What I’m Watching: Justified

Justified: Season 2, Episode 10 “Debts and Accounts” (B+)

This show continues to be incredibly fascinating, unmissable television. The characters are so rich, complicated, and interesting, as are all of their interactions. Perhaps the most intriguing scene of the episode, though it’s hardly the default winner, is the one between Art and Raylan. To this point, at least recently, we’ve only seen Art in a generally comic context, chastising Raylan in a sarcastic manner. Now, we get a more serious, if similarly sardonic, slap on the wrist courtesy of Art, mostly to express that he isn’t going to have the conversation Raylan is trying to have with him, though he certainly doesn’t approve of his actions and doesn’t want to hear any more about them. In the same vein, having Raylan take Winona for a car ride (“I’m robbing a bank and need a wheelman”) was a brilliant idea, and their conversation was very insightful. That final scene also played pretty well. Raylan’s rather direct confrontation with the guys he thought might be tailing him was quite entertaining. Mags’ meeting with Helen was quite compelling, and it’s good to know that at least the Bennett matriarch isn’t intent on doing harm to Raylan. Dickie and Boyd sitting at the same table is a recipe for intensity, and I’m curious to see how all that pans out since the second dumbest Bennett brother now has it out for his mother. It was good to see Ava actually get a few lines, even if she wasn’t as able to hold her ground with Boyd as she might have liked.