PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN, DEWEY CROWE!
I’m really enjoying Boyd Crowder, motivational speaker this season, and I’d like to use that quote to segue into a little something about Dewey Crowe: Damon Herriman does some great work tonight with the more dramatic scenes. For the most part, he’s been used as comic relief, but here, I really feel bad for the guy because of the situation he’s in; he’s just started started to believe he’s making something for himself, but in the end, he winds up finding out he’s been manipulated and taken advantage of. The season’s done a good job of conveying a sense of desperation and loss of control for several of our characters.
That includes Boyd, as we see in the way he treats Dewey. It seems as if the characters around Raylan are following his lead to an extent, albeit in more extreme ways. Boyd, for example, will treat others like shit, but he won’t necessarily see just how much of a personal toll his actions can have; the last scene emphasizes that point, and the earlier prison scene with Ava does as well. It’s disheartening to see their relationship fraying at the edges, but it’s understandable; Joelle Carter is doing a fine job with the little work she has, by the way.
As for Raylan, we see a plethora of signs throughout “Good Intentions” that get at his deeper nature, his penchant for bending the law and having his judgment clouded. The very first scene–which involves Olyphant shirtless, by the way–hints at his inherent naivety and his almost childish nature, and that later extends deeper into his relationship with Allison. There’s something up about that woman, and I hope this is leading to some sort of catharsis for him in a season of (hopefully) change for the better. In fact, Rachel hits the bulls-eye when she effectively states that he turns people into assholes; he may be a lawman, but it seems as if many of the characters in the show are poisonous or are overcome by poison.
For, everything’s about trust, or a lack thereof. The culmination of all this for Boyd arises when Mara has him take his shirt off and observes his tattoos. It’s a chilling, nerve-wracking–I love Boyd and Ava, so you can understand–scene that highlights that desperation, that “everyone for himself” attitude that permeates Harlan. It looks like it’s only going to go downhill from here.
GRADE: B
-I think this episode is a bit of a mess, which explains the grade. It just doesn’t gel as a whole, and while we get some great Raylan-Duffy and Raylan-Rachel interactions, the collective whole doesn’t feel as well-paced or slick.
-“You take those things off, I will staple them to your goddamn head.” I’m glad that seems to be a recurring bit, and when Ava breaks out of prison in a wondrous escape with lots of explosions and reunites with Boyd–that will happen–I hope this guy is still there.
-Goggins having some problems with someone named Mara is not surprising to anyone who ever watched The Shield.
-Amy Smart and Timothy Olyphant are fun to watch together. Although I do think her and Mara’s plots may turn out to be a bit repetitive–I can see why they don’t work for a lot of people–I’m hoping that’s not the case.
-“Call me if you’re late for supper.” I can see Raylan and Rachel as a married couple.
-“Does this restaurant have blowjobs on the menu? Apples and oranges.”
-Xander Berkeley is very unsettling in this episode as Monroe, the “choking and smothering a woman to near-death” dude.
Photo credit: FX, Justified
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