Justified, 2x04 "For Blood or Money"

"I call this little number 'The Oxy Bus Cleanup Breakdown!'"

Who knew a hoedown could be such a dramatic and tense dance? The opening scene did more table-setting for what will probably be a big ol' mess by season's end: Mags Bennett's idiot boys and their criminal tomfoolery have brought out both curiosity and suspicion in Raylan. Though he enters the scene quietly enough, with his mix of charm and polite manners...

Aww, he brought a pie and a smile (and a bunch of veiled accusations)!

...it ends in a tense exchange between Raylan and Mags, uncovering bad blood, truth, and lies. Before Mags's returns to her former position of hospitality--her offers of food and drink come with equal parts maternal warmth and insidious intention--it's clear that Raylan won't be backing down and Mags has something brewing that she is eager to protect.

It was good to see Loretta, if only briefly, and know she's still safe. I imagine her loyalty to Raylan will be a pivot point as the season progresses.

Boyd and Ava continue their equally tense dance of domesticity and whatever-the-heck-else is going on between the two of them:

Come into my parlor (or my front porch) said the spider to the fly... (though which one is which is up for debate)

I particularly liked the scene on the porch, how it was a combination of comfortable small talk and getting-to-know-you, all with the added bonus of the reminder that Boyd and Ava are both fairly dangerous individuals.

This episode seemed particularly Elmore Leonardy. I'll be really honest: I would have enthusiastically watched a Flex spinoff in a minute. That's really what The Wire was missing: a not-remotely-reformed drug-dealer cum self-taught magician with a muscle car and a flair for marketing (really, why would you want to add a "the Amazing" tag to Flex? Genius).

But the biggest surprise of the night, besides the fact that Chief Art Mullen has a wife we have yet to meet:

I'm pretty sure that next to Mags Bennett, she's likely the most awe-inspiring woman ever (but in a much better, non-poisoning way)

...is that resident sharpshooter and Iraq War veteran Tim has, apparently, the total hots for his Marshal cohort, Rachel.

I suddenly feel compelled to revisit every single episode to look for clues for this. Even during my first viewing of this ep, I missed how vigilant Tim is about looking at Rachel. In the Billy the Kidverse pizza joint, while Raylan's gaze is locked, for the most part, on Clinton, Tim's eyes never stray from Rachel. But seriously, when they cut to that shot in the third panel, it was like getting hit with a ton of bricks imprinted with bluebirds and sparkly hearts. His expression as Rachel talks about her family is like the Southern gun-toting dude version of Mr. Darcy restraining himself from comforting Elizabeth in the '95 P&P.

I feel like a dummy. I always catch stuff like this early. Where was I?

This one is for my pal KF, if she's reading. She loves when a group of individuals become a makeshift family. Chief Art as papa, of course, and his kidlets (I love how Timothy Olyphant characters in these makeshift families are invariably the prodigal son with a temperament problem--Deadwood lives on still).