Justified rewatch: 2x08 and 2x09

[gwyn]

2.08 The Spoil
Original Air Date: March 30, 2011
Written by: Dave Andron
Directed by: Michael Watkins



Raylan must protect a cunning coal executive who is out of her element when negotiating with the powerful Bennett clan.


2.09 Brother's Keeper
Original Air Date: April 6, 2011
Written by: Taylor Elmore
Directed by: Tony Goldwyn



Just as the bad blood between the Bennetts and the coal company threatens to boil over, Raylan must thwart one of Mags's sons.

Please share your thoughts and reactions in comments.

Comments

[mackiemesser]

2.08 - The quagmire that is Harlan just gets deeper. This episode was really good at laying that out: how a tightly knit community can be supportive and vicious at the same time. I also thought it did a really good job of laying out the reality of mining towns and how everyone knows they're being exploited but what choice do they have? In the middle of all the drama this is a stark and tough reality.

And, uh, that is a good choice of episode still.

2.09 - This is a helluva episode. Betrayals upon betrayals. The tension just twists higher every moment and everyone is operating at their best. This is what makes the crap with Winona so irritating when the show is capable of this episode. It's epic and really just a tremendous performance from Margo Martindale, especially in that end scene.

The Spoil

[hafital]

Raylan in a henley! :D

I love the scene between Raylan and Art at the batting cage, including the kid interrupting them. It's the highlight of the episode for me.

Margo is so good in that Black Pike meeting scene. She gives me shivers. It's also really well written. She does seem like she's got your back, like you can trust her! "Big ol' whoop de doo!"

"I believe I'm already in trouble with the Marshal service." yes you are, Raylan. Man, Black Pike Carol doesn't let up.

Of course Arlo manages to get shot. Wtf, Arlo.

My heart really goes out to the people of Harlan county. They just get screwed every which way.

[gwyn]

You know, funnily enough, there were hardly any decent stills to choose from in this episode, which I have a feeling is going to be true from here on out because it seems like they started tapering off doing screen caps, and FX was barely releasing pro stills after a while. So even though most of the action's in Harlan, Raylan at the batting cage in a henley was best--I'm not complaining. :-D

The Spoil was such a galvanic episode. That bitter, angry speech by Mags gave me shivers the first time, and watching it now, knowing what we know about it, is even more amazing. It's just all so terrible, how little they have, and how little say they have in their futures and their lives.

Everything with Loretta is heartbreaking, and that whole scene where she thinks she's capable of taking on adult men to find out the truth is insanely tense. She's so used to being the adult, but she's still just a girl, and watching it is so frightening. I'm grateful, though, for the show not going in the direction I was afraid of initially and throwing sexual assault into the mix. The whole thing was horrible enough to watch, at least they didn't do that. (I confess, I always wished after he saved her, Raylan had taken her in. I know it's silly, but I did.)

[mackiemesser]

Fox really did seem to drop any publicity for the show, even though it had such great critical acclaim. It's weird how that happens with quality shows moreso than the others.

That speech is amazing, and it's so striking how it can be absolutely true and so manipulative at the same time. The machinations involved in who owns what and who gets the money - I was so impressed when it turned out that the mining company had no access to the road and then Mags going ahead and selling it was a real whiplash moment.

It would have been so easy for them to have gone that way with Loretta so I am also really glad that they didn't go there. That was a series of scenes where I was on the edge of me seat, and really worried Raylan wouldn't get there in time.
I wanted Raylan to take her in, too. He clearly understood her in a way that most didn't and he was so refreshingly non-judgemental about everything. There was a really great give and take with them.

Brother's Keeper

[hafital]

Good lord, that scene at the start with Mags doing Loretta's hair with just an edge of creepy in it -- i mean she treats Loretta like she's a pretty dress up doll in this scene, which then takes a sharp turn when Coover bursts in. I really don't have much sympathy for Coover, but how could he not be a gross despicable human being when his mother treats him little better than a rabid dog.

It's something when you make Bo Crowder start to look like the better option as a parent.

Sneaky Boyd: "We managed to come to an agreement."

Honestly I'm surprised Black Pike Carol isn't worried for her job.

"I did something today gonna change everything...Make you proud of your old Mags." Enjoy your moment in the sun, Mags. Though I LOVE the scene with Mags singing. I wish there was more of that in the show -- the Kentucky bluegrass holler culture. Instead of so much, you know, drugs and murder and betrayal.

The squalor those boys live in though. Their home is scary.

When I saw this episode the first time I read Dickie's attempt to stop Coover as genuine (though maybe motivated by fear of Mags) but watching it this time, I guess it's likely Dickie intentionally provoked Coover, to set him off.

In the end scene between Raylan and Mags, when she goes from begging to see Loretta to that threatening, angry goodbye, amazing. Such a subtle change by Margo, all done with her eyes, her face hardly shifts. Both of them brought real subtle skill to that scene. A+ acting.

Went searching for the High on the Mountain song and found this, written and performed by Ola Belle Reed.