What I’m Watching: Justified

Justified: Season 1, Episode 12 “Fathers and Sons” (B+)

It’s a shame that this season only has one episode left, but things are definitely getting more intense and serious, and there’s sure to be plenty of intrigue left for next season regardless of how much is resolved in the finale. This penultimate installment started out great, with Arlo asking “are you asking me to be a snitch,” responded to quite angrily by Raylan: “it astounds me that you’re just now realizing that’s what this is.” Arlo asking “how much does it pay” right before the cut to the credits was perfectly timed and highly amusing. Arlo’s ability to talk down the man with the grenade was very impressive, and it’s even crazier that he made the whole story up. “I sat next to a man with a grenade and realized that I’m not as afraid of dying as I used to be” was a moving way to sum up his change of heart. As it turns out, Arlo is one duplicitous weasel, tipping Bo off to the fact that he was wired while Raylan and Art were listening in to their conversation from the van outside. That’s certainly not going to play out well for Raylan when Art finds out. Ava’s also quite a temperamental character, and for a good reason. That montage of Winona’s brief encounter with Raylan and her subsequent departure was incredible. As I had expected, the conversation between Winona and Ava was marvelous. With this as the setup, the finale is definitely going to be terrific.