Justified "Burned" Review: Every Man (and Woman) for Themselves
Why aren't more people talking about how Justified is having one of its best seasons ever? The mere thought of it makes my head hurt, guys. The series hasn't been this consistent since the consensus-best Season 2, when the Bennetts took over Harlan County and introduced us to a new breed of villain, and I'd say that Season 6 is quickly gaining ground in the race for the title of the series' best. Let's hold off on making any bold declarations until we see how things end, but if I had to rule right this second, I'd be inclined to give the trophy to the current string of episodes.
Season 6 has anchored itself with a feeling of finality—which makes sense, of course, seeing as how it's Justified's final season and all. Old faces have popped up on the reg as we prepare to say goodbye to everyone for good, all the new bad guys have an end-of-the-road feel to them, and our favorite regulars are shifting into positions they can't back away from. The result has been a sequence of excellent episodes full of posturing and piece-moving as things fall into place for a big end-of-days showdown, and "Burned" was exactly what we needed to vent all this pent-up tension. And, you know, to make things even more tense going forward.
There's been a whole lotta scheming going on lately by just about every character in Harlan, and "Burned" saw most of them finally played their hands. First up was Art, who can't stay away from the job because his wife makes him eat garden garbage instead of manly meats and greasy eggs. It turned out that after getting some documents unsealed, Art had discovered that Wynn was the snitch in the Grady Hale case that's haunted Art for decades (was it just me, or did Art kind of pull that revelation out of his ass?), at which point he used that leverage (and the top of a tanning bed) to get Wynn to flip on Boyd. I didn't see that coming, but it makes perfect sense that Wynn was the rat, since Wynn and Grady go way back and Grady was his mentor. When in doubt, it's the student who sold you out, right?
With Wynn in his pocket, Raylan was able to set up Boyd by having Wynn plant the misinformation that Markham was going to move his money later in the day. That jumpstarted the "Oh, we're doing this now?" feeling of the whole episode, getting the snowball rolling that would eventually become an avalanche. With greed blowing at his back and millions in dead presidents on the horizon, Boyd set to work on blowing a hole through the bottom of the Pizza Portal to snatch that cash like a cartoon gopher sucking up a carrot.
But before we get to the boom, we must discuss the centerpiece of "Burned": Avery Markham's "I ain't such a bad guy" party. Justified is a series that excels in quiet conversations, and most of this season's episodes have been a series of one-on-one (or two-on-one) exchanges full of jibbering and jabbering with gentlemanly Southern accents and big SAT words. To see half of Harlan huddled into one dining room was truly a sight to behold, and it stirred up the ants in my pants because I was fidgeting uncontrollably due to all the electricity in the air. Markham, Raylan, Loretta, Boyd, new baddie Boon, and Ava all in the same place with their own individual intentions? Are you kidding me? The possibilities for conflict were enough to blow the place sky high even without Boyd's assistance.
Markham's speech was a reminder that there's a town at stake here, and Loretta and Boyd's interjections were a reminder that the town don't take kindly to outsiders, 'specially when prosperity is on the line. Boyd was the first one to undercut Markham's campaign, but it was little Loretta who put the boot to Markham's throat. The balls on this girl! She could go sack-to-sack with Wesley Warren, Jr.! I don't know if Loretta is dumber than she appears or smarter than we can imagine, because speaking up at that impromptu town hall and divulging that she was working with Boyd seemed like a bad idea. Teenagers, amirite? She sure can talk, however; that might've been the best monologue to a crowd since Mags Bennett ranted about toxic trash in Season 2. Unfortunately, Boyd wasn't impressed, and had he known that he wasn't getting out of Harlan that night (more on that later), he might've taught her a lesson about taking their business plans public. Raylan was rightfully disappointed, too; he didn't save her ass all those times just to see her team up with Boyd.
Of course, was all just a preamble to Boyd's intention to order a round of pizzas with extra-burnt crusts for everyone in attendance. But before that could happen, Raylan sauntered over to Ava and hypnotized her with his steely eyes, because I can't think of another reason why Ava would spill all the details about the heist that was about to go down. I mean, if she felt compelled to tell Raylan some truths, she could've said, "I want to bone you" instead of revealing the plot to set off the fire alarm as a distraction. But rather than call in backup and inform his colleagues of what was going on, Raylan, self-aggrandizing man he is, figured he'd just wait by the cookie jar for Boyd to stick his hand in it.
However, Raylan hadn't counted on the final hand of the episode being played by Zachariah, who whacked Boyd over the head and chained him up in the mine after the explosives were lit. The scene was a perfect capper for a nerve-racking evening, and even though I knew Boyd wasn't going to die in that blast, I can't be the only one who was looking through his hands. Also, I'd like to thank Justified's writers for not having Boyd 127 Hours himself out of that life-threatening situation.
With Boyd's scheme ruined, everything else went to poop. The heist didn't happen, Raylan missed out on getting his man (or men), and Markham dodged a bullet. But Markham is going to move his dough, and when he does, Boyd will be there. So will Raylan. And as for Boyd and Ava's plans to skip town? Those are on hold, and all the promises Boyd has made over the last few days—including the one about helping Loretta and offering her some key land to grow diggity dank—are back in play.
"Burned" was a perfectly placed episode that delivered exactly what Season 6 needed, and it might've been my favorite episode of the season so far. After several weeks of careful strategizing, the tables have been turned, and now everyone has to scramble to get back to where they were. The careful conspirators on both sides of the law are extremely vulnerable to making mistakes, and with the power shifting so much that the playing field is leveled, the final four episodes of Justified could go anyone's way. My money is on Loretta. But we're the real winners, because Justified has been amazing this season.
POSTCARDS FROM HARLAN COUNTY
– Wynn's known for his great reaction faces, and he showcased some good ones on his way out of the mine.
– Speaking of Wynn, holding a fake phone to his ear and making a fake phone call to Boyd while Tim pointed at him with one of those "Get a load of this guy!" expressions was too good. Where does the trio of Wynn, Tim, and Raylan rank on Justified's list of best scene partners? Pretty high, I'd say.
– I love Jonathan Tucker (Brotherhood, Parenthood, Kingdom) as the stuck-in-time gunslinger Boon. Justified's revolving door of bad guys continues to spin, with Boon stepping up to fill the voids left by Choo-Choo, Seabass, and Ty. The military gang was fun, but I prefer my Justified to be a little more "Wild West." I can't wait to see Raylan plug Boon full of lead.
– Speaking of Seabass, yikes! Katherine took him out with the ol' gun-in-the-purse trick. With Choo-Choo and Ty dead, it only made sense to knock off Seabass, too. How many people do you think have been killed in that hotel room so far? A million?
– Where did Zachariah end up going? And how screwed is he now that he tried—and failed—to kill Boyd? When murdering someone, you should always use Occam's Razor: the most obvious and least complicated method is the best method. Which is to say, it would've been smarter to just club Boyd over the head instead of chaining him up and waiting for the mine to collapse on him. Alternately, when in doubt, just use Occam's Razor to cut your victim's throat.
– Tim Gutterson's line of the week: "Here comes the douchemobile."
– Thanks to Kaitlin for filling in for me last week!
