is on his way home? I sure hope, for Ava’s sake, Raylan leaves before Boyd or any of his crew sees him there. Besides, she’s still going to get an earful, if not more, from Limehouse after Errol tells him what happened at the hardware store.

Let me know what you thought of “Sounding.” Leave a comment below and/or tweet me @judybopp.

Tune in to the final episodes of Justified, Tuesdays at 10:00 PM ET/PT, only on FX.

For more on the show, go to http://www.fxnetworks.com/justified.

Follow Justified on Twitter @JustifiedFX #JustifiedFX.

Follow cast member Joelle Carter @Joelle_Carter on Twitter.

For fans of Walton Goggins, follow @WaltonGFan.

LIKE Justified on Facebook.

Biography of the Author(Read Below)..
Latest Posts (view them )..

Judy Manning

Dream chaser extraordinaire! Judy tends to be a tad sarcastic and kind of goofy! She is an avid admirer of all things supernatural, paranormal, celestial and mystical. She loves to read, write, and watches way too much TV. She enjoys many genres of film and music (and let's be honest, most music from the 80s). She also has a wicked sweet tooth. Cupcakes beware.