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S06.E13: The Promise


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LOVED, loved the finale.  It was fitting and made leaving this world a little easier.  I will miss this show so much.  Mad Men can take a page from this book.  What to watch now?

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LOVED, loved the finale.  It was fitting and made leaving this world a little easier.  I will miss this show so much.  Mad Men can take a page from this book.  What to watch now?

These....

 

http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/304

 

....are Elmore Leonard's rules for writing. My favorite is number 10, "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip". 

 

Based upon whay I've seen in Weiner's final season effort so far, applying rule 10 would result in episodes of "Mad Men" that last 20 minutes. 

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Oh, I agree that Boon needed to be shot dead, but i would have prefered it happening without the showdown conventions; somebody just gets tired of his mouthy bullsh*t and plugs him without fanfare.

I thought that's what I'd implied:  that he was plugged without fanfare.  Just shot dead. 

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I thought that's what I'd implied:  that he was plugged without fanfare.  Just shot dead. 

Sorry, poor reading comprehension on my part, I was hoping Loretta would do it with a sawed off 12 gauge, but they already dispatched somebody, last season, via that route.

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I was surprised and happy to see that Raylan and Winona didn't wind up together because 1) I never liked her and 2) I just didn't think they were good together.  However, I'm happy that he's got such a good relationship with his daughter and can be friends with Winona and the lunkhead husband.

 

Yeah, I was never a big fan of hers either except for the fact Raylan loved her and I grudgingly admit the actors have chemistry. But Winona just ain't no prize, IMO.

 

Something I've been thinking about is when Boyd held that gun on Ava and pulled the trigger not once but twice and the gasp it elicited from Ava (and me since I wasn't sure she wasn't about to get blown away). Knowing now that she was pregnant, good grief was her heart no doubt in her throat.  Interestingly Groggins said that they had filmed Boyd then turning the gun on himself and firing even though he knew it was empty just to show how at the end of his rope he was.

 

But can you imagine if the story had been he killed her and he later found out she was pregnant when she died? I can't imagine the level of self-loathing crazy that Boyd would've had for himself knowing he killed his unborn kid.

 

The other thing you realize is that if Ava knew she was pregnant - which I think she did at this point - she wasn't going to use her unborn child to barter for her life. Not with Markham, Boyd (although one could argue she didn't have a chance to say anything before he pulled the trigger on her; once she knew he had no bullets she could keep mum and keep trying to negotiate), or Raylan (although again she didn't get a chance to play that card due to Boon's interference which allowed her to get away and keep her secret). But it seems like Ava was willing to take that kid to the grave if necessary to make sure Boyd never knew about it. If he did and only spared her so the child could live, she knew that kid was doomed from his dogged pursuit of claiming him.

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Sorry, poor reading comprehension on my part, I was hoping Loretta would do it with a sawed off 12 gauge, but they already dispatched somebody, last season, via that route.

I thought it was perfect.  Showdown...  the very REAL belief that the show could have killed Raylan....  The fact that Loretta aided Raylan by stepping on Boon's hand and his last seconds on earth realizing that she was acting against him... and Ava's escape.  Perfection.

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I thought it was perfect.  Showdown...  the very REAL belief that the show could have killed Raylan....  The fact that Loretta aided Raylan by stepping on Boon's hand and his last seconds on earth realizing that she was acting against him... and Ava's escape.  Perfection.

Well, again, the top flight acting by Olyphant and Kaitlyn Dever made it work for me, but I just think the classic quick draw showdown has been played out, via decades of hard use.

 

I really think that Kaitlyn Dever is strong enough, even at age 18, to carry a dramatic series as the lead. It would be fun if a very talented writer with some prestige and pull with a studio and/or network created a good vehicle for her.

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Maybe I'm an easy mark, but when Raylan was there on the road, I totally believed that he might have died and then we'd spent the rest of the episode on some kind of flash-back montage or scenes of final conversations between him and others or something.

 

And when Boyd survived the standoff with Raylan, I figured it wasn't the last we'd see him, but the prison ministry and the prison phone scenes were great payoffs.

Edited by lulee
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--Wynn said he needed two passports; wonder who the other one was for.

 

 

I thought in the last (?) episode that it was Wynn who Ava called, promising him the money if he could get her out.  That's why he knew how many duffle bags needed to fit in his van--I don't think anyone else told him how Markham had been transporting the cash so I assumed it had to be her.  If that's the case, that was the ONLY thing I guess right about the finale.

 

 

--Don't like Boon's hat on Raylan though.

 

Me too.  The other one made him look like a "cowboy marshal"--Boon's made him look like my grandpa in the 1940s.  

