What I’m Watching: Justified

Justified: Season 1, Episode 7 “Blind Spot” (B+)

If ever there was a way to start an episode, this would be it. The most intense first scene apart from every week’s opening on “Breaking Bad” was a thinly veiled description of how Bo Crowder planned to dispose of Ava right in front of her. Fortunately, Ava isn’t one to be easily intimidated, and she certainly holds her own against all of her foes, whether they’re trying to kill her or to degrade Raylan’s good name. I’m so pleased that she got a chance to talk to Winona and watch as she put her foot in her mouth by spilling far too much information. When Ava did end up in real danger later on, she did a magnificent job of handling herself, derailing her captor and helping to resolve the situation while still bound and gagged. As if Raylan hadn’t already been yelled at by his boss enough, this episode took things to a new height as he received a supreme screaming from Art. Unless he wants repeat performances, he’s going to have to stop shooting people all the time. All of Raylan’s meetings with Boyd are fantastic, especially Raylan’s less-than-positive responses to Boyd starting to quote the bible. Raylan actually getting up and physically assaulting Boyd was a bit more aggressive than usual, even for him and following it up with his dry remark of “are you even in the vicinity of a point?” signaled a good return to normalcy and calm. As Boyd nearly gets beat up in the prison, it was a relief to have someone step in to help him out, and the reveal that it’s M.C. Gainey (Mr. Friendly from "Lost") as the elder Crowder is a great one, and I look forward to seeing more of him next week.