What I’m Watching: Justified

Justified: Season 2, Episode 9 “Brother’s Keeper” (A-)

Talk about a whopper of an episode. This installment incorporated music in a way that none before it have, and also in a manner reminiscent of the sequence in the “Bainne” episode of “Sons of Anarchy.” When Loretta sees Coover wearing her father’s watch, the mood immediately changes and the moment becomes incredibly powerful, and things don’t let up for the rest of the episode. One of the things that’s so incredible about this show is the way that it handles the Bennett family. Coover in particular is so dumb that he could easily become a baseless caricature, yet somehow he remains completely fascinating and honestly terrifying up until his very last moment. The same is true for Dickie, who is clearly more intelligent than his brother but still not up there with the rest of the folks in the world. Brad William Henke and Jeremy Davies do a magnificent job of helping to make these characters believable, and there’s no matching Margo Martindale, who was wonderful enough to serenade her audience with a song in this episode. Raylan shooting Coover is definitely going to have bad implications for everyone, and I’m curious to see whether the mesmerizing Rebecca Creskoff will stick around as Carol following Mags’ harsh takedown of her and Boyd’s betrayal. It’s hard to match the caliber of this cast, and seeing Carol so outwardly come on to Raylan was fun. Also, it was nice to see Ava again for a change, even if she does seem awfully moody and little else these days.