 

That final scene: "We dug coal together."  Yep, that hit hard.  Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins are just amazing. 

 

There aren't too many other actors out there who could have made me tear up like those two did.  I was not expecting to get emotional over it but--damn, that was hard.  It's insane that those two (not to mention the show itself) aren't getting showered with awards.

 

 

And as I said before, there has to be something out there that can use Jacob Pitts and his epic snark.

 

Amen!  Preferably a leading man role so he gets more screen time.  As much as I loved this season, S4 is still my favorite because it's chock-full of Tim ;)

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--Wynn said he needed two passports; wonder who the other one was for.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   

I thought in the last (?) episode that it was Wynn who Ava called, promising him the money if he could get her out.  That's why he knew how many duffle bags needed to fit in his van--I don't think anyone else told him how Markham had been transporting the cash so I assumed it had to be her.  If that's the case, that was the ONLY thing I guess right about the finale.

 

 

When he talked about how deep the hidden compartment needed to be, I figured he was going after the money himself.  I didn't catch on that Ava had called him, and that she was also the reason the compartment needed to be deep! Maybe the second passport was in case she wanted to leave the country too.

 

I loved that Ava wound up in the hills. It was a nod to her not wanting to leave Harlan back in Season 1 because it was home. She knows she can never go home but it looks a bit like home.

 

 

Yes, I thought that too! It was a fitting setting for her.

 

I'm glad Wynn got away. I imagine he let Ava have a little of the money.

 

 

I hope he did. He obviously knew she lost the money that she took.

 

Of course Boyd's son has his shirt buttoned up to the collar.

 

 

I didn't catch that on first viewing, but yes! Great detail.

 

---------

Apparently, using "We dug coal together" as a call back was Walton Goggins' idea (3rd question here). Can't imagine the ending without it.

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Ha-ha.  I was thinking of call-backs to the Pilot, which featured Ava trying to lure Raylan to a friend chicken dinner, the same thing she had served her husband before plugging him.  Apple pie didn't show up until the 2nd season.  :-)

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I thought that's what I'd implied: that he was plugged without fanfare. Just shot dead.

last week

I was expecting Boyd to walk up or snpier Tim to interrupt the OK Corral.

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Yeah, I was never a big fan of hers either except for the fact Raylan loved her and I grudgingly admit the actors have chemistry. But Winona just ain't no prize, IMO.

 

Something I've been thinking about is when Boyd held that gun on Ava and pulled the trigger not once but twice and the gasp it elicited from Ava (and me since I wasn't sure she wasn't about to get blown away). Knowing now that she was pregnant, good grief was her heart no doubt in her throat.  Interestingly Groggins said that they had filmed Boyd then turning the gun on himself and firing even though he knew it was empty just to show how at the end of his rope he was.

 

But can you imagine if the story had been he killed her and he later found out she was pregnant when she died? I can't imagine the level of self-loathing crazy that Boyd would've had for himself knowing he killed his unborn kid.

 

The other thing you realize is that if Ava knew she was pregnant - which I think she did at this point - she wasn't going to use her unborn child to barter for her life. Not with Markham, Boyd (although one could argue she didn't have a chance to say anything before he pulled the trigger on her; once she knew he had no bullets she could keep mum and keep trying to negotiate), or Raylan (although again she didn't get a chance to play that card due to Boon's interference which allowed her to get away and keep her secret). But it seems like Ava was willing to take that kid to the grave if necessary to make sure Boyd never knew about it. If he did and only spared her so the child could live, she knew that kid was doomed from his dogged pursuit of claiming him.

 

 

Yeah, I hated Winona and Raylan together. She'd claim she was ok with how he is and then five minutes later she's pissed at him and running off with some other guy. At least this guy didn't appear to be Gary levels of stupid. The only time I liked her was the nursery showdown in Season 4. 

 

I loved what you wrote about Boyd and Ava. I always liked Ava and I noticed she never used her pregnancy to barter for her life - it was as if the baby was more important than anything - raising it away from Harlan - not in jail. If she couldn't do that, then better they both died.

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I loved what you wrote about Boyd and Ava. I always liked Ava and I noticed she never used her pregnancy to barter for her life - it was as if the baby was more important than anything - raising it away from Harlan - not in jail. If she couldn't do that, then better they both died.

 

I'm not sure she was aware she was pregnant.  I assumed it happened when she and Boyd were in the hotel room/Bulletville shack which was only a few days/weeks from her escape.

Edited by ChipBach
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I'm not sure she was aware she was pregnant.  I assumed it happened when she and Boyd were in the hotel room/Bulletville shack which was only a few days/weeks from her escape.

