Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
Tonight's episode was one of the most tightly scripted hours of the entire show, and already one of my favorites.
Jake Busey presents us with another Elmore Leonard-caliber moron henchman, who knows a great deal about cracking safes but takes a few unfortunate shortcuts when it comes to workplace safety. I laughed louder at his sudden exit stage left than at just about anything all season long.
Jeremy Davies takes a victory lap as Dickie Bennett. You could excise that interview room scene from the rest of the episode, and it would make a perfectly excellent short film with a satisfying beginning, middle and end.
And then Kaitlyn Dever returns as Loretta McCready. Same deal, everything from the moment the episode cuts to her kitchen to the moment Raylan steps outside to answer his cell phone works as an immensely involving stand alone sequence that speaks volumes about character. We've seen Ty Walker and his goons get the better of several people so far this season, and our reintroduction to Loretta informs us within a couple beats that not only has she taken the measure of this man and the kind of threat he poses, she's already laying the groundwork for removing that threat from the equation. Avery Markham has done his homework, but I wonder if he knows the real threat is never Mags's Apple Pie, but the glass it's served in. Clearly Loretta wasn't planning on killing Ty with it, or she never would have dipped her finger, but it really served to remind the audience that Loretta is always about seven steps ahead of everyone who comes into contact with her. And then afterward, once Raylan has chased off Markham and Walker, their conversation was all kinds of illuminating. Raylan is probably the closest thing to family Loretta has left, and they care about each other, but it's not a father-daughter relationship. Instead, their mirrors of each other, cool steely exteriors hiding an inferno of rage inside. And much like Raylan, the only way to provoke a reaction is to bring up the parent that she loved. With Raylan, it's his mother. With Loretta, it's her father. To understand what an exceptional young talent Dever is, you just have to watch how Loretta's eyes change when Raylan mentions her father. And then go watch an episode of "Last Man Standing" and see a completely different kind of performance.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ava's coke-fueled afternoon excursion with Katherine Hale. Clearly she suspects that Ava's been flipped, but clearly she also shared a lot of truth with Ava. How much of that is strategic, and how much of that is the release of finally having a female confidant? We don't know, and neither does Ava, and that just makes Katherine Hale even tougher to decipher.
Next week, it looks like the shit really hits the fan, and we get:
Jake Busey presents us with another Elmore Leonard-caliber moron henchman, who knows a great deal about cracking safes but takes a few unfortunate shortcuts when it comes to workplace safety. I laughed louder at his sudden exit stage left than at just about anything all season long.
Jeremy Davies takes a victory lap as Dickie Bennett. You could excise that interview room scene from the rest of the episode, and it would make a perfectly excellent short film with a satisfying beginning, middle and end.
And then Kaitlyn Dever returns as Loretta McCready. Same deal, everything from the moment the episode cuts to her kitchen to the moment Raylan steps outside to answer his cell phone works as an immensely involving stand alone sequence that speaks volumes about character. We've seen Ty Walker and his goons get the better of several people so far this season, and our reintroduction to Loretta informs us within a couple beats that not only has she taken the measure of this man and the kind of threat he poses, she's already laying the groundwork for removing that threat from the equation. Avery Markham has done his homework, but I wonder if he knows the real threat is never Mags's Apple Pie, but the glass it's served in. Clearly Loretta wasn't planning on killing Ty with it, or she never would have dipped her finger, but it really served to remind the audience that Loretta is always about seven steps ahead of everyone who comes into contact with her. And then afterward, once Raylan has chased off Markham and Walker, their conversation was all kinds of illuminating. Raylan is probably the closest thing to family Loretta has left, and they care about each other, but it's not a father-daughter relationship. Instead, their mirrors of each other, cool steely exteriors hiding an inferno of rage inside. And much like Raylan, the only way to provoke a reaction is to bring up the parent that she loved. With Raylan, it's his mother. With Loretta, it's her father. To understand what an exceptional young talent Dever is, you just have to watch how Loretta's eyes change when Raylan mentions her father. And then go watch an episode of "Last Man Standing" and see a completely different kind of performance.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ava's coke-fueled afternoon excursion with Katherine Hale. Clearly she suspects that Ava's been flipped, but clearly she also shared a lot of truth with Ava. How much of that is strategic, and how much of that is the release of finally having a female confidant? We don't know, and neither does Ava, and that just makes Katherine Hale even tougher to decipher.
Next week, it looks like the shit really hits the fan, and we get:
the epic return of Constable Bob!
