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Review: #JustifiedFX “When the Guns Come Out” (Not too many guns but plenty of thugs, whores, and pimps)

Review: Justified, Season 3, Episode 306 “When The Guns Come Out”

Airdate: Tuesday, February 21, 2012, 10PM E/P on FX

Rating: ★★★★★

Raylan (Timothy Olyphant, R) finally finds Winona (Natalie Zea, L) at her sister's house in Louisville

Trust your gut instincts. I should have trusted mine about Winona (Natalie Zea) wanting to high-tail it out of town. Not only has Winona been gone for weeks, everyone and their mothers seem to know she’d already checked out of the relationship with Raylan (Timothy Olyphant). I wish I would have put two and two together from the first episode when a State Trooper had to find Winona to tell her Raylan had been shot. Was I so blind? Too blind to see what’s in front of me because I was wishing and hoping Raylan had found some semblance of normalcy with Winona. So what else am I missing that I may have been temporarily blind to previously?

When Raylan pulls up a website for Costa Rica on Winona’s office computer, it gets his hamster wheels spinning. He goes down to the evidence lockers to see if the money from an old bank robbery is still there. It isn’t. Would Winona really flee the country being pregnant with Raylan’s child? And is she really pregnant? If so, is it Raylan’s or her ex-husband Gary’s (William Ragsdale)? Will Gary ever resurface? Did they actually get divorced? Is he in Costa Rica? So many questions and now that my eyes are open, I’m wondering if Winona hiding out in Louisville, KY with her sister is a ruse. Is she going to meet up with Gary again? It’s just a passing thought.

Raylan (Timothy Olyphant, R) meets up with Ava (Joelle Carter, L) at Audrey's to talk to Ellen-May

Back in Harlan, things seem to be heating up between Quarles (Neal McDonough) and Boyd (Walton Goggins) after Boyd’s Oxycontin set up is taken down in a blaze of bullets. Raylan just wants to find Winona but his family name is stamped all over this recent shooting, forcing him to stay and wrap things up. When he meets up with Ava (Joelle Carter) to get information, it’s an awkward reunion. Once so intimate with one another, these two now walk on opposite sides of the law. One may think his iciness towards her reflects on the fact Ava is sleeping with Boyd, but it’s just Raylan having a bad day.

William Mapother as Redneck Ho Wrangler Delroy

Ellen-May’s (Abby Miller) pimp, of sorts, Delroy (guest star William Mapother), takes a shine to Ava, and rightly so. If he had women as beautiful as Ava, he’d be sitting pretty. Mapother does a brilliant turn as a ruthless ho-wrangler, if you will, who shadows his brutality with a thin veil of compassion. After seeing her best friend killed in cold blood, Ellen-May is shaken but Delroy raises his pimp-hand and let’s her know who’s running things. But I have to say I love when Raylan raises his law-hand and shows Delroy a thing or two. Mapother seems to play off-beat suspicious characters quite well. Remember him from Lost? He played that weird Ethan guy (shudder).

Quarles strikes me as a calculating man, one who would see all the ‘I’s’ dotted and ‘T’s’ crossed before making a statement. But with Quarles’ senior redneck recruiter Tanner (Brendan McCarthy) leading the charge, it’s convenient to think Quarles ordered the Oxy hit… almost too convenient. But Quarles has more pressing issues to worry about now that the FBI has caught wind of him. When he asks Duffy (Jere Burns) to dig up everything on Raylan, it opens up a new can of worms as to the direction this season can go. And what’s up with Quarles’ little private bedroom where he always seems to have someone tied up and gagged? Hearing the muffled screams and moans through the door not only leaves Wynn feeling uneasy, it makes me feel like Quarles is much more formidable and psychotic than I originally thought.

What impresses me is Boyd’s thought process. He doesn’t immediately jump to conclusions despite the simplicity of the evidence in front of him. What brings up more questions is Boyd paying a visit to Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson). How does Limehouse know all? We know Trixie (RIP) was one of Limehouse’s Harlan spies, but it seems he’s got eyes and ears all over. I think Limehouse is a much bigger player who’s been biding his time, but when his henchman (Demetrius Grosse) makes a grave error, Limehouse finds himself in the middle of things slightly unprepared.

Although an all around good episode, I know all these ‘ok’ episodes are building to something explosive coming around the bend. “When the Guns Come Out” leaves one to think a lot more guns were going to be coming out. I would think with a title like that, everyone and their neighbors would be whipping out their six-shooters and sawed-off shotguns. I guess I was hoping for more of an actual confrontation rather than the stalemate we get. I will admit my fear for Raylan when he and Tanner are inside the mobile Oxy trailer as it barrels down the road. Tanner is a strapping guy and could give Raylan a run for his money. It’s a good thing Tanner has that severe limp; otherwise, it might have been Raylan rolling out on the dirt road instead.

Tune in to Justified, Tuesdays at 10PM E/P only on FX.

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

Follow FX on Twitter and use hashtag #JustifiedFX.

Follow cast member Joelle Carter on Twitter: @Joelle_Carter.

For Fans of Walton Goggins, follow @WaltonGFan.

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Photos © 2011 FX Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

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.

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.