Does anyone have a plan?
It’s probably a mistake to write a recap so soon after watching the episode itself, but that’s the idea. And what better episode to do it for than one that ends with Boyd getting shot by Ava, who then drives off with 10 million dollars of Avery Markham’s money while Raylan – who pushed her to the brink by revealing that she had no way out – stood and watched?
Very few characters, even the supposedly smart ones, seem to have a clue what they’re doing. And the ones who think they know fail to anticipate threats. Wynn doesn’t take Mikey seriously. The entire season is devoted to Boyd’s attempt to break into the vault and steal Avery’s cash, and then Avery just hands it over after Boyd kidnaps Katherine – who Avery has every reason to suspect at this point. (I guess Avery’s killing of Loretta’s great-aunt was intended to spook Loretta after she refused to cooperate, but it still seems a bit pointless.) Raylan feels badly about Ava, but what’s his plan? It’s not clear what Ava gains by shooting Boyd, as she is lucky Raylan doesn’t gun her down or at least prevent her from leaving. On the law enforcement side, the assistant district attorney is back to being decidedly unhelpful, although Raylan’s response clearly shows that he wasn’t the best man to be her contact. Art was right, again.
I’m honestly not sure what to think of this episode. And then the preview (which shouldn’t count as part of the episode, but it’s there) gives away the fact that Boyd survives the gunshot wound – which appeared to hit him in the left chest, or perhaps the shoulder. I wasn’t surprised by this (there are still three episodes to go), but if you’re going to pull a shocker ending like that, it’s kind of a cheat to see Boyd looking pretty good in the previews a couple of minutes later. I guess Ava isn’t quite as good at shooting Crowders as she used to be.
Oddly, the most satisfying scene was a bit of a chestnut – the unsettling, dangerous man who threatens and taunts innocent people. Jonathan Tucker, as Boon, has made quite an impression. He’s creepy and he seems just like the sort of wild card who might actually pose a threat to Raylan.
The other stuff that works is Raylan and Boyd trying to read each other’s minds. They are quite good at it, knowing each other so well. It’s been drummed into viewers that Raylan could have turned out like Boyd, and might have been a criminal if his father hadn’t been such a jerk. It is amusing and fun watching them try to outthink each other. Neither of them account for Ava, who has turned into the wild card of the show’s final season.
The point of killing the great-aunt is for Loretta’s land to end up in a public auction, rather than in the hands of someone who will refuse to sell to Avery.
Though it seems like the writers may be setting things up so that Avery is foiled and Loretta is the last criminal standing when the series ends.
Yeah, this is what bugged me.
They’ve done a great job of setting up all the shifting alliances between Avery, Katherine, Wynn, Boyd, and Ava, with at least three of them helping Raylon in one way or another. And when the loyalties are that murky, it’s understandable that some motivations are not always clear. But this was one of the major plot turns of the season, and it happened right after Raylon demonstrated to Avery that Katherine (probably) wasn’t to be trusted. And unlike the Boyd/Ava relationship, it just didn’t seem like Avery was blinded by love enough to give away his $10 Million like that.
In contrast, Ava shooting Boyd, while completely unexpected, seemed plausible, as an increasingly desperate Ava has spent the season with her loyalties bouncing between Raylon and Boyd, with neither path looking to end well for her. It was not such a good idea for Raylon to tell his CI that she was probably headed back to jail even after she cooperated.
My only hope is there is some kind of tracker in the money (or it’s a convincing fake). Boyd certainly didn’t check the money super closely. You don’t get to $10 M in that business by folding to a ransom that easily.
Yeah. I’m assuming it’s the old stacks-of-paper-with-a-bill-on-top trick.
And they never opened the second bag at all.
I have learned this season to underestimate Markham, so I’m not assuming ‘tracker’ unless he’s working with Raylan again (possible, but unlikely for a variety of reasons). It’s true that Boyd didn’t check the money thoroughly (or at all in the case of the second bag), but Markham had no idea he wouldn’t. Besides, Markham had no idea that Boyd wouldn’t just shoot and kill him and Katherine after getting the money, and certainly if there was an obvious attempt at a double-cross.
Still, why have that whole scene to establish to Markham that Katherine is not to be trusted, or at least is to be suspected? Why go alone? Why not bring Boon along, just in case? We’re just not given enough reason to think Markham was that blinded by love. I have thought all along the money might be fake, or at least a lot of it, but the show has gone out of its way to have Markham be dumb. Sam Elliott should have been a better villain. He’s cast well, but written as a guy who should have been killed or imprisoned decades ago.
andeux, you’re right about the public auction. I forgot about that. But the real reason is that they don’t want Loretta killed. (I agree with you that I think she survives.) They could have always killed the great-aunt later. And I realize we are supposed to view backwoods Kentucky as a virtually lawless territory, but wouldn’t Markham be pretty directly implicated in that woman’s death? He was even in her house.
Who can prove Markham was in the house? Actually who can prove Markham visited at all?