From the interviews with the writers and the actress, it was implied that Ava had an agenda of her own that wouldn't be clear until the end. So I assumed that's what they meant - she was pregnant. She had slept with Boyd before Bulletville - during the shopping spree with Avery's lady love. She would have known early because in the pilot she says that Bowman had beaten her into a miscarriage. She would know the signs. Just my theory.

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I have mixed feelings about Ava getting away, but other than that I thought it was perfect. I also teared up at the last meeting of Boyd and Raylan and the actors did such a great job! And count me in as one who thought that Raylan might be a goner. I yelled "No Way" at the tv when he was laying in the road.

I know that Boyd is the bad guy in all this and he has done plenty of terrible things, but that pained look on his face when he asked Ava why was so sad. She was the one person who he thought would never betray him so that hurt more than anyone else who has turned on him. And I think he really did just want to understand why Ava did it. When other people turned on him, he at least understood their motivations (money, power, greed, etc) but he really couldn't understand why she would betray him when they were on the verge of getting out.

And then the double gut punch of her saying that she put herself in his shoes and did what he would have done. Ouch.

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I love Boyd preaching. It is so reminiscent of Robert Duvall, in the Apostle. A very very young Walton Goggins is in that film, and it's well worth a watch.

I thought he was about to start stepping like Robert Duvall was doing with the Latina evangelist.
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Well, damn! I thought that they might make an Ava/ Boyd baby happen earlier in the season when they kept mentioning Raylan's daughter all the time, as this would be an interesting parallel, and now I'm mad I didn't post it anywhere 'cause I'd look really smart!

 

That was a really good finale. Glad all the main characters survived. I liked the flash forward ending. Loved the final scene. Wow!

 

Loved the final Tim/ Raylan scene, too, and the reiteration of the fact that they are both readers.

 

The only thing that took me out of it for a minute was reformed Ava saying she volunteered at the local school. (Or is it only in my state that anyone volunteering at a school, even chaperoning a field trip, needs to be finger printed?)

 

 

Oh Jason Gedrick, what happened?

Right? Yost mentions in his post-finale interview on Alan Sepinwell's site that he was glad to get JG because he is "terrifically handsome." Um, maybe ten years ago, Graham...

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I thought it was perfect.  Showdown...  the very REAL belief that the show could have killed Raylan....  The fact that Loretta aided Raylan by stepping on Boon's hand and his last seconds on earth realizing that she was acting against him... and Ava's escape.  Perfection.

I agree it was perfect. I cannot think of a way that it could have been done better. Someone mentioned Leone but the great Leone would have had that scene lasting for quite awhile. This was more to the point - just enough to give you a sense of Boon's thorough confidence and Raylan's confidence transitioning in to determination and knowing this is someone who has the capability of killing him - something the audience also knows. It is perfectly placed after we see Raylan controlling his darker impulses. He is not looking for a showdown - instead it finds him. It is against someone who it turns out has maybe even more ability that Raylan. It has the future of two other characters in it's hands - Loretta and Ava. It has Raylan, no longer driven by anger, confronting his mortality. It has Boon being undone by his own hubris. It has a sense of someone watching over Raylan - as if his decision to do the right thing with Bob last week and in the barn this week receives some good karma.

Yes the showdown is a trope. However it is a remarkably rich trope if done well and here it could not have been done better.

The scene would have been horribly ruined if Loretta killed Boon by, say, driving him over. The show having Loretta killing someone in the last episode would have ruined the finale. That makes no sense, serves no overarching thematic purpose, and does not, in any way, work for the storyline of our lead. It also would have been a horrible move to have Raylan just shoot Boon the moment Boon gets out. That is not the purpose here. The last thing the show is going for in this moment is Raiders of the Lost Ark. This is about Raylan sensing the words of Art may come true just as the audience is sensing it. This is about Loretta looking down the road fearful this person who has saved her multiple times is no longer alive. Our relief matches Loretta's just as our recognition matches Raylan's. This was a perfect scene.

Edited by dohe
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Great finale !

 

It's kind of ironic that with all the incredible dialogue over the years my favorite line might turn out to be as simple as... "GODDAM RAYLAN YOUR TIMING SUCKS!"

 

Even though I don't like how it looks, I thought Raylan taking Boone's hat was a nice nod to the fact that Elmore Leonard hated the cowboy hat.

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After thinking about it for most of the day, my favorite part was Boyd refusing to pick up the gun.  Of course he knew that he didn't have a chance against Raylan, but he also knew that another killing -- even a justified killing -- would ruin Raylan.  Boyd did him a favor.

