‘Justified’ season 5, episode 1 review: Will the Crowes feast on Raylan?
It has been a long wait for “Justified” season 5, especially with the big cliffhanger concerning Ava going to jail. Is she still there or has Boyd come up with a plan to get her out? Also this season the new big bad that has been teased is the infamous Crowe family (specifically the eldest brother in Darryl Crowe Jr.), known for owning a gator farm as well as other illegal activities. Besides Wynn Duffy (Jere Burn) we really haven’t had a great villain since season 2 and we are hoping that the Crowe family changes the game this year.
Ava is still in jail and Boyd is doing everything he can to get her out, but outside of that, he and Duffy are having issues with the Detroit mob. After learning that Sammy is in debt to “The Canadians”, Boyd and Duffy set off to meet with them and get their product. When they meet up with the “Canadians” we are thrilled to see Will Sasso and Dave Foley are the “contacts” as they chat about The Leafs, Tim Hortons coffee and the fact that they will no longer be working with Boyd.
When it comes to Ava, Boyd promised her that if judge Bishop gets her case that he would take care of the situation. Because he can’t get to Bishop directly, he goes to Paxton (if you remember, Boyd and Paxton have an ugly history). Paxton agrees to help him with Bishop if he in return signs an affidavit saying that it was him that killed Delroy and that Ava was forced to participate in moving the body. Boyd decides instead to attack Paxton, and thinking he’s dead leaves his body with his wife… only Paxton’s not dead. It was a strange move for Boyd to leave a witness like that and we’re not exactly sure why his character would do that since he’s never been so reckless before. It doesn’t make a lot of sense and we don’t really buy into it.
Raylan learns that a coast guard has been killed and that the Crowe family may be behind it. He sets out to Florida to chat with the eldest sibling in Darryl Crowe Jr who he has a bit of a history with. Darryl agrees to help him get one of his cronies named Elvis (and the person responsible for the coast guard killing) in exchange for his parole being dropped. After Raylan gets his man and heads back home, Darryl realizes that without Elvis he’s out of business, so he decides to look up his brother Dewey who’s living in Kentucky. We thought that Raylan would’ve gone to see his daughter and Winona while in Florida, but he decides not to, and calls Winona when he’s back home promising her that when he’s in Florida next he’ll come and see them. We understand that Natalie Zea who plays Winona is not available for much filming when it comes to “Justified”, but there are other avenues they could’ve gone with this story instead of Raylan looking like a deadbeat dad who doesn’t care to see his daughter.
Over all this was a great premiere in that it really set the stage for what we are going to see this season with Raylan, Boyd and the Crowe family. One thing we are actually hoping to see is Raylan not come out on top for once. It’s becoming a little predictable that Raylan always gets the bad guy and is never really in any serious trouble. After 4 seasons of this we’d like to see a villain get one up on him and show us that Raylan isn’t indestructible. Maybe Darryl Crowe Jr. will be that villain. Grade: C
What did you think of the Crowe family and do you think that they are going to be the villain that finally gives Raylan a run for his money? Leave us a comment and tell us what you hope to see this season.