Justified rewatch: 2x01

[gwyn]

2.1 The Moonshine War
Original Air Date: February 9, 2011
Written by: Graham Yost
Directed by: Adam Arkin



Raylan tangles with a ruthless Harlan County crime family while hunting for a fugitive sex offender.

Please share your thoughts and reactions in comments.

Comments

[mackiemesser]

Mags Bennett was just the most amazing character and her introduction is so great! Also, Loretta is one of the few smart-ass, "wise beyond her years" kids who really works. It's clear why she's so grown up, but they still show how many ways she's still a kid. It's masterfully done.

Also, Dickie Bennett is the sort of part Jeremy Davies was born to play.

[gwyn]

Yes! Jeremy Davies is always so creepy and squirrelly, and Dickie suits him perfectly. What an awful little creep.

It's no wonder Margot won an Emmy for this role--she was incredible.

[mackiemesser]

She truly was one of the best villains: so reasonable about her ruthlessness. Another aspect that I appreciated was how Raylan had no time for the brothers, but he clearly respected Mags, even as he went up against her.

[gwyn]

It's vanishingly rare when a series gets better in its second season--usually, they have the sophomore slump, and you have to hope they'll get renewed to bring it back the following year. Mags Bennett is one of the greatest villains of all time, and I love her evil, complicated ways. It's terrible in a way that all that friendly charm hides something so malicious, and you can kind of see it in the men her sons became.

I adore Loretta, and she's the rare kid on TV who actually doesn't feel really overdone in the precociousness, she seems much more believable.

This was such a great glimpse of Rachel, too, and how difficult something like that is for her in such a racist place where they don't even really try to disguise it. This starts out gangbusters with Raylan bringing Pilar to Gio, and its intriguing that he can't make himself consider his old boss's offer, that things have changed with Winona and maybe the office, and he stays.

All in all, just an incredible setup for a wonderful season.

[devilc]

Oh, the Bennet family! Mags Bennet -- so damn amazing.

This season is some of my favorite TV.

[hafital]

I feel like this episode really travels to a lot of different places for just an hour. We start off at the shoot out again, then there's Gio and Miami, then back to work which takes Raylan back to Harlan, enter the Bennetts! So much going on with them, so many little details that set up whole hornet nests later on, enter Loretta who also has her own character journey carried through more than one season, and then there's also Winona! Then at the very end, Boyd again. There's just a lot in this episode.

"Will you get my friend to a hospital. He's been shot." That's both heartwarming, sad, and funny, all at once.

Raylan's Miami boss is awesome. I heart him.

Tim - "What're you going to get next?
Rylan - "Probably the same thing.
Art - "Should think about an uzi."

hahaha ilu Art. This is a small scene but it's kind of one of my favorites along with the scene with Raylan and Rachel driving to Harlan. I'm a sucker for the marshals having any kind of scene together in any combination.

Love the "Raylan at work" montage.

Yay Rachel. I missed her. I don't like it when Rachel and/or Tim are gone for too long.

Raylan impersonation of a Harlan resident is amazing. Gold star. "throw 'em some pork rinds, or some ding dongs" lol!

Ah. Dickie and Doyle. I seemed to have completely forgotten Coover's existance. I always feel really bad for Loretta's dad. He didn't deserve all that.

Margo was no less terrifying in The Americans, though Mags really is a standout villain. The look Mags gives Rachel though --enigmatic smile masking a calculating look.

It's great they brought back the "Fire in the hole" line at the end. Why do I love glasses on Boyd? lol.

I'm excited for the rest of the season!