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Really solid ending, I thought. I particularly loved the last scene and last few lines. I grew up around people who are quite different than most of the people in the world I currently inhabit, and every now and again, by happenstance, one of those folks wanders onto the current scene and there is great surprise that I not only know them, but share some past acquaintance with them. Now, instead of telling a long, involved story as explanation, I think I'll just say: "We dug coal together." 

 

Even if it's not literal, as it is for Boyd & Raylan, I think we've all got people in our lives that we went through something monumental with (even if it only seemed so at the time), who we'll always feel we owe some debt, despite not really being "friends" -- so I loved that line on many levels.

 

Appreciated all the callbacks to earlier scenes/dialog and really liked that Raylan's hat served a purpose in the end. Well done, show.

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Fuck me. I have 2 seasons of Justified on DVR (I'm saving for a long weekend next week with wine and good chines food). I saw the last 15 minutes last night, saw Winona and Raylan don't end up together and now I'm pissed to the point that I just want to delete (haven't yet).

 

Fucking show.

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Fuck me. I have 2 seasons of Justified on DVR (I'm saving for a long weekend next week with wine and good chines food). I saw the last 15 minutes last night, saw Winona and Raylan don't end up together and now I'm pissed to the point that I just want to delete (haven't yet).

Fucking show.

Don't do it! Last season wasn't great but there were some good parts and this season has been phenomenal. You may not be as upset about Raylan and Winona as you think once you watch them.

I have watched that last scene about 5 times now and the joy, yes JOY dammit, that Raylan and Boyd get from one another just kills me every time.

Also I am going to figure out a way to get Boyd saying "Raylan Givens" as my ringtone.

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The Marshalls really let Raylan drive Ava to Lexington all by himself?  They never learn.  I cheered when she escaped from his custody once again. 

 

And Boyd lobbing dynamite at the Marshalls - classic Justified.  Boyd loved his explosives.

 

Callie Lee 29 - have faith.  Just because Winona has another husband, does not mean that she isn't having an affair with Raylan.  They can't stay away from each other.

 

I am just happy that Raylan lived to share his love of vanilla ice cream with his daughter.

 

But most of all I am very happy with the idea that Wynn is surfing in Fiji.  Those tanning beds are not safe.

Edited by Macbeth
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Wynn Duffy is to "Justified" as Saul Goodman is to "Breaking Bad." Ergo, we need a Wynn Duffy spinoff! Make it a prequel, like "Better Call Saul," so we can have lots of Mikey, too!

 

I remember from the DVD commentaries in the first season or two that they shot a lot of the outdoor scenes in the area around Lebec, so I guess it was sort of an "in joke-reference" to have Ava end up there.

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Even though I don't like how it looks, I thought Raylan taking Boone's hat was a nice nod to the fact that Elmore Leonard hated the cowboy hat.

 

I read that somewhere else earlier today and now I've begrudgingly changed my opinion on the new hat.  But I think I was more worried about the cowboy hat getting shot than I was about Raylan :)

 

Also I am going to figure out a way to get Boyd saying "Raylan Givens" as my ringtone.

 

I'd love to have him saying, "Hell-o, Raylan," in that way he does.  I'd want people to call me all the time if it meant hearing that.

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You know, given everything that happened, it's almost surprising that Ava would want to keep her baby in the first place. Obviously having a child makes it that much more difficult for her to be on the run for the rest of her life- and it makes things that much more dangerous for the child as well, with his father being out there and only a 50/50 chance that he doesn't come looking for them some day (since he will probably get out eventually).

 

I think they wanted it to be a nice symbolic thing for Raylan and Boyd to have kids about the same age in the world, but in reality I think a woman in as dangerous a position as Ava will always be in, wouldn't have chosen to make things even more risky for herself and now for someone else as well.

 

So, is his name Zachariah Crowder or did she change their names? Because that'd be another real easy way for them to be found by the wrong people.

Edited by ruby24
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I read that somewhere else earlier today and now I've begrudgingly changed my opinion on the new hat.  But I think I was more worried about the cowboy hat getting shot than I was about Raylan :)

 

 

I'd love to have him saying, "Hell-o, Raylan," in that way he does.  I'd want people to call me all the time if it meant hearing that.

 

I want 'Goddamn it, Raylan, your timing sucks!'. I could do with a ringtone library of Boyd and Raylan Quotes with some snarky Tim and Art thrown in for good measure.

  • Love 3
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So, is his name Zachariah Crowder or did she change their names? Because that'd be another real easy way for them to be found by the wrong people.

 

I wondered about that as well.  The character is listed as Zachariah Crowder in the episode's IMDb credits, but that could be for our benefit. 

