Justified “Alive Day” Review (6×06)

I haven’t brought out my “bullet point reviews” in quite some time, but I’ll do it for this episode because I’m a day late. Apologies; yesterday, I had my hands full with the Parks and Recreation series finale and Person of Interest, but as promised, I will be providing my thoughts on every episode of this final season of Justified. Here we go…

-First of all, rest in peace, Choo Choo. On many other shows, the guy would simply show up as a bit of comic relief here and there, but Justified takes special care in crafting its supporting characters. He was certainly hilarious, but there was also something poignant and poetic about his arc; in “Alive Day”, his character comes to a fitting end, sitting in a car on the train tracks as he succumbs to wounds sustained in an earlier shootout.

-What this storyline seems to illustrate is the fact that Harlan County only makes room for certain types of criminals. When people like Ty, Seabass, and Choo Choo attempt to apply their skills in a different environment, they’re met with obstacles at every turn. Oftentimes, death is a result, and Choo Choo’s death is a product of that “anything goes” mentality we’ve been seeing recently from the show.

-That first scene is, needless to say at this point in the series, extremely well written. Whenever you put Walton Goggins and Timothy Olyphant in a room together, the dialogue will shine, and there’s a palpable tension in the air throughout the exchange. Boyd still feels like he has control over Ava, and that’s the fact that he constantly attempts to emphasize throughout the scene. As we know, however, Ava’s a CI with a fiery, independent spirit, and this is all going to get even more intense next week. After all, Limehouse calls Boyd at the end of the episode and lets him know about Ava.

-Also, Boyd may not have as much control as he believes he has, and that mine shaft fall places him in an extremely vulnerable position; yes, he gets out of the jam, but we later find out that Zachariah may not be entirely upfront about his intentions here.

-The Markham-Katherine proposal scene is well done by Elliott and Steenburgen, and I must admit: I enjoy watching these standoffs and veiled conversations and whatnot.

-I really love how this show plays with morality, especially with regards to its apparent “villains”. We’re really seeing lines blurred as the season progresses, and whether we’re talking about Boyd or Raylan or Choo Choo or Katherine or Avery, there’s no clear-cut characterization of any of them. This is true complexity, folks.

-What I like about Wynn Duffy is that he’s perfectly content with staying where he is.

– “Wonderful things happen when you sow seeds of distrust in a garden of assholes.” A truly brilliant piece of dialogue, and it’s from Elmore Leonard’s Glitz.

– “Do me a favor and say it again slow so that I can write it down.” Oh, Tim.

GRADE: B+

Photo credit: FX, Justified

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