TV Review: Justified 6×01 – “Fate’s Right Hand”

I have been both looking forward to and dreading this final season of the wildly entertaining FX TV show Justified. Though I just recently began watching the show, which chronicles the life of a US Marshal named Raylan Givens and all of the trouble he gets himself into as a man of the law who doesn’t always follow the law in a small town in Kentucky full of thieves and crooks, I have been absolutely enamored by every aspect of it. I’m so not ready for it to be over! Raylan is the ultimate main character. He’s equal parts heroic and dangerous and almost always absolutely hilarious. And Boyd Crowder is a delightfully fascinating character. Obviously he’s the ultimate villain of this story, but I’ve always found him to be a seductively likeable character and sometimes I get the feeling that Raylan feels the same way.

Last season ended with Raylan finally getting ready to leave Harlan and Kentucky behind to join his ex-wife Winona and his daughter in Florida. However, there is one more thing he has to deal with before he can leave: Boyd Crowder. From the beginning of his time back in Kentucky, Raylan and Boyd have been on opposite sides, though somehow they’ve always seemed to end up working together. There is a conflict between them that is finally going to reach a head this season. Raylan has decided to help Ava Crowder, the one weakness Boyd seems to have, get out of prison on the condition that she help him bring Boyd down.

Tonight’s episode began with Raylan seeking out a Mexican federal to bring Raylan his first lead in busting Boyd. Of course, when that lead is Dewey Crowe there are no guarantees. Dewey is another one of my favorite characters on this show. Honestly, there aren’t many characters on this show that I don’t love. Dewey gets himself into so many sticky situations and always seems to mistakenly weasel his way out of them. Raylan uses Dewey’s dimwitted obliviousness to trick him in to believing that the Federales are coming for him for Johnny Crowder’s murder.
Ava finds herself back with Boyd in Harlan, trying to find a way to be around Boyd and get information without him catching on to the fact that she’s working with Raylan against him. But she’s been avoiding Raylan because she is afraid for her life, and with good reason. If Boyd were to find out that she’s working against him there is no question what he would do.

After the meth business failed him last year, Boyd is back to doing what he does best: robbing banks. And of course, while Raylan is working to bust him, Boyd is getting away with more. When Dewey comes to try to patch things up with Boyd, he decides to give him another chance and uses him as a distraction while he and his men rob a bank. They’re looking for something specific it seems, and this time they don’t find it.

What was surprising to me was the introduction of Ty Walker. He came to Harlow’s house and offered to buy it from Raylan in cash. I’m still not sure where this new development is going to lead but there is definitely something sketchy coming from this.

Tonight’s episode ended on quite a sad note. Dewey came to Boyd wistfully talking about their old days together when they were a part of Boyd’s “church.” He finally seemed to be losing it, and when he brought up Mexico and said he’s just tired of it all, Boyd shot him in the head because he believes he can’t trust him anymore. I think this shows just how quickly Boyd is going to act against those who are against him this season. We were then left with one ominous scene of Boyd watching over Ava’s sleeping form.

All in all, “Fate’s Right Hand” was a strong start to this final season. That humor I always love from Justified was there and the characters were all just as likable as always. This season’s story is definitely going to be interesting to watch, especially since I don’t really have any idea how it is going to end. I’m looking forward to watching the antics of Raylan and Boyd as they wage one last battle against one another.

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