 

Fuck me. I have 2 seasons of Justified on DVR (I'm saving for a long weekend next week with wine and good chines food). I saw the last 15 minutes last night, saw Winona and Raylan don't end up together and now I'm pissed to the point that I just want to delete (haven't yet).

 

I think you'd only be spiting yourself.  OTOH, binge-watching S5 might make you want to blow your brains out.

  • Love 4
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Still thinking about the finale, and in my head, I'd like to think that Raylan ended up in Miami romantically paired  with Carla Gugino's character from Season 3, who was supposed to be Karen Sisco, but I think they couldn't use the name for some reason. The two of them had more chemistry in one episode than he did with Winona, ever.

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So, is his name Zachariah Crowder or did she change their names? Because that'd be another real easy way for them to be found by the wrong people.

 

 

I wondered about that as well.  The character is listed as Zachariah Crowder in the episode's IMDb credits, but that could be for our benefit.

 

 

Ava opens the door with a gun in her hand, lives on a remote ranch where she mucked out stables and other odd jobs in trade for room and board, is afraid to go outside, and is always worried about who will on the other side of that door - yeah, the kid is credited as Zachariah Crowder for our benefit (imo). I'd sure as hell have changed my name, even left the country if I could - but then, I wouldn't have kept the kid, either, though I appreciate the symmetry of Rayland and Ava having children the same age.

Edited by basil
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What I wondered was, why was Ava in the house alone, yet little Zach was off playing by himself, where she couldn't keep an eye on him? They had to walk a ways before she could reveal her son to Raylan. I guess it was for dramatic purposes, but it would have been more realistic (to me, anyway), if she had invited Raylan inside, and then revealed that she had a son.  But him being so far from the house, unsupervised, just struck me as odd.

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Did they walk a ways? I thought they'd walked away from the house and back to it. If so, Ava might have first spotted Raylan's car driving up the hill and then plopped Zach out back while she went to deal with Raylan. A lot of 3 year olds are fairly independent and would be fine playing alone for 15 minutes or however long their walk was supposed to be.

Edited by lulee
  • Love 2
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What I wondered was, why was Ava in the house alone, yet little Zach was off playing by himself, where she couldn't keep an eye on him? They had to walk a ways before she could reveal her son to Raylan. I guess it was for dramatic purposes, but it would have been more realistic (to me, anyway), if she had invited Raylan inside, and then revealed that she had a son.  But him being so far from the house, unsupervised, just struck me as odd.

I think she must have coached him ahead of time - they probably had a drill - if Mommy tells you - go hide and if Mommy's not back by whenever, go here or call this person.  That's why she said he could come out from hiding. 

  • Love 1
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I thought it interesting that Raylan did seem much happier, yet they had him go from the traditional white hat (good guy) to the black hat (bad guy). Just another way this show never played on conventions and did things it's own way. Loved the call back to Rachel's first meeting Raylan and asking about the hat and he said the same line "I tried it on and it fit."

 

Was the implication with the mention of the Seatle chief being on the phone that Rachel was moving to the Seattle agency?

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I want 'Goddamn it, Raylan, your timing sucks!'. I could do with a ringtone library of Boyd and Raylan Quotes with some snarky Tim and Art thrown in for good measure.

 

Like Tim saying, "I love this shit--this shit makes me hard"?  Someone needs to make these happen.

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Adding belatedly to the love for this episode and the series overall. I binged the first 5 seasons, so it has been great to watch the final series in 'real time' (or as close as I could get living in the southern hemisphere).

My husband, who has a pretty terrible record of predicting TV show plots, guessed that Ava was pregnant. He thought it was more than the fear of going away that was driving her and he was right for once!

I cried like a baby at "We dug coal together".

  • Love 5
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This was more to the point - just enough to give you a sense of Boon's thorough confidence and Raylan's confidence transitioning in to determination and knowing this is someone who has the capability of killing him - something the audience also knows. It is perfectly placed after we see Raylan controlling his darker impulses. He is not looking for a showdown - instead it finds him. It is against someone who it turns out has maybe even more ability that Raylan.

 

 

What made me nervous was that the sun was at Boone's back, but it was in Raylan's eyes. Huge advantage for Boon. Other than that, while we surely know that Boon was a murderous little fuck, do we know he was that fast or that quick of a draw? Did I miss something (probably)?

 

I think she must have coached him ahead of time - they probably had a drill - if Mommy tells you - go hide and if Mommy's not back by whenever, go here or call this person.  That's why she said he could come out from hiding.

 

 

ITA. I also think they only walked a short distance and then back to what looked like the backyard.

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