Justified: City Primeval finale recap — Raylan and Mansell showdown
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NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Justified: City Primeval finale, "The Question."
Having captured Mansell (Boyd Holbrook), Toma (Terry Kinney) and Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) take him to Skender's (Alexander Pobutsky) building. At gunpoint, Besnik (Yosef Kasnetzkov) and the other Albanians usher Mansell into a safe room. Carolyn (Aunjanue Ellis) is there with more of the Albanians. She reminds Toma they had a deal.
Toma takes Judge Guy's book from Mansell. One of the Albanians breaks the interior control panel so the door can't be opened from the inside. Mansell is unnerved, tries to surrender himself to Raylan, but Raylan pushes the button to slowly lower the door, locking Mansell inside the safe room. Toma tells Raylan this will satisfy them both. Toma gets justice for Skender, Raylan gets Mansell off the street.
Mansell can't handle captivity. He gets claustrophobic and rips the room apart trying to find a way out. Then he destroys most of the contents in the room. But it's no use. There's no way out for Clement Mansell.
Maureen faces accountability
The next morning, Norbert (Norbert Leo Butz), Robinson (Victor Williams) and Raylan show up at Maureen's (Marin Ireland) door as she's getting ready to leave for work. They don't want to question her in front of her family, so they take her to the police station where an investigator from Internal Affairs questions her. She's in Judge Guy's book because she took bribes to testify against defendants in cases presided over by the judge. Maureen is angry and isn't going down without a fight.
Meanwhile, Carolyn goes to Lansing to meet with the Lieutenant Governor (Audrey Francis) and lobby to be appointed to Judge Guy's seat on the bench.
Skender ruins everything
That night Carolyn and Raylan have an intimate evening. Carolyn falls asleep, but Raylan can't. His moral compass won't let him leave Mansell to die. He drives back to Skender's.
Skender, recuperating in Toma's nursing home, is dreaming of revenge. He leaves to kill Mansell. But when he opens the door Mansell attacks him in a frenzy. Mansell beats Skender to death, steals his gun and drives to Toma's nursing home.
Raylan arrives to find the safe room door open, the room destroyed and Skender's badly beaten body on the floor. Raylan calls Robinson and tells him to get to the nursing home. But when Robinson and Norbert arrive it's too late, Mansell has killed all the Albanians, including Toma. Raylan calls Carolyn and tells her to leave the house immediately. Then he races to her house, predicting that's where Mansell will go next.
End of the line
Carolyn leaves, but Raylan arrives and waits in the kitchen for Mansell to show up. Mansell kicks in a window and enters the kitchen. He sees Raylan waiting for him. Mansell starts telling his usual colorful stories. He walks to the fridge, takes out a beer and leans on the fridge, still talking. He reaches into his jacket and Raylan shoots him without hesitation. Mansell, shocked, falls against the fridge. A cassette tape falls out of his hand. He was reaching for a cassette of him singing, not a gun.
Carolyn comes in and makes a call. Mansell, clinging to life, asks if she called an ambulance. She said she called the morgue. Mansell dies. The scene fades out.
Some familiar faces, finally
Six weeks later, Raylan is back in Miami at a retirement party for his boss, Dan Grant (Matt Craven). Greg Sutter (David Koechner) gives a speech and talks about how he used to discourage his daughter from becoming a Marshal when she was young, the same story he told Raylan in the original Justified series.
Raylan approaches Dan at the bar. Dan says he'd be happy to recommend Raylan for a promotion to the director's job. But Raylan quits instead.
In the next scene, Raylan is happily painting his house. A package arrives with a note and a bottle of booze from Carolyn. She's now Judge Wilder, but still thinks about Raylan. Willa and Winona (Natalie Zea) arrive with Willa driving, as she just got her learner's permit. Raylan tells them both he's retired. Winona is shocked.
The return of Boyd Crowder
No Justified series could end without an appearance by Boyd Crowder (Walter Goggins). At Tramble Penitentiary in Kentucky, Boyd is preaching once again. He's been a model inmate, but he has a mysterious illness that requires a trip to the hospital. He's guarded by Officer Ramirez (Luis Guzman) and Officer Gerret (Ahna O'Reilly).
When the transport van gets to a familiar railroad bridge in Harlan County, Boyd starts banging on the wall of the transport cell and screaming. Just over the bridge, Officer Gerret pulls off to the side of the road. Ramirez gets out to check on Boyd. It's then that Gerret pulls a gun on him and locks him in the transport cell.
Gerret and Boyd have planned his escape carefully. She has a car waiting and brought Boyd his signature outfit of black pants, a white button-down shirt and a black vest. They take off for Mexico.
Back in Florida, Raylan and Willa are talking when Raylan's phone starts buzzing with an alert about a prison escape in Kentucky. Then his phone starts ringing. He tries to ignore it, but Willa tells him to answer it. He picks up the phone and the credits roll.
Will there be another Justified limited series where Raylan goes after Boyd? If anyone can catch Boyd Crowder it’s Raylan Givens. After all, they dug coal together.
All episodes of Justified: City Primeval are available to stream on Hulu in the US.
