Justified rewatch: 5x08 and 5x09

[gwyn]

5.8 Whistle Past the Graveyard
Original Air Date: March 4, 2014
Written by: Chris Provenzano
Directed by: Peter Werner



Raylan helps Wendy track down Kendal Crowe after he disappears with an "uncle," while Boyd and the rest of the Crowe family try to get their drugs and dead bodies back across the Mexican border.


5.9 Wrong Roads
Original Air Date: March 11, 2014
Written by: Dave Andron and Leonard Chang
Directed by: Michael Dinner



Raylan goes to Memphis to talk to Hot Rod after his men are killed in Mexico, and Boyd and Ava make a deal to get their drugs into the prison.

Please share your thoughts and reactions in comments.

Comments

[gwyn]

These episodes are emblematic of everything wrong with season 5--they're chock full of people we not only don't give a shit about, they're putting the people we do care about in awful storylines where they're mostly second fiddles. I don't give a fuck about Kendal or Wendy or their uncle/dad, whatever, couldn't care less about Alison, actively hate the Crowes... And then we get an episode that mostly seems to be a spinoff they're trying to build for Eric Roberts, culminating in the death of a black man in a room full of white men like it has no meaning, and I just...man, what the fuck. How did this season get past the writers' room when they were all apparently drunk.

Whistle Past the Graveyard

[hafital]

i suppose it's too much to hope that the Mexican drug runners would kill the Crowe brothers.

This show suddenly turns into Orange is the New Black sometimes.

I don't really care about the Crowes, but imo Kendal's the least awful of the lot. It's unfortunate both his parents are horrid. Not sure Raylan should have given Kendal all that money though.

Nice character detail having Uncle Jack wearing a broken pair of sunglasses.

I've come around to liking Raylan's girlfriend who's name I unfortunately can't remember.

Re: Whistle Past the Graveyard

[gwyn]

I've taken to actually fast forwarding through anything with the Crowes now, and the prison stuff--didn't I see Rappaport take the money from Kendal? I think I saw that, but couldn't be arsed to go back and look. It was a very dumb decision on Raylan's part, but shows what a softie he is at the core.

Re: Whistle Past the Graveyard

[hafital]

He did take the money! You are correct, but he took it in the next episode, which as I said below I had no memory of at all. I'm not sure I actually watched it before. Sorta wishing I still didn't watch it. It did have that scene with Art, but it was all angsty and shouty. They better make up soon. I don't remember now.

Re: Whistle Past the Graveyard

[gwyn]

I feel about Art and Raylan like I would feel about any of my slash pairings coming to hate each other, and I don't even slash them at all! It just breaks my heart. You can see that Art really doesn't want Raylan to go, that he'd make that decision more easily if they hadn't had a friendship. "Taught firearms together at Glynco" has as much emotional weight in this show as "dug coal together."

Wrong Roads

[hafital]

I have no memory of this episode at all. In general, my opinion on Eric Roberts is the less I see of him the better lol.

I am not at all interest in Boyd's drug business problems, but entering into any sort of business with the Crowes has to be the dumbest decision.

I did like Raylan and Miller (his name just makes me think of the Expanse) busting up the criminal meeting. Flock of Assholes!

[mackiemesser]

Ugh, these episodes are such a slog to get through! I didn't remember much about them when I first watched, and I still don't remember much. Mostly, I was just satisfied when Eric Roberts got killed? Like, that was the only good thing to happen over both eps.

I get why Raylan wants to help Kendall and it's part of his whole trying to save kids who are in the same kind of shitty situation he was in at that age, but Kendal is nowhere close to Loretta's level of savvy and ambition. I don't get why he and Wendy (and, jfc, can we be less subtle about lost boys and all that shit?) don't just GTFO and leave the rest of the Crowes to rot. I mean, is there anything actually keeping them there at this point?

Maybe the writers and showrunners were super used to bouncing things off Elmore Leonard and since this was the season right after he died they were all thrown and didn't trust themselves on where to go with the characters? It's the only explanation I can really